title: African sacred ibis

text: Introduced sacred ibises bred in the United Arab Emirates in the wildlife reserve on Sir Bani Yas Island, where 6 were introduced in the early 1980s, and which did not leave the island. There was only one left in 1989 and it died that year. Al Ain Zoo has had a flock since 1976, which had increased to some 70 birds by 1991. There are records of ibises showing up in Dubai since the 1980s. Birds in Al Ain initially stayed at the zoo, but began to fly from the zoo to the sewage treatment plant and a shallow wet area in the former public park, now luxury villa park, Ain Al Fayda, where their numbers increased slowly up to 32 in 1997 and they had bred by 1998. They were not numerous outside these locations in 2002, but by 2001 1–5 ibises would show up regularly in Dubai in such places as the golf course, the sewage treatment plant, and the construction site of the now completed Dubai International City. Breeding has since occurred in Dubai. The Dubai birds especially may be partially vagrants arrived from the Iraqi marshes, as they often show up during the migrating season. On the other hand, a bird showing up in Iran is suspected to be from the introduced UAE population. As of 2010 the population in Al Ain numbers over 75 birds, and the free-flying zoo birds roost in two subcolonies on top of their aviary. Birds regularly show up throughout the city and surrounding villages and can often be seen in the early morning in parks and roundabouts picking up scraps left by people the night before.


title: African sacred ibis

text: A breeding population was listed as introduced on Bahrain since at least 2006, but it is also said to be a vagrant on the island.


title: African sacred ibis

text: In Taiwan, the founding population escaped from a zoo prior to 1984, at which time the first wild birds were seen at Guandu in Taipei. In 1998 it was estimated that some 200 birds roamed freely, primarily in northern Taiwan. In 2010 it was added to the Checklist of Birds of Taiwan with the status of 'uncommon' (as opposed to 'rare'). By 2010 the birds were also occasionally sighted on the Matsu Islands, which are only 19 km off the coast of Fujian province in mainland China (and only a few kilometres from other coastal Chinese islands), but 190 km from Taiwan. In 2012 the population was estimated to be 500–600 individuals, and had spread to the west of Taiwan. The first attempts at culling were performed in 2012 using the egg-oiling method (unsuccessful), and by killing chicks from nests (successful). By 2016 the number was estimated at 1000 individuals, of whom around 500 inhabited a wetland in Changhua County. In 2018, the Forestry Bureau embarked on the removal of the population by cooperating with the indigenous hunters, and by August 2021, at least 16,205 birds had been removed by the program.


title: African sacred ibis

text: In Florida five individuals of the species are thought to have escaped Miami Metro Zoo, and perhaps more from private collections, after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. These birds lived in the surroundings but would return to roost at the zoo at night, and the population slowly increased to 30 or 40 by 2005. That same year two pairs were found nesting in the Everglades. Two or three years later the decision was made to remove the species. By 2009 75 birds were removed from Florida, and the birds are believed to be eradicated.


title: African sacred ibis

text: The African sacred ibis occurs in marshy wetlands and mud flats, both inland and on the coast. It preferably nests on trees in or near water. It feeds wading in very shallow wetlands or slowly stomping in wet pastures with soft soil. It will also visit cultivation and rubbish dumps.


title: African sacred ibis

text: The species are predators which feed primarily by day, generally in flocks. The diet consists of mainly insects, worms, crustaceans, molluscs and other invertebrates, as well as various fish, frogs, reptiles, small mammals and carrion. It may also probe into the soil with its long beak for invertebrates such as earthworms. It even sometimes feeds on seeds.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Sacred ibises were observed to occasionally feed on the contents of pelican eggs broken by Egyptian vultures in the mixed colonies of the ibises, cormorants, pelicans and Abdim's storks at Lake Shala in Ethiopia. On Central Island in Lake Turkana sacred ibises were noted to incidentally eat Nile crocodile eggs excavated by Nile monitors. Most recently, in 2006, observations were reported from a large mixed colony on Bird Island (called Penguin Island in the article) in South Africa, where 10,000 pairs of gannets nested, together with 4800 pairs of Cape cormorant and other species such as gulls and jackass penguin. Within a period of 3 years, a few specialized sacred ibis individuals out of the 400 that roosted on the island had fed on at least 152 eggs of the cormorant (other species were even more ovivorous).


title: African sacred ibis

text: In a study of pellets and stomachs contents of nestlings in the Free State, South Africa, food is mostly reported to consist of frogs (mainly "Amietia angolensis" and "Xenopus laevis"), "Potamonautes warreni" crabs, blow fly maggots, Sphingidae caterpillars, and adult beetles. During the first 10 days of life nestlings fed mainly on crabs and beetles, and later mainly on Sphingidae caterpillars and more beetles. The breeding colony collected different (proportions of) prey the subsequent year. The food of one one‐month old nestlings at Lake Shala, Ethiopia, consisted of beetle larvae, caterpillars and beetles. In France, adult ibises fed largely on the invasive crayfish "Procambarus clarkii", for nestlings larvae of "Eristalis" species are important.


title: African sacred ibis

text: The most important predator of nestlings of the sacred ibis in Kenya is the African fish eagle, which preferentially searches for the largest (sub-)colonies to attack, but in Ethiopia and South Africa it poses less of a threat.


title: African sacred ibis

text: This species was reported to be susceptible to avian botulism in a list of dead animals found around a man-made lake in South Africa which tested positive for the pathogen in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During a large scale mortality of Cape cormorants from avian cholera in 1991 in western South Africa, small numbers of sacred ibis were killed. The new species "Chlamydia ibidis" was isolated from feral sacred ibis in France in 2013; it infected 6–7 of the 70 birds tested.


title: African sacred ibis

text: In 1887, the Italian scientist Corrado Parona reported a 3 cm "Physaloptera" species of nematode in the orbital cavity of a sacred ibis collected in Metemma, Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in 1882. He thought it was perhaps a new species, as it differed morphologically from earlier seen worms. A single adult female was recovered, and it has never been seen again. As the "Physaloptera" species infecting birds are generally parasites of the intestines of raptors; it might be an artefact, or perhaps a misidentification, or possibly a dead-end host infection. The digenean trematode "Patagifer bilobus", a fluke, has been reported from sacred ibis in Sudan before 1949. It lives in the small intestine of this species, among numerous other ibises, spoonbills, and a few other waterfowl. It has a complicated life history involving three hosts: the eggs hatch in fresh water where they infect a ram's horn snail in which they multiply and produce cercariae, which exit and encyst in a larger snail such as a "Lymnaea", waiting to be eaten by a bird.


title: African sacred ibis

text: The species usually breeds once per year in the wet season. Breeding season is from March to August in Africa, from April to May in Iraq. It builds a stick nest, often in a baobab tree. The bird nests in tree colonies, often with other large wading birds such as storks, herons, African spoonbills, African darters, cormorants. It may also form single-species groups on offshore islands or abandoned buildings. Island nests are often made on the ground. Large colonies consist of numerous subcolonies and can number 1000 birds.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Females lay one to five eggs per season, incubated by both parents for 21 to 29 days. After hatching, one parent continuously stays at the nest for the first seven days. Chicks fledge after 35 to 40 days and are independent after 44 to 48 days, reaching sexual maturity one to five years after hatching.


title: African sacred ibis

text: The African sacred ibis is classified as "Least Concern" by the IUCN. The global population is estimated at 200,000–450,000 individuals but appears to be decreasing. It is covered by the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA).


title: African sacred ibis

text: For many centuries, sacred ibis, along with two other species in lesser numbers, were commonly mummified by the Ancient Egyptians as a votive offering to the god Thoth. Thoth, whose head is that of an ibis, is the Ancient Egyptian god of wisdom and reason, and thus of truth, knowledge, learning and study, and writing and mathematics. The sacred ibis was considered the living incarnation of Thoth on earth. Pilgrims from all over Egypt brought thousands of ibis offerings to four or more main temples, which at their peak mummified and buried thousands of birds a year in gigantic and ancient catacombs (one complex was in operation for 700 years). Eventually, an estimated eight million birds were mummified and entombed by the Ancient Egyptians.


title: African sacred ibis

text: It has long been thought, to sustain sufficient numbers for the large and sometimes growing demand for sacrifices by the people, dozens of ibis breeding farms (called "ibiotropheia" by Herodotus) were established, initially throughout the regions of Egypt, but later centralised around the main temples, each producing around a thousand birds for mummies annually. An examination of the mitochondrial DNA disputes this and suggests that not only were wild birds caught and added to the captive flocks, but that they provided the bulk of the supply. The mummified birds were often young and were usually killed by breaking their neck. The head and bill were often placed between the tail feathers, and a piece of food was often placed in the bill (often a snail). The particulars of the mummification ritual often differed. The mummies could be stored in ceramic jars, wooden chests or stone sarcophagi. Not all mummies contain whole birds; some (cheaper ones) contain only a leg, an eggshell, or even dried grass from the nest. Birds were given different burials according to their status; as pets, offerings or holy individuals. Special sacred birds were afforded special mummification, transported from their cities to the temples long after normal offerings were sourced from temple farm flocks, and honoured with more luxurious burial. Different regions in Egypt observed slightly different practises regarding the ritual beliefs.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Ibis mummification started by at least 1,100 BC and petered out by approximately 30 BC. Although the numbers of burials peaked at different times depending on the region and temple, the rituals were most popular from the Late Period to the Ptolemaic Period.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Mummified specimens of the sacred ibis were brought back to Europe by Napoleon's army, where they became part of an early debate about evolution.


title: African sacred ibis

text: According to Herodotus and Pliny the Elder the ibis was invoked against incursions of winged serpents. Herodotus wrote:


title: African sacred ibis

text: Josephus tells us that when Moses lead the Hebrews to make war upon the Æthiopians, he brought a great number of the birds in cages of papyrus to oppose any serpents.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Due to perhaps a mistranslation of the Greek of Herodotus, before the early 18th century Europeans were convinced that these ibises had human feet.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Pliny the Elder tells us that it was said that the flies that brought pestilence died immediately upon propitiatory sacrifices of this bird.


title: African sacred ibis

text: According to Claudius Aelianus in "De Natura Animalium", and Gaius Julius Solinus, both quoting much earlier but now lost authors, the sacred ibis procreates with its bill, and thus the bird is always a virgin. Aristotle, writing some 500 years earlier, also mentions this theory, but repudiates it. Picrius mentions how the venomous basilisk is hatched from the eggs of ibis, nurtured from the poisons of all the serpents the birds devour. These authors and many others also mention how crocodiles and snakes are rendered motionless after being touched by the feather of an ibis. Claudius Aelianus also says the ibis is consecrated to the moon.


title: African sacred ibis

text: Pliny and Galen ascribe the invention of the clyster (enema) to the ibis, as according to them it gave such treatments to hippopotami. Plutarch assures us it uses only salt water for this purpose. 1600 years later this was still accepted science, as Claude Perrault, in his anatomical descriptions of the bird, claimed to have found a hole in the bill which the bird used for that purpose.


title: African sacred ibis

text: In the century before the time of Christ and for at least a century after, the worship of Isis had become quite popular in Rome, especially among women, and the ibis had become one of her associated symbols. A number of frescoes and mosaics in the patrician villas of Pompeii and Herculaneum of 50BC-79AD show these birds.


title: African sacred ibis

text: According to some translations of the septuagint, the ibis is one of the unclean birds which may not be eaten (Leviticus 11:17, Deuteronomy 14:16).


title: Cadillac DTS

text: The Cadillac DTS is a full-size, four-door, front-drive, five or six passenger luxury sedan that was manufactured and marketed over a single generation for model years 2006–2011 by Cadillac, using GM's G-platform. The DTS debuted at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show and was manufactured at GM's Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly factory.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: The DTS was a very mildly revised iteration of the eight generation Deville, using the brand's new naming convention, set by the CTS and STS. Production ended in May 2011.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: Writing for the Los Angeles Times, noted reviewer Warren Brown called the DTS "a large, exceptionally comfortable front-wheel-drive luxury sedan."


title: Cadillac DTS

text: Compared to its Deville predecessor, the DTS was mildly restyled rather than fully redesigned, featuring revised front-end sheet metal, front fascia, as well as rear decklid, rear quarter, and rear fascia.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: The DTS used GM's G-platform, as denoted by the 4th letter in the VIN), and was powered by a transverse 32V Northstar V8, which produced in "Standard", "Luxury" and "Premium" trims. The DTS Platinum was equipped with version.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: The DTS offered front bucket seats with overall seating for five passengers, and six passenger (i.e., front bench) seating available as an optional feature.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: Standard features included multiple airbags, bi-functional xenon high-intensity discharge HID headlamps, leather seating surfaces, and power seats. Optional equipment included heated and cooled front seats and a heated rear seat, rain-sensing wipers, Bose audio system, DVD navigation, automatic dimming headlights, adaptive cruise control and Magnetic Ride Control suspension. A "Platinum" package became available in 2007 with special interior trim, badging, and other amenities.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: GM phased out its small "GM" fender badges for all its vehicles, starting during the 2010 model year, including those on the DTS.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: Especially for the limousine market, the lightly stretched DTS-L was released in November 2006 for the 2007 model year. Developed and finished by Accubuilt, this version was being touted as having greater rear legroom. Early DTS-L Cadillacs are easily recognized by the wider rear C-pillar, similar to the one used on the older Fleetwood 75 Series. This was necessitated by the use of the standard length DTS rear door, which left a strange-looking space between the rear wheelwell and door. In 2008 a new version, with longer rear doors, was introduced. This change also meant that the C-pillars became considerably slimmer. Despite these efforts, the low production DTS-L soon disappeared from the marketplace.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: The DTS was available as a 'coachbuilder' chassis for aftermarket conversion into either limousines, or hearses. The limousine model was designated V4U, and the hearse model was designated B9Q. These were only available to manufacturers named as Cadillac Master Coachbuilders, meaning they were certified by General Motors to modify them. The coachbuilder chassis are an incomplete car, with no rear doors, trunk, rear windshield, and other parts not used during the conversion. These models also included 8 lug wheels, upgraded suspension components, as well as a transmission cooler.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: A specially designed and outfitted armored vehicle with Cadillac DTS styling (actually a modified medium-duty GMC truck four-wheel drive chassis) with extra high-roof was debuted in the second inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush, which also served as the debut for the DTS before its official debut at the Chicago Auto Show. While details of the modified vehicle, codenamed "Stagecoach", remain classified, previous such vehicles indicate that it would have been upgraded with advanced armor and safety features in order to protect the president from various threats.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: Shorter-wheelbase armored DTSes are also cars used by the Vice President of the United States at least since 2010.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: The next full-size front-wheel drive Cadillac sedan was the XTS which went on sale in June 2012 as a 2013 model. A second full-size sedan, the rear-wheel drive CT6, was added to the lineup in 2016.


title: Cadillac DTS

text: Prior to bankruptcy, GM had considered a rear-drive sedan, powered by the new Ultra V8 engine (replacement for the Northstar), to bow for 2010. GM later stopped development of new North American Zeta-based models and canceled the Ultra V8 engine.


title: Larix laricina

text: Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also an isolated population in central Alaska. The word "akemantak" is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".


title: Larix laricina

text: "Larix laricina" is a small to medium-size boreal coniferous and deciduous tree reaching tall, with a trunk up to diameter. Tamaracks and larches ("Larix" species) are deciduous conifers. The bark is tight and flaky, pink, but under flaking bark it can appear reddish. The leaves are needle-like, short, light blue-green, turning bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale pinkish-brown shoots bare until the next spring. The needles are produced spirally on long shoots and in dense clusters on long woody spur shoots. The cones are the smallest of any larch, only long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4 to 6 months after pollination.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamaracks are very cold tolerant, able to survive temperatures down to at least , and commonly occurs at the Arctic tree line at the edge of the tundra. Trees in these severe climatic conditions are smaller than farther south, often only tall. They can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but grow most commonly in swamps, bogs, or muskegs, in wet to moist organic soils such as sphagnum, peat, and woody peat. They are also found on mineral soils that range from heavy clay to coarse sand; thus texture does not seem to be limiting. Although tamarack can grow well on calcareous soils, it is not abundant on the limestone areas of eastern Ontario.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack is generally the first forest tree to grow on filled-lake bogs. In the lake states, tamarack may appear first in the sedge mat, sphagnum moss, or not until the bog shrub stage. Farther north, it is the pioneer tree in the bog shrub stage. Tamarack is fairly well adapted to reproduce successfully on burns, so it is one of the common pioneers on sites in the boreal forest immediately after a fire.


title: Larix laricina

text: The central Alaskan population, separated from the eastern Yukon populations by a gap of about , is treated as a distinct variety "Larix laricina" var. "alaskensis" by some botanists, though others argue that it is not sufficiently distinct to be distinguished.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack forms extensive pure stands in the boreal region of Canada and in northern Minnesota. In the rest of its United States range and in the Maritime Provinces, tamarack is found locally in both pure and mixed stands. It is a major component in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types Tamarack and black spruce–tamarack.


title: Larix laricina

text: Black spruce ("Picea mariana") is usually tamarack's main associate in mixed stands on all sites. The other most common associates include balsam fir ("Abies balsamea"), white spruce ("Picea glauca"), and quaking aspen ("Populus tremuloides") in the boreal region. In the better organic soil sites in the northern forest region, the most common associates are the northern white-cedar ("Thuja occidentalis"), balsam fir, black ash ("Fraxinus nigra"), and red maple ("Acer rubrum"). In Alaska, quaking aspen and tamarack are almost never found together. Additional common associates are American elm ("Ulmus americana"), balsam poplar ("Populus balsamifera"), jack pine ("Pinus banksiana"), paper birch ("Betula papyrifera"), Kenai birch ("B. papyrifera" var. "kenaica"), and yellow birch ("B. alleghaniensis").


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack stands cast light shade and so usually have a dense undergrowth of shrubs and herbs. Because the tree has an extensive range, a great variety of shrubs is associated with it. Dominant tall shrubs include dwarf and swamp birch ("Betula glandulosa" and "Betula pumila"), willows ("Salix" spp.), speckled alder ("Alnus rugosa"), and red-osier dogwood ("Cornus stolonifera"). Low shrubs include bog Labrador tea ("Ledum groenlandicum"), bog-rosemary ("Andromeda glaucophylla"), leather leaf ("Chamaedaphne calyculata"), and small cranberry ("Vaccinium oxycoccos"). Characteristically the herbaceous cover includes sedges "(Carex" spp.), cottongrass "(Eriophorum" spp.), three-leaved false Solomonseal ("Maianthemum trifolium"), marsh cinquefoil ("Potentilla palustris"), marsh-marigold ("Caltha palustris"), and bogbean ("Menyanthes trifoliata"). Ground cover is usually composed of sphagnum moss "(Sphagnum" spp.) and other mosses.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack is monoecious. Male and female cones are small, either solitary or in groups of 2 or 3, and appear with the needles. Male cones are yellow and are borne mainly on 1- or 2-year-old branchlets. Female cones resemble tiny roses. They are reddish or maroon, have needles at their base which are shorter and bluer than the other needles on the tree. They are borne most commonly on 2 to 4-year-old branchlets, but may also appear on branchlets 5 or more years old. Cones usually are produced on young growth of vigorous trees. On open-grown trees, cones are borne on all parts of the crown. Mature seed cones are brown, oblong-ovoid, and long.


title: Larix laricina

text: The wood is tough and durable, but also flexible in thin strips, and was used by the Algonquian people for making snowshoes and other products where toughness was required. The natural crooks located in the stumps and roots are also preferred for creating knees in wooden boats. Currently, the wood is used principally for pulpwood, but also for posts, poles, rough lumber, and fuelwood; it is not a major commercial timber species. Tamarack wood is also used as kickboards in horse stables.


title: Larix laricina

text: It is also grown as an ornamental tree in gardens in cold regions. Several dwarf cultivars have been created that are available commercially. Tamarack is commonly used for bonsai.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack poles were used in corduroy roads because of their resistance to rot. Tamarack posts were used before 1917 in Alberta to mark the northeast corner of sections surveyed within townships. They were used by the surveyors because at that time the very rot-resistant wood was readily available in the bush and was light to carry. Their rot resistance was also why they were often used in early water distribution systems.


title: Larix laricina

text: The aboriginal peoples of Canada's northwest regions used the inner bark as a poultice to treat cuts, infected wounds, frostbite, boils and hemorrhoids. The outer bark and roots are also said to have been used with another plant as a treatment for arthritis, cold and general aches and pains.


title: Larix laricina

text: Wildlife use the tree for food and nesting. Porcupines eat the inner bark, snowshoe hares feeds on tamarack seedlings, and red squirrels eat the seeds. Birds that frequent tamaracks during the summer include the white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, veery, common yellowthroat, and Nashville warbler.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack is very intolerant of shade. Although it can tolerate some shade during the first several years, it must become dominant to survive. When mixed with other species, it must be in the over story. The tree is a good self-pruner, and boles of 25- to 30-year-old trees may be clear for one-half or two-thirds their length.


title: Larix laricina

text: Because tamarack is very shade-intolerant, it does not become established in its own shade. Consequently, the more tolerant black spruce eventually succeeds tamarack on poor bog sites, whereas northern white-cedar, balsam fir, and swamp hardwoods succeed tamarack on good swamp sites. Recurring sawfly outbreaks throughout the range of tamarack have probably sped the usual succession to black spruce or other associates.


title: Larix laricina

text: Various tests on planting and natural reproduction indicate that competing vegetation hinders tamarack establishment.


title: Larix laricina

text: The shade-intolerance of tamarack dictates the use of even-aged management. Some adaptation of clear cutting or seed-tree cutting is generally considered the best silvicultural system because tamarack seeds apparently germinate better in the open, and the seedlings require practically full light to survive and grow well. Tamarack is also usually wind-firm enough for the seed-tree system to succeed. Satisfactory reestablishment of tamarack, however, often requires some kind of site preparation, such as slash disposal and herbicide spraying.


title: Larix laricina

text: The tamarack has thin bark and is therefore highly susceptible to fire damage, except perhaps in older, upland stands. However, the habitat of tamarack, especially south of the boreal forest, is normally wet enough to protect the tree from fire. The tamarack is also susceptible to high winds. Strong winds can uproot large tamarack trees growing in swamps or other wet-land sites where rooting is shallow. It has also been discovered that abnormally high water levels often kill tamarack stands. Those that survive under such conditions usually grow very slowly. Other effects of high water include dieback and the development of adventitious roots and shoots. Wetland road crossings and beaver damming are the primary causes of flooding.


title: Larix laricina

text: Many insect species are known to be destructive to tamaracks. The non-indigenous larch sawfly is the most destructive. Epidemics occur periodically across Canada and the northern United States and have caused tremendous losses of merchantable tamarack throughout most of the tree's range. Indications are that radial increment declines markedly after 4 to 6 years of outbreak. After 6 to 9 years of moderate to heavy defoliation, the trees die. In southeastern Manitoba and northern Minnesota, however, imported parasites of the sawfly have become established and should reduce the frequency and duration of future outbreaks. Another serious defoliator is the larch casebearer "Coleophora laricella". The larch casebearer attacks tamarack of all ages, and several severe outbreaks have caused extensive mortality in some areas. Outbreak severity has lessened in recent years, however, probably due to imported parasites of the casebearer that have become widely established.


title: Larix laricina

text: Only a few other insects and related organisms (such as mites) that feed on tamarack are known to sometimes cause serious injury. During an outbreak, the spruce budworm ("Choristoneura fumiferana") can severely damage tamarack. The larch-bud moth ("Zeiraphera improbana") has had occasional short epidemics, and the spruce spider mite ("Oligonychus ununguis") is occasionally found in large numbers on tamarack. The larch-shoot moth "(Argyresthia laricella)" is widely distributed, but serious injury is unusual. One of the most common bark beetles attacking tamarack is the eastern larch beetle ("Dendroctonus simplex"), but it feeds mainly on weakened, dying, or dead trees.


title: Larix laricina

text: Tamarack is a host to many pathogens, but only one cause diseases serious enough to have an economic impact on its culture, the "Lachnellula willkommii" fungus. It is a relatively new pathogen in Canada, first recorded in 1980 and originating in Europe. The fungus cause large cankers to form and a disease known as larch canker which is particularly harmful to the tamarack larch, killing both young and mature trees. Apart from this, the only common foliage diseases are rusts, such as the leaf rust in eastern and central North America. However, this rust, caused by the fungus "Melampsora medusae", and other rusts do little damage to tamarack. The needle-cast fungus "Hypodermella laricis" has attacked tamarack in Ontario and has the potential for local damage.


title: Adam Back

text: Adam Back (born July 1970) is a British cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is the CEO of Blockstream, which he co-founded in 2014. He invented Hashcash, which is used in the Bitcoin mining process.


title: Adam Back

text: Back was born in London, England, in July 1970. His first computer was a Sinclair ZX81. He taught himself Basic, and spent his time reverse engineering video games, finding decryption keys in software packages. He completed his A levels in advanced mathematics, physics and economics.


title: Adam Back

text: He has a computer science PhD in distributed systems from the University of Exeter. During his PhD, Back worked with compilers to make use of parallel computers in a semi automated way. He became interested in pgp encryption, electronic cash and remailers. He spent two thirds of his time working with encryption. After graduation, Adam spent his career as a consultant in start ups and larger companies in applied cryptography, writing cryptographic libraries, designing, reviewing and breaking other people's cryptographic protocols.


title: Adam Back

text: Back is a pioneer of early digital asset research similarly as Wei Dai, David Chaum, and Hal Finney. In 1997, Back invented Hashcash. A similar system is used in bitcoin.


title: Adam Back

text: He also implemented "credlib", a library that implements the credential systems of Stefan Brands and David Chaum.


title: Adam Back

text: He was the first to describe the "non-interactive forward secrecy" security property for email and to observe that any identity based encryption scheme can be used to provide non-interactive forward secrecy.


title: Adam Back

text: He is also known for promoting the use of ultra-compact code with his 2-line and 3-line RSA in Perl signature file and non-exportable T-shirts to protest cryptography export regulations.


title: Adam Back

text: Back was one of the first two people to receive an email from Satoshi Nakamoto. In 2016, the "Financial Times" cited Back as a potential Nakamoto candidate, along with Nick Szabo and Hal Finney. Craig Wright had sued Back for stating that Wright was not Nakamoto, with Wright subsequently dropping the suit.


title: Adam Back

text: Back has promoted the use of satellites and mesh networks to broadcast and receive bitcoin transactions, as a backup for the traditional internet.


title: Adam Back

text: On 3 October 2016, Back was appointed as CEO of Blockstream. Since then he has introduced products such as the Liquid sidechain, Blockstream Mining Notes, mining colocation services, the Jade hardware wallet, and the Core Lightning implementation.


title: Sugarloaf

text: A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a rich raw sugar that was imported from sugar-growing regions such as the Caribbean and Brazil, was refined into white sugar.


title: Sugarloaf

text: The earliest record to date appears to be 12th century in Jordan, though reference to a cone of sugar is found in al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar's 9th century Arabic "Al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyyat." In Europe, they were made in Italy from 1470, Belgium 1508, England 1544, Holland 1566, Germany 1573 and France 1613. When refining from sugar beet began in mainland Europe in 1799, loaves were produced in the same way.


title: Sugarloaf

text: Until the mid-19th century, the British government used a system of punitive taxes to make it impossible for its colonial producers in the Caribbean to refine their own sugar and supply Britain with finished sugarloaves. Previously the Amsterdam industry had been similarly protected from the importation of East India white sugar. Instead, a dark raw sugar or muscovado, produced on the plantations by initial boilings of the fresh cane juice, was shipped in hogsheads to Europe on what was the third leg of the Triangular Trade.


title: Sugarloaf

text: The sugarloaf was also the sign of a grocer, often found outside his premises or in the window, and sometimes found on his trade tokens.


title: Sugarloaf

text: The raw sugar was refined by a series of boiling and filtering processes. After the final boiling, it was considered ready for granulation and was poured into a large number of inverted conical molds. These were usually made of either brown earthenware or sheet iron with an internal treatment of slip or paint respectively, and each stood in its own collecting pot. Over the next few days most of the dark syrup and noncrystalline matter drained through a small hole in the bottom of the mould into the collecting pot. To improve the whiteness of the sugar, repeated applications of either a solution of white clay or of loaf sugar dissolved in warm water was applied to the broad end of the loaf. This slowly drained through the loaf, readily uniting with any remaining molasses or other coloring matter and removing it to the collecting pot. The loaves were then tapped out of the molds, dried in a store room containing hundreds of loaves, trimmed to their final shape and wrapped, usually in blue paper to enhance their white appearance.


title: Sugarloaf

text: The molds, and so the sugarloaves, varied in size considerably: the larger the loaf the lower the grade of sugar. The grade determined the price, though loaves were sold by weight and the sugar refiner was taxed on the weight of sugar sold. When a new batch of raw sugar was refined, the best sugar came from the first boiling. After that, the waste and trimmings from the first boiling were returned to the beginning of the process and mixed with further raw sugar for the second boiling, and, as this was repeated to the end of the batch, subsequent boilings reduced slightly in quality. The finest of the loaves—maybe dia and high—were extremely expensive owing to the prolonged repeating of the whitening process, as were the somewhat larger double refined loaves from the first few boilings. Lower grades of sugar were more difficult to crystallize and so larger molds were used—usually in diameter and up to about high—with loaves weighing up to . The lowest standard refined grades were called bastards, though an even lower grade was often produced from the filtration scums, usually by a scum-boiler at his own separate premises.


title: Sugarloaf

text: While mostly superseded by granulated and cube sugar, sugarloaves are still produced as specialty items. They are particularly common in Germany, where small loaves are a required ingredient for the Christmas season drink "Feuerzangenbowle".


title: Trefoil knot

text: In knot theory, a branch of mathematics, the trefoil knot is the simplest example of a nontrivial knot. The trefoil can be obtained by joining together the two loose ends of a common overhand knot, resulting in a knotted loop. As the simplest knot, the trefoil is fundamental to the study of mathematical knot theory.


title: Trefoil knot

text: The (2,3)-torus knot is also a trefoil knot. The following parametric equations give a (2,3)-torus knot lying on torus formula_2:


title: Trefoil knot

text: Any continuous deformation of the curve above is also considered a trefoil knot. Specifically, any curve isotopic to a trefoil knot is also considered to be a trefoil. In addition, the mirror image of a trefoil knot is also considered to be a trefoil. In topology and knot theory, the trefoil is usually defined using a knot diagram instead of an explicit parametric equation.


title: Trefoil knot

text: In algebraic geometry, the trefoil can also be obtained as the intersection in C of the unit 3-sphere "S" with the complex plane curve of zeroes of the complex polynomial "z" + "w" (a cuspidal cubic).


title: Trefoil knot

text: If one end of a tape or belt is turned over three times and then pasted to the other, the edge forms a trefoil knot.


title: Trefoil knot

text: The trefoil knot is chiral, in the sense that a trefoil knot can be distinguished from its own mirror image. The two resulting variants are known as the left-handed trefoil and the right-handed trefoil. It is not possible to deform a left-handed trefoil continuously into a right-handed trefoil, or vice versa. (That is, the two trefoils are not ambient isotopic.)


title: Trefoil knot

text: Though chiral, the trefoil knot is also invertible, meaning that there is no distinction between a counterclockwise-oriented and a clockwise-oriented trefoil. That is, the chirality of a trefoil depends only on the over and under crossings, not the orientation of the curve.


title: Trefoil knot

text: The trefoil knot is nontrivial, meaning that it is not possible to "untie" a trefoil knot in three dimensions without cutting it. Mathematically, this means that a trefoil knot is not isotopic to the unknot. In particular, there is no sequence of Reidemeister moves that will untie a trefoil.


title: Trefoil knot

text: Proving this requires the construction of a knot invariant that distinguishes the trefoil from the unknot. The simplest such invariant is tricolorability: the trefoil is tricolorable, but the unknot is not. In addition, virtually every major knot polynomial distinguishes the trefoil from an unknot, as do most other strong knot invariants.


title: Trefoil knot

text: In knot theory, the trefoil is the first nontrivial knot, and is the only knot with crossing number three. It is a prime knot, and is listed as 3 in the Alexander-Briggs notation. The Dowker notation for the trefoil is 4 6 2, and the Conway notation is [3].


title: Trefoil knot

text: The trefoil can be described as the (2,3)-torus knot. It is also the knot obtained by closing the braid σ.


title: Trefoil knot

text: The trefoil is an alternating knot. However, it is not a slice knot, meaning it does not bound a smooth 2-dimensional disk in the 4-dimensional ball; one way to prove this is to note that its signature is not zero. Another proof is that its Alexander polynomial does not satisfy the Fox-Milnor condition.


title: Trefoil knot

text: The trefoil is a fibered knot, meaning that its complement in formula_4 is a fiber bundle over the circle formula_5. The trefoil K may be viewed as the set of pairs formula_6 of complex numbers such that formula_7 and formula_8. Then this fiber bundle has the Milnor map formula_9 as the fibre bundle projection of the knot complement formula_10 to the circle formula_5. The fibre is a once-punctured torus. Since the knot complement is also a Seifert fibred with boundary, it has a horizontal incompressible surface—this is also the fiber of the Milnor map. (This assumes the knot has been thickened to become a solid torus N(K), and that the interior of this solid torus has been removed to create a compact knot complement formula_12.)


title: Trefoil knot

text: As the simplest nontrivial knot, the trefoil is a common motif in iconography and the visual arts. For example, the common form of the triquetra symbol is a trefoil, as are some versions of the Germanic Valknut.


title: Trefoil knot

text: In modern art, the woodcut "Knots" by M. C. Escher depicts three trefoil knots whose solid forms are twisted in different ways.


title: Incandescence

text: Incandescence is the emission of electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) from a hot body as a result of its high temperature. The term derives from the Latin verb "incandescere," to glow white. A common use of incandescence is the incandescent light bulb, now being phased out.


title: Incandescence

text: Incandescence is due to thermal radiation. It usually refers specifically to visible light, while thermal radiation refers also to infrared or any other electromagnetic radiation.


title: Incandescence

text: In practice, virtually all solid or liquid substances start to glow around , with a mildly dull red color, whether or not a chemical reaction takes place that produces light as a result of an exothermic process. This limit is called the Draper point. The incandescence does not vanish below that temperature, but it is too weak in the visible spectrum to be perceptible.


title: Incandescence

text: At higher temperatures, the substance becomes brighter and its color changes from red towards white and finally blue.


title: Incandescence

text: Incandescence is exploited in incandescent light bulbs, in which a filament is heated to a temperature at which a fraction of the radiation falls in the visible spectrum. The majority of the radiation, however, is emitted in the infrared part of the spectrum, rendering incandescent lights relatively inefficient as a light source. If the filament could be made hotter, efficiency would increase; however, there are currently no materials able to withstand such temperatures which would be appropriate for use in lamps.


title: Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (2010 video game)

text: Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is a 2010 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Japanese company Square Enix. It is a remake of the 1995 Super Famicom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) title of the same name, second entry in the "Ogre Battle" series. The remake retains the same strategy RPG gameplay of the original, focusing on turn-based tactical battles and the use of character classes. The game incorporates additional features such as equipment crafting and the ability to revisit branch points in the game's narrative, in addition to multiplayer functionality. The storyline, following the actions of rebel fighter Denam Pavel during a civil war within the kingdom of Valeria, was also expanded with new scenes and characters.


text: The remake was conceived following the release of "" (2007), taking four years to complete. It was directed by original artist Hiroshi Minagawa, who assembled most of the original staff including writer and designer Yasumi Matsuno, and composers Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. Original artist Akihiko Yoshida returned to supervise the art direction, with many characters redesigned by Tsubasa Masao. The English localization was handled by Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder, who had worked with Matsuno on games set in the Ivalice universe. Downloadable content based around the new gameplay systems was released for free in Japan post-release, and bundled into the Western release. Releasing to strong sales in Japan and North America, the remake met with a positive reception from journalists.


text: A remastered version, titled Tactics Ogre: Reborn, was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows on November 11, 2022. It contains revised battle mechanics, remastered sound and music and full English and Japanese voice acting.


text: "Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together" is a PlayStation Portable (PSP) remake of the 1995 Super Famicom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) title of the same name. While the remake features gameplay changes, the central narrative remains the same. "Tactics Ogre" is set in the island kingdom of Valeria, once riven with war between its three ethnic groups but united under the Dynast-King Dorgulua Oberyth. Following Dorgulua's death without an heir, the ethnic groups splintered and began fighting for the throne. They divided into the aristocratic Bakram led by the Regent Brantyn, the populous Galgastani led by Hierophant Balbatos, and the less-populous Walister led by Duke Ronwey. The Bakram and Galgastani divide Valeria between them and oppress the Walister people. The narrative follows members of the Walister resistance−protagonist Denam Pavel, his sister Catiua, and childhood friend Vyce−as they rebel against their oppressors with the help of a Xenobian mercenary group led by Lanselot Hamilton. Starting with the opening chapter, the storyline branches based on choices made by Denam, leading to different character interactions and endings.


text: The game uses a turn-based battle system in zones selected from an overworld map, with enemy forces being controlled by the game's artificial intelligence (AI). New playable characters or units either join the party or can be recruited during the story. Units are placed across a grid-based level, with players able to switch between the default overhead diagonal view, and a top-down view with flattened topography. Using a variety of weapons, the player can move and attack, use items, and perform magic using a pool of magic points which charge up from nothing over the course of a battle. The turn order is dictated by each unit's speed statistic and current weight. The terrain and current weather along with the current character class also influence a unit's range and movement abilities. Once a town is available following its liberation or capture, the shop can be used to buy new equipment and items, and synthesize those from materials gathered from missions. Victory rewards are experience points to raise character class level, skill points to upgrade and unlock abilities, and items and in-game money. The game features a form of multiplayer, where players can download other player-created teams and face them in a separate arena. All characters are set at the same level, allowing for fair competition, and the enemy team is AI controlled.


text: The original game featured a series of morality-based questions before starting the game, with the remake incorporating Major Arcana tarot cards. Each answer grants five of twenty-two randomly selected tarots which impact Denam's statistical strengths and weaknesses. A feature carried over from the original game are tarot cards dropped by enemies, acting as consumable items which impact a unit's abilities for a short period. Two new features themed after tarot cards are the Chariot and World systems. The Chariot system records the player's progress up to fifty turns back, allowing them to undo up to that many moves and redo that section of the battle. The World system, accessed through a lore database called the Warren Report once the player has gone through the campaign once, allows the player to enter decision points in the narrative and play through alternate routes without starting the game over again.


text: The original "Tactics Ogre" was developed by Quest Corporation as part of the "Ogre Battle" series, directly following the success of "". Production was led by series creator Yasumi Matsuno, who acted as director, writer and designer. Following the release of "Tactics Ogre", Matsuno and a number of staff members moved to Square (predecessor of Square Enix) and developed "Final Fantasy Tactics" (1997), going on to develop multiple titles in its universe of Ivalice. Quest Corporation continued production on the "Ogre Battle" series until it was purchased and absorbed into Square following the release of "" (2002). Matsuno remained at the company until 2005, when he left during the production of "Final Fantasy XII" citing ill health.


text: Concept work for a remake of "Tactics Ogre" began in May 2007 at Square Enix following the release of "", an updated port of "Final Fantasy Tactics" for the PSP. A remake had been demanded both by fans and staff, with Square Enix approving it when suggested by Hiroshi Minagawa, one of the original game's artists. At this early stage, it was to be a faithful remake with minimal changes. Minagawa wanted to reassemble as much of the original staff as possible for the project. This included bringing back Matsuno, who by this time was working in a freelance capacity with Sega and PlatinumGames on "MadWorld". Matsuno initially refused, but when Minagawa changed the plan so the remake would include changes for modern audiences, he agreed to join the project. Minagawa described Matsuno's presence on the remake's development team as "essential".


text: Minagawa took on the role of director. His main role was to organize the in-house staff and coordinate with the team divisions. Matsuno returned as designer and writer. Other returning staff included original artist Akihiko Yoshida, and composers Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. Matsuno played a role in gathering the original staff after coming on board. It took a year to get all the staff together for the project and ensure their schedules were free, then three years to develop the game. It was produced by Eisuke Yokoyama, who had previously worked on "". The programmer was Takashi Katano. Alongside the returning staff members, the team included people who had worked on "" and "Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis", some who had worked on the "Final Fantasy Tactics" series, and staff members completely new to the series. Minagawa commented that the new staff members, fans of the original game, remembered the smaller details better than the original developers. The "compact" nature of the team allowed small detailed adjustments to the game without causing problems.


text: Rather than describing it as a remake or a remaster, Matsuno defined the remake as a "re-imagining" of the original title. The PSP was chosen as the game's platform to provide an "intimate" viewing experience, and to give players with busy lives easy access to it. The gameplay was rebalanced compared to the original, increasing the party size, adding new recruitable characters, altering weapon statistics, and reworking the class system to be both more varied and be independent of units to allow for continued use after a unit's death. The developers included additional tutorial information compared to the original, but incorporated it contextually so it was not forced on players while also allowing genre beginners to enjoy the game. Character recruitment was also rebalanced, although it ended up being more difficult than in the original.


text: During the second half of production, the Chariot and World systems were added in at Matsuno's suggestion, giving players more freedom to both rectify mistakes and play other story routes. The Chariot system was meant as a tool for beginners, but the gameplay was adjusted so there was a random element that would alter the actions of enemies, preventing players from exploiting the system. This also carried over into any attempts by players to use save states, preserving the general challenge. An early plan was for players to be able to go back 100 moves in the Chariot system, but it was deemed too generous and reduced to the final count of fifty. Minagawa felt that he and Matsuno were able to include almost everything they wanted to, comparing it to an omnibus edition of the original game.


text: While keeping the graphics faithful to the Super Famicom original, the team stopped short of making the game look "cheap" by reproducing the graphics without any updates. The increased resolution and hardware specifications of the PSP allowed the UI displays to be expanded, and the text to be redone for legibility. The fields and stages were rebuilt in 3D, with 2D character sprites overlaid and painted to appear like classic pixel art. The artwork was managed by Yoshida, but much of the character art and other artistic elements were reworked by Tsubasa Masao, an artist known for his work on "Metal Gear Acid" and "". Masao's work focused on redesigning the characters while retaining recognizable features from their original designs, including facial features and general clothing. Minagawa also helped with the art design.


text: While the original game featured 300,000 characters of writing, the remake's expansions pushed this number to over 700,000, more than the script for "Final Fantasy XII". In addition to new work, Matsuno was also able to rewrite his earlier work. He wrote the additions to the main scenario himself, but due to the volume of work he created rough scenarios for a team of writers to work on for side content, doing small rewrites where necessary. The team included Kazuhiro Kataoka, who had worked on "Ogre Battle 64"; Yuichi Murasawa and Kyoko Kitahara, who had written both "Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis" and titles within the Ivalice series; Motoharu Tanaka, whose work included "Final Fantasy" entries and "Parasite Eve"; and Tsuyoshi Tomooka of "The Last Remnant". Other staff again worked on supplementary material such as the Warren Report. Matsuno also created the concepts for new characters and gave them to other writers. Matsuno raised the ages of several younger characters, partly to be more acceptable in the Western market. He originally planned to raise Denam's age to 23, but as this would have clashed with the story's themes of youthful rebellion, he settled on making him 18.


text: The music was arranged and expanded by Sakimoto and Iwata. Iwata acted as soundtrack director, while Sakimoto supervised the project. Arrangements were created by Sakimoto, Iwata, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Noriyuki Uekura, Azusa Chiba and Yoshimi Kudo. The orchestration was handled by Nicole Brady, who had previously collaborated on several of Sakimoto's projects including "Valkyria Chronicles" and "Romeo × Juliet". A 4-CD soundtrack album was released on November 10, 2010. The first three discs included the re-recorded and new music, while the fourth disc included a selection of music from the Super Famicom original.


text: Sakimoto felt conflicted about the tracks, wondering whether to preserve the original style or completely rewrite it. He and Iwata decided to preserve the style, expanding it using additional more complex orchestration. While the original music was well-liked, the tracks were fairly short, so part of the musical additions was adding second halves to the loops, extending the existing tracks. The music was performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, with whom Sakimoto had worked in the past. In addition to the remixed and extended original tracks, ten new tracks were included. One of them was for a music box kept by the character Hamilton. The original was fairly dark fitting with a scene where the music box featured showing Hamilton in a physically and mentally broken condition, while the new version was written to be more believable as a love token from Hamilton's deceased wife.


text: The remake was announced in July 2010. The Japanese subtitle "Wheel of Fortune", which referenced the new tarot-themed mechanics, was taken from the tarot card of the same name. Wallpapers and ring tones inspired by the remake were included in the mobile port of "", released in September 2010. The "Tactics Ogre" remake was released on November 11, 2010 as a physical and digital release. Between December 2010 and January 2011, three free pieces of downloadable content (DLC) were released, featuring scenarios focusing on Denam using the World system to rewrite earlier events. The scenarios covered the characters of Warren and Hamilton, and the attack on Denam's home town that featured in the game's opening. Matsuno created the scenario for the DLC, and found his stories for Hamilton and Warren moved him to tears. A guidebook was released in December 2010, featuring gameplay information and a developer interview. An artbook featuring commentary from Yoshida and Masao was released in May 2011, and a fan book featuring artwork and developers answering fan questions was released in July.


text: A North American release for the remake was announced in July 2010, the day after its announcement in Japan. This version retained its original subtitle of "Let Us Cling Together". A European release, the first of the game in any form, was announced shortly after this. For its Western marketing, an animated trailer was created by animation studio Kamikaze Douga, depicting key scenes from the narrative and featuring a unique track created by Sakimoto. The trailer made use of cel-shaded animation mapped onto motion captured models. The game released in North America on February 15, 2011, with select retailers offering a pre-order bonus of tarot carts designed by Yoshida. It launched in Australia on February 24. The European release on February 25 included a limited Premium Edition featuring the tarot set, an artbook, and a mini soundtrack CD. The Japanese DLC was included in the retail game for Western territories.


text: A PlayStation port of "Tactics Ogre" had been localized for North America by Atlus USA in 1998. For the PSP port, the localization was redone by Square Enix. The English script was written by Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder, who had previously worked with Matsuno on titles set within his Ivalice universe, particularly "Vagrant Story" and "Final Fantasy XII". Localization began early in the game's development, with Smith and Reeder working closely with Matsuno. Taking inspiration from the multicultural history of Constantinople and Byzantine Greece, they reworked the terminology to incorporate Greek references, in addition to changing the "Z"s into "X"s to add a foreign element. They wished to use the Hittite civilization as a reference, but due to a lack of knowledge about Hittite writing mixed in what they could find with the Greek influence.


text: The changes to English character names, such as changing Denim Powell to Denam Pavel, were done at Matsuno's request to distance the characters from real-world people and titles. The scripting was divided into two categories, story dialogue and gameplay terminology. The decision was made not to reference the "Final Fantasy" series, keeping "Tactics Ogre" as a separate entity despite sharing staff. Smith approached the dialogue as if it were a Western-developed title, giving characters a "laconic" speaking style without too many additions and adjustments to tone depending on character backgrounds. They also used the game's tarot card theming as a "touchstone" for the dialogue's archaic tone. The game's prologue featured voice work by Simon Templeman and Kate Higgins, done in an archaic style similar to "Final Fantasy XII".


text: Upon its debut in Japan, the remake reached the top of game charts, recording sales of over 176,000 units during the first week. It had a sell-through rate of roughly 65%. By the end of 2010, it was the 48th best-selling game of the year, with sales of over 257,000 units. In North America during February 2011, it was the top-selling PSP title in the region according to data collected by The NPD Group. Speaking in April 2011, Matsuno described the game as a commercial success. "Tactics Ogre: Reborn" was the highest selling physical game during its first week of release in Japan, moving 36,783 units on Switch, 12,668 units on PlayStation 4, and 7,805 units on PlayStation 5 for an opening week total of 57,256 retail copies sold.


text: On review aggregator website "Metacritic", "Tactics Ogre" received a score of 87 points out of 100 based on 49 critic reviews. It was named as the "Best PSP Exclusive" by "GamesRadar" during their 2011 Platinum Chalice Awards. In "GameSpot"s Best of 2011, it was awarded "Best Remake".


text: Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu" principally gave praise to the gameplay additions and greater accessibility for casual players. Jeremy Parish, writing for "1Up.com", awarded the website's highest score, lauding the gameplay additions and technical superiority compared to the earlier PlayStation port and citing it as a masterpiece despite potential problems with lowered difficulty. "Eurogamer"s Simon Parkin noted the size and occasional difficulty spikes in "Tactics Ogre" as potential negatives, but otherwise praised it as a good remake. Adam Beissener of "Game Informer" enjoyed the game overall, but felt some of the alterations had padded character progression. "GameSpot"s Kat Bailey called it "the best tactical RPG available on the PSP today", giving praise to much of its content and design. "GamesRadar"s Nathan Grayson praised the title as mechanically superior to many later titles in the genre, additionally noting the remake's additions which allowed it to be enjoyed by younger players.


text: "GameTrailers" enjoyed the expansions to the narrative and gameplay, praising it for the breadth of content for players. Patrick Kolan of "IGN" was very positive about the expansions and how well the original gameplay held up, but found the interface difficult to manage, an issue made more evident by the amount of unit management required. Kimberley Ellis of "PALGN" held the game up as an example for good remakes, praising it as a solid genre entry for the platform despite small issues with its interface and battery life. Ryan King of "Play" noted a lack of innovative features in its story and gameplay, but praised it as "one of the most competent, solid, well-put-together J-RPGs you will ever play", comparing it to a compressed refinement of its genre. "RPGamer"s Zach Welhouse gave general praise to the game and its additions, additionally noting the localization, but disliked the graphics and noted issues with its story delivery undermining some of the major plot developments. Bryan Grosnick of "RPGFan" cited it as an excellent game for the hardcore genre fan, noting its nostalgic approach to the original alongside its additions, but faulting the slow pace of its battles.


text: The narrative was praised and positively compared to Matsuno's other work, though King criticised it for a lack of innovation within its genre, and Ellis found the writing style made the story progress slow despite strong narrative payoffs. The gameplay saw general praise for its enjoyability, balance and depth compared to many later titles and series. The lowered difficulty compared to the original was a common point of commentary, mainly praising but also noting that hardcore fans might dislike the change, but still noting high challenge. The artificial intelligence was also noted for erratic behavior, and there was criticism for the minimal integration of multiplayer. Several outlets praised it as a technically superior English version to the earlier PlayStation release. The additions of the World and Chariot systems were praised for the expansions brought to the game. The graphics were seen as faithfully recreated if lacking spectacle compared to other titles on the platform, while the music saw generally positive responses.


title: High-performance computing

text: High-performance computing (HPC) uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems.


title: High-performance computing

text: HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into a multidisciplinary field that combines digital electronics, computer architecture, system software, programming languages, algorithms and computational techniques.


title: High-performance computing

text: HPC technologies are the tools and systems used to implement and create high performance computing systems. Recently, HPC systems have shifted from supercomputing to computing clusters and grids. Because of the need of networking in clusters and grids, High Performance Computing Technologies are being promoted by the use of a collapsed network backbone, because the collapsed backbone architecture is simple to troubleshoot and upgrades can be applied to a single router as opposed to multiple ones.


title: High-performance computing

text: The term is most commonly associated with computing used for scientific research or computational science. A related term, high-performance technical computing (HPTC), generally refers to the engineering applications of cluster-based computing (such as computational fluid dynamics and the building and testing of virtual prototypes). HPC has also been applied to business uses such as data warehouses, line-of-business (LOB) applications, and transaction processing.


title: High-performance computing

text: High-performance computing (HPC) as a term arose after the term "supercomputing". HPC is sometimes used as a synonym for supercomputing; but, in other contexts, "supercomputer" is used to refer to a more powerful subset of "high-performance computers", and the term "supercomputing" becomes a subset of "high-performance computing". The potential for confusion over the use of these terms is apparent.


title: High-performance computing

text: Because most current applications are not designed for HPC technologies but are retrofitted, they are not designed or tested for scaling to more powerful processors or machines. Since networking clusters and grids use multiple processors and computers, these scaling problems can cripple critical systems in future supercomputing systems. Therefore, either the existing tools do not address the needs of the high performance computing community or the HPC community is unaware of these tools. A few examples of commercial HPC technologies include:


title: High-performance computing

text: In government and research institutions, scientists simulate galaxy creation, fusion energy, and global warming, as well as work to create more accurate short- and long-term weather forecasts. The world's tenth most powerful supercomputer in 2008, IBM Roadrunner (located at the United States Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory) simulated the performance, safety, and reliability of nuclear weapons and certifies their functionality.


title: High-performance computing

text: A list of the most powerful high-performance computers can be found on the TOP500 list. The TOP500 list ranks the world's 500 fastest high-performance computers, as measured by the High Performance LINPACK (HPL) benchmark. Not all computers are listed, either because they are ineligible (e.g., they cannot run the HPL benchmark) or because their owners have not submitted an HPL score (e.g., because they do not wish the size of their system to become public information for defense reasons). In addition, the use of the single LINPACK benchmark is controversial, in that no single measure can test all aspects of a high-performance computer. To help overcome the limitations of the LINPACK test, the U.S. government commissioned one of its originators, Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, to create a suite of benchmark tests that includes LINPACK and others, called the HPC Challenge benchmark suite. This evolving suite has been used in some HPC procurements, but, because it is not reducible to a single number, it has been unable to overcome the publicity advantage of the less useful TOP500 LINPACK test. The TOP500 list is updated twice a year, once in June at the ISC European Supercomputing Conference and again at a US Supercomputing Conference in November.


title: High-performance computing

text: Traditionally, HPC has involved an on-premise infrastructure, investing in supercomputers or computer clusters. Over the last decade, cloud computing has grown in popularity for offering computer resources in the commercial sector regardless of their investment capabilities. Some characteristics like scalability, and containerization also have raised interest in academia. However security in the cloud concerns such as data confidentiality are still considered when selecting a cloud or on-premise HPC.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The 2006 Survivor Series was the 20th annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on November 26, 2006, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the first Survivor Series to include the ECW brand.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The main match on the SmackDown! brand was King Booker versus Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Batista won by pinfall after hitting Booker with the World Heavyweight Championship belt. The main match on the Raw and ECW brands was Team Cena (John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Kane, Sabu and Rob Van Dam) versus Team Big Show (Big Show, Test, Finlay, Montel Vontavious Porter and Umaga) in a 5 on 5 Survivor Series match. Team Cena won the match after Cena pinned Big Show last. The primary match on the SmackDown! brand was Chris Benoit versus Chavo Guerrero Jr. for the WWE United States Championship, which Benoit won after forcing Guerrero to submit to the Sharpshooter.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: Mickie James defeated Lita with the Mickie DDT in Lita's retirement match to win the WWE Women's Championship. The main match on the card was Team D-X (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk and Matt Hardy) versus Team Rated-RKO (Edge, Randy Orton, Johnny Nitro, Mike Knox and Gregory Helms) in a 5 on 5 Survivor Series match. Team D-X won the match after Triple H pinned Orton following a Pedigree. This marked the first time since the brand extension was created that wrestlers from different brands wrestled on the same Survivor Series team.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every November by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1987. In what has become the second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam, referred to as the "Big Four". The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches, which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 2006 event was the 20th event in the Survivor Series chronology and featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. It was the first Survivor Series to include ECW, a relaunch of the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that became a WWE brand in May, subsequently also being the first to feature the ECW World Championship (though the championship was not defended as the champion was involved in a Survivor Series match). The event was scheduled to be held on November 26, 2006, at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The event consisted of seven professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The wrestlers portrayed their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during, and after the event. All wrestlers were from either one of the WWE's brands – Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW – while the storylines played out on their weekly television shows, "Raw", "SmackDown!", and "ECW".


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The main feud heading into Survivor Series was between John Cena and Umaga. Umaga was Cena's latest challenge after Cena finished off the feud between King Booker and The Big Show at Cyber Sunday. On the November 13 episode of "Raw", Cena and Umaga finally fought in a singles match, but it was interrupted by the ECW World Champion The Big Show forcing it to a no-contest.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The primary feud on SmackDown! was between World Heavyweight Champion King Booker and Batista. Batista relinquished the title in Philadelphia at the Wachovia Center on the January 13 episode of "SmackDown!", the same exact location of Survivor Series due to a triceps injury. King Booker had already faced Batista and retained the World Heavyweight Championship at two pay-per-views (SummerSlam and No Mercy - the latter in a fatal four-way) since his return on the July 7 episode of "SmackDown!". This time, Theodore Long announced that the match at Survivor Series would be Batista's last chance to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Another feud was between The Undertaker and Mr. Kennedy. Kennedy beat Undertaker at No Mercy by disqualification. On the November 10 edition of "SmackDown!", Kennedy challenged Undertaker once more bragging that he beat four former World Champions. The match was made into a First blood match.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The ECW brand was building up their "Extreme Elimination Chamber" match. The contestants that were named to face the ECW World Champion The Big Show were: Rob Van Dam, Sabu, CM Punk, and Test. The final contestant was revealed on the November 21 edition of "ECW". It was Bobby Lashley, and he attacked Big Show during the in-ring segment.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: Prior to the event, Lauren Hart sang the United States national anthem. A non-televised match between Carlito and Charlie Haas took place, which Carlito won after a Backstabber.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The first match was a four-on-four Survivor Series match between Team Spirit Squad (Kenny, Johnny, Nicky and Mikey), with Mitch managing the team and Team WWE Legends (Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes, and Ron Simmons), with Arn Anderson managing the team. Simmons was eliminated after being counted out, leading to the referee ejecting Anderson and Mitch. Nicky eliminated Slaughter after a Spinning Heel Kick by Johnny. Rhodes eliminated Nicky after a Bionic Elbow. Kenny eliminated Rhodes with a roll-up while holding Rhodes' jeans. Flair eliminated Mikey, using the ropes for leverage while pinning Mikey. Flair also eliminated Kenny with an inside cradle. Flair also eliminated Johnny after submitting to the Figure Four Leglock, leaving Flair as the sole survivor. After the match, The Spirit Squad attacked Flair.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: In the second match, Chris Benoit faced Chavo Guerrero for the United States Championship. During the match, Chavo executed a Frog Splash on Benoit for a near-fall. Benoit accidentally knocked Vickie Guerrero off the apron when Chavo countered Benoit's attempt to apply the Sharpshooter. Benoit forced Chavo to submit to the Crippler Crossface to retain the title.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: Next, Lita defended the Women's Championship against Mickie James in Lita's "last" match, during which she had to endure "she's a crack whore" chants from the crowd. James performed the Tornado DDT to win back the title. After the match, Cryme Tyme came out and sold Lita's personal belongings to the audience which they stole in an earlier backstage segment, much to her shock and horror.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The next match was a traditional Survivor Series match between Team D-X (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, and CM Punk) versus Team Rated-RKO (Edge, Randy Orton, Johnny Nitro, Gregory Helms, and Mike Knox). Knox was eliminated by Michaels after Sweet Chin Music while Knox was distracted by his then-girlfriend, Kelly Kelly. Nitro was eliminated by Punk after submitting to the Anaconda Vice. Helms was then eliminated by Matt after a Twist of Fate by Matt and a Swanton Bomb from Jeff Hardy. Edge was eliminated by Michaels after Sweet Chin Music. Orton was eliminated by Triple H after Sweet Chin Music by Michaels and a Pedigree, meaning Team D-X won the match with no members eliminated.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The fifth match was a First blood match between Mr. Kennedy and The Undertaker. During the match, Kennedy started to cough blood but MVP provided Kennedy with a towel and cleaned the blood. Referee Charles Robinson did not notice that Kennedy was bleeding so the match continued. The match ended when MVP hit The Undertaker with a chair, causing him to bleed. After the match, The Undertaker hit Kennedy with a chair and performed a Tombstone piledriver on him.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The next match was the traditional Survivor Series match between Team Cena (John Cena, Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Kane, and Bobby Lashley) and Team Big Show (The Big Show, Test, Umaga, Finlay, and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP)). Umaga was eliminated after being disqualified for hitting Van Dam with a television monitor. Van Dam eliminated MVP after a chokeslam by Kane and a Five Star Frog Splash. Test eliminated Van Dam after a Running Big Boot. Sabu eliminated Test after a Springboard Tornado DDT. Big Show eliminated Sabu with a chokeslam. Kane was eliminated when Finlay hit Kane with a shillelagh and Big Show performed a Chokeslam on Kane. Lashley speared Finlay to eliminate him. Cena eliminated Big Show after a Spear by Lashley and an FU, leaving Cena and Lashley as the sole survivors.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The main event was between King Booker and Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. The stipulation was that if Batista lost, he would never have another chance at the title as long as Booker was champion. Theodore Long announced before the match, if Booker had been disqualified or counted out, he would lose the championship. Batista executed a Spinebuster on Booker for a near-fall. Booker executed a Book End on Batista for a near-fall. Batista executed a Batista Bomb on Booker but Booker touched the bottom rope, voiding the pinfall. Batista almost executed a Batista Bomb on King Booker's wife, Queen Sharmell, but threw her out of the ring instead. Whilst the referee was tending to Sharmell, Booker attempted to hit Batista with the title belt but Batista countered and hit Booker with the belt. Batista pinned Booker to win the title.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The following night on "Raw", Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair defeated all five members of the Spirit Squad. They were sick and tired of the Spirit Squad, so in a backstage segment, D-X locked the male cheerleaders in a travel case and sent them to Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky via delivery man. That was the end of the Spirit Squad faction. As for D-X's teammates at Survivor Series, The Hardys were challenged by the newly reunited team of MNM (Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury). Eventually, they had a tag team match at December to Dismember.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: Victoria earned a shot at the Women's Championship by defeating Melina, Torrie Wilson, Maria, and Candice Michelle in a battle royal. She eventually lost to the Women's Champion Mickie James at New Year's Revolution.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: WWE Champion John Cena was challenged by the undefeated Umaga the next night on "Raw". Cena accepted the challenge and they had the championship match at the next Raw pay-per-view, New Year's Revolution. Cena ended Umaga's winning streak to retain the championship.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: On the following episode of "SmackDown!", General Manager Theodore Long announced Kane versus Montel Vontavious Porter in an Inferno match and The Undertaker versus Mr. Kennedy in a Last Ride match at Armageddon. This led to the reunification of The Brothers of Destruction versus Kennedy and MVP on the December 15 episode of "SmackDown!".


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: The ECW main feud was between Big Show and Bobby Lashley who signed a contract to be in the Extreme Elimination Chamber match on the November 14 of "ECW". At December to Dismember, Lashley became the new ECW World Champion by winning the Extreme Elimination Chamber match.


title: Survivor Series (2006)

text: After defeating King Booker at Survivor Series, Batista would go on to hold the World Heavyweight Championship for four months, defending it against Mr. Kennedy at the 2007 Royal Rumble. Batista would then finally lose the championship to The Undertaker, the winner of the 2007 Royal Rumble, at WrestleMania 23.


title: Ooha

text: Uma Maheswari, known by her stage names Sivaranjani and Ooha, is a former Indian actress. She worked primarily in Telugu and Tamil films, in addition to Malayalam films in the 1990s. She received Nandi Award for Best Actress for "Aame" (1994).


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: Koma Wong Ka Kui (; 10 June 1962 – 30 June 1993) was a Hong Kong musician, singer and songwriter. He gained fame in Asia as the leader and a co-founder of the rock band Beyond, where he was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter and his younger brother Wong Ka Keung played bass.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: As a junior at secondary school, he was recommended to listen to European and American music by a schoolmate and later became a fan of David Bowie. Until the age of 15, he taught himself to play guitar after he had acquired an acoustic guitar pre-owned by a neighbour. When developing his guitar skills, he bought a second-hand electric guitar, a red Fender Stratocaster in maplewood.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: He once worked as an office assistant, a mechanic, a scenery decorator for TV company, etc., after his graduation from secondary school. Wong was also a salesman in the same insurance company of drummer Yip Sai Wing.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: In 1980, Wong met drummer Yip Sai Wing through the boss from a piano company and later formed a band with their friends lead guitarist William Tang (鄧煒謙) and bassist Lee Wing Chiu (李榮潮). In 1983, the band signed up for the participation in a contest by "Guitar Magazine" under the band name "Beyond", created by Tang who made a purpose to transcend themselves in aspect of attainment. The band thereafter added Wong Ka Keung on bass in 1984 and Paul Wong on lead guitar in 1985. After that they held their first and only self-funding concert "Waiting Forever" (永遠等待演唱會) (1985).


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: In 1986 Lau Chi Yuen (劉志遠) joined the band as lead guitarist and keyboardist to record the band's first album "Goodbye Ideals" (再見理想) (1986) and EP "Waiting Forever" (永遠等待) (1986) without the assistance of outside record company. Until under the assistance of KINN's MUSIC LTD, operated by manager Leslie Chan (陳健添), Beyond's images and music became more public-accepted. Beyond released the album "Arabian Dancing Girls" (亞拉伯跳舞女郎) (1987) and "Modern Stage" (現代舞台) (1988).


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: In 1988, Beyond signed Cinepoly's contract with proprietor Chan Siu Po (陳少寶) and made the album "Secret Police" (秘密警察) (1988). They won awards in Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation by a hit from this album "The Grand Earth (大地)". In 1989, the band won awards by the song "Truly Love You" (真的愛你) from the album "Beyond IV" (1989) in Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation and both RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: In 1990, Beyond won awards by the song "Glorious Years (光輝歲月)" from the album "Destiny Party" (命運派對) (1990) in Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation. Wong also won "the Best Lyrics Award" individually rather than with the band.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: From 1990 to 1991, Beyond paid more attention to the social issues and ongoing events around the world. The music and lyrics in the song "Glorious Years" (光輝歲月) was created during Wong's visit to New Guinea in 1990 and it is a tribute to former South-African president Nelson Mandela. In 1991, the band visited Kenya and witnessed the grinding poverty and misery there. Wong was again enlightened to write music and lyrics in the song "Amani" from the album "Hesitation" (猶豫). Upon their return, a number of songs were written addressing the serious problems of Africa. The Beyond Third World Foundation was created in the same year with profits from the redistribution of an early album.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: In the 1990s, Wong began to feel limited by the Hong Kong music industry; he once said that "there's only the entertainment industry but not a music industry in Hong Kong." Beyond thus decided to focus on their career in Japan. In January 1992, the band signed a worldwide management contract with Japanese record label Amuse. During the year, they released an album called "Continue the Revolution" (繼續革命). In May 1993, Beyond returned to Hong Kong with a new album "Rock and Roll" (樂與怒). Wong's signature work "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" (海闊天空) won the Best Original Song award in Hong Kong. Before they went back to Japan, Beyond held unplugged live concerts in Hong Kong and Malaysia, which were Beyond's last concert with Wong Ka Kui.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: Beyond arrived in Japan in January 1993 to record new material and engage in media appearances. On 24 June 1993, the band appeared at a Tokyo Fuji Television game show called "" . An accident occurred 15 minutes after the show commenced. The stage floor was very narrow and slippery, and Wong fell off the platform with one of the hosts Teruyoshi Uchimura live on the air. Wong Ka Kui fell 2.7 metres to the ground, landing headfirst and falling into a coma immediately when the host landed on the chest without any serious injury. Wong was rushed to the hospital. Given the traumatic seriousness, no prompt operation was conducted for medical cautiousness.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: On 26 June, several music fans of Beyond gathered at the carpark lot of the Commercial Radio Hong Kong Station to pray for him. The next day, as doctors declared the case helpless, a Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner arrived to treat Wong, who showed slight improvement afterwards. Six days later, at 16:15, in Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital, on 30 June 1993, a Japanese representative announced Wong's death in a press conference.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: Wong's body was transported to Hong Kong on 3 July, with hundreds of people awaiting its arrival at Kai Tak Airport. His funeral procession took place two days later, bringing various major streets in Hong Kong to a standstill. Thousands of celebrities and fans attended his funeral service. Wong was buried in Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery, with his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar. His tombstone is made of white marble and bears the image of a guitar.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: The song "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" was written by Wong and has been an anthem of Cantonese rock music and one of Beyond's signature songs.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: During a concert of Beyond in 2003, Wong was resurrected in the form of a life-size video projection, alongside the remaining band members while they sang the song "Combat for Twenty Years" (抗戰二十年) in memory of him 10 years after his death.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: On 8 November 2005, Hong Kong post office released a stamp collection called "Hong Kong Pop Singers". Wong was one of the five singers who had their images printed on stamps.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: In a vote conducted by Sina China in 2007, Wong was one of the Most Missed Celebrity along with Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui. There are many tribute songs dedicated to him, including "The Champion of Love" by the rock band Bakufu-Slump, "Him" by the rock band Soler, "Wish You Well" by his brother Wong Ka Keung, "Paradise" by Beyond, "Combat for twenty years" by Beyond and "The Story" by Paul Wong.


title: Wong Ka Kui

text: Beginning in December 2007, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) released a documentary series called "A Legend Never Dies", featuring Roman Tam, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, Teresa Teng, Wong Ka Kui and Danny Chan. The episode of Wong was aired on TVB on 26 January 2008. The episode labelled Wong Ka Kui "The Spring Water of Hong Kong Music Industry."


title: Mortise lock

text: A mortise lock (also spelled mortice lock in British English) is a lock that requires a pocket—the mortise—to be cut into the edge of the door or piece of furniture into which the lock is to be fitted. In most parts of the world, mortise locks are found on older buildings constructed before the advent of bored cylindrical locks, but they have recently become more common in commercial and upmarket residential construction in the United States. The design is widely used in domestic properties of all vintages in Europe.


title: Mortise lock

text: Mortise locks have been used as part of door hardware systems in the US since the second quarter of the eighteenth century. In these early forms, the mortise lock mechanism was combined with a pull to open the unlocked door. Eventually, pulls were replaced by knobs.


title: Mortise lock

text: Until the mid-nineteenth century, mortise locks were only used in the most formal rooms in the most expensive houses. Other rooms used box locks or rim locks; in contrast with embedded mortise locks, the latch itself is in a self-contained unit that is attached to the surface of the door. Rim locks have been used in the United States since the early eighteenth century.


title: Mortise lock

text: An early example of the use of mortise locks in conjunction with rim locks within one house exists at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. In 1805, Jefferson wrote to his joiner listing the locks he required for his home. While closets received rim locks, Jefferson ordered 26 mortise locks for use in the principal rooms.


title: Mortise lock

text: Depictions of available mortise lock hardware, including not only lock mechanisms themselves but also escutcheon plates and door pulls, were widely available in the early nineteenth century in trade catalogues. However, the locks were still expensive and difficult to obtain at this time. Jefferson ordered his locks from Paris. Similarly, mortise locks were used in primary rooms in 1819 at Decatur House in Washington, DC while rim locks were used in closets and other secondary spaces.


title: Mortise lock

text: The mortise locks used at Monticello were warded locks. The term "warded lock" refers to the lock mechanism, while the term "mortise lock" refers to the bolt location. Warded locks contain a series of static obstructions, or wards, within the lock box; only a key with cutouts to match the obstructions will be able to turn freely in the lock and open the latch.


title: Mortise lock

text: Warded locks were used in Europe throughout the medieval period and up until early 19th century. Three British locksmiths, Robert Barron, Joseph Bramah, and Jeremiah Chubb, all played a role in creating modern lever tumbler locks. Chubb's lock was patented in 1818. Again, the term refers to the lock mechanism, so a lock can be both a mortise lock and a lever tumbler lock. In the modern lever tumbler lock, the key moves a series of levers that allow the bolt to move in the door.


title: Mortise lock

text: The next major innovation to mortise lock mechanisms came in 1865. Linus Yale, Jr.'s pin tumbler mortise cylinder lock put not only the latch or bolt itself inside the door, but also the tumblers and the bolt mechanism. Up to this point, the lock mechanism was always on the outside of the door regardless of the bolt location. This innovation allowed keys to be shorter as they no longer had to reach all the way through a door. Pin tumbler locks are still the most common kind of mortise lock used today.


title: Mortise lock

text: Mortise locks may include a non-locking sprung latch operated by a door handle. Such a lock is termed a sash lock. A simpler form without a handle or latch is termed a dead lock. Dead locks are commonly used as a secure backup to a sprung non-deadlocking latch, usually a pin tumbler rim lock.


title: Mortise lock

text: Mortise locks have historically, and still commonly do, use lever locks as a mechanism. Older mortise locks may have used warded lock mechanisms. This has led to popular confusion, as the term "mortise lock" was usually used in reference to lever keys in traditional European terminology. In recent years the Euro cylinder lock has become common, using a pin tumbler lock in a mortise housing.


title: Mortise lock

text: The parts included in the typical US mortise lock installation are the lock body (the part installed "inside" the mortise cut-out in the door); the lock trim (which may be selected from any number of designs of doorknobs, levers, handle sets and pulls); a


title: Mortise lock

text: strike plate (or box keep), which lines and reinforces the cavity in the door jamb or frame into which the bolt fits; and the keyed cylinder which operates the locking/unlocking function of the lock body.


title: Mortise lock

text: The installation of a mortise lock can be undertaken by an average homeowner with a working knowledge of basic woodworking tools and methods. Many installation specialists such as carpenters use a dedicated mortising jig which makes precise cutting of the pocket a simple operation, but the subsequent installation of the external trim can still prove problematic if the installer is inexperienced.


title: Mortise lock

text: Although the installation of a mortise lock actually "weakens" the structure of the typical timber door, the embedded lock is typically stronger and more versatile than the newer bored cylindrical lock format, both in external trim, and functionality. Whereas the newer mechanism lacks the physical volume and mechanical stability required for ornate and solid-cast knobs and levers, the mortise lock can accommodate a heavier return spring and a more substantial internal mechanism. Mortise locks are available in a wide range of functional security configurations, and are widely installed in industrial, commercial, and institutional environments.


title: Mortise lock

text: Furthermore, a typical mortise lock typically accepts a wide range of other standardized manufacturers' cylinders and accessories, allowing architectural and functional conformity with other lock hardware already on site.


title: Mortise lock

text: Manufacturers of mortise locks in the United States include Accurate, Arrow, Baldwin, Best, Corbin Russwin, Emtek Products, Inc, Falcon, Penn, Schlage, Sargent, and Yale. Distributors such as Nostalgic Warehouse carry a wide range of decorative trim and accessories to dress up the appearance of a lock installation. Also, many European manufacturers whose products had previously been restricted to "designer" installations have recently gained wider acceptance and use.


title: The Luck of Barry Lyndon

text: The Luck of Barry Lyndon is a picaresque novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published as a serial in "Fraser's Magazine" in 1844, about a member of the Irish gentry trying to become a member of the English aristocracy. Thackeray, who based the novel on the life and exploits of the Anglo-Irish rake and fortune-hunter Andrew Robinson Stoney, later reissued it under the title The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. The novel is narrated by Lyndon himself, who functions as a quintessentially unreliable narrator.


title: The Luck of Barry Lyndon

text: Redmond Barry of Ballybarry, born to a genteel but ruined Irish family, fancies himself a gentleman. At the prompting of his mother, he learns what he can of courtly manners and swordplay, but fails at more scholarly subjects like Latin. He is a hot-tempered, passionate lad, and falls madly in love with his cousin, Nora. As she is a spinster a few years older than Redmond, she is seeking a prospect with more ready cash to pay family debts.


title: The Luck of Barry Lyndon

text: The lad tries to engage in a duel with Nora's suitor, an English officer named John Quin. He is made to think that he has killed the man, though his pistol was actually loaded with tow, a dummy load of heavy, knotted fibres. Quin, struck with the harmless load, fainted in fright.


title: The Luck of Barry Lyndon

text: Redmond flees to Dublin, where he quickly falls in with bad company in the way of con artists, and soon loses all his money. Pursued by creditors, he enlists as a common private in a British Army infantry regiment headed for service in Germany during the Seven Years' War.


title: The Luck of Barry Lyndon

text: Once in Germany, despite a promotion to corporal, he hates the army and seeks to desert. When his lieutenant is wounded, Redmond helps take him to a German village for treatment. The Irishman pretends to suffer from insanity, and after several days absconds with the lieutenant's uniform, papers, and money. As part of his ruse, he convinces the locals that he is the real Lieutenant Fakenham, and the wounded man is the mad Corporal Barry. Redmond Barry rides off toward a neutral German territory, hoping for better fortune.


title: The Luck of Barry Lyndon

text: His bad luck continues, however, as he is joined on the road by a Prussian officer. The German soon realises that Redmond is a deserter, but rather than turn him over to the British to be hanged, impresses him into the Prussian army (for a bounty). Redmond hates Prussian service as much or more than he hated British service, but the men are carefully watched to prevent desertion. Redmond marches with Frederick's army into the Battle of Kunersdorf, barely surviving the disastrous cavalry charge that devastates the Prussian army. He becomes the servant of Captain Potzdorff, and is involved in the intrigues of that gentleman.