A port is a maritime facility which may comprise one or more wharves where ships may dock to load and discharge passengers and cargo. Although situated on a sea coast or estuary, some ports, such as Hamburg and Duluth, are many miles inland, with access to the sea via river or canal; because of their roles as a port of entry for immigrants many port cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles and Vancouver have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes. Today, by far the greatest growth in port development is in Asia, the continent with some of the world's largest and busiest ports, such as Singapore and the Chinese ports of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan. Whenever ancient civilisations engaged in maritime trade, they tended to develop sea ports. One of the world's oldest known artificial harbors is at Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea. Along with the finding of harbor structures, ancient anchors have been found. Other ancient ports include Guangzhou during Qin Dynasty China and Canopus, the principal Egyptian port for Greek trade before the foundation of Alexandria.

In ancient Greece, Athens' port of Piraeus was the base for the Athenian fleet which played a crucial role in the Battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BCE. In ancient India from 3700 BCE, Lothal was a prominent city of the Indus valley civilisation, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of Gujarāt. Ostia Antica was the port of ancient Rome with Portus established by Claudius and enlarged by Trajan to supplement the nearby port of Ostia. In Japan, during the Edo period, the island of Dejima was the only port open for trade with Europe and received only a single Dutch ship per year, whereas Osaka was the largest domestic port and the main trade hub for rice. Nowadays, many of these ancient sites no longer function as modern ports. In more recent times, ports sometimes fall out of use. Rye, East Sussex, was an important English port in the Middle Ages, but the coastline changed and it is now 2 miles from the sea, while the ports of Ravenspurn and Dunwich have been lost to coastal erosion.

Whereas early ports tended to be just simple harbours, modern ports tend to be multimodal distribution hubs, with transport links using sea, canal, road and air routes. Successful ports are located to optimize access to an active hinterland, such as the London Gateway. Ideally, a port will grant easy navigation to ships, will give shelter from wind and waves. Ports are on estuaries, where the water may be shallow and may need regular dredging. Deep water ports such as Milford Haven are less common, but can handle larger ships with a greater draft, such as super tankers, Post-Panamax vessels and large container ships. Other businesses such as regional distribution centres and freight-forwarders and other processing facilities find it advantageous to be located within a port or nearby. Modern ports will have specialised cargo-handling equipment, such as gantry cranes, reach stackers and forklift trucks. Ports have specialised functions: some tend to cater for passenger ferries and cruise ships.

Some third world countries and small islands such as Ascension and St Helena still have limited port facilities, so that ships must anchor off while their cargo and passengers are taken ashore by barge or launch. In modern times, ports decline, depending on current economic trends. In the UK, both the ports of Liverpool and Southampton were once significant in the transatlantic passenger liner business. Once airliner traffic decimated that trade, both ports diversified to container cargo and cruise ships. Up until the 1950s the Port of London was a major international port on the River Thames, but changes in shipping and the use of containers and larger ships, have led to its decline. Thamesport, a small semi-automated container port thrived for some years, but has been hit hard by competition from the emergent London Gateway port and logistics hub. In mainland Europe, it is normal for ports to be publicly owned, so that, for instance, the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are owned by the state and by the cities themselves.

By contrast, in the UK all ports are in private hands, such as Peel Ports who own the Port of Liverpool, John Lennon Airport and the Manchester Ship Canal. Though modern ships tend to have bow-thrusters and stern-thrusters, many port authorities still require vessels to use pilots and tugboats for manoeuvering large ships in tight quarters. For instance, ships approaching the Belgian port of Antwerp, an inland port on the River Scheldt, are obliged to use Dutch pilots when navigating on that part of the estuary that belongs to the Netherlands. Ports with international traffic have customs facilities; the terms "port" and "seaport" are used for different types of port facilities that handle ocean-going vessels, river port is used for river traffic, such as barges and other shallow-draft vessels. A dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport and operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. A fishing port is a harbor for landing and distributing fish.

It may be a recreational facility, but it is commercial. A fishing port is the only port that depends on an ocean product, depletion of fish may cause a fishing port to be uneconomical. An inland port is a port on a navigable lake, river, or canal with access to a sea or ocean, which therefore allows a ship to sail from the ocean inland to the port to load or unload its

Neighbourhood Support is a term used, predominantly in New Zealand, to refer to schemes similar in intent to "Neighbourhood Watch", with some additional objectives. Neighbourhood Support is a community-owned programme, promoted as making homes, streets and communities safer and more caring places in which to live. Neighbourhood Support works with the Police and a number of other organisations, to reduce crime and to prepare people to deal with emergencies and natural disasters in their community. Neighbourhood Watch was introduced to New Zealand as a crime prevention initiative in the late 1970s; the initiative evolved to become Neighbourhood Support New Zealand, a community-owned and managed organisation with a wide-ranging interest in crime prevention and community safety. Neighbourhood Support became an Incorporated Society in 2000. In 2001 it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the New Zealand Police; the purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding is to establish and promote a collaborative working relationship between Neighbourhood Support New Zealand Incorporated and the Police.

Neighbourhood Support aims to make homes, streets and communities safer and more caring places in which to live. This is achieved through establishment of small cells of households known as a "Neighbourhood Support Group", comprising anywhere from 4 to 50 residential households in a single street or suburb. Groups throughout a single suburb or a wider town or city area are co-ordinated either via a civilian co-ordinator, or through a Community Constable based at a local Police station; the main purpose of the groups is to encourage neighbours to know one another and share information on crime or suspicious activities in their area. Early contact with authorities such as the Police is encouraged for reporting of unusual observations or unacceptable behaviour. Crime prevention information can be shared with group members via Community Constables, or Neighbourhood Support Area Co-ordinators. A secondary objective of Neighbourhood Support is to facilitate communication between Civil Defence and the community during a man-made or natural disaster affecting residents.

The following description is based on the framework adopted in New Zealand but is similar in intent to schemes known as "Neighbourhood Watch" in other countries. Neighbourhood Support New Zealand is the National body that oversees a total of 12 district Neighbourhood Support organisations throughout New Zealand. Small cells of households in a single street or adjoining houses in nearby streets form what is known as a "Neighbourhood Support Group"; this can comprise anywhere from 4 to 50 residential households in a single suburb. Information about local crime, crime prevention and community safety advice is provided to neighbours through participation in a Neighbourhood Support Group. Members exchange phone numbers and meet over an issue or to stay in touch; some groups may have organised meetings or social functions, but this is incidental to the role of the contact person and may be co-ordinated by another group member. More email addresses are collected and are being used effectively to enable faster contact with groups.

Each group is supported by a "Group Contact" person, one of the members of the group. Larger groups may have several "Contact" persons; the role of the Contact Person is to ensure that group contact lists are updated as people arrive or leave the street, group contact lists are provided to group members and to Area Co-ordinators. Newsletters received from the Area Co-ordinator or Community Constable are distributed to members. Rural towns or sections of a city are co-ordinated by one or more "Area Co-ordinators" whose role is to assist Neighbourhood Support Groups with crime related information for their area, provide a conduit for Police to distribute crime alerts, pass on other community safety information. In some cases, a single Street Contact person may act as an informal Area Contact, tying together a number of groups in the same suburb or street. Governance of the Neighbourhood Support movement in New Zealand, is provided through a national organisation Neighbourhood Support New Zealand, overseen by a Board.

Board members are elected civilian representatives from each Neighbourhood Support District. A Police representatives nominated by New Zealand Police national headquarters attends Board meetings representing the Commissioner, has a liaison and advisory role. A formal Memorandum of Understanding is established between Neighbourhood Support New Zealand and the New Zealand Police to make clear the nature of the relationship, the obligations of each party. Regionally, activities within each district are overseen by a District Committee with boundaries aligned with those of the Police Districts. There are cities across New Zealand; the local committees exist to support fundraising for employment of co-ordinators and to fund promotional activities, while the District committees have the purpose of overseeing groups of towns or cities and enabling them to more support one another. The district committee provides a vehicle for election of a District Representative to the National organisation, can provide local oversight where there is no local committee.

Neighbourhood Watch — UK organisation Neighborhood Watch — US organisation www.ns.org.nz Neighbourhood Support New Zealand www.nsakl.org.nz Neighbourhood Support Incorporated, New Zealand NSAKL Facebook Neighbourhood Support Inc. Facebook Page northshore.neighbourhood.org.nz Neighbourhood Support North Shore Incorporated, New Zealand www.nswai

William Francis "Bad Bill" Mizeur was a pinch hitter in Major League Baseball. He played in two games for the St. Louis Browns and had a 14-year minor league career. Mizeur was born in Illinois, he started his professional baseball career in 1922, at the age of 25, hit.333 in Class D. The following season, he broke out, batting.328 and leading the Class B Michigan–Ontario League with 174 hits. He made his major league debut on September 30, with the Browns, went 0 for 1 at the plate. Mizeur continued his good hitting in 1924, he spent the year with the Terre Haute Tots of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League, batting.327, hitting 11 home runs. On September 13, he appeared in one more game for the Browns, again as a pinch hitter; that was the last major league experience of his career. Mizeur spent most of the next seven years in the IIIL, he stayed with Terre Haute in 1925 and 1926, batting over.320 in both campaigns, went to the Peoria Tractors. He put up his best numbers in 1927, setting career-highs in six offensive categories: batting average, slugging percentage, total bases, hits and home runs.

He finished behind teammate Red Smith for the batting title, but Mizeur did lead the league in total bases, hits and homers. From 1928 to 1931, he continued his torrid hitting. Mizeur finished among the league leaders in various statistics throughout his career. In 1932, he moved to the Mississippi Valley League's Cedar Rapids Bunnies for one season, he won the batting title. Mizeur went to Peoria in 1933 and back to Cedar Rapids in 1934. In August 1934, he took over as manager for the Western League's Cedar Rapids Raiders for the last part of the season. In 1935, he played for both Cedar Rapids and Rock Island and batted.236. At the age of 38, it was the first time that Mizeur had posted a below-.300 average over the course of a season. Mizeur retired after 1935, he died at the age of 79 in Decatur and was buried in Calvary Cemetery. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference