Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They weigh between 20 and 35 kg. There are three extant species and they are all members of the family Vombatidae, they are adaptable and habitat tolerant, are found in forested and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about 300 ha in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland. Though genetic studies of the Vombatidae have been undertaken, evolution of the family is not well understood. Wombats are estimated to have diverged from other Australian marsupials early, as long as 40 million years ago, while some estimates place divergence at around 25 million years. While some theories place wombats as miniaturised relatives of diprotodonts, such as the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon, more recent studies place the Vombatiformes as having a distinct parallel evolution, hence their current classification as a separate family. Wombats dig extensive burrow systems with powerful claws.

One distinctive adaptation of wombats is their backward pouch. The advantage of a backward-facing pouch is that when digging, the wombat does not gather soil in its pouch over its young. Although crepuscular and nocturnal, wombats may venture out to feed on cool or overcast days, they are not seen, but leave ample evidence of their passage, treating fences as minor inconveniences to be gone through or under, leaving distinctive cubic feces. As wombats arrange these feces to mark territories and attract mates, it is believed that the cubic shape makes them more stackable and less to roll, which gives this shape a biological advantage; the method by which the wombat produces them is not well understood, but it is believed that the wombat intestine stretches preferentially at the walls. The adult wombat produces between 80 and 100, two-centimetre pieces of feces in a single night, four to eight pieces each bowel movement. Wombats are herbivores, their incisor teeth somewhat resemble those of rodents, being adapted for gnawing tough vegetation.

Like many other herbivorous mammals, they have a large diastema between their incisors and the cheek teeth, which are simple. The dental formula of wombats is 1.0.1.41.0.1.4 × 2 = 24. Wombats' fur can vary from a sandy colour from grey to black. All three known extant species weigh between 20 and 35 kg. Female wombats give birth to a single young in the spring, after a gestation period, which like all marsupials can vary, in the case of the wombat: 20–21 days, they have well-developed pouches. Wombats are weaned after 15 months, are sexually mature at 18 months. A group of wombats is known as a mob, or a colony. Wombats live up to 15 years in the wild, but can live past 20 and 30 years in captivity; the longest-lived captive wombat lived to 34 years of age. Wombats have an extraordinarily slow metabolism, taking around eight to 14 days to complete digestion, which aids their survival in arid conditions, they move slowly. When threatened, they can reach up to 40 km/h and maintain that speed for 150 metres.

Wombats defend home territories centred on their burrows, they react aggressively to intruders. The common wombat occupies a range of up to 23 ha, while the hairy-nosed species have much smaller ranges, of no more than 4 ha. Dingos and Tasmanian devils prey on wombats. Extinct predators were to have included Thylacoleo and the thylacine, their primary defence is their toughened rear hide, with most of the posterior made of cartilage. This, combined with its lack of a meaningful tail, makes it difficult for any predator that follows the wombat into its tunnel to bite and injure its target; when attacked, wombats dive into a nearby tunnel. A wombat may allow an intruder to force its head over the wombat's back, use its powerful legs to crush the skull of the predator against the roof of the tunnel, or drive it off with two-legged kicks, like those of a donkey. Wombats are quiet animals. Bare-nosed wombats can make a number of more than the Hairy-nosed wombats. Wombats tend to be more vocal during mating season.

When angered, they can make hissing sounds. Their call sounds somewhat like a pig's squeal, they can make grunting noises, a low growl, a hoarse cough, a clicking noise. The three extant species of wombat all are endemic to a few offshore islands, they are protected under Australian law. Common wombat Northern hairy-nosed wombat or yaminon Southern hairy-nosed wombat Depictions of the animals in rock art are exceptionally rare, though examples estimated to be up to 4,000 years old have been discovered in Wollemi National Park; the wombat is depicted in aboriginal Dreamtime as an animal of little worth. The mainland stories tell of the wombat as originating from a person named Warreen whose head had been flattened by a stone and tail amputated as punishment for selfishness. In contrast, the Tasmanian aboriginal story first recorded in 1830 tells of the wombat the great spirit Moihernee had asked hunters to leave alone. In both cases, the wombat is regarded as having been banished to its burrowing habitat.

Estimates of wombat distribution prior to European settlement are that numbers of all three

Mark Thorson is a former American football quarterback who played one season with the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League. He played college football at Western Oregon University and attended Sandy High School in Sandy, Oregon, he was a member of the Boise Burn of the af2. Thorson played for the Western Oregon Wolves from 2004 to 2007, he helped his team to a 20–12 record as a three-year starter and set school records with 987 pass attempts, 568 pass completions, 60 passing touchdowns and 63 total touchdowns. Thorson signed with the Boise Burn of the af2 in December 2008, he finished the 2009 regular season with four touchdowns and one interception for 165 yards while completing 17 of 31 passes in four games, giving him a QB rating of 88.78. Thorson was signed by the Utah Blaze on June 1, 2010, he played in eight games in 2010, recording 11 touchdowns and four interceptions on 577 passing yards. He was released by the Blaze on December 16, 2011. Just Sports Stats

The Men From The Boys is a 2002 play by Mart Crowley. A sequel to the off-Broadway production The Boys in the Band, The Men From The Boys takes place in a New York City apartment, where friends are in for more than they expected after a friend's memorial service; the plot follows the characters of The Boys in the Band. The group is brought back together at the funeral of Larry, they revisit the same apartment in Manhattan as the first play, again begin talking and arguing. The dialog and story is relayed in "real time." New characters include Scott, a younger man dating Michael, poorly received by the group. Michael angrily defends Scott, yells at the new character Jason, a "strident young activist", romantically involved with Larry. Emory and Harold get involved in the arguments, while non-combative characters include Donald and Rick, a male nurse, harboring feelings for Larry. Among other details, three of the characters have joined Alcoholics Anonymous; the play was written by Mart Crowley, famous for writing The Boys in the Band, groundbreaking for its frank portrayal of gay perspectives and lives in a repressive time, prior to the cultural acceptance of gay rights in the 1960s.

Crowley stated that he had always declined recommendations to write a sequel, until he felt enough time passed where he knew what had happened to the characters. It was his first play since Avec Schmaltz in 1984; the original score was composed by Larry Grossman, known for A Doll's Life. Its world premiere was on October 26, 2002 at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theater Center, under artistic direction by Ed Decker, it was billed as a "sequel play." Actors included: Russ Duffy as Michael Olen Christian Holm as Scott, a "pretty boy" dating Michael Owen Thomas as Jason, a young activist Michael Patrick Gaffney as Emory Will Huddleston as Harold Peter Carlstrom as Donald, the group's remaining alcoholic Lewis Sims as Bernard Andrew Nance as Larry, a schoolteacher Terry Lamb as Hank Rajiv Shah as Rick, a young nurseOpening for review on November 9, 2002, it was presented in two acts with a running time of two hours and twenty minutes. Rick Sinkkonen and Sarah Ellen Joynt handled set, it ran until December 8.

About the 2002 premiere, Variety noted that a "lack of significant change" in the characters' demeanor was one of several major problems in the play, wondering why Michael, Harold and the other character had remained friends despite their years of backstabbing. Dennis Harvey of Variety complained that the characters seemed to have "resisted 35 years of social potential personal change," and that they remained single, "predatory," and ill-suited for long-term relationships, it criticized what it perceived as the use of characters as "authorial mouthpieces" for outdated and racist sentiments. Decker's production was criticized for its staging and "ill-conceived" apartment set, it praised Duffy for the best acting, with Michael portrayed as "poisonous yet poignant." Curtainup.com

The International School of Aruba is a non-profit private school in Aruba. In 2006, it moved to a new campus with a more centralized location, it was owned by Lago Oil and Transport Co. Ltd.. From 1986 on, the school was governed by the ISA parent body. ISA was acquired by International School Services in 2004. In 2005, a new campus was constructed and ISA was relocated to the residential neighbourhood of Wayaca. ISA has 200 students from Montessori through grade 12, comprising over 18 nationalities; the average class size is 15 students to 1 teacher. ISA had 23 faculty members for the 2009-2010 school year; the staff are from 8 countries including US citizens, Dutch/Arubans, South American and other island nationalities. The first English school in Aruba was opened in Seroe Colorado in September, 1929, it was owned and operated by Lago Oil and Transport Co. Ltd. to provide for the schooling of the expatriates' children. During the 1960s, the school opened to dependents of island residents on a tuition basis.

With the closing of Lago in 1985, the parents of the remaining students formed the International School of Aruba, a non-profit Foundation, to continue English language education on the island. In March 2004, the Board of Directors passed the governance and ownership of ISA to International Schools Services, a not-for-profit organization of Princeton, New Jersey. ISS promised to fund a new school building for ISA as part of the transfer agreement, financed the construction of the new campus. Official website

Aggie Muster is a tradition at Texas A&M University which celebrates the camaraderie of the school while remembering the lives of Aggies who have died those in the past year. Muster began on April 21, 1903, as a day for remembrance of fellow Aggies. Muster ceremonies today take place in 320 locations globally; the largest muster ceremony occurs on the Texas A&M campus. The "Roll Call for the Absent" commemorates Aggies and current students, who died that year. Aggies light candles, friends and families of Aggies who died that year answer “here” when the name of their loved one is “called”. Campus muster serves as a 50th-year class reunion for the corresponding graduating class; some non-campus muster ceremonies do not include the pageantry of the campus ceremony, might consist of a barbecue. On June 26, 1883, alumni of Texas A&M University gathered together to "live over again their college days, the victories and defeats won and lost upon the drill field and in the classroom." The same year, the Ex-Cadets Association established the "Roll Call for the Absent".

The event grew into a loosely organized annual tradition, but did not have a permanent date set aside until several decades when it merged with a different tradition. In 1889, Texas A&M administrators declared; each year on San Jacinto Day, the cadets would have a field competition. In 1903, then-A&M President Davis Houston encountered much student resistance to the idea of cancelling the holiday. Houston agreed to retain the holiday as long as the students promised to use it for constructive purposes. Beginning April 21, 1903, the tradition of Aggie Muster merged with the Texas Independence celebration, featuring athletic events and banquets to honor alumni. For the next 15 years, the event would occur unchanged as a day of play and fellowship. In 1918, with many alumni away involved in World War I and unable to return to campus, A&M President Bizzell encouraged alumni and the student body to gather wherever they were on April 21, becoming the first Aggie administrator to support the tradition.

In the early 1920s, as Aggies returned from the war and settled throughout Texas, regional A&M clubs formed to reunite alumni. With the proliferation of these groups, the Muster tradition began to have a more formal atmosphere. In 1923, the student radio station WTAW broadcast a statewide program for over two dozen Aggie groups who had gathered at points across Texas; the March 1923 Texas Aggie urged, "If there is an A&M man in one-hundred miles of you, you are expected to get together, eat a little, live over the days you spent at the A&M College of Texas."The tradition of reading aloud the roll call of the dead began in 1924, with the addition of the song "Taps" in 1927. The following year, 23 alumni were added to the roll call. During the Great Depression, Aggies continued to celebrate April 21, calling it "A. and M. Day", using the gathering to help raise money to support students and alumni, as well as advancing a job-placement plan; the most well-known Aggie Muster took place during World War II in 1942 on the Philippine island of Corregidor.

At this time, Corregidor was the last American stronghold against the Japanese forces in the Philippines, Japanese artillery and warplanes were attacking. An estimated 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the island in one five-hour stretch. The American artillery commander on Corregidor was Brigadier General George F. Moore, a 1908 graduate of Texas A&M. With the help of Major Tom Dooley, class of 1935, Moore gathered the names of 25 other Aggies under his command. Despite the fierce fighting as the Japanese laid siege to the island, on April 21, 1942, Moore held a roll call—known as muster in army terms—calling the names of each of the Aggies under his command. Only 12 of the 25 survived the POW camps to which the survivors were sent. Dooley told a United Press correspondent about the gathering, the reporter sent an article back to the USA about the 25 Aggies who had "Mustered"; the story captured the imagination of the country and "helped boost American spirits at a time a lift was badly needed."

Lt. Col. William A. Hamilton, Jr. Class of 1940, recognized as the last living survivor of the "Muster on the Rock", died on January 4, 2018, at age 99. Association of Former Students Executive Secretary E. E. McQuillen, Class of 1920, is given credit for refocusing San Jacinto Day as a remembrance for fallen Aggies, he changed the April 21, 1943, celebration to be the first known as an Aggie Muster and sent packets to each A&M club, Aggie Moms club, to military bases around the world with a detailed program of events for April 21. It included greetings from the Muster Poem; the response was overwhelming, with 10,000 Aggies worldwide mustering in 500 locations. The following year, McQuillen added a list of deceased Aggies to the packets, asking each local group to choose names from the list and call them aloud during their ceremony, "as each name is called a comrade will answer'Here'."In April 1945, just eight weeks after Corregidor had been recaptured by the Allies, three Aggies conducted a Muster "on the Rock".

They wrote letters home to McQuillen to let him know about their impromptu Muster. A year on April 21, 1946, an larger Muster occurred on Corregidor. With the war now over, A&M held a special Victory Homecoming Muster on Easter morning in 1946. Over 15 thousand Aggies gathered at Kyle Field to listen to a speech by General Dw

Jytte Klausen is a Danish-born scholar of politics who teaches at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Klausen is a graduate of the University of Aarhus who earned her doctorate at the New School for Social Research in New York. In 2009, controversy arose when Yale University Press decided to expunge reproductions of the cartoons involved in the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, along with all other images of Muhammad from a scholarly book entitled "The Cartoons that Shook the World," written by Klausen. Muhammad: The "Banned" Images which the publisher called "a'picture book' – or errata to the bowdlerized version of Klausen's book" was published in response; the Cartoons that Shook the World, Yale University Press, 2009. The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe. Oxford University Press, publication date October 27, 2005. Has Liberalism Failed Women? Assuring Equal Representation in Europe and the United States. Co-edited with Charles S. Maier. Palgrave, 2001.

War and Welfare: Europe and the United States, 1945 to the Present. St. Martin's Press and Macmillan, 1998. 2nd edition Palgrave 2001. European Integration in a Social and Historical Perspective, 1850 to the Present. Co-edited with Louise A. Tilly. Rowman & Littlefield, 1997. Faculty homepage