Paul Belloni Du Chaillu was a French-American traveler and anthropologist. He became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, the Pygmy people of central Africa, he researched the prehistory of Scandinavia. There are conflicting reports of both the place of his birth; the year is variously given as 1831, 1835, or 1839. Accounts cite either Paris or New Orleans as his place of birth. A contemporary obituary quotes a statement made by Du Chaillu referring to "the United States, my country by adoption, and... France, my native land." His grave marker identifies his place of birth as Louisiana, the year as 1839. However, the most reliable information comes from the memoirs of his personal friend Edward Clodd. Clodd mentioned New York as another claimed location but asserted that Du Chaillu's true birthplace was the French Indian Ocean island territory of Île Bourbon, he further claimed. In 1979, historian Henry H. Bucher presented evidence to back Clodd's view, including records of Du Chaillu's father.

Bucher argued that Du Chaillu, as a member of the European scientific community, would have tried to obfuscate or conceal the family history that would have labeled him a quadroon. In the 19th century atmosphere of scientific racism, great apes and Sub-Saharan Africans were linked as sharing a small cranial capacity and an inborn inability to achieve civilization. Du Chaillu's credibility as an African explorer and gorilla expert would have suffered due to his black heritage as a result. Indeed, comments in a letter by Du Chaillu's contemporary, the ethnologist of Africa Mary Kingsley, indicate that at least some scientists who thought poorly of Du Chaillu knew of his ancestry or other discrediting information about him. In his youth, he accompanied his father, a French trader in the employment of a Parisian firm, to the west coast of Africa where, at a station on the Gabon, he was educated by missionaries and acquired an interest in and knowledge of the country, its natural history, its natives, their languages before emigrating to the U.

S. in 1852. He was sent in 1855 by the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia on an African expedition; until 1859, he explored the regions of West Africa in the neighborhood of the equator, gaining considerable knowledge of the delta of the Ogooué River and the estuary of the Gabon. During his travels from 1856 to 1859, he observed numerous gorillas, known to non-locals in prior centuries only from an unreliable and ambiguous report credited to Hanno the Navigator of Carthage in the 5th century BC and known to scientists in the preceding years only by a few skeletons, he brought back dead specimens and presented himself as the first white European person to have seen them. A subsequent expedition, from 1863 to 1865, enabled him to confirm the accounts given by the ancients of a pygmy people inhabiting the African forests. Du Chaillu sold his hunted gorillas to the Natural History Museum in London and his "cannibal skulls" to other European collections. Narratives of both expeditions were published, in 1861 and 1867 under the titles Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, of the Chace of the Gorilla and other Animals.

While in Ashango Land in 1865, he was elected King of the Apingi tribe. A narrative, The Country of the Dwarfs was published in 1872. At the time, he was in great demand on the public lecture circuits of New York and Paris. Although there were initial challenges of his accounts, they came to be accepted, although Encyclopædia Britannica speculated that "possibly some of the adventures he described as happening to himself were reproductions of the hunting stories of natives."In addition to his zoological work on gorillas, Du Chaillu collected and identified a number of new species to science. He was the first person to scientifically describe the giant otter shrew, taking precedence over John Edward Gray's description of the same animal as a mouse instead, he collected the type specimens for the southern needle-clawed bushbaby, the hammer-headed bat, the African pygmy squirrel, all West African species. Despite not being an ornithological collector, he collected the types specimens for thirty-nine valid species of African birds.

Du Chaillu collected the type series of Amnirana albolabris from Gabon. After some years' residence in America, during which he wrote several books for the young based on his African adventures, Du Chaillu turned his attention to northern Europe. After a visit to northern Norway in 1871, over the following five years, he made a study of customs and antiquities in Sweden, Norway and Northern Finland, he published in 1881 The Land of the Midnight Sun, as a series of Summer and Winter Journeys, in two volumes. His 1889 work The Viking Age in two volumes, was a broad study of the early history and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations, he labored for eight and a half years and read hundreds of Sagas that describe the life of the people who inhabited the Scandinavian peninsula from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. This scholarly work demonstrates what is now recognized, the importance

John Thomas Browne was an American merchant and politician. He served on the Houston City Council, served two terms as Mayor of Houston, served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. John Thomas Browne was born March 23, 1845 in Ballylanders, County Limerick, Ireland to Michael and Winifred Browne, his family emigrated to the United States in October 1851. Not long after arriving in New Orleans, his father died. In 1852, Winifred relocated with her five children to Houston, Texas to be closer to family of her mother. Winifred's Irish uncle, Patrick Hayes, was an herbal medicine doctor and farmer in Madison County, Texas. Browne spent much of the 1850s on Spann Plantation in Washington County, Texas at the behest of Father Gunnard, where he received an education. At age fourteen in 1859, he left the plantation, found work hauling bricks in Madison County, Texas, he returned to Houston to first work as a baggage hauler performed messenger duties for Commercial and Southwestern Express Company before settling in at the Houston and Texas Central Railroad.

The 1860 Census listed John residing with his mother in Houston's Fourth Ward. Correction: The tombstone of Mayor John T. Browne in the City of Houston states that he served in Company A, 36 Texas Cavalry. Family history passed down that he was wounded in a major battle of the Civil War, but recovered fully. Browne joined the Confederacy serving in Company B of the Second Texas Infantry, he served in Houston, detached from his unit, maintaining employment with the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, but in a new capacity as a fireman. He was dispatched to the defense of Galveston, Texas, he was released from military duty in Houston on June 27, 1865. Browne returned to messenger service in Houston after the Civil War, he worked for Adams Express Company for Southern Express Company. He transitioned into the grocery business first as a bookkeeper and clerk for H. P. Levy. Browne married Mary Jane "Mollie" Bergin on September 13, 1871, they were the first marriage to be recorded at Annunciation Catholic Church.

In 1872, Browne and Charles Bollfrass started a business as wholesale and retail grocers with $500 in capital. By the early 1890s, this grocery was amassing about $340,000 in annual sales, he was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of Columbus. Browne was elected to Houston City Council, representing the Fifth Ward while chairing the Finance Committee in 1887, he ran for Mayor of Houston in 1892. He won in a landslide: 3900 to 600. During his time as mayor he lived in the Fifth Ward. Browne's first term as Mayor of Houston began the same year as the Panic of 1893, he had campaigned on a platform of balancing the budget. The City of Houston ran budget deficits during Browne's first term, but these deficits were proportionately lower than those in previous years. Browne had been an advocate for lowering municipal utility bills through municipal ownership of the utilities. However, estimates for the City of Houston to build its own waterworks and electrical power plant had gone up to a range $500,000 to $900,000.

Browne abandoned this option while favoring a policy of dedicating all capital spending on street paving and sewerage. The Browne administration hired a city planning expert to study demands based hypothetically on a population of 75,000. Mayor Browne proposed converting the Houston Volunteer Firefighters to a professional department under municipal management; the City of Houston would need to buy existing equipment and horses from the volunteer department, but could lease firehouses and would not be required to buy them. Houston City Council passed it. In April 1895, the Texas Supreme Court ruling in Higgins v. Bordages, "held that special assessment tax liens were unenforceable against urban homesteads." The City of Houston imposed special tax levies for road and sewerage projects on owners of property abutting the sections of street being improved. The ruling removed the only tool the city had for enforcing payment of the special assessments by homeowners. Road construction contractors stopped all work.

Many homeowners stopped paying their assessment bills. To meet this immediate revenue crisis, the Browne administration devised a plan to issue $500,000 in municipal bonds to be sold over a three to four-year period; the Labor Council opposed the bonding measure, organized to defeat the measure when the referendum made it to the ballot. The City of Houston would need to find another way to compensate for $300,000 in uncollected taxes. Browne represented Houston in the Texas House of Representatives from 1897 to 1899, again in 1907. Browne died August 1941 died of pneumonia in Houston, he was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. He was survived by thirty-eight grand children. In 1979 his former residence in the Fifth Ward was used by an Italian American-owned grocery, Orlando's Grocery

Larry Tieu is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Saigon Heat of the ASEAN Basketball League. Tieu holds dual citizenship in the United States and Vietnam due to his parents having Vietnamese citizenship. In high school, Tieu attended Rowland High School, he started all 4 years. Larry and the Raiders captured league championships in 2002, 2003, 2004. In the summer prior to his senior year, Larry made the all tournament team at the prestigious 2003 Adidas "Big Time" tournament. In his senior year, Larry was selected as the San Gabriel Valley Player of the Year, some say this is where he peaked. Tieu started his college career at Concordia University in 2004. However, he would leave Concordia in his junior year and would finish his career at Biola University. In 2012, Tieu joined the Heat before the start of the 2013 ABL season. Career statistics and player information from ASEANBasketballLeague.com Tieu bio @ athletics.biola.edu

It Came from Beneath the Sea is a 1955 American black-and-white science fiction giant monster film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman and Charles Schneer, directed by Robert Gordon, that stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis. The script by George Worthing Yates was designed to showcase the stop motion animation special effects of Ray Harryhausen, it Came from Beneath the Sea was released as the top half of a double feature with Creature with the Atom Brain. A nuclear submarine on maneuvers in the Pacific Ocean, captained by Commander Pete Mathews, comes into contact with a massive sonar return; the commander can not. The boat manages to free itself and return to Pearl Harbor. Tissue from a huge sea creature is discovered jammed in the submarine's dive planes. A co-ed team of marine biologists, Professor Lesley Joyce and John Carter of Harvard University, is called in; the military authorities scoff, but are persuaded after receiving reports of missing swimmers and ships at sea being pulled under by a large animal.

Both scientists conclude that the creature is from the Mindanao Deep, having been forced from its natural habitat by hydrogen bomb testing in the area, which has made the giant octopus radioactive, driving off its natural food supply. The scientists suggest the disappearances of a Japanese fishing fleet and a Siberian seal boat may be the work of the foraging giant. Both Pete and the Navy representatives express demand further proof; as Pete assists John and Lesley, a report comes in of an attack on a French shipping boat. The French survivors are questioned by psychiatrists, when the first sailor's description of a creature with giant tentacles is met with skepticism, the other sailors refuse to testify. Lesley is able to convince the first sailor to repeat his story for government officials, who have the evidence they need; the U. S. government halts all sea traffic in the North Pacific without revealing the reason. John flies out to sea to trace a missing ship, while Pete and Lesley follow up on a report of three missing people off the coast of Oregon.

The local sheriff, Bill Nash, takes Pete and Lesley to the site of the attack, where they find a giant suction cup imprint in the beach sand. Bill is attacked along the beach by the giant octopus, right in front of the two scientists, they escape, together they hastily arrange for all Pacific coast waters to be mined before departing for San Francisco and the Navy's headquarters. An electrified safety net is strung underwater across the entrance to San Francisco Bay to protect the Golden Gate Bridge, electrified. John takes a helicopter along the shoreline and baits the sea with dead sharks in an effort to lure the creature inland. Lesley demonstrates to reporters a special jet-propelled atomic torpedo, which they hope to fire at the giant octopus, while driving it back to the open sea before detonating the weapon; that day, the creature demolishes the underwater net, irritated by the electrical voltage, heads toward San Francisco. The navy orders the Golden Gate Bridge abandoned, but when John learns that the electric circuit there has been left on, he races to the bridge to shut it off.

The creature, catches sight of the bridge and attacks it, the electrical voltage irritating it more. Pete is able to rescue John; the residents of San Francisco begin a mass exodus down the peninsula. The navy struggles to evacuate the Embarcadero and the Ferry Building, battered by the creature's giant tentacles; when more people are attacked and killed, the Defense Department authorizes Pete to take out the submarine and fire the torpedo. Flamethrowers push the giant tentacles back into the sea, but when Pete fires the jet torpedo into the creature, it grabs the submarine. Using an aqualung, Pete swims up to the massive body and places explosive charges before being knocked out by the creature's flailing tentacles. John swims out and shoots at one of its eyes, forcing the giant octopus to release the submarine. Back at the base, as the creature turns toward the open sea, the torpedo is detonated destroying the giant cephalopod; the film was made by producer Charles Schneer under the supervision of Sam Katzman who had a B picture unit at Columbia.

Schneer said the idea for the movie was inspired by the first explosion of the hydrogen bomb in the Mindinao Deep, sayiny he felt if some creature came out of the deep "and destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge, that would be a hell of a film."The title was inspired by Universal's science fiction hit It Came from Outer Space. Schneer had been impressed by the effects for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and hired Ray Harryhausen. "I don't think I would have made that type of picture if I hadn't been able to get Ray to do the FX," Schneer said later. Much of the filming was done at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, including scenes aboard a submarine, several naval personnel were given supporting roles. To keep shooting costs low, director Robert Gordon shot inside an actual submarine, both above and under water, using handheld cameras. For a scene that takes place on a stretch of Pacific coastline and his crew dumped several truckloads of sand onto a sound stage at Columbia, which they backed with a rear projection screen.

During their scene together, Kenneth Tobey found himself sinking through the sand to the point of appea

John Francis Kennedy is an English-born Australian musician and singer-songwriter–guitarist. He has been the leader of a number of groups including JFK & the Cuban Crisis, John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong. In 1984 he described his music as "urban and western". John Kennedy was born in Liverpool, England on 1 July 1958, his father's name is John Kennedy. In October 1965 the Kennedy family settled in Brisbane. Kennedy took the confirmation name, when he was ten and – as his middle name – it completes the famous JFK initials. According to his website, "It seemed like a good idea at the time; the joke has long since worn off for him, but it still takes some explaining." Kennedy grew up in Acacia Ridge, where he developed a preference for country-influenced music Elvis Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True. He recalled that "My parents listened to a lot of popular country – people like Burl Ives, Tom Jones, doing country and Johnny Cash... It was quite sophisticated country music – big vocals and a big production sound."

John Kennedy, on lead vocals and guitar, formed his first band, JFK & the Cuban Crisis, with former school friend James Paterson on vocals and mandolin in Brisbane in October 1980. The rest of the initial line-up were John Downie on bass guitar, Paul Hardman on keyboards, Holger Maschke on slide guitar and Stephen Pritchard on drums, they established themselves on the local scene, taking up a residency at 279 Club, with their smart Squeeze influenced pop. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, they "played a brand of jangly guitar pop with country overtones." They released two cassette albums, Over the Underpass and Under the Overpass and Down and Out in Brisbane and Sydney. They played the Blockheads; the band issued their debut single, "Am I a Pagan", in March 1982 and moved to Sydney in May. For the band Kennedy and Paterson recruited a new rhythm section: Greg Hall on bass guitar and Paul Rochelli on drums, they started a residency at the Southern Cross Hotel in Surry Hills. A four-track extended play, Careless Talk Costs Lives, had been recorded in Brisbane earlier and was the first release on the new Waterfront Records label.

It featured "The Texan Thing", which received alternative radio airplay. Kennedy had started writing it as "Take Something", a "jaunty keyboard-driven song"; when Paterson recommended "The Texan Thing" as their next single, Kennedy thought "that's a bit rude, he'd had the A-side of the first single, now he was mentioning this song I'd never heard of". However Paterson had "misheard as'Texan Thing'. So I had to go back and rewrite the lyrics."JFK & the Cuban Crisis were established on the inner city live scene alongside contemporaries, the Triffids. In 1983 Paterson was replaced by Graham Lee on guitar. Soon after the group had "moved away from its pop roots, allowing the country elements to dominate proceedings." In April 1984 they issued a three-track EP, The Ballad of Jackie O, followed in May with their studio album, The End of the Affair. In June that year, Kennedy disbanded the group due to "musical differences". In September 1986 Stuart Coupe of The Canberra Times observed that he "suffered, as he still does, from accusations that he was imitating the nasal tones of Elvis Costello – something that's still noticeable – but Kennedy insists that it's just coincidence."

Kennedy embarked on his solo career by releasing a single, "Forget", in September 1984 on Waterfront Records. To promote it he formed John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong. Alongside Kennedy were Lee on pedal steel and vocals. Kennedy described his music as "urban and western"; the band released a single, "Miracle" in March 1985. In that month Colin Bloxsom joined on lead guitar. John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong appeared on the TV talent quest series, winning four heats and making the final in April 1985. Kennedy and Bloxsom were joined by Mark Dawson on drums, Margaret Labi on harmony vocals and Barry Turnbull on bass guitar; this line-up toured the Australian eastern states and recorded another single, "King Street". Coupe described their work "Most notable among the records are'King Street', an ode to the main street in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown, and'Miracle in Marrickville', a song about the suburb Kennedy was living in at the time."Early in 1986, for two months, Kennedy travelled through the United States and Mexico, while putting the band in hiatus.

Upon his return to Australia, Kennedy and Turnbull were joined in the studio by Amanda Brown on violin, Sandy Chick on harmony vocals, Cory Messenger on acoustic guitar and Ian Simpson on banjo and pedal steel. They recorded a new single, "Big Country", McFarlane described how "the song captured an authentic country truckin' feel." Early in 1986, while auditioning for new members of Love Gone Wrong, Kennedy had a casual band with Messenger and Turnbull: John Kennedy's Sweet Dreams. They played country-inspired John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong originals and covers of popular country songs. For the Big Country Tour of Australia Kennedy and Turnbull were joined by Wayne Connolly on electric guitar and Vincent Sheehan on drums for a new line-up, which visited rural venues outside the major cities. Kennedy acknowledged that "It's hard to get people from the estab

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is the state's lead agency responsible for homeownership, affordable rental housing and energy assistance programs, colonia activities serving low income Texans. The Manufactured Housing Division of TDHCA regulates the manufactured housing industry in Texas; the Department annually administers more than $400 million through for-profit and local government partnerships to deliver local housing and community-based opportunities and assistance to Texans in need. The department is headquartered at 221 East 11th Street in Austin. TDHCA was created in 1991 when the Texas Department of Community Affairs and the Texas Housing Agency were combined; the Texas Urban Development Commission recommended the creation of the Texas Department of Community Affairs in 1970. The recommendation was based on an interim report that sought to prevent "urban issues" among the 73% of Texas residents who lived in urban areas at the time. A bill was introduced in the Texas Senate by Barbara Jordan in 1971 to create a TDCA.

The legislation proposed a TDCA that would be tasked to work with cities in Texas to solve problems unique to urban areas, advise the Texas governor, help coordinate programs throughout Texas. The bill, SB 80, passed out of the Senate 27-4 and went to the Texas House in April 1971. In the House, the bill was handled by Representative Joe Goldman and in May 1971, passed the House by a 135 to 10 vote. SB 80 was signed into law in June 1971 by Governor Preston Smith, creating the department to be "effective at once." The TDCA was headed by an executive director, appointed by the Texas governor and had an Advisory Council made up of 12 people who could be considered stakeholders. The first executive director of TDCA was Fritz Lanham, who had worked as the city manager of Baytown, Texas; the Texas Legislature expanded the TDCA by authorizing the creation of human resource centers throughout Texas communities. In March 1979, the Senate introduced SB 296 for the creation of a Texas Housing Agency; the bill in the Senate was proposed and supported by Senator Carl Parker and in the House was supported by Representative Al Price.

THA would have a board of nine appointees, selected by the Texas governor and would issue revenue bonds for improving housing in Texas. The bill was passed and signed into law by Governor Bill Clements in 1979; the agency was led by Earline Jewett. In 1991, Senator Gonzalo Barrientos introduced a bill to combine the TDCA and the THA into one agency; the bill was sponsored by Representative Sylvester Turner in the House. Governor Ann Richards was interested in creating a combined agency after THA was under investigation and had suffered from allegations of mismanagement. In 1991, the 72nd Texas Legislature passed SB 546 to create the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Richards appointed Richard Moya as acting chief of staff for TDHCA in September 1991; the agency sought public input in September 1991 as well, starting public hearings in El Paso and expanding to other Texas cities. In 1993, the legislation was amended by SB 1356. On September 1, 1992, two programs were transferred to TDHCA from the Texas Department of Human Services: the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Emergency Nutrition and Temporary Emergency Relief Program.

Effective September 1, 1995, in accordance with House Bill 785, regulation of manufactured housing was transferred to the Department. In accordance with House Bill 7, effective September 1, 2002, the Community Development Block Grant and Local Government Services programs were transferred to the newly created Office of Rural Community Affairs. However, TDHCA, through an interagency contract with ORCA, administers 2.5 percent of the CDBG funds used for the Self-Help Centers along the Texas-Mexico border. Effective September 1, 2002, in accordance with Senate Bill 322, the Manufactured Housing Division became an independent entity administratively attached to TDHCA. TDHCA's mission is as follows: To help Texans achieve an improved quality of life through the development of better communities. TDHCA accomplishes this mission by administering a variety of housing and community affairs programs. A primary function of TDHCA is to act as a conduit for federal grant funds for housing and community services.

However, because several major housing programs require the participation of private investors and private lenders, TDHCA operates as a housing finance agency. More specific policy guidelines are provided in §2306.002 of TDHCA's enabling legislation. The legislature finds that: every resident of this state should have a decent and affordable living environment; the highest priority of the department is to provide assistance to individuals and families of low and low income who are not assisted by private enterprise or other governmental programs so that they may obtain affordable housing or other services and programs offered by the department. The TDHCA Governing Board and staff are committed to meeting the challenges presented by examining the housing needs and presenting a broad spectrum of housing and community affairs programs based on the input of thousands of Texans. TDHCA's services address a broad spectrum of housing and community affairs issues that include homebuyer assistance, the rehabilitation of single family and multifamily units, ren