Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot-long pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area in Chicago, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over 50 acres of parks, shops, family attractions and exhibition facilities and is one of the top destinations in the Midwestern United States, drawing nearly two million visitors annually, it is one of the most visited attractions in the entire Midwest and is Chicago's most visited tourist attraction. Navy Pier opened to the public on July 15, 1916. Known as the "Municipal Pier", the pier was built by Charles Sumner Frost, a nationally known architect, with a design based on the 1909 Plan of Chicago by Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett Its original purpose was to serve as a dock for freights, passenger traffic, indoor and outdoor recreation. In mid-1918, the pier was used as a jail for draft dodgers. In 1927, the pier was renamed Navy Pier to honor the naval veterans who served in World War I.

In 1941, during World War II, the pier became a training center for the United States Navy. The pier contained a 2,500-seat theater, gym, 12-chair barber shop, cobbler shops, soda fountain and a vast kitchen and hospital. In 1946, as the Navy was winding down from its mission, the University of Illinois at Chicago held classes at the pier; as the maximum capacity was exceeded, the school outgrew the pier and the university relocated to Circle Campus in 1965. After the university left, the Navy Pier became underutilized. In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened and increased commercial shipping activity at the pier for a short time, though business died down and left for more modern facilities at Lake Calumet. In 1976, the East End buildings were renovated and for a brief period the pier was alive again, home to summer events like ChicagoFest, but maintenance was not done and the pier went into decline. In 1989, the City of Chicago had the Urban Land Institute reimagine uses for the pier; the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority was created.

The MPEA undertook the redevelopment. In 1995, Navy Pier was redesigned and introduced to the public as a mixed-use venue incorporating retail, dining and cultural spaces. Efforts to update Navy Pier for the 21st century began on January 13, 2006, when the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority released a proposal for a major renovation of the Pier, which including a monorail, a 260-foot spokeless Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, floating hotel, a water park with a Great Lakes theme; the plan would have included nearly double the current parking and a replacement theater with a greater capacity. At the time of the announcement, a price tag of $2 billion was announced. Following the reorganization of the agency that runs Navy Pier and McCormick Place, a new study was commissioned to reinvigorate the upgrade process; the new study, by the Urban Land Institute, was released on November 11, 2010 and recommended a more modest set of enhancements aimed at retaining the Pier's role as a public space, rather than turning it into a theme park.

Suggested elements include a concert venue, an enlarged Chicago Shakespeare Theater space, new restaurants, a renovated commercial area around the Pier's entrance and additional park-like features to bring people closer to the lake. More grandiose possibilities, including the enlarged Ferris wheel and a hotel, are mentioned as more remote possibilities. In March 2012, a competition led to selection of a design concept presented by a team led by James Corner of James Corner Field Operations that focuses on the Pier's role as a waterfront promenade. In 2013, the Authority announced plans to carry out the first elements of a streamlined version of that concept, with reworked streetscape and a wider pedestrian space, moving tour-boat moorings to improve the view from a new central stairway centered on the Ferris wheel. Work began on the redevelopment plan, called The Centennial Vision, during the winter of 2013–2014; the purpose of the plan is to fulfill the mission to keep Navy Pier as a world-class public space and to renovate the pier so it will have more evening and year-round entertainment and more compelling landscape and design features.

The Polk Family Foundation donated $20 million to the redevelopment effort. A new Ferris wheel for the pier was announced on June 23, 2015, it is 46 feet taller than its predecessor. Rides now feature three revolutions; the new wheel has brighter lights and opened in May 2016. The Centennial Vision's first phase was completed in summer 2016. Work included the redesign of the Pier's public spaces, known as Pierscape, improvements to the interior of the Family Pavilion and South Arcade. Phase I projects included the transformation of South Dock into a more engaging, greener space, conversion of the South Arcade indoor walkway into a Chicago-themed food experience and creation of a lighted water fountain/ice skating rink in Polk Bros Park. In November 2016, Navy Pier, Inc. proudly announced Phase I development had achieved Gold certification under the Sustainable SITES Initiative rating system, the first project to earn this level of certification under SITES v2. Phase 1's Gold certification demonstrates NPI's undeniable commitment to the environment through expanded green spaces, improved pedestrian access, energy efficiency, innovative storm water

1993 QA is a sub-kilometer asteroid classified as near-Earth object of the Apollo and Amor group, respectively. It was discovered on 16 August 1993, by astronomers of the Spacewatch program at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, United States; the asteroid measures half a kilometer in diameter and has a short rotation period of 2.5057 hours. 1993 QA is a member of the dynamical Apollo group. Conversely, it is classified as a non-Earth crossing Amor asteroid by the Minor Planet Center, due to its near-threshold perihelion of 1.011 AU. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.01–1.94 AU once every 21 months. Its orbit has an inclination of 13 ° with respect to the ecliptic; the body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation by Spacewatch on 16 August 1993. The asteroid has an Earth minimum orbital intersection distance of 0.0645 AU, which translates into 25.1 lunar distances. On 6 February 1996 it transited Earth at a nominal distance of 10,600,000 km; the body's next encounter with Earth below 0.1 AU will occur on 8 February 2048, at a distance of 9,390,000 km.

Conversely, Pan-STARRS' photometric survey determined a much brighter S-type. In the late 1990s, two rotational lightcurves of 1993 QA were obtained from photometric observations by European astronomers. Lightcurve analysis gave an identical, well-defined rotation period of 2.5057 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.32 and 0.50 magnitude, respectively. Its period is near the cohesionless spin-barrier of 2.2 hours, which set the upper limit for fast-rotating asteroids. According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, 1993 QA measures 498 meters in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.340. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 770 meters based on an absolute magnitude of 17.94. As of 2018, this minor planet has not been named yet. Asteroid Lightcurve Database, query form Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets - – Minor Planet Center 1993 QA at NeoDyS-2, Near Earth Objects—Dynamic Site Ephemeris · Obs prediction · Orbital info · MOID · Proper elements · Obs info · Close · Physical info · NEOCC 1993 QA at the JPL Small-Body Database Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters

Vairam is a 1974 Tamil thriller film, directed by T. R. Ramanna and produced by S. P. Laxmanan, M. Suriyanarayanan, S. S. Pazhaniyappan and M. N. Arunachalam; the film script was written by T. K. Balu. Music was by T. R. Pappa; the film stars Jaishankar, Jayalalithaa, M. R. R. Vasu, S. A. Ashokan and R. S. Manohar in played lead roles; the film was a remake of the Hindi film Victoria No. 203. The film was recorded as Super Hit at the box office When Senthil Nathan steals some precious diamonds, one henchman turns traitor and decamps with the booty; the man is killed. A Victoria driver is wrongly sentenced to life, since he was the last man to be seen with the dead man. Here, two crooks get the scent of the diamonds; the driver's daughter Rani too, is poised to prove her father's innocence. Senthil Nathan's son Raja too, joins the forces after learning her true nature. Will the weird team find the diamonds? What surprises does everybody have in store for them? Senthil Nathan is a rich businessman, revered by his son society.

In reality he is the leader of a smuggling gang. As a trusted member of society, he gets all information. However, during one such robbery, a gang member turns flees with the diamonds. Senthil Nathan sends another man to kill the traitors; the traitor is killed. A furious Senthil Nathan sends some henchman to retrieve the diamonds; the henchman corners and kills the traitor, but has succeeded in hiding the diamonds somewhere. Meanwhile, a Victoria driver of the eponymous, found near the dead body is arrested based on circumstantial evidence. Somewhere else, two old golden-hearted crooks and Sami are to be released. Durai had an infant son, kidnapped from a park. To date, Durai doesn't know who kidnapped him or whether his son is alive; the duo want to spend the rest of their lives as good, respected men. The plan is short-lived. Soon they realise that no one has got a scent of the missing diamonds. To get closer to the Victoria, they pose as distant cousins of the Victoria driver, who are reluctantly admitted inside by the driver's elder daughter Rani, who soon starts acting suspicious.

During the day, Rani rides the Victoria. She slips out of the home. One day Durai and Sami follow her to the house of a man unknown to them, Senthil Nathan and a henchman named Victor, they are shocked to see Rani seducing him. But when Victor tries to rape her, the duo saves her. On accosting her, she says that the man was loitering suspiciously near the Victoria when her father was arrested. Before they can learn anything from him, he is shot dead. On learning the Victoria drivers' story, the duo decide to do a good turn, they tell Rani the whole truth, but a shocked Rani doesn't have a clue about the location of the diamonds. After tearing the Victoria apart, nothing is found. Meanwhile, Rani falls in love with Raja. Whom she met, she tries to woo him posing as a rich lady. A plan which works well. However, Raja decides to marry her. Despite knowing about her father. Raja meets Durai and Sami, where upon he gets suspicious of the duo. Here Senthil Nathan objects to Raja's relationship with Rani. Raja learns of his father's true nature and leaves him.

After meeting Rani and Sami tell the truth to him too. The quartet decide to find the diamonds. Senthil Nathan kidnaps Rani on learning that she is the daughter of Shankaralingam, the Victoria driver. Raja and Sami are kidnapped and tortured. During the deal, Senthil Nathan's drinks are being served on an ornate tray with a fake Victoria headlamp attached to it. Sami realises, he buys time for himself and old buddy and they go to retrieve the diamonds. The duo turn up at Senthil Nathan's den, where they manage to create confusion by luring the gang members to the diamonds. Senthil Nathan is embarrassed to see. During the melee, another twist occurs where an old henchman of Senthil Nathan reveals that Raja isn't Senthil Nathan's son. Senthil Nathan had ordered the henchman to steal somebody's child, because Senthil Nathan's father had threatened to disown him. Senthil Nathan could have prevented the situation only by proving that Senthil Nathan fathered the child. In the end, Senthil Nathan and his remaining cronies are arrested and Rani's father is set free.

After being reunited with his son and his would be daughter-in-law, Durai decides to settle down. However, Sami leaves. Soon Durai spots a Burka-clad woman, Sami. Sami tells Durai. Durai goes home with his friend. Jaishankar as Raja Jayalalithaa as Rani Sreekanth as Victor M. R. R. Vasu as Durai S. A. Ashokan as Samy R. S. Manohar as Senthilnathan S. V. Ramadoss as The Traitor C. R. Parthiban as Jambu Thengai Srinivasan as Vaithiyanathan, hospital ward boy S. V. Sahasranamam as Sankaralingam Oru Viral Krishna Rao as Lathiyadi Krishnan Sachu as Vani Shoba as Usha, Rani's younger Sister Jayakumari as Guest Role Music was composed by T. R. Pappa and lyrics were written by Kannadasan; the playback singers consist of T. M. Soundararajan S. P. Balasubramany