Wayne Douglas Gretzky is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters and the NHL itself. Gretzky is the leading scorer in NHL history, with more assists than any other player, he garnered more assists than any other player scored total points, is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season – a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, 6 All-Star records. Born and raised in Brantford, Canada, Gretzky honed his skills at a backyard rink and played minor hockey at a level far above his peers. Despite his unimpressive stature and speed, Gretzky's intelligence and reading of the game were unrivaled, he was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, anticipated where the puck was going to be and executed the right move at the right time.

Gretzky became known for setting up behind his opponent's net, an area, nicknamed "Gretzky's office". In 1978, Gretzky signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, where he played before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers; when the WHA folded, the Oilers joined the NHL, where he established many scoring records and led his team to four Stanley Cup championships. Gretzky's trade to the Los Angeles Kings on August 9, 1988, had an immediate impact on the team's performance leading them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, he is credited with popularizing hockey in California. Gretzky played for the St. Louis Blues before finishing his career with the New York Rangers. Gretzky captured nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player, 10 Art Ross Trophies for most points in a season, two Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP and five Lester B. Pearson Awards for most outstanding player as judged by his peers, he led the league in goal-scoring five times and assists 16 times, won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times, spoke out against fighting in hockey.

After his retirement in 1999, Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide, making him the only player to receive such an honour. Gretzky was one of six players voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation's Centennial All-Star Team. Gretzky became executive director for the Canadian national men's hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which the team won a gold medal. In 2000, he became part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, following the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, he became the team's head coach. In 2004, Gretzky was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In September 2009, following the Phoenix Coyotes' bankruptcy, Gretzky resigned as head coach and relinquished his ownership share. In October 2016, he became vice-chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group. Wayne Gretzky was born on January 26, 1961, in Brantford, the son of Phyllis Leone and Walter Gretzky; the couple had married in 1960, lived in an apartment in Brantford, where Walter worked for Bell Telephone Canada.

The family moved into a house on Varadi Avenue in Brantford seven months after Wayne was born, chosen because its yard was flat enough to make an ice rink on every winter. Wayne was joined by a sister and brothers Keith and Brent; the family would visit the farm of Wayne's grandparents and Mary, watch Hockey Night in Canada together. By age two, Wayne was trying to score goals against Mary using a souvenir stick; the farm was. Walter taught Wayne, Brent and their friends hockey on a rink he made in the back yard of the family home, nicknamed the "Wally Coliseum". Drills included skating around Javex bleach bottles and tin cans, flipping pucks over scattered hockey sticks to be able to pick up the puck again in full flight. Additionally, Walter gave the advice to "skate where the puck's going, not where it's been". Wayne was a classic prodigy; the team Gretzky played on at age six was otherwise composed of 10-year-olds. His first coach, Dick Martin, remarked. According to Martin, "Wayne was so good that you could have a boy of your own, a tremendous hockey player, he'd get overlooked because of what the Gretzky kid was doing."

The sweaters for 10-year-olds were far too large for Gretzky, who coped by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. Gretzky continued doing this throughout his NHL career. By age 10, Gretzky had scored an astonishing 378 goals and 139 assists in just one season with the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers, his play attracted media attention beyond his hometown of Brantford, including a profile by John Iaboni in the Toronto Telegram in October 1971. In the 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, Gretzky scored 26 points playing for Brantford. By age 13, he had scored over 1,000 goals, his play attracted considerable negative attention from other players' parents, including those of his teammates, he was booed. According to Walter, the "capper" was being booed on "Brantford Day" at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens in February 1975; when Gretzky was 14, his family arranged for him to mo

A general election was held in the U. S. state of New Mexico on November 4, 2014. All of New Mexico's executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat, all of New Mexico's three seats in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections were held on June 3, 2014. Incumbent Republican Governor Susana Martinez ran for re-election to a second term in office. Four Democrats ran for their party's nomination: Attorney General of New Mexico Gary King, State Senator Linda M. Lopez, State Senator Howie Morales, former State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency Lawrence Rael and businessman Alan Webber. King won the primary with 35% of the vote. Unlike most states, in New Mexico, the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor were elected in separate primaries; the winning candidates run together on the same ticket. Incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez was running for re-election to a second term. Deb Haaland was running for the Democrats.

Marie Julienne was disqualified. Chocolatier Chuck Higgins had been in the running, but he withdrew. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Gary King was term-limited and could not run for re-election to a third term in office, he instead ran for governor. Hector Balderas, the State Auditor of New Mexico, was the only Democrat running. In January 2013, former Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks formed an exploratory committee, but he suspended his campaign in July, citing poor fundraising. Former Las Cruces Chief Deputy District Attorney and former Third Judicial District Judge Susan Riedel ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. Attorney James Paul "Jim" Baiamonte withdrew from the race. Matthew Chandler, the former District Attorney for the 9th Judicial District and Republican nominee for attorney general in 2010, had considered running again, but instead resigned as district attorney and opened a private law practice. Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Dianna Duran won a second term in office, defeating Democrat Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

Incumbent Democratic State Treasurer James B. Lewis was term-limited and cannot run for re-election to a third term in office. Former State Senator Tim Eichenberg and former Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico John Wertheim ran for the Democratic nomination. Former Bernalillo County Treasurer Patrick Padilla had been running, but he was disqualified from the ballot after he failed to collect enough petition signatures. Wertheim raised the challenge and Padilla was disqualified after a district judge found he was 93 valid signatures short of the minimum requirement of 4,373. Padilla may appeal the ruling. State Senator Tim Keller chose to run for State Auditor instead. Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima considered running, but decided not to. Rick Lopez was the only Republican running. Incumbent Democratic State Auditor Hector Balderas was term-limited and cannot run for re-election to a third term in office, he was instead running for attorney general. Democratic former State Auditor Domingo Martinez had been running.

Democrat Tim Keller and Republican Robert Aragon were the only candidates running. Incumbent Democratic Commissioner of Public Lands Ray Powell was running for re-election to a second term in office. Republican Aubrey Dunn was the only other candidate running. Three of the five seats on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission were up for election. District 2 Republican incumbent Patrick Lyons was unopposed for re-election to a second term in office. District 4 Democratic incumbent Theresa Becenti-Aguilar was running for re-election to a second term in office. Democrats Edward J. Michael and Lynda Lovejoy were running. No Republican filed to run for the seat. District 5 Republican incumbent Ben Hall, the current Chairman of the Commission, was running for re-election to a second term in office. Democrats Donald L. Wolberg, Merrie Lee Soules, Sandy R. Jones were running. Democrat Ken Miyagishima, the Mayor of Las Cruces, had considered running for a seat on the Commission, but decided not to. Seven of the ten seats on the New Mexico Public Education Commission were up for election.

Five of the seats were up for regularly-scheduled elections. The other two were special elections following resignations. District 2 incumbent Republican Millie Pogna, District 3 incumbent Democrat Carmie Lynn Toulouse, District 5 incumbent Democrat James F. Conyers and District 6 incumbent Democrat Gilbert Peralta were all running for re-election to a second term unopposed. District 7 incumbent Democrat Eugene Gant was not running for re-election to a second term. Democrat Patricia E Gipson was running unopposed. In the District 1 and District 4 vacancies, Democrats former State Representative Eleanor Chavez and former President of the American Federation of Teachers Karyl Ann Armbruster ran against to-be-determined incumbents, who would be appointed to the office by Governor Martinez. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tom Udall was running for re-election to a second term. Businessman and candidate for Governor of New Mexico in 2010 Allen Weh. defeated assistant district attorney and former Chairman of the Doña Ana County Republican Party David Clements for the Republican nomination.

All of New Mexico's three seats in the United States House of Representatives will be up for election in 2014

Out-crossing or out-breeding means the crossing between different breeds with no common ancestors. This is the practice of introducing unrelated genetic material into a breeding line, it increases genetic diversity, thus reducing the probability of an individual being subject to disease or genetic abnormalities. Outcrossing is now the norm of most purposeful animal breeding, contrary to what is believed; the outcrossing breeder intends to remove the traits by using "new blood". With dominant traits, one can still see the expression of the traits and can remove those traits whether one outcrosses, line breeds or inbreeds. With recessive traits, outcrossing allows for the recessive traits to migrate across a population; the outcrossing breeder may have individuals that have many deleterious genes that may be expressed by subsequent inbreeding. There is now a gamut of deleterious genes within each individual in many dog breeds. Increasing the variation of genes or alleles within the gene pool may protect against extinction by stressors from the environment.

For example, in this context, a recent veterinary medicine study tried to determine the genetic diversity within cat breeds. Outcrossing is believed to be the "norm" in the wild. Outcrossing in plants is enforced by self-incompatibility. Breeders inbreed within their genetic pool, attempting to maintain desirable traits and to cull those traits that are undesirable; when undesirable traits begin to appear, mates are selected to determine if a trait is recessive or dominant. Removal of the trait is accomplished by breeding two individuals known not to carry it. Gregor Mendel used outcrossing in his experiments with flowers, he used the resulting offspring to chart inheritance patterns, using the crossing of siblings, backcrossing to parents to determine how inheritance functioned. Charles Darwin, in his book The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom, came to clear and definite conclusions concerning the adaptive benefit of outcrossing. For example, he stated that "the offspring from the union of two distinct individuals if their progenitors have been subjected to different conditions, have an immense advantage in height, constitutional vigor and fertility over the self-fertilizing offspring from either one of the same parents".

He thought that this observation was amply sufficient to account for outcrossing sexual reproduction. The disadvantages of self-fertilized offspring are now thought to be due to the homozygous expression of deleterious recessive mutations. Consanguinity Heterosis Outbreeding depression Miscegenation