title: Succession of states

text: A state succession can be characterized as either being "universal" or "partial". A universal state succession occurs when one state is completely extinguished and its sovereignty is replaced by that of one or more successor states. A partial state succession occurs when the state continues to exist after it has lost control of a part of its territory.


title: Succession of states

text: An example of a partial state succession is the case of the split of Bangladesh from Pakistan, there was no challenge to Pakistan's claim to continue to exist and to retain its membership of the United Nations: it was a continuator and not a successor. Bangladesh eventually was recognized as a new state: it was a successor and had to apply for UN membership.


title: Succession of states

text: An example of a universal state succession is the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Neither part claimed any continuity: both the Czech Republic and Slovakia were new successor states.


title: Succession of states

text: Consequent upon the acquisition of international legal personality, the difficult matter of succession to treaty rights and obligations arises. Succession may refer to the transfer of rights, obligations, or property from a previously well-established predecessor state to its successor state, and can include overseas assets such as diplomatic missions, foreign-exchange reserves, and museum artifacts; and participation in treaties in force at the date of succession or international organizations. In an attempt to codify the rules of succession of states, the 1978 Vienna Convention entered into force on November 6, 1996.


title: Succession of states

text: In their application to the acquisition of independence, distinctions should be drawn between different cases though the line of demarcation is not always clear:


title: Succession of states

text: There are several recent examples where a succession of states, as described above, has not been entirely adhered to. This is mostly a list of the exceptions that have occurred since the creation of the United Nations in 1945. In previous historical periods, the exceptions would be too many to list.


title: Succession of states

text: The Taliban state in Afghanistan (the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) became the "de facto" government of nearly all the country in the mid-1990s, but the Afghan Northern Alliance was still recognised by many nations and retained the UN seat. In 2021, the Taliban again took power, but it does not have the Afghanistan UN seat.


title: Succession of states

text: The People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949 in mainland China and claimed succession from the Republic of China (ROC). The ROC's territory was reduced to mainly the island of Taiwan, although it continues to claim control of the mainland. At the start of the Cold War the PRC was recognized by few states; the ROC continued to represent "China" in the United Nations and hold the permanent seat on the UN Security Council. In 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the UN through General Assembly Resolution 2758, this followed a trend of greater recognition for the PRC at the expense of the ROC. Although the resolution makes no mention over Taiwan, the ROC continues to be unrepresented within the United Nations but exercises sovereignty over the Taiwan Area. Despite of the Chinese Mainland, the ROC also claims borderlands unclaimed by the PRC, most notably Outer Mongolia.


title: Succession of states

text: In Chinese history, periods of prolonged political division and dynastic transition saw the existence of more than one "China" at the same time. China was politically divided during several sustained periods historically, with two or more states simultaneously existing on territories associated with "China" and claiming to represent "China". Examples include the Spring and Autumn, Warring States, Three Kingdoms, Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern and Southern dynasties, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods, Warlord Era and the Chinese Soviet Republic among others. Just as the PRC and the ROC formally claim exclusive mandate over the entirety of China, historical Chinese dynasties that existed during periods of sustained political disunity often claimed exclusive Chinese politico-cultural orthodoxy at the expense of others.


title: Succession of states

text: During dynastic transitions, it was rare for one dynasty to end abruptly and transition smoothly to a new one, resulting in the existence of more than one entity claiming to be "China". For instance, during the Ming–Qing transition, the Ming dynasty existed alongside the Qing dynasty from 1636 to 1644. The predecessor of the Qing dynasty, the Later Jin dynasty, was established in 1616 and ruled over northeastern China whilst the Ming dynasty ruled over China proper. Following the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, remnants of the Ming imperial family, whose regime is known in historiography as the Southern Ming dynasty, continued to rule parts of southern China until 1662. Multiple ephemeral regimes also existed during this period, including the Shun and Xi dynasties on mainland China, and the Ming loyalist Kingdom of Tungning on Taiwan.


title: Succession of states

text: Ireland, then called the Irish Free State, seceded from the United Kingdom under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922. The new state took the view that when a new state comes into being after formerly being part of an older state, its acceptance of treaty relationships established by the older state is a matter for the new state to determine by express declaration, or by conduct in the case of each individual treaty. In practice, however, the Irish regarded the commercial and administrative treaties of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland previously applying to the territory of the Irish Free State as remaining in force.


title: Succession of states

text: Israel took the view that, by virtue of its declaration of independence in 1948, a new international personality from Mandatory Palestine was created, and that it started with a clean slate, and was bound only by such of the former international obligations affecting the territory as Israel might accept.


title: Succession of states

text: When Democratic Kampuchea led by Pol Pot was militarily displaced by the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea, the country's United Nations seat was held by Democratic Kampuchea for many years. It is now held by the Kingdom of Cambodia.


title: Succession of states

text: In 1919, when the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was formed it claimed continuity directly from their pre-1910 status. In 1948 when the modern Republic of Korea was formed it claimed that it was identical with Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and that the Provisional Government succeeded the Korean Empire. An important tenet of the modern state of Republic of Korea is that the Korean Empire's incorporation into the Empire of Japan from 1910 to 1945 is internationally recognized as an illegal occupation.


title: Succession of states

text: South Korea resumed membership to international organizations such as the Universal Postal Union and re-affirmed that pre-1910 treaties were still in force.


title: Succession of states

text: There is some debate over whether the modern Republic of Turkey is a continuing state to the Ottoman Empire or a successor. The two entities fought on opposing sides in the Turkish War of Independence (1919–23), and even briefly co-existed as separate administrative units (whilst at war with one another): Turkey with its capital in Angora (now Ankara) and the Ottoman Empire from Constantinople (now Istanbul), but this type of scenario is also common in civil wars. The Turkish National Movement, led by Mustafa Kemal who defected from the Ottoman Army, established the modern republic as a nation-state (or new government regime) by defeating the opposing elements in the Turkish War of Independence. There remains debate about whether the conflict was a war of independence, or a civil war that led to a regime change.


title: Succession of states

text: When Pakistan became independent it claimed that it was automatically a member of the United Nations, as British India had been a founding member of the United Nations despite its colonial status. The United Nations Secretariat however expressed the following opinion:


title: Succession of states

text: International convention since the end of the Cold War has come to distinguish two distinct circumstances where such privileges are sought by such a successor state, in only the first of which may such successor states assume the name or privileged international position of their predecessor. The first set of circumstances arose at the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. One of the constituent republics of the USSR, the Russian Federation has declared itself to be "the continuator state of the USSR" on the grounds that it contained 51% of the population of the USSR and 77% of its territory. Consequently, Russia agreed that it would acquire the USSR's seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. This was also accepted by the rest of the former states of the USSR; in a letter dated 24 December 1991, the Russian President Boris Yeltsin informed the Secretary-General that the membership of the USSR in the Security Council and all other United Nations organs was being continued by the Russian Federation with the support of the nine member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. All Soviet embassies became Russian embassies. Ukraine, the successor state of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (legally) being one of the founding members of the Soviet Union, has not recognized the exclusive Russian claims to succession of the Soviet Union and claimed such status for Ukraine as well, which was stated in Articles 7 and 8 of Law on the Succession of Ukraine issued in 1991. After independence, Ukraine has continued to pursue claims against the Russian Federation in foreign courts, seeking to recover its share of the foreign property that was formerly owned by the Soviet Union.


title: Succession of states

text: A special case for the Baltic states had existed. An important tenet of the modern states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is that their incorporation into the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 constituted an illegal occupation. In 1991 when each Baltic state regained their independence they claimed continuity directly from their pre-1940 status. Many other states share this view, and as such, these states were not considered either predecessor or successor states of the Soviet Union. As a consequence, the Baltic states were able to simply re-establish diplomatic relations with countries, re-affirm pre-1940 treaties still in force, and resume membership to international organizations. A similar situation applies to the Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, which claimed continuity of the pre-1921 republics before being conquered by the Red Army.


title: Succession of states

text: After four of the six constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia seceded in 1991 and 1992, the rump state, renamed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, stated it was the continuation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia—against the objections of the newly independent republics. Representatives from Belgrade continued to hold the original Yugoslavian UN seat—however, the United States refused to recognize it. The remaining territory of the federation was less than half of the population and territory of the former federation. In 1992 the Security Council on 19 September (Resolution 777) and the General Assembly on 22 September, decided to refuse to allow the new federation to sit in the General Assembly under the name of "Yugoslavia" on the theory that the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had dissolved. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later renamed Serbia and Montenegro) was admitted as a new member to the United Nations on 1 November 2000; in May 2006, Montenegro declared independence and Serbia continued to hold the federation's seat. Additionally, Kosovo declared independence in February 2008.


title: Succession of states

text: The first negotiations on succession issues of the former Socialist Yugoslavia had begun in 1992 within the framework of the "Working Group on Succession Issues" of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia. The agreement was initially prevented by the insistence of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that it is exclusive legal and political continuator of the Socialist Yugoslavia as well as the owner of all state property owned by the earlier socialist federal government, and was willing to renounce a part of it only as an act of goodwill. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia interpreted breakup of Yugoslavia as a process of serial secessions and not as a complete dismemberment of the earlier state, interpretation rejected by other former Yugoslav republics. Badinter Arbitration Committee recommended a division of assets and liabilities based on principle of equity and even referred to the 1983 "Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of State Property, Archives and Debt" (convention not in force which at the time was signed by only six states, including SRF Yugoslavia). This proposal was unacceptable to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which therefore motivated the International Monetary Fund to develop alternative key model which included economic power of republics and their contribution to the federal budget which was accepted by all. The key determined participation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with 36.52%, Croatia with 28.49%, Slovenia 16.39%, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 13.20% and Macedonia with 5.20%. Agreement was also reached on gold and other reserves at the Bank for International Settlements but the final conclusion was postponed by the beginning of the Kosovo War.


title: Succession of states

text: After the end of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia followed next year by the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević successor states concluded their agreement. In 2001, with the support of the international community, five countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – today North Macedonia — and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – today Serbia and Montenegro) signed the "Agreement on Succession Issues" which conclusively confirmed that five sovereign equal successor states were formed upon the dissolution of the former SFR Yugoslavia. It entered into force on 2 June 2004 when the last successor state ratified it. The agreement was signed as an umbrella agreement which included annexes on diplomatic and consular properties, financial assets and liabilities, archives, pensions, other rights, interests and liabilities as well as private properties and acquired rights. At the subsequent dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro (one of the five successor states) two countries agreed on Serbian sole succession of rights and obligations of their federation.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Medicine Man is a 1992 American adventure drama film directed by John McTiernan. The film stars Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco, and features an acclaimed score by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The pharmaceutical company Aston Laboratories sends biochemist Dr. Rae Crane into the Amazonian rainforest to locate researcher Robert Campbell, after his wife and research partner abandon him. Crane is bringing equipment and supplies, but Campbell is upset the research partner is not forthcoming. He tries to send Crane home, but she demurs, as she has been assigned to determine whether Campbell's research deserves continued funding.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Campbell has found a "cure for cancer", but attempts to synthesize the compound have failed. With supplies of the successful serum running low, Campbell isolates a derivative of a species of flower from which the formula can be synthesized and with Crane's help is determined to find its source. Campbell earns the title "medicine man" of the village by giving a boy with a stomach ache Alka Seltzer, insulting the real medicine man and driving him deep into the forest. A logging company is building a road headed straight for the village, threatening to expose the native population to potentially lethal foreign pathogens, as has happened before. In fact, Campbell's wife left him because he could not forgive himself for the tragedy.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: A small boy appears with malignant neoplasms and Campbell, Crane, the boy, and his father set out in search of Campbell's predecessor, a medicine man from whom Campbell once acquired his knowledge of flowers. Upon encountering Campbell's entourage, the medicine man flees in fear. Though he is reluctant to pursue the man further, Crane convinces him circumstances demand that he must. Campbell rescues Crane from a fall, then locates the medicine man, whom he is compelled to fight in order to heal the medicine man's wounded pride and gain further necessary information. Unfortunately, the medicine man reveals that the flowers have no "juju"—power to heal. Father and son agree to return another time. Back at the village, Crane initially refuses to allow Campbell to inoculate the boy with the last of the serum until more can be synthesized. But when the boy's condition worsens, she gives in and the boy is inoculated.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The next morning, the boy is better but the village is in tumult. The logging road is nearly finished. Campbell appeals to the company's workers to halt construction until he can conclude his research, but it refuses. In desperation and after new samples fail to contain the missing compound, Crane runs the chromatograph one more time and accidentally discovers that the source of the cure is not the flower but a species of rare ant indigenous to the rainforest. Campbell demands the construction stop. A fight results and a bulldozer catches fire, destroying the village and the research station along with many acres of rainforest.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The next day, Crane promises to send Campbell new equipment and the research assistant he'd originally requested. She is about to return home when she meets the medicine man. He symbolically passes on his mantle to Campbell, and Crane accepts an invitation to continue working with him in exchange for recognition for co-discovering the source of the compound.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Tom Schulman's script was purchased for $2.5 million with a further $1 million spent on rewrites by Sally Robinson and Tom Stoppard.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Production started March 4, 1991 in the Mexican jungle near Catemaco and was completed in July. Connery and Bracco both complained of conditions on set.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The music for "Medicine Man" was composed and conducted by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith. The score, a blend of orchestra, synthetic elements, and guitar solos, was praised by critics and is considered one of the film's strengths. The soundtrack was released February 4, 1994 through Varèse Sarabande and features fourteen tracks.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on February 5, 1992. It was released in 1,304 theatres on February 7, 1992.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The film debuted at number 1 at the US box office with $8.5 million. The following week it was knocked out of the top spot by "Wayne's World". The film eventually grossed $45.5 million domestically, earning Disney $21 million, just half of its budget.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: The film was panned by most critics, especially Bracco's performance. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 17% rating based on 23 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave it 1.5 out of 4 and wrote: "All of the elements are here for a movie I would probably enjoy very much, but somehow they never come together" and "If this had been some dumb adventure movie, it would probably have been terrific."


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote "It's not every day you get to see a performance as bad as Lorraine Bracco's in Medicine Man" and Connery "doesn’t do much he hasn't done before". Gleiberman praised some moments where the film "becomes the dazzling true-life jungle saga it clearly wants to be" but is critical of the plot which he says is "built around some very tired devices" and "The race-against-the-clock structure is a flimsy conceit". He gave it a grade C+.


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: "Variety" called it "An indelicate attempt to create some African Queen-style magic while curing cancer and saving the rainforests in the bargain, this jumbo-budget two-character piece suffers from a very weak script and a lethal job of miscasting."


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: About the film's lackluster performance, John McTiernan said: "It was a little art movie with Sean Connery that cost only $27 million. If the press hadn't defined it as an action movie, it probably wouldn't have been considered a disappointment."


title: Medicine Man (film)

text: Lorraine Bracco's performance in the film earned her a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: Spirits Having Flown is the fifteenth album released by the Bee Gees. It was the group's first album after their collaboration on the "" soundtrack. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all reached No. 1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers in a one-year period and equaling a feat shared by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles. It was the first Bee Gees album to make the UK top 40 in ten years (not counting the soundtrack for "Saturday Night Fever"), as well as being their first and only UK No. 1 album. "Spirits Having Flown" also topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the US.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: "Spirits Having Flown" marked the end of the band's most successful era, prior to a severe downturn in the early 1980s when they were subject to a near-total radio blackout (particularly in America) that Robin Gibb would refer to as "censorship" and "evil" in interviews.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: Reprise Records remastered and re-released the album on CD in 2006, although it did not include any additional bonus tracks, demos or outtakes.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: At the start of 1978, Barry Gibb produced the album "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb. In February, Barry wrote the title song for the film "Grease" performed by Frankie Valli; also in February, another Barry Gibb composition from 1977 "Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" was recorded by Teri DeSario. By March, the Bee Gees had started to record this album.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: Co-producer Albhy Galuten recalls "Spirits Having Flown" as being created primarily by Barry Gibb, Karl Richardson and himself putting in long days and nights at Criteria Studios. Blue Weaver recalls others being involved. Both agree that Robin Gibb was active behind the scenes in songwriting and offering feedback to the recording process, but Maurice Gibb contributed probably the least he did on any Bee Gees album. Not only was his alcoholism sapping his creativity, but he was having back pains finally diagnosed in 1980 as caused by a bad disk. He said that he would be doing bass work and without his knowledge, Barry and Robin would hire in someone else to play parts that he was supposed to be playing; however, he said that whilst he played fine, neither Barry nor Robin could rely on him.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: In the recording phase, Robin and Maurice now mainly played the role of backing and harmony vocalists, and even in that capacity Barry did many of the vocal dubs himself as he went over and over the recorded work. Robin contributed one solo lead vocal ("Living Together") which was sung in falsetto with Barry providing alternating lead vocals in his normal register. This was Robin's least amount of lead vocals on any Bee Gees album with the exception of 1970's "Cucumber Castle", for which he was not part of the group at that time. As with the last four Bee Gees albums, Maurice did not have any solo lead vocals. While Barry is the most prominent lead vocalist on "Too Much Heaven," it features a mix of more than 20 vocal parts, including 6 tracks featuring Barry alone (3 on falsetto and 3 in chest voice) plus another 3 of Barry, Robin, and Maurice singing lead in chest voice together; while Barry is the most prominent.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: The Bee Gees had been effectively typecast as a disco group after "Saturday Night Fever", and in a 1978 interview Barry remarked "People think we're just about disco now. Of course that's not true. If you look at the "SNF" soundtrack, there's some dance music, but we also have ballads like 'More Than a Woman'." In an attempt to counter this typecasting, the first single from "Spirits Having Flown" was the ballad "Too Much Heaven". The horn section from Chicago (James Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Lee Loughnane) made a guest appearance on this album. At the time, they were next door working on the Chicago album "Hot Streets". Thus the Bee Gees would return the favour as they appeared on Chicago's song "Little Miss Lovin'" and their keyboardist Blue Weaver appeared on "No Tell Lover". The Bee Gees also recorded "Desire" for the album but it was rejected and instead released as a solo single by their brother Andy.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: "Spirits Having Flown" was released on January 24, 1979; it was rushed two weeks early due to American radio leaks. The album was released a few weeks later in New Zealand and South American countries. In the U.S. the album was supported by full page ads in "Billboard" and "Rolling Stone", which gave the album a lengthy and positive review. It topped the album charts in several countries, including both the US and UK. Its three singles "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven" and "Love You Inside Out" all topped the charts in the US. The title track was also released as a single in the UK and a few other countries in December 1979 to promote the "Bee Gees Greatest" compilation.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: The album sold more than 20 million copies worldwide as of 1997. In 2003 the BBC even gave a figure of 30 million worldwide sales. The RIAA lists the album as having been certified "platinum" (1,000,000 sold), but RSO never had the album re-certified. Many articles and websites cite the album as having sold as many as 6,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone, but these results are unofficial, which is why the album does not appear on many 'best selling' lists, including Wikipedia's List of best-selling albums.


title: Spirits Having Flown

text: "Spirits Having Flown" was voted Best Pop/Rock Album of 1979 at the 1980 American Music Awards ceremony.


title: Height

text: Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is).


title: Height

text: For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is about 10,000 m".


title: Height

text: When the term is used to describe vertical position (of, e.g., an airplane) from sea level, height is more often called "altitude".


title: Height

text: Furthermore, if the point is attached to the Earth (e.g., a mountain peak), then altitude (height above sea level) is called "elevation".


title: Height

text: In a two-dimensional Cartesian space, height is measured along the vertical axis ("y") between a specific point and another that does not have the same "y"-value. If both points happen to have the same "y"-value, then their relative height is zero. In the case of three-dimensional space, height is measured along the vertical "z" axis, describing a distance from (or "above") the "x-y" plane.


title: Height

text: The English-language word "high" is derived from Old English "hēah", ultimately from Proto-Germanic *"xauxa-z", from a PIE base "*keuk-". The derived noun "height", also the obsolete forms "heighth" and "highth", is from Old English "híehþo", later "héahþu", as it were from Proto-Germanic "*xaux-iþa".


title: Height

text: In elementary models of space, height may indicate the third dimension, the other two being length and width. Height is normal to the plane formed by the length and width.


title: Height

text: Although height is normally relative to a plane of reference, most measurements of height in the physical world are based upon a zero surface, known as sea level. Both altitude and elevation, two synonyms for height, are usually defined as the position of a point above the mean sea level. One can extend the sea-level surface under the continents: naively, one can imagine a lot of narrow canals through the continents. In practice, the sea level under a continent has to be computed from gravity measurements, and slightly different computational methods exist; see Geodesy, heights.


title: Height

text: In addition to vertical position, the vertical extent of geographic landmarks can be defined in terms of topographic prominence. For example, the highest mountain (by elevation in reference to sea level) belongs to Mount Everest, located on the border of Nepal and Tibet, China; however the tallest mountain, by measurement of apex to base, is Mauna Kea in Hawaii, United States.


title: Height

text: Geodesists formalize mean sea level (MSL) by means of the geoid, the equipotential surface that best fits MSL. Then various types of height (normal, dynamic, orthometric, etc.) can be defined, based on the assumption of density of topographic masses necessary in the continuation of MSL under the continents.


title: Height

text: A purely geometric quantity is the "ellipsoidal height", reckoned from the surface of a reference ellipsoid, see Geodetic system, vertical datum.


title: Height

text: In aviation terminology, the terms "height", "altitude", and "elevation" are not synonyms. Usually, the altitude of an aircraft is measured from sea level, while its height is measured from ground level. Elevation is also measured from sea level, but is most often regarded as a property of the ground. Thus, elevation plus height can equal altitude, but the term "altitude" has several meanings in aviation.


title: Height

text: Human height is one of the areas of study within anthropometry. While environmental factors have some effect on variations in human height, these influences are insufficient to account for all differences between populations, suggesting that genetic factors are important for explaining variations between human populations.


title: Height

text: The United Nations uses height (among other statistics) to monitor changes in the nutrition of developing nations. In human populations, average height can distill down complex data about the group's birth, upbringing, social class, diet, and health care system.


title: Height

text: In their research, Baten, Stegl and van der Eng came to the conclusion that a change in the average height is a sign for a change in the economic development. With broad data of Indonesia, the researchers state that several incidents in the history of the country has led not only to a change in the economy but also to a change in the population’s average height.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: "Six flags over Texas" is the slogan used to describe the six sovereign countries that have had control over some or all of the current territory of the U.S. state of Texas: Spain (1519–1685; 1690–1821), France (1685–1690), Mexico (1821–1836), the Republic of Texas (1836–1845), the United States (1845–1861; 1865–present), and the Confederate States (1861–1865).


title: Six flags over Texas

text: This slogan has been incorporated into shopping malls, theme parks (Six Flags, including the flagship park, Six Flags Over Texas, outside Dallas), and other enterprises. The six flags fly in front of the state welcome centers on the state's borders with Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mexico, and Oklahoma. In Austin, the six flags fly in front of the Bullock Texas State History Museum; the Texas State Capitol has the six coats of arms on its northern façade, and the University of Texas at Austin Life Sciences Library, previously the location of the central library in the Main Building, has each coat of arms displayed in plaster emblems with short excerpts representative of the constitutions of each country. The six flags are also shown on the reverse of the Seal of Texas.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: While six flags are universally accepted throughout the state, some controversy exists regarding a potential seventh: The Republic of the Rio Grande. Ultimately, the former nation is not included, but certain local governments such as the city of Laredo hold it as a prominent member of the array.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: Some consider the six flags slogan problematic because it omits reference to the Native Americans who lived in Texas prior to the arrival of Europeans and Native territories such as Comancheria, but neither used flags.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: The first flag belonged to Spain, which ruled most of Texas from 1519 to 1685 and 1690 to 1821. Three Spanish flags were used during this period: the "castle and lion" arms of the Crown of Castile (see Flag of Castile and León); the Cross of Burgundy, a military and maritime flag also used by the viceroys of New Spain; and the "Rojigualda" introduced by King Charles III in 1785, containing horizontal stripes of red-gold-red and the simple arms of Castile and León. This third flag has been used by Spain in various forms to the present day, and is the flag used in the reverse of the Seal of Texas and adopted by the Texas Historical Commission.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: The second flag was the royal banner of the Kingdom of France from 1684 to 1690. In 1684, French nobleman René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, founded a colony on the Texas Gulf Coast called Fort Saint Louis. The colony was unsuccessful, and after La Salle's murder, was soon abandoned. During this time, no official French flag existed, so a number of designs are used in displays of the "six flags".


title: Six flags over Texas

text: Later on in 1800, Spain ceded Louisiana to France under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. French Louisiana included northern sections of Texas. It remained in the hands of France until 1803, when France sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States. However, what was later northern Texas was sold back to Spain years later.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: The third flag flown (1821 through 1836) was the flag of Mexico. Mexico's independence was recognized by Spain in September 1821. The Mexican flag displayed in the Austin Capitol is the one of the Mexican Republic of 1823 through 1864.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: The fourth flag belonged to the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845. The Republic had two national flags during its history, the first being the so-called "Burnet Flag". The "Lone Star Flag", the final national flag, became the state flag when Texas joined the United States as a U.S. state in 1845.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: The fifth and current flag is that of the United States, which Texas joined in 1845. Upon secession, Texas abandoned this flag for its sixth, until readmission to the Union in 1865.


title: Six flags over Texas

text: The sixth flag belonged to the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. During this time, the Confederate States had three national flags.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Death Valley Days is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a syndicated television series, with reruns (updated with new narrations) continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western programs in broadcast history."


title: Death Valley Days

text: The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (20 Mule Team Borax, Boraxo) and hosted by Stanley Andrews ("The Old Ranger") (1952–1964), Ronald Reagan (1964–1965), Rosemary DeCamp (1965), Robert Taylor (1966–1969), and Dale Robertson (1969–1970). With the death of Dale Robertson in 2013, all former "Death Valley Days" hosts are now deceased. Hosting the series was Reagan's final work as an actor; he left the series to run in 1966 for Governor of California.


title: Death Valley Days

text: The television series was conceived by Pacific Coast Borax Company's advertising agency McCann-Erickson through company executive Dorothy McCann and Mitchell J. Hamilburg, who represented Gene Autry's Flying A Productions.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Each of the 452 television episodes was introduced by a host. The longest-running was "The Old Ranger," a character played by veteran actor Stanley Andrews for 296 episodes.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Following the departure of Andrews, all subsequent hosts appeared under their own names. The first was Ronald Reagan, the former host of CBS's "General Electric Theater" and future governor and U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. Reagan acted in twenty-one episodes of "Death Valley Days", including the 1965 segment "A City Is Born." In that one, he played mining developer Charles Poston, the "Father of Arizona". In 1965, Rosemary DeCamp subbed for Ronald Reagan as host on Death Valley Days. FCC rules of the time compelled the removal of Reagan's scenes when the show was telecast in California, where he was running for governor.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Then the "Death Valley Days" hosting position went to Reagan's friend and fellow Hollywood actor, Robert Taylor. Like Reagan, Taylor appeared as a character in some of the shows, including "The Day All Marriages Were Cancelled" (1966), also based on the career of Charles Poston. He portrayed Horace Bell in another 1967 episode, "Major Horace Bell." That same year in the episode "Shanghai Kelly's Birthday Party," Taylor played James Kelly of San Francisco. After playing Porter Stockton in another 1967 episode "Halo for a Badman", he would portray Texas John Slaughter, a role most associated with Tom Tryon, in the 1968 "Death Valley Days" episode "A Short Cut through Tombstone."


title: Death Valley Days

text: Taylor became gravely ill in 1969, and after 69 episodes was succeeded by Dale Robertson, former star of two other western series, "Tales of Wells Fargo" and "Iron Horse". Robertson would serve as host and occasional actor for 23 episodes until production of new episodes ceased in 1970. In 1975, the show briefly returned in reruns, with singer Merle Haggard providing narration for some previously made episodes.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Parts of the series were filmed in Kanab, Utah. Most episodes, though, were filmed in Los Angeles, California.


title: Death Valley Days

text: As the series continued on the air, episodes began to focus on nearly any portion of the American West, not just the Death Valley country. Most episodes portrayed events in the late 19th century, the heyday of the "Old West". Some, however, were set in much earlier times, especially the Spanish colonial era, and a few recounted stories from the early 20th century.


title: Death Valley Days

text: While the series followed the anthology format, with all new stories and characters in each episode, the series would utilize many character actors over its 18-year run; some of whom (such as Don Haggerty, John Pickard, Gregg Barton, Michael Vallon, James Seay, Guy Wilkerson and Roy Engel) would reappear over the entire run of the series.


title: Death Valley Days

text: For its first two years, the series was produced by Autry's Flying A Productions; then from 1954 to 1959, it was handled by McGowan Productions, also known for the "Sky King" series. Filmaster Productions Inc., which produced the first several seasons of "Gunsmoke" for CBS Television, took over production of the series after 1959. Madison Productions began to produce the series in 1965.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Although Rio Tinto, successor-in-interest to the series' original sponsor, U.S. Borax, still has a financial stake in this show because copyrights are still held by the United States Borax and Chemical Corporation, the major rights are now held by Element 5 Media, LLC for the broadcast rights and home video rights.


title: Death Valley Days

text: "Death Valley Days" is by far the most successful syndicated television western series, the most successful television western ever in the half-hour format, and one of the longest-running and most successful of all scripted syndicated series. The end of the series in 1970, coupled with the end of "Bonanza" in 1973 and "Gunsmoke" in 1975, marked the demise of the traditional Western era in American television; by the mid-1970s, although western elements were still fairly common in modern series, such as "Little House on the Prairie," pure western series were a thing of the past.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Under the "Death Valley Days" title, the program was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which during the program's run changed its name to U.S. Borax Company following a merger. Advertisements for the company's best-known products, 20 Mule Team Borax, a laundry additive, Borateem, a laundry detergent, and Boraxo, a powdered hand soap, were often done by the program's host. Death Valley was the scene of much of the company's borax mining operations. The "20-Mule Team Borax" consumer products division of U.S. Borax was eventually bought out by the Dial Corporation, which as of 2014, as a division of the German consumer products concern Henkel, still manufactures and markets them. Rio Tinto Group absorbed the U.S. Borax mining operations in 1968 and now owns the TV series.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Paul Korver's company Cinelicious in Hollywood was part of the restoration of the TV series "Death Valley Days", restoring 458 half-hour film episodes. Cinelicious worked with U.S. Borax Film Archives and Rio Tinto Group in preserving the TV series. The 16mm, and 35 mm film of "Death Valley Days" was scanned at 4K resolution for film preservation on a Scanity starting in 2013.


title: Death Valley Days

text: During the latter years of the series, some new episodes were still being made while older episodes were already in syndication. In some markets, new episodes could even be running in competition with older ones. To make it easier for viewers to distinguish between old and new, some blocks of syndicated "Death Valley Days" episodes were shown under other series names and with different hosts. This was common practice at the time among syndicated series because it was easy to reshoot the hosting portions of an episode without affecting the main content. Alternate series titles and their respective hosts included "Frontier Adventure" (Dale Robertson), "The Pioneers" (Will Rogers, Jr.), "Trails West" (Ray Milland), "Western Star Theater" (Rory Calhoun), and "Call of the West" (John Payne). The last title was also often applied to the series' memorable, haunting theme music.


title: Death Valley Days

text: The restored TV series is currently broadcast on GRIT in the United States, with 2-4 episodes regularly airing on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Two episodes of "Death Valley Days" are shown weekdays beginning at 6:35 p.m. Eastern on the Encore Westerns Channel.


title: Death Valley Days

text: Shout! Factory (on behalf of Element 5 Media LLC and Rio Tinto), has released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1. Both seasons were released as Walmart exclusives. The third season was released on March 21, 2017 The thirteenth season was released on July 31, 2017, as a Walmart exclusive. Then, on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, the title "went wide" with a general retail release. The fourteenth season was released on January 2, 2018.


title: Roman Baber

text: Roman Baber (born 1980) is a Canadian politician who was the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for York Centre from 2018 to 2022. Baber was elected as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario until he was removed by Premier Doug Ford, the party leader, in January 2021. He sat as an Independent until the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly on May 3, 2022.


title: Roman Baber

text: Baber was born and raised in the former Soviet Union. He and his family moved to Israel when he was eight, before emigrating to Canada in 1995, when he was 15.


title: Roman Baber

text: Baber's family settled in Toronto in the Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue area, an area he represented. He is a lawyer by profession, and attended William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute and York University, before earning his law degree at the University of Western Ontario.


title: Roman Baber

text: In April 2019, Baber was asked by Premier Doug Ford to review the government's autism program. Baber's review, later termed the Baber Report, was provided anonymously to "The Globe and Mail" after it was shared with the government's Autism Advisory Panel. On July 29, 2019, the Ontario government apologized to the families of autistic children for the initial plan and acknowledged that the changes to the autism program announced earlier that year were poorly conceived.


title: Roman Baber

text: He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus until January 15, 2021 when Premier Doug Ford removed him from caucus over his opposition to the province's lockdown and restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario.


title: Roman Baber

text: Baber was Chair of Parliament's Justice Policy Committee until his removal by a Government motion on February 16, 2021.


title: Roman Baber

text: On March 9, 2022, Baber declared his intent to run in the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election. Baber ran on a platform of restoring Canada's democracy. He inspired by his ejection from Premier Doug Ford's PC caucus, Baber pledged to allow MPs to vote their conscience and express their personal views without fear of repercussions. He pledged to oppose Quebec's Bill 21 and Bill 96, repeal the Trudeau government's carbon tax, end Canada's equalization program, phase out supply management, and more. On September 10th, it was announced that Pierre Poilievre won the leadership on the first ballot. Baber placed fourth, garnering 5.03% of the points and 5.4% of the votes cast.


title: Rice cooker

text: A rice cooker or rice steamer is an automated kitchen appliance designed to boil or steam rice. It consists of a heat source, a cooking bowl, and a thermostat. The thermostat measures the temperature of the cooking bowl and controls the heat. Complex, high-tech rice cookers may have more sensors and other components, and may be multipurpose.


title: Rice cooker

text: The term "rice cooker" formerly applied to non-automated dedicated rice-cooking utensils, which have an ancient history (a ceramic rice steamer dated to 1250 BC is on display in the British Museum). It now applies mostly to automated cookers. Electric rice cookers were developed in Japan, where they are known as "" (炊飯器, literally, "boil-rice-device").


title: Rice cooker

text: A basic rice cooker has a main body (pot), an inner cooking container which holds the rice, an electric heating element, and a thermostat.


title: Rice cooker

text: The bowl is filled with rice and water and heated at full power; the water reaches and stays at boiling point (100 °C, 212 °F). When the water has all been absorbed, the temperature can rise above boiling point, which trips the thermostat. Some cookers switch to low-power "warming" mode, keeping the rice at a safe temperature of approximately 65 °C (150 °F); simpler models switch off; the rice has entered the resting phase.


title: Rice cooker

text: More advanced cookers may use fuzzy logic for more detailed temperature control, induction rather than resistive heating, a steaming tray for other foods, and even the ability to rinse the rice.


title: Rice cooker

text: Brown rice generally needs longer cooking times than white rice, unless it is broken, or flourblasted (which perforates the bran).


title: Rice cooker

text: Many models feature an ability to cook sticky rice or porridge as an added value. Most can be used as steamers. Some can be used as slow cookers. Some other models can bake bread or in some cases have an added function to maintain temperatures suitable for fermentation of bread dough or yogurt. Multi-purpose devices with rice cooking capability are not necessarily called "rice cookers", but typically "multi-cookers".


title: Rice cooker

text: A rice cooker, or slow cooker, can be used in conjunction with a temperature probe and an external thermostat to cook food at a stable low temperature ("sous-vide").


title: Rice cooker

text: Automatic electric rice cookers were first released in 1955 by the Japanese company Toshiba. In December 1956, the Toshiba Corporation placed the first commercially successful automated electric rice cookers on the market. Since then, millions have been sold worldwide. The rice cookers available today are not much different from the original models.


title: Surtsey

text: Surtsey ("Surtr's island" in Icelandic, ) is a volcanic island located in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the southern coast of Iceland. At Surtsey is the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1964. The eruption lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of . Since then, wave erosion has caused the island to steadily diminish in size: , its surface area was . The most recent survey (2007) shows the island's maximum elevation at above sea level.


title: Surtsey

text: The new island was named after Surtr, a fire "jötunn" or giant from Norse mythology. It was intensively studied by volcanologists during its eruption, and afterwards by botanists and other biologists as life forms gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other, unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly. It is estimated that Surtsey will remain above sea level until at least the year 2100.


title: Surtsey

text: The eruption was unexpected, and almost certainly began some days before it became apparent at the surface. The sea floor at the eruption site is below sea level, and at this depth volcanic emissions and explosions would be suppressed, quenched and dissipated by the water pressure and density. Gradually, as repeated flows built up a mound of material that approached sea level, the explosions could no longer be contained, and activity broke the surface.


title: Surtsey

text: The first noticeable indications of volcanic activity were recorded at the seismic station in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Iceland from 6 to 8 November 1963, which detected weak tremors emanating from an epicentre approximately west-south-west at a distance of , the location of Surtsey. Another station in Reykjavík recorded even weaker tremors for ten hours on 12 November at an undetermined location, when seismic activity ceased until 21 November. That same day, people in the coastal town of Vík away noticed a smell of hydrogen sulphide. On 13 November, a fishing vessel in search of herring, equipped with sensitive thermometers, noted sea temperatures SW of the eruption center were higher than surrounding waters.


title: Surtsey

text: At 07:15 UTC on 14 November 1963, the cook of "Ísleifur II", a trawler sailing these same waters, spotted a rising column of dark smoke southwest of the boat. The captain thought it might have been a boat on fire, and ordered his crew to investigate. Instead, they encountered explosive eruptions giving off black columns of ash, indicating that a volcanic eruption had begun to breach the surface of the sea. By 11:00 the same day, the eruption column had reached several kilometres in height. At first the eruptions took place at three separate vents along a northeast by southwest trending fissure, but by the afternoon the separate eruption columns had merged into one along the erupting fissure. Over the next week, explosions were continuous, and after just a few days the new island, formed mainly of scoria, measured over in length and had reached a height of .


title: Surtsey

text: As the eruptions continued, they became concentrated at one vent along the fissure and began to build the island into a more circular shape. By 24 November, the island measured about . The violent explosions caused by the meeting of lava and sea water meant that the island consisted of a loose pile of volcanic rock (scoria), which was eroded rapidly by North Atlantic storms during the winter. However, eruptions more than kept pace with wave erosion, and by February 1964, the island had a maximum diameter of over .


title: Surtsey

text: The explosive phreatomagmatic eruptions caused by the easy access of water to the erupting vents threw rocks up to a kilometre (0.6 mi) away from the island, and sent ash clouds as high as up into the atmosphere. The loose pile of unconsolidated tephra would quickly have been washed away had the supply of fresh magma dwindled, and large clouds of dust were often seen blowing away from the island during this stage of the eruption.


title: Surtsey

text: The new island was named after the fire "jötunn" Surtur from Norse mythology ("Surts" is the genitive case of "Surtur", plus -ey, "island"). Three French journalists representing the magazine "Paris Match" notably landed there on 6 December 1963, staying for about 15 minutes before violent explosions encouraged them to leave. The journalists jokingly claimed French sovereignty over the island, but Iceland quickly asserted that the new island belonged to it.


title: Surtsey

text: By early 1964, though, the continuing eruptions had built the island to such a size that sea water could no longer easily reach the vents, and the volcanic activity became much less explosive. Instead, lava fountains and flows became the main form of activity. These resulted in a hard cap of extremely erosion-resistant rock being laid down on top of much of the loose volcanic pile, which prevented the island from being washed away rapidly. Effusive eruptions continued until 1965, by which time the island had a surface area of .


title: Surtsey

text: On 28 December 1963, submarine activity to the northeast of Surtsey began, causing the formation of a ridge high on the sea floor. This seamount was named Surtla , but never reached sea level. Eruptions at Surtla ended on 6 January 1964, and it has since been eroded from its minimum depth of below sea level.


title: Surtsey

text: In 1965, the activity on the main island diminished, but at the end of May that year an eruption began at a vent off the northern shore. By 28 May, an island had appeared, and was named Syrtlingur ( Little Surtsey). The new island was washed away during early June, but reappeared on 14 June. Eruptions at Syrtlingur were much smaller in scale than those that had built Surtsey, with the average rate of emission of volcanic materials being about a tenth of the rate at the main vent. Activity was short-lived, continuing until the beginning of October 1965, by which time the islet had an area of . Once the eruptions had ceased, wave erosion rapidly wore the island away, and it disappeared beneath the waves on 24 October.


title: Surtsey

text: During December 1965, more submarine activity occurred southwest of Surtsey, and another island was formed. It was named Jólnir, and over the following eight months it appeared and disappeared several times, as wave erosion and volcanic activity alternated in dominance. Activity at Jólnir was much weaker than the activity at the main vent, and even weaker than that seen at Syrtlingur, but the island eventually grew to a maximum size of in height, covering an area of , during July and early August 1966. Like Syrtlingur, though, after activity ceased on 8 August 1966, it was rapidly eroded, and dropped below sea level during October 1966.


title: Surtsey

text: Effusive eruptions on the main island returned on 19 August 1966, with fresh lava flows giving it further resistance to erosion. The eruption rate diminished steadily, though, and on 5 June 1967, the eruption ended. The volcano has been dormant ever since. The total volume of lava emitted during the three-and-a-half-year eruption was about one cubic kilometre (0.24 cu mi), and the island's highest point was above sea level at that time.


title: Surtsey

text: Since the end of the eruption, erosion has seen the island diminish in size. A large area on the southeast side has been eroded away completely, while a sand spit called "Norðurtangi" (north point) has grown on the north side of the island. It is estimated that about of material has been lost due to erosion—this represents about a quarter of the original above-sea-level volume of the island. Its maximum elevation has diminished to .


title: Surtsey

text: Following the end of the eruption, scientists established a grid of benchmarks against which they measured the change in the shape of the island. In the 20 years following the end of the eruption, measurements revealed that the island was steadily subsiding and had lost about one metre in height. The rate of subsidence was initially about per year but slowed to a year by the 1990s. It had several causes: settling of the loose tephra forming the bulk of the volcano, compaction of sea floor sediments underlying the island, and downward warping of the lithosphere due to the weight of the volcano.


title: Surtsey

text: Volcanoes in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago are typically monogenetic, and so the island is unlikely to be enlarged in the future by further eruptions. The heavy seas around the island have been eroding it ever since the island appeared, and since the end of the eruption almost half of its original area has been lost. The island currently loses about of its surface area each year.


title: Surtsey

text: As a suspected part of the Iceland plume, this island is unlikely to disappear entirely in the near future. The eroded area consisted mostly of loose tephra, easily washed away. Most of the remaining area is capped by hard lava flows, which are much more resistant to erosion. In addition, complex chemical reactions within the loose tephra within the island have gradually formed highly erosion-resistant tuff material, in a process known as palagonitization. On Surtsey, this process has happened quite rapidly, due to high temperatures not far below the surface.


title: Surtsey

text: Estimates of how long Surtsey will survive are based on the rate of erosion seen up to the present day. Assuming that the current rate does not change, the island will be mostly at or below sea level by 2100. However, the rate of erosion is likely to slow as the tougher core of the island is exposed: an assessment assuming that the rate of erosion will slow exponentially suggests that the island will survive for many centuries. An idea of what it will look like in the future is given by the other small islands in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, which formed in the same way as Surtsey several thousand years ago, and have eroded away substantially since they were formed.


title: Surtsey

text: A classic site for the study of biocolonisation from founder populations, Surtsey was declared a nature reserve in 1965, while the eruption was still in active progress. Today only a few scientists are permitted to land on Surtsey; the only way anyone else can see it closely is from a small plane. This allows the natural ecological succession for the island to proceed without outside interference. In 2008, UNESCO declared the island a World Heritage Site, in recognition of its great scientific value.


title: Surtsey

text: In the spring of 1965, the first vascular plant was found growing on the northern shore of Surtsey, mosses became visible in 1967, and lichens were first found on the Surtsey lava in 1970. Plant colonisation on Surtsey has been closely studied, the vascular plants in particular as they have been of far greater significance than mosses, lichens and fungi in the development of vegetation.


title: Surtsey

text: Mosses and lichens now cover much of the island. During the island's first 20 years, 20 species of plants were observed at one time or another, but only 10 became established in the nutrient-poor sandy soil. As birds began nesting on the island, soil conditions improved, and more vascular plant species were able to survive. In 1998, the first bush was found on the island—a tea-leaved willow ("Salix phylicifolia"), which can grow to heights of up to . By 2008, 69 species of plant had been found on Surtsey, of which about 30 had become established. This compares to the approximately 490 species found on mainland Iceland. More species continue to arrive, at a typical rate of roughly 2–5 new species per year.


title: Surtsey

text: The expansion of bird life on the island has both relied on and helped to advance the spread of plant life. Birds use the plants for nesting material, but also continue to assist in the spreading of seeds, and fertilize the soil with their guano. Birds first began nesting on Surtsey three years after the eruptions ended, with fulmar and guillemot the first species to set up home. Twelve species are now regularly found on the island.


title: Surtsey

text: A gull colony has been present since 1984, although gulls were seen briefly on the shores of the new island weeks after it first appeared. The gull colony has been particularly important in developing the plant life on Surtsey, and the gulls have had much more of an impact on plant colonisation than other breeding species due to their abundance. An expedition in 2004 found the first evidence of nesting Atlantic puffins, which are abundant in the rest of the archipelago.


title: Surtsey

text: As well as providing a home for some species of birds, Surtsey has also been used as a stopping-off point for migrating birds, particularly those en route between Europe and Iceland. Species that have been seen briefly on the island include whooper swans, various species of geese, and common ravens. Although Surtsey lies to the west of the main migration routes to Iceland, it has become a more common stopping point as its vegetation has improved. In 2008, the 14th breeding bird species was detected with the discovery of a common raven's nest.


title: Surtsey

text: Soon after the island's formation, seals were seen around the island. They soon began basking there, particularly on the northern spit, which grew as the waves eroded the island. Seals were found to be breeding on the island in 1983, and a group of up to 70 made the island their breeding spot. Grey seals are more common on the island than harbour seals, but both are now well established. The presence of seals attracts orcas, which are frequently seen in the waters around the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago and now frequent the waters around Surtsey.


title: Surtsey

text: On the submarine portion of the island, many marine species are found. Starfish are abundant, as are sea urchins and limpets. The rocks are covered in algae, and seaweed covers much of the submarine slopes of the volcano, with its densest cover between below sea level.


title: Surtsey

text: Insects arrived on Surtsey soon after its formation, and were first detected in 1964. The original arrivals were flying insects, carried to the island by winds and their own power. Some were believed to have been blown across from as far away as mainland Europe. Later insect life arrived on floating driftwood, and both live animals and carcasses washed up on the island. When a large, grass-covered tussock washed ashore in 1974, scientists took half of it for analysis and discovered 663 land invertebrates, mostly mites and springtails, the great majority of which had survived the crossing.


title: Surtsey

text: The establishment of insect life provided some food for birds, and birds in turn helped many species to become established on the island. The bodies of dead birds provide sustenance for carnivorous insects, while the fertilisation of the soil and resulting promotion of plant life provides a viable habitat for herbivorous insects.


title: Surtsey

text: The first earthworm was found in a soil sample in 1993, probably carried over from Heimaey by a bird. However, the next year no earthworms were found. Slugs were found in 1998, and appeared to be similar to varieties found in the southern Icelandic mainland. Spiders and beetles have also become established.


title: Surtsey

text: The only significant human impact is a small prefabricated hut which is used by researchers while staying on the island. The hut includes a few bunk beds and a solar power source to drive an emergency radio and other key electronics. There is also an abandoned lighthouse foundation. All visitors check themselves and belongings to ensure no seeds are accidentally introduced by humans to this ecosystem. It is believed that some boys who sneaked over from Heimaey by rowboat planted potatoes, which were promptly dug up once discovered. An improperly managed human defecation resulted in a tomato plant taking root, which was also destroyed.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios (; born January 20, 1964) is a former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for 16 seasons, primarily with the Chicago White Sox, from 1985 to 2000. During that time, he won the American Rookie of the Year Award and also a Gold Glove. He was considered one of the best defensive shortstops of his era. Guillen later managed the Chicago White Sox from 2004 to 2011, winning the World Series in 2005 and then moving to the Miami Marlins in 2012.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: As a player, Guillén was respected for his passion, speed, hustle, intensity and defensive abilities and his ebullient love for the game. In 2005, Guillen became the first Latino manager in major league history to win a World Series when he captained the Chicago White Sox to their first championship in 88 years.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Guillén was a light-hitting, quick-handed shortstop, emerging from a line of Venezuelan shortstops that included Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio (both White Sox players), Dave Concepción, and Omar Vizquel (who played for Guillen as a utility player for the White Sox). He was originally signed as a free agent by the San Diego Padres in 1980. In December 1984, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox as part of an eight-player trade, with Tim Lollar, Bill Long and Luis Salazar in exchange for LaMarr Hoyt.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In 1985, Guillén was both the American League Rookie of the Year and "The Sporting News" Rookie of the Year, while also becoming just the third rookie shortstop in major league history to win a fielding title. He became known for his daring, aggressive style of play, as was demonstrated on August 2, 1985, in a game against the New York Yankees. With the game tied 5–5 in the 11th inning, Guillén hit a two-out single and, then proceeded to steal second base. When the next batter hit an infield single, Guillén never hesitated as he rounded third base, catching the Yankees defense off guard and scored the game-winning run.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In 1989, Guillén was the victim of a hidden ball trick twice. First on June 23 when Greg Brock tagged him out when Guillén, the runner at first base, took his lead, and then had to dive back to the base on a pick off throw from the pitcher. Brock held the ball instead of throwing it back to the pitcher, and when Guillén took his hand off the base to stand up, Brock tagged him out. On August 5, Dave Bergman made the same play, holding onto the ball following a pick off throw. Guillén again dove to the base to beat the throw, and when he took his hand off the base to stand up, Bergman tagged him on top of the batting helmet without looking at him.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: On April 21, 1992, Guillén suffered a severe knee injury in a collision with outfielder Tim Raines. The injury caused him to miss almost the entire season, and subsequently diminished his defensive range as well as his stolen base output for the remainder of his career. Guillén recovered in 1993 with his most productive season offensively, posting a .280 batting average, and he hit a career-high four home runs and had 50 runs batted in (RBI) in 134 games. The White Sox went on to win the American League Western Division title. He hit .273 and scored four runs in the 1993 American League Championship Series as the White Sox were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays in six games.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In October 1997, after 13 seasons with the White Sox, Guillén was granted free agency status and signed a contract to play for the Baltimore Orioles. In May 1998, the Orioles released him and he signed with the Atlanta Braves as a utility infielder. He helped the Braves win the 1999 National League Championship Series against the New York Mets with a 10th inning, pinch hit single in Game 6 of the series that tied the score at nine runs apiece, as the Braves went on to win the game and the series. The Braves would eventually lose to the New York Yankees in Guillén's only World Series appearance as a player. After playing one year with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000, he retired as a player at the end of the season at the age of 36.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In a sixteen-year major league career, Guillén played in 1,993 games, accumulating 1,764 hits in 6,686 at bats for a .264 career batting average along with 28 home runs, 619 runs batted in, and an on-base percentage of .287. Guillén was an All-Star in 1988, 1990–1991, and won the Gold Glove Award in 1990. He led American League shortstops twice in range factor, once in assists and once in fielding percentage. Guillén's .974 career fielding percentage ranks him 40th overall among major league shortstops, ahead of, among others, of both Luis Aparicio and Dave Concepción. While he was considered one of the best fielding shortstops in the American League, Guillén was often overlooked in post-season fielding awards because his playing career coincided with that of Tony Fernandez, Cal Ripken Jr., and later Omar Vizquel. This trio would win every American League Gold Glove for a shortstop from 1986 until 2001, with the one exception being Guillén's 1990 season award. Guillén ranks among the White Sox all-time leaders in games played (sixth), hits (seventh), at-bats (sixth), plate appearances (seventh), total bases (10th) and triples (10th). As a hitter, he was known as a free swinger, posting one of the highest at bats per walk ratios in major league history and also had one of the lowest on base percentages for many of the years he played. Guillén played his entire Venezuelan Winter League career with Tiburones de La Guaira.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Following his playing career, Guillén coached for the Montreal Expos in 2001 and 2002 and the World Champion Florida Marlins (now known as the Miami Marlins). In 2003, he was hired in the offseason to replace Jerry Manuel as the White Sox manager. He received a standing ovation from the crowd of 37,706 Chicagoans when introduced before his first game as a manager at U.S. Cellular Field on April 13, 2004. On May 30, 2005, the White Sox extended Guillén's contract, making the move while the team had the best record in the majors (33–17).


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In 2005, he led the White Sox to their first American League pennant since 1959, and their first World Series win since 1917 with a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros. Guillén claimed that he might retire after the 2005 season should the White Sox win the World Series, but at the parade celebrating the World Champions he received cheers from the fans when he announced he would indeed return to manage the next season. The White Sox picked up the 2006 option on his contract, added two more years and included an option for the 2009 season. In November, Guillén was voted the 2005 American League Manager of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. On September 11, 2007, Guillén signed another contract extension with the White Sox through the 2012 season.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: On September 4, 2009, Guillén won his 500th game as manager of the Chicago White Sox as the White Sox defeated the Boston Red Sox by a score of 12–2. Guillen has publicly stated that he feels the 2003 steroids list should be released to the public.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Personal difficulties with White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams led to speculation dating back to October 2010 that the White Sox would allow Guillén out of his contract to manage the Marlins. On September 26, 2011, an inability to get a contract extension worked out with the White Sox eventually led to his being released from his position, with the White Sox retaining the right to receive compensation should Guillén manage in the 2012 season. He finished with a record of 678 wins and 617 losses.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: On September 28, 2011, the Miami Marlins introduced Guillén as their new manager. Robin Ventura replaced Guillén as manager of the White Sox. The Marlins sent Jhan Mariñez and Osvaldo Martínez to the Chicago White Sox as compensation for the hiring of Guillén by the Marlins, as Guillen had one year remaining on his contract with the White Sox.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: The Marlins were expected to contend in their first year in their new park. However, an 8–18 June effectively ended their season, and they finished 69–93, their worst season since the start of the century. On October 23, 2012, Guillen was terminated from the Marlins, despite three years remaining on his contract, after making some inflammatory comments about Fidel Castro.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In February 2016, Guillen was hired to manage the Tiburones de La Guaira of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League for the 2016–17 season.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Guillen was hired to manage the Tiburones de La Guaira of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League for the 2016–17 season, but has not found his way back to a major league dugout. In 2022 has been named the bench coach for Team France in this year’s World Baseball Classic, joining the staff of manager Bruce Bochy. The French team will compete in a qualifier in Regensburg, Germany in September.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Guillén joined ESPN Deportes in 2013, where he has worked as baseball color analyst and talk show panelist. He is currently a studio analyst for NBC Sports Chicago before and after White Sox games.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Guillén married Ibis Cardenas in 1983. They have three sons: Ozwaldo "Ozzie" Jr. (born 1985), Oney (born 1986), and Ozney (born 1992). Ozzie Jr. was born in Las Vegas, Nevada; his two younger brothers were born in Venezuela. When Ozzie Guillen turned 42 in January 2006, he, his wife, and son Oney became naturalized U.S. citizens. Ozzie Jr. is the lead Spanish-language broadcaster on the White Sox radio network.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: Guillen is known for being somewhat eccentric and outspoken, which sometimes lands him in the middle of controversy. He declined to join in the traditional visit to the White House after the 2005 White Sox World Series win.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In June 2006 he was quoted as calling "Chicago Sun-Times" columnist Jay Mariotti a fag. He later apologized for offending any LGBTQ people, but did not back down in his criticism of Mariotti.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: In 2010, he spoke against Arizona's new law to deal with illegal immigration. Guillen described illegal immigrants as "workaholics." "And this country can't survive without them," he said. "There are a lot of people from this country who are lazy. We're not. Prove me wrong. A lot of people in this country want to be on the computer and send e-mails to people. We do the hard work. We're the ones who go out and work in the sun to make this country better." In August, Guillen said that Asian players were treated better than Latino players, stating that while it is common practice for major league clubs to provide a Japanese or Korean translator for their Asian born players, no such translator is provided for their Spanish-speaking Latin American ballplayers.


title: Ozzie Guillén

text: On April 10, 2012, Guillén was suspended for five games by the Marlins due to comments made about former Cuban president Fidel Castro. In a "Time" interview Guillen said, "I love Fidel Castro ... I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last [53] years, but that mofo is still here." The fallout from those comments was a major factor in his ouster after the season; according to Marlins baseball operations chief Larry Beinfest, the Marlins' attendance flatlined after those remarks and never recovered, although the Marlins actually reached over two million fans in attendance that season (the third and so far last time that has happened for the Marlins).


title: Abaddon's Gate

text: Abaddon's Gate is a science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). It is about a conflict in the Solar System that involves Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt (colonies of people living on asteroids, referred to as "Belters"). It is the third title of The Expanse series and is preceded by "Leviathan Wakes" and "Caliban's War". The series is continued in "Cibola Burn". The book was released on 4 June 2013, as well released as an audiobook by Audible, narrated by Jefferson Mays.


title: Abaddon's Gate

text: "Abaddon's Gate" was adapted into episodes 7 to 13 of the third season of the television series "The Expanse" in 2018, with its title taken for the final episode of that season. It was the last book in the series to be adapted before the show's move from Syfy to Amazon Prime.


title: Abaddon's Gate

text: James Holden and his crew on the salvaged Martian warship "Rocinante" played a role in two major events in human history: saving the Earth from the first direct proof of alien technology discovered in our Solar System, and saving as many people as they could when a new form of the technology appeared on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. As part of the first incident, the alien technology crashed on Venus, where it churned for months doing something unknown while the solar system watched. When complete, the semi-intelligent collection of chemicals flew away from Venus and built a wormhole gate, called "The Ring", beyond the orbit of Uranus. "The Ring" acted as a gateway to an unknown number of other worlds.


title: Abaddon's Gate

text: "Abaddon's Gate" won the 2014 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. "Publishers Weekly" gave "Abaddon's Gate" a starred review saying that "series fans will find this installment the best yet".


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso the Magnanimous (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfonso V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfonso I) from 1442 until his death. He was involved with struggles to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples with Louis III of Anjou, Joanna II of Naples and their supporters, but ultimately failed and lost Naples in 1424. He recaptured it in 1442 and was crowned king of Naples. He had good relations with his vassal, Stjepan Kosača, and his ally, Skanderbeg, providing assistance in their struggles in the Balkans. He led diplomatic contacts with the Ethiopian Empire and was a prominent political figure of the early Renaissance, being a supporter of literature as well as commissioning several constructions for the Castel Nuovo.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Born at Medina del Campo, he was the son of Ferdinand of Trastámara and Eleanor of Alburquerque. Ferdinand was the brother of King Henry III of Castile, and Alfonso was betrothed to his uncle King Henry's daughter Maria in 1408. In 1412, Ferdinand was selected to succeed to the territories of the Crown of Aragon. Alfonso and Maria's marriage was celebrated in Valencia on 12 June 1415.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: King Ferdinand died on 2 April 1416, and Alfonso succeeded him as king of Aragon, Valencia, and Majorca and count of Barcelona. He also claimed the island of Sardinia, though it was then in the possession of Genoa. Alfonso was also in possession of much of Corsica by the 1420s.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso's marriage with Maria was childless. His mistress Lucrezia d'Alagno served as a "de facto" queen at the Neapolitan court as well as an inspiring muse. With another mistress, , Alfonso had three children: Ferdinand (1423–1494), Maria (who married Leonello d'Este), and Eleanor (who married Mariano Marzano). With


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: the last mistress Ippolita, married de'Giudici, Alfonso had one daughther Colia (1430-1473/5) married in 1445 with Emanuele d'Appiano, Lord of Piombino, Count of Holy Roman Empire. The d'Appiano d'Aragona family receive, in 1509 the title of Prince of Holy Roman Empire.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso was the object of diplomatic contacts from the Empire of Ethiopia. In 1428, he received a letter from Yeshaq I of Ethiopia, borne by two dignitaries, which proposed an alliance against the Muslims and would be sealed by a dual marriage that would require Alfonso's brother Peter to bring a group of artisans to Ethiopia where he would marry Yeshaq's daughter. In return, Alfonso sent a party of 13 craftsmen, all of whom perished on the way to Ethiopia. He later sent a letter to Yeshaq's successor Zara Yaqob in 1450, in which he wrote that he would be happy to send artisans to Ethiopia if their safe arrival could be guaranteed, but it probably never reached Zara Yaqob.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: In 1421 the childless Queen Joanna II of Naples adopted and named him as heir to the Kingdom of Naples, and Alfonso went to Naples. Here he hired the condottiero Braccio da Montone with the task of reducing the resistance of his rival claimant, Louis III of Anjou, and his forces led by Muzio Attendolo Sforza. With Pope Martin V supporting Sforza, Alfonso switched his religious allegiance to the Aragonese antipope Benedict XIII. When Sforza abandoned Louis' cause, Alfonso seemed to have all his problems solved; however, his relationship with Joanna suddenly worsened, and in May 1423 he had her lover, Gianni Caracciolo, a powerful figure in the Neapolitan court, arrested.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: After an attempt to arrest the queen herself had failed, Joan called on Sforza who defeated the Aragonese militias near Castel Capuano in Naples. Alfonso fled to Castel Nuovo, but the help of a fleet of 22 galleys led by Giovanni da Cardona improved his situation. Sforza and Joanna ransomed Caracciolo and retreated to the fortress of Aversa. Here she repudiated her earlier adoption of Alfonso and, with the backing of Martin V, named Louis III as her heir instead.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: The duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, joined the anti-Aragonese coalition. Alfonso requested support from Braccio da Montone, who was besieging Joanna's troops in L'Aquila, but had to set sail for Spain, where a war had broken out between his brothers and the Kingdom of Castile. On his way towards Barcelona, Alfonso sacked Marseille, a possession of Louis III.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: In late 1423 the Genoese fleet of Filippo Maria Visconti moved in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, rapidly conquering Gaeta, Procida, Castellammare and Sorrento. Naples, which was held by Alfonso's brother, Pedro de Aragon, was besieged in 1424 by the Genoese ships and Joanna's troops, now led by Francesco Sforza, the son of Muzio Sforza (who had met his death at L'Aquila). The city fell in April 1424. Pedro, after a short resistance in Castel Nuovo, fled to Sicily in August. Joanna II and Louis III again took possession of the realm, although the true power was in the hands of Gianni Caracciolo.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: An opportunity for Alfonso to reconquer Naples occurred in 1432, when Caracciolo was killed in a conspiracy. Alfonso tried to regain the favour of the queen, but failed, and had to wait for the death of both Louis (at Cosenza in 1434) and Joanna herself (February 1435). In her will, she bequeathed her realm to René of Anjou, Louis III's younger brother. This solution was opposed by the new pope, Eugene IV, who was the feudal overlord of the Kingdom of Naples. The Neapolitans having called in the French, Alfonso decided to intervene and, with the support of several barons of the kingdom, captured Capua and besieged the important sea fortress of Gaeta. His fleet of 25 galleys was met by the Genoese ships sent by Visconti, led by Biagio Assereto. In the Battle of Ponza that ensued, Alfonso was defeated and taken prisoner.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: In Milan, Alfonso impressed his captor with his cultured demeanor and persuaded him to let him go by persuading that it was not in Milan's interest to prevent the victory of the Aragonese party in Naples. Helped by a Sicilian fleet, Alfonso recaptured Capua and set his base in Gaeta in February 1436. Meanwhile, papal troops had invaded the Neapolitan kingdom, but Alfonso bribed their commander, Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, and their successes waned.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: In the meantime, René had managed to reach Naples on 19 May 1438. Alfonso tried to besiege the city in the following September, but failed. His brother Pedro was killed during the battle. Castel Nuovo, where an Aragonese garrison resisted, fell to the Angevine mercenaries in August 1439. After the death of his condottiero Jacopo Caldora, however, René's fortune started to decline: Alfonso could easily capture Aversa, Salerno, Benevento, Manfredonia and Bitonto. René, whose possession included now only part of the Abruzzi and Naples, obtained 10,000 men from the pope, but the cardinal leading them signed a truce with Alfonso. Giovanni Sforza came with a reduced corps, as troops sent by Eugene IV had halted his father Francesco in the Marche.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso, provided with the most impressive artillery of the times, again besieged Naples. The siege began on 10 November 1441, ending on 2 June the following year. After the return of René to Provence, Alfonso easily reduced the remaining resistance and made his triumphal entrance in Naples on 26 February 1443, as the monarch of a pacified kingdom.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso then reunited under his dominion the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, divided since the Sicilian Vespers. After the personal union, he began to call himself "Rex Utriusque Siciliae"; this was then used by other kings and his successors who ruled over those territories.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Like many Renaissance rulers, Alfonso V was a patron of the arts. He founded the Academy of Naples under Giovanni Pontano, and for his entrance into the city in 1443 had a magnificent triumphal arch added to the main gate of Castel Nuovo. Alfonso V supplied the theme of Renaissance sculptures over the west entrance.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso was particularly attracted to classical literature. He reportedly brought copies of the works of Livy and Julius Caesar on his campaigns; the poet Antonio Beccadelli even claimed that Alfonso was cured of a disease by the reading of a few pages from Quintus Curtius Rufus' history of Alexander the Great. Although this reputed erudition attracted scholars to his court, Alfonso apparently enjoyed pitting them against each other in spectacles of bawdy Latin rhetoric.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: After his conquest of Naples in 1442, Alfonso ruled primarily through his mercenaries and political lackeys. In his Italian kingdom, he maintained the former political and administrative institutions. His holdings in Spain were governed by his wife Maria.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: A unified General Chancellorship for the whole Aragonese realm was set up in Naples, although the main functionaries were of Aragonese nationality. Apart from financial, administrative and artistic improvements, his other accomplishments in the Sicilian kingdom include the restoration of the aqueducts, the drainage of marshy areas, and the paving of streets.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso was also a powerful and faithful supporter of Skanderbeg, whom he decided to take under his protection as a vassal in 1451, shortly after the latter had scored his second victory against Murad II. In addition to financial assistance, he supplied the Albanian leader with troops, military equipment, and sanctuary for himself and his family if such a need should arise. This was because in 1448, while Skanderbeg was fighting off the Turkish invasions, three military columns, commanded by Demetrio Reres along with his sons Giorgio and Basilio, had been dispatched to help Alfonso V defeat the barons of Naples who had rebelled against him.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: He also supported Bosnian duke, Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, who turned to the king for help in his affairs in Bosnia. Alfonso made him "Knight of the Virgin", but did not provide any troops. On 15 February 1444, Stjepan signed a treaty with the king of Aragon and Naples, becoming his vassal in exchange for Alfonso's help against his enemies—Stephen Thomas and Ivaniš Pavlović (1441–1450) of the Pavlović noble family as well as the Republic of Venice. In the same treaty, Stjepan promised to pay Alfonso regular tribute instead of paying the Ottoman sultan as he had done until then.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso, by formally submitting his reign to the Papacy, obtained the consent of Pope Eugene IV that the Kingdom of Naples would go to his illegitimate son, Ferdinand. He died in Castel dell'Ovo in 1458, while he was planning the conquest of Genoa. At the time, Alfonso was at odds with Pope Callixtus III, who died shortly afterwards. Alfonso's Iberian possessions had been ruled for him by his brother, who succeeded him as John II of Aragon. Sicily and Sardinia were also inherited by John II.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Alfonso had been betrothed to Maria of Castile (1401–1458; sister of John II of Castile) in Valladolid in 1408; the marriage was celebrated in Valencia on 12 June 1415. They failed to produce children. Alfonso had been in love with a woman of noble family named Lucrezia d'Alagno, who served as a "de facto" queen at the Neapolitan court as well as an inspiring muse.


title: Alfonso V of Aragon

text: Genealogical records in the Old Occitan Chronicle of Montpellier in "Le petit Thalamus de Montpellier" indicate that Alphonso's relationship with his mistress, Giraldona Carlino (daughter of Enrique Carlino and his wife, Isabel), produced three children:


title: Dan Humphrey

text: Daniel Randolph Humphrey is a fictional character in the bestselling "Gossip Girl" novel series. He is one of the central male characters in "Gossip Girl", where he is portrayed by Penn Badgley. Dan Humphrey is the son of Rufus Humphrey and has a younger sister, Jenny Humphrey. Dan's mother, Alison Humphrey, is absent for the majority of the series. Dan and his family live in Brooklyn, the alternative of the old-money and conservative Upper East Side. He attends St. Jude's Preparatory School for Boys on the West Side as a scholarship student. His life changed dramatically when his father, Rufus Humphrey, married the wealthy Lily van der Woodsen, moving the family to the Upper East Side.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: He is described as being attractive and sensitive, loves to write poetry, and one of his poems, "Sluts," was featured in "The New Yorker". He revealed his favorite word is "death" and drinks copious amounts of dark coffee. He overanalyzes and is easily frustrated. Dan is very close and protective of little sister Jenny who attends an exclusive private school, called the Constance Billard School for Girls, a small, elite, all-girls' school located at 93rd Street and Madison Avenue.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: Daniel Humphrey lives with his father Rufus, and sister Jenny in Brooklyn. He is tall, pale, neurotic, intense and enjoys drinking coffee. He is considered to be an intellectual when it comes to writing and literature, and was in fact an intern for The Strand one summer. His favorite past time is writing on his black journals. He goes to St. Jude's Preparatory School for Boys, on the Upper East Side, with Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: In the first part of the books, he is in love with Serena Van Der Woodsen because of a party he threw at their apartment before he went to boarding school. When Serena returned to the Upper East Side, she was ostracized by her peers, so she made friends with Dan and Jenny. Dan later realizes that he has feelings for Vanessa, so he begins a relationship with her.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: They have a fight when a video of Jenny without her pants is leaked onto the internet, and she apologizes by sending his poem to "The New Yorker". Dan gets published, and they make up. He gets an agent called Rusty Klien who claims he is "the next Keats." Rusty introduces Dan to Mystery Craze, a novelist. They hook up on stage at a poetry reading which Vanessa sees, effectively ending their relationship. He gets an internship at Red Letter, which he leaves once he realizes they don't want him there for his talent.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: He gets back together with Vanessa after he sends her a small, pink singing toy from Japan to film, and at a party at her house, a band called The Raves make him their new front man because of his poems, which they thought were lyrics. He hooks up with one of the instrumentalist's wife, which ends his stint with them. He later meets Bree while working at The Strand one summer while he was still dating Vanessa.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: Dan explores his sexuality later in the books by starting a relationship with his Strand co-worker, Greg, by making literary salons with him, which were, in actuality, giant orgies. He breaks up with Greg, who becomes Chuck's boyfriend instead. Dan realizes that he truly loved Vanessa. He went to The Evergreen State College for bachelor studies.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: Dan "Lonely Boy" Humphrey is the son of rocker Rufus Humphrey, and the older brother of Jenny Humphrey. His best friend is Vanessa Abrams, who is secretly in love with him. Dan and his family reside in Brooklyn. He is a writer and attends the St. Jude's School for boys. He has longed for Serena van der Woodsen since a party when they were fifteen and she was the only person who was nice to him. In the beginning of the show, Dan has had somewhat of a disgust towards Serena's childhood best friend, Blair Waldorf, however as the seasons progress he develops a close friendship with her.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: His mother lives away from home, in Hudson, as an artist. Compared to his wealthy classmates at St. Jude's, Dan is financially inferior.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: Dan is one of the first people to see Serena back in person. He accidentally bumps into her, causing her to fall and spill the contents of her purse and leave behind her cellphone. In an attempt to see her again, he returns the phone to The New York Palace Hotel where she lives. He runs into Serena there and ends up on a date that with her so she does not have to go to the "Kiss On The Lips" party which Blair is throwing. They have a rocky first date, going to his dad's concert. The date is ended early because he gets a text from Jenny saying that she needs help at the party. Serena helps Jenny and saves her from Chuck Bass. Dan is highly embarrassed after this, as at the end of the date he only waves to her from a taxi. He and Serena end up going out again but he leaves her after Blair tells him about Serena and Nate hooking up at a party when Nate and Blair were a couple. They make up and become a constant source of attention.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: Behind the scenes, though, is Dan's childhood best friend Vanessa, who is clearly jealous of Serena and very much in love with Dan. Dan is oblivious to this. Despite Dan's clear preference for Serena, Serena cannot help but feel jealous of how close Dan is with Vanessa.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: When he learns from the Gossip Girl site that Serena was seen buying pregnancy tests he freaks out knowing that the child could very well be his as they've slept together. His father sees this as well and is extremely upset that his son may be a teenage father. Dan explains he will stay with Serena no matter what she does because he loves her. He tells this to Serena who says she's not having a child. Later on, he tells her that he loves her, and she responds with, "Okay." She later asks him why he loves her and he tells her a list he made of the reasons. She believes him and says she loves him as well, but she needs to help Blair.


title: Dan Humphrey

text: When Georgina Sparks arrives on the Upper East Side with the intent on making Serena's life hell, she gets to know Dan behind Serena's back. Pretending to be "Sarah" and accidentally-on-purpose letting her dog run off its leash in the park, Georgina gets an excuse to talk to Dan. It is later seen that Dan and Vanessa have taken "Sarah" under their wing as they believe she is a new girl to the Upper East Side who doesn't know her way around.