MSN TV was a web access product consisting of a thin client device which used a television for display, the online service that supported it. The device design and service was developed by WebTV Networks, Inc. a company started in 1995. The WebTV product was announced in July 1996. While most thin clients developed in the mid-1990s were positioned as diskless workstations for corporate intranets, WebTV was positioned as a consumer product; the WebTV device was an adapter that allowed a television set to be connected to the Internet for web browsing and e-mail. The setup included a web browser, a corded or wireless keyboard, a network connection, using a modem, ADSL, cable Internet access, or power line communication. Although WebTV allowed less functionality than a standard computer-based web browser, it was a low-cost alternative to a traditional computer connection to the Internet. On July 1, 2013, an email was sent out to customers, stating that the service would be shutting down on September 30, 2013, customer service would be available until January 15, 2014.

The WebTV network relied on a Solaris backend network and telephone lines to deliver the content to customers via dial-up. Co-founder Steve Perlman is credited with the idea for the device, he first combined computer and television as a high-school student when he decided his home PC needed a graphics display. He went on to build software for companies such as Atari. While working at General Magic, the idea of bringing TVs and computers together resurfaced. One night, Perlman came across a Campbell's soup website with recipes, he thought that the people who might be interested in what the site had to offer were not using the web. It occurred to him that if the television audience was enabled by a device to augment television viewing with receiving information or commercial offers through the television perhaps the web address could act as a signal and the television cable could be the conduit. A Silicon Valley startup, WebTV Networks was founded in July 1995. Perlman brought along co-founders Bruce Leak and Phil Goldman shortly after conceiving the basic concept.

The company operated out of half of a former BMW car dealership building on Alma Street in Palo Alto, being used for storage by the Museum of American Heritage. WebTV had been able to obtain the space for low rent, but it was suboptimal for technology development. Before incorporation, the company referred to itself as Artemis Research to disguise the nature of its business; the info page of its original website explained that it was studying "sleep deprivation, poor diet and no social life for extended periods on humans and dwarf rabbits". The dwarf rabbit reference was an inside joke among WebTV's hard-working engineers—Phil Goldman's pet house rabbit Bowser was found roaming the WebTV building late into the night while the engineers were working—although WebTV received inquiries from real research groups conducting similar studies and seeking to exchange data; the company hired many engineers and a few business development employees early on, having about 30 total employees by October 1995.

Two early employees of Artemis were from Apple Inc: Andy Rubin, creator of the Android cell phone OS, Joe Britt. Both men would be two of the founders of Danger, Inc.. WebTV Networks' business model was to license a reference design to consumer electronics companies for a WebTV Internet Terminal, a set-top box that attached to a telephone line and automatically connected to the Internet through a dial-up modem; the consumer electronics companies' income was derived from selling the WebTV set-top box. WebTV's income was derived from operating the WebTV Service, the Internet-based service to which the set-top boxes connected and for which it collected a fee from WebTV subscribers; the service provided features such as HTML-based email, proxied websites, which were reformatted by the service before they were sent to set-top box, to make them display more efficiently on a television screen. WebTV closed its first round of financing, US$1,500,000, from Marvin Davis in September 1995, which it used to develop its prototype set-top box, using proprietary hardware and firmware.

The company used the financing to develop the online service that the set-top boxes connected to. WebTV leveraged their limited startup funds by licensing a reference design for the appliance to Sony and Philips. Other companies would become licensees and WebTV would profit on the monthly service fees. After 22 months, the company was sold to Microsoft for $425 million, with each of the three founders receiving $64 million. By the spring of 1996 WebTV Networks employed 70 people, many of them finishing their senior year at nearby Stanford University, or former employees of either Apple Computer or General Magic. WebTV had started negotiating with Sony to manufacture and distribute the WebTV set-top box, but negotiations had taken much longer than WebTV had expected, WebTV had used up its initial funding. Steve Perlman liquidated his assets, ran up his credit cards and mortgaged his house to provide bridge financing while seeking additional venture capital; because Sony had insisted upon exclusive distribution rights for the first year, WebTV had no other distribution partner in place, just before WebTV was to close venture capital financing from Brentwood Associates, Sony sent WebTV a certified letter stating it had decided not to proceed with WebTV.

It was a critical juncture for WebTV, because the Brentwood financing

The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural drama television series that premiered on The CW on September 10, 2009, concluded on March 10, 2017 after airing eight seasons. Screenwriters Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec adapted the show from L. J. Smith's novel series of the same name; the series takes place in Mystic Falls, Virginia, a fictional small town haunted by supernatural beings. It centers on the love triangle between the protagonist Elena Gilbert and vampire-brothers Stefan Salvatore and Damon Salvatore; as the narrative develops in the course of the show, the focal point shifts on the mysterious past of the town involving Elena's malevolent doppelgänger Katherine Pierce and the family of Original Vampires, all of whom have an evil agenda of their own. The series has been nominated for many awards, including 67 Teen Choice Awards, 27 People's Choice Awards, eight Saturn Awards; the three lead protagonists—Dobrev and Somerhalder—have received the most nominations. Lead actress Dobrev was nominated for 21 awards, winning five Teen Choice Awards, a People's Choice Award, a Young Hollywood Award.

Somerhalder earned widespread critical acclaim for his role of Damon Salvatore, is the most nominated cast member with 30 nominations. Official website Awards for The Vampire Diaries on IMDb

The Israeli naval campaign in Operation Yoav refers to the operations of the Israeli naval service during Operation Yoav in the final stage of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The main objective of the naval service was to disrupt the supply lines from Egypt to Palestine, completing the Egyptian expeditionary force's encirclement, force Egypt to allocate large forces to fight against targets at sea instead of on the ground, where Operation Yoav was conducted. Israel's four warships at the time, INS Wedgwood, INS Haganah, INS Ma'oz and INS Noga, participated in the operation; the two main naval engagements were the October 19 battle in the waters of Majdal, the sinking of the Egyptian flagship Emir Farouk on October 22, which damaged an Egyptian minesweeper. The latter operation helped shape the Israeli navy's doctrine of the use of small weapon systems as opposed to conventional fleets; the Israeli naval service was founded in March 1948 out of the Palyam, a small naval contingent of the Palmach, reinforced by Jewish veterans of the Royal Navy and the Jewish Agency's maritime and fishing departments.

At the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on May 15, its small makeshift fleet was no match for the Egyptian Navy, which had complete sea superiority. During the second truce of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, between July 18 and October 15, 1948, the naval service's strength increased totaling 16 vessels of a combined 7,000 tons; this included four warships called "the Big Flotilla", three landing craft, three service ships and six patrol boats. New equipment was installed on the ships in the Big Flotilla, including tactical radios; the Egyptian fleet had three large and eight small minesweepers, four armed service ships, three corvettes, at least four patrol boats and at least 20 landing craft. This fleet's composition had not changed since the beginning of the war; the second truce started with an Israeli enclave in the Negev disconnected from the rest of the country. Military operations, including An-Far, Death to the Invader and GYS, to create a corridor between the two areas, failed; the Israeli political and military leadership therefore planned a massive operation, the largest undertaken by the IDF to that point.

The operation was named The Ten Plagues, involved the first major Israeli naval offensive campaign. In Operation Yoav, the naval service was not supposed to, could not, act independently. Rather, all of its actions were coordinated with ground forces and conducted in accordance with the latter's requirements, its actions entirely confined to the Gaza–Majdal corridor, were meant to create a naval blockade of the Egyptian expeditionary force in Israel. This would be achieved by preventing any Egyptian naval actions in the area, including naval supply, reinforcement or seaborne evacuation of forces. In addition, the naval service would draw major Egyptian forces to the theater, preventing them from fighting in other areas where ground and air attacks would take place; the Israeli naval service operated under the assumption that a concentrated attack on the Egyptians would force them to use their entire military arsenal for defense, they would therefore not have offensive capabilities. In light of that, only the six patrol boats were designated to guard the Israeli coast.

The Egyptian Navy along the shore operated out of Gaza and Majdal, both of which had open ports, making it convenient to stage covert operations against them. Such operations were not planned in advance, however; the Israeli strategy rested on searching for targets and devising a tactic to engage them once located. One joint operation with the Givati Brigade was planned in advance—an attack on an Egyptian artillery battery in Isdud. In the first days of Operation Yoav, the naval service did not meet with success, their mission was to patrol the Gaza–Majdal area and engage any Egyptian ships whose location they could find, either through intelligence reports or visual identification. On October 16, 1948, the air force spotted an Egyptian vessel to the south of Gaza; the patrol boat INS Palmach took a sapper team to the location, but after reaching it at 02:15 on October 17, the crew failed to locate the ship. Another report on October 17 of two ships docking in Gaza did not end in an engagement.

On October 18 at 04:00, the naval service on October 21, Majdal. Both operations were carried out in tandem with the Israeli Air Force. A shelling of al-Arish was planned for October 18, but the Israeli ships turned to Majdal to look for a reported Egyptian vessel, which they did not find. Operation Battery was the name given to the amphibious assault planned by the naval service and Givati Brigade against an Egyptian artillery battery in Isdud; the naval service could not mount such an operation independently as its nascent marine force had been entirely destroyed in land combat in Operation Death to the Invader. Plans had to be changed as more infantry soldiers showed up than expected, an actual landing craft was used instead of boats as planned; the landing craft's crew had no knowledge of the vessel's specifications and did not know how to properly operate it. The vessel left Jaffa Port at 20:45 on October 16, followed by the patrol boat INS Sa'ar which carried the landing troops, they reached the destination at midnight, two hours late.

Shortly after the 31 infantrymen embarked on the landing craft, its engine died. In addition, this was the first time that many of the Givat

Uranium is a occurring radioactive element that has no stable isotope. It has two primordial isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235, that have long half-lives and are found in appreciable quantity in the Earth's crust; the decay product uranium-234 is found. Other isotopes such as uranium-233 have been produced in breeder reactors. In addition to isotopes found in nature or nuclear reactors, many isotopes with far shorter half-lives have been produced, ranging from 215U to 242U; the standard atomic weight of natural uranium is 238.02891. Occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes, uranium-238, uranium-235, uranium-234. All three isotopes are radioactive, creating radioisotopes, with the most abundant and stable being uranium-238 with a half-life of 4.4683×109 years. Uranium-238 is an alpha emitter, decaying through the 18-member uranium series into lead-206; the decay series of uranium-235 has 15 members and ends in lead-207. The constant rates of decay in these series makes comparison of the ratios of parent-to-daughter elements useful in radiometric dating.

Uranium-233 is made from thorium-232 by neutron bombardment. Uranium-235 is important for both nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons because it is the only isotope existing in nature to any appreciable extent, fissile in response to thermal neutrons. Uranium-238 is important because it is fertile: it absorbs neutrons to produce a radioactive isotope that subsequently decays to the isotope plutonium-239, fissile. Uranium-232 is a side product in the thorium cycle, it has been cited as an obstacle to nuclear proliferation using 233U as the fissile material, because the intense gamma radiation emitted by 208Tl makes the 233U contaminated with it more difficult to handle. Uranium-232 is a rare example of an even-even isotope, fissile with both thermal and fast neutrons. Uranium-233 is a fissile isotope of uranium, bred from thorium-232 as part of the thorium fuel cycle. Uranium-233 was investigated as a reactor fuel, it has been used in experimental nuclear reactors and has been proposed for much wider use as a nuclear fuel.

It has a half-life of 159200 years. Uranium-233 is produced by the neutron irradiation of thorium-232; when thorium-232 absorbs a neutron, it becomes thorium-233, which has a half-life of only 22 minutes. Thorium-233 decays into protactinium-233 through beta decay. Protactinium-233 has a half-life of 27 days and beta decays into uranium-233. Uranium-233 fissions on neutron absorption but sometimes retains the neutron, becoming uranium-234; the capture-to-fission ratio is smaller than the other two major fissile fuels uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Uranium-234 is an isotope of uranium. In natural uranium and in uranium ore, 234U occurs as an indirect decay product of uranium-238, but it makes up only 0.0055% of the raw uranium because its half-life of just 245,500 years is only about 1/18,000 as long as that of 238U. The path of production of 234U via nuclear decay is as follows: 238U nuclei emit an alpha particle to become thorium-234. Next, with a short half-life, a 234Th nucleus emits a beta particle to become protactinium-234.

234Pa nuclei each emit another beta particle to become 234U nuclei.234U nuclei last for hundreds of thousands of years, but they decay by alpha emission to thorium-230, except for the small percentage of nuclei that undergo spontaneous fission. Extraction of rather small amounts of 234U from natural uranium would be feasible using isotope separation, similar to that used for regular uranium-enrichment. However, there is no real demand in chemistry, physics, or engineering for isolating 234U. Small pure samples of 234U can be extracted via the chemical ion-exchange process—from samples of plutonium-238 that have been aged somewhat to allow some decay to 234U via alpha emission. Enriched uranium contains more 234U than natural uranium as a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process aimed at obtaining uranium-235, which concentrates lighter isotopes more than it does 235U; the increased percentage of 234U in enriched natural uranium is acceptable in current nuclear reactors, but reprocessed uranium might contain higher fractions of 234U, undesirable.

This is because 234U is not fissile, tends to absorb slow neutrons in a nuclear reactor—becoming 235U.234U has a neutron capture cross section of about 100 barns for thermal neutrons, about 700 barns for its resonance integral—the average over neutrons having various intermediate energies. In a nuclear reactor, non-fissile isotopes capture a neutron breeding fissile isotopes. 234U is converted to 235U more and therefore at a greater rate than uranium-238 is to plutonium-239, because 238U has a much smaller neutron-capture cross section of just 2.7 barns. Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e. it can sustain a fission chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope, a primordial nuclide or found in significant quantity in nature. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million year

Jack Shea was an American film and television director. He was the president of the Directors Guild of America from 1997 to 2002. Born John Francis Shea, Jr. Shea's father was his mother a bookkeeper, he received a parochial high school education attaining a degree in History from Fordham University. Shea broke into the entertainment industry in 1951 as a stage manager for the TV series Philco Playhouse, following two years of service with the United States Air Force, serving from 1952 to 1954, during the Korean War, making instructional films in Los Angeles, becoming an associate director. Among the TV shows he contributed to during this period include The Jerry Lewis Show and The Bob Hope Show, where he shared a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for in 1961, it was at this time when Shea became instrumental in forming the Radio and Television Directors Guild and was a strong voice for the hiring of minorities in the industry. During the 1970s, he began an association with producers Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear, directed episodes from two of their projects in the 1970s, the series Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons.

Among his other credits include The Waltons, Silver Spoons, Growing Pains and Designing Women, the last earning him a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination. From 1997 until 2002, he served as president of the Directors Guild. A lifelong Catholic, Shea was a co-founder, with his wife Patt and other prominent Catholics in the Hollywood entertainment community, of the Hollywood-based Catholics in Media Associates, which he was past president of. Shea and Patt Shea jointly received the CIMA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 from the organization of Catholic entertainment industry professionals which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2013. Shea was a former member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee for Communications. On January 2, 1954, Shea married the former Patricia C. Carmody, who known as Patt Shea, became a 3-time Humanitas Award-nominated screenwriter whose credits include the CBS-TV series All in the Family, story editor and/or writer for 38 episodes of Archie Bunker's Place, in addition to screenwriter for episodes of "Lou Grant," “Valerie, Cagney & Lacey, In The Heat of The Night, Bagdad Café, the CBS pilot for Gloria, Sally Struthers’ spin-off from the popular All In The Family TV series, among many other television series.

The couple, who resided in Studio City, CA for over 30 years, have five children, three of whom are DGA members* and 1st Assistant Directors*: Shawn Shea*. Shea died of complications from Alzheimer's disease. Jack Shea on IMDb Jack Shea at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television Jack Shea at Find a Grave

The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen: Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker, who, in 1975, were each sentenced to life imprisonment following their false convictions for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Court of Appeal on 14 March 1991; the six men were awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million. The Birmingham pub bombings took place on 21 November 1974 and were attributed to the Provisional IRA. Explosive devices were placed in two central Birmingham pubs: the Mulberry Bush at the foot of the Rotunda, the Tavern in the Town – a basement pub in New Street; the resulting explosions, at 20:25 and 20:27, collectively were the most injurious attacks in England since World War II. A third device, outside a bank in Hagley Road, failed to detonate. Six men were arrested, of whom five were Belfast-born Roman Catholics, while John Walker was a Roman Catholic born in Derry.

All six had lived in Birmingham since the 1960s. All the men except for Callaghan had left the city early on the evening of 21 November from New Street Station, shortly before the explosions, they were travelling to Belfast to attend the funeral of James McDade, a Provisional Irish Republican Army member whom they all knew. McDade had accidentally killed himself on 14 November when his bomb detonated prematurely while he was planting it at a telephone exchange in Coventry; when they reached Heysham they and others were subject to search. The men did not tell the police of the true purpose of their visit to Belfast, a fact, held against them. While the search was in progress the police were informed of the Birmingham bombings; the men agreed to be taken to Morecambe police station for forensic tests. On the morning of 22 November, after the forensic tests and questioning at the hands of the Morecambe police, the men were transferred to the custody of West Midlands Serious Crime Squad police unit.

William Power alleged that he was assaulted by members of Birmingham Criminal Investigation Department. Callaghan was taken into custody on the evening of 22 November. While the men were in the custody of the West Midlands Police they were deprived of food and sleep, they were interrogated sometimes for up to 12 hours without a break. Power confessed while in Morecambe while Callaghan, Walker and McIlkenny confessed at Queens Road in Aston. On 12 May 1975 the six men were charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. Three other men, James Kelly, Michael Murray and Michael Sheehan, were charged with conspiracy and Kelly and Sheehan faced charges of unlawful possession of explosives; the trial began on 9 June 1975 at the Crown Court sitting at Lancaster Castle, before Mr Justice Bridge and a jury. After legal arguments the statements made; the unreliability of these statements was established. Thomas Watt provided circumstantial evidence about John Walker's association with Provisional IRA members.

Forensic scientist Dr Frank Skuse used positive Griess test results to claim that Hill and Power had handled explosives. Callaghan, Hunter, McIlkenny and Walker all had tested negative. GCMS tests at a date were negative for Power and contradicted the initial results for Hill. Skuse's claim that he was 99% certain that Power and Hill had explosives traces on their hands was opposed by defence expert Dr Hugh Kenneth Black of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the former HM Chief Inspector of Explosives, Home Office. Skuse's evidence was preferred by Bridge; the jury found the six men guilty of murder. On 15 August 1975, they were each sentenced to 21 life sentences. On 28 November 1974, the men appeared in court for the second time after they had been remanded into custody at HM Prison Winson Green. All showed other signs of ill-treatment. Fourteen prison officers were charged with assault in June 1975, but were all acquitted at a trial presided over by Mr. Justice Swanwick; the Six brought a civil claim for damages against the West Midlands Police in 1977, struck out on 17 January 1980 by the Court of Appeal, constituted by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning, Goff LJ and Sir George Baker, under the principle of estoppel.

During proceedings, prison officers and police were blamed for the beatings. In March 1976 their first application for leave to appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, presided over by Lord Widgery CJ. Journalist Chris Mullin investigated the case for Granada TV's World in Action series. In 1985, the first of several World in Action programmes casting doubt on the men's convictions was broadcast. In 1986, Mullin's book, Error of Judgment: The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings, set out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent, it included his claim to have met some of those who were responsible for the bombings. The Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, referred the case back to the Court of Appeal. In January 1988, after a six-week hearing, the convictions were ruled to be satisfactory; the Court of Appeal, presided over by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Lane, dismissed the appeals. Over the next three years, newspaper articles, television documentaries and books brought forward new evidence to question the safety of the convictions, while campaign groups callin