W. D. Hamilton

William Donald "Bill" Hamilton, FRS (1 August 1936 – 7 March 2000) was an English evolutionary biologist, widely recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century.

Hamilton became famous through his theoretical work expounding a rigorous genetic basis for the existence of altruism, an insight that was a key part of the development of a gene-centric view of evolution. He is considered one of the forerunners of sociobiology, as popularized by E. O. Wilson. Hamilton also published important work on sex ratios and the evolution of sex. From 1984 to his death in 2000, he was a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University.

Early life

Hamilton was born in 1936 in Cairo, Egypt, the second of seven children. His parents were from New Zealand; his father A. M. Hamilton an engineer, and his mother B. M. Hamilton a medical doctor. The Hamilton family settled in Kent. During the Second World War, the young Hamilton was evacuated to Edinburgh. He had an interest in natural history from an early age and would spend his spare time collecting butterflies, and other insects. In 1946 he discovered E. B. Ford's New Naturalist book Butterflies, which introduced him to the principles of evolution by natural selection, genetics, and population genetics.

WD

WD may refer to:

Wądół, Pomeranian Voivodeship

Wądół [ˈvɔnduu̯] (German: Charlottental) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kołczygłowy, within Bytów County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately 13 kilometres (8 mi) south of Kołczygłowy, 16 km (10 mi) west of Bytów, and 93 km (58 mi) west of the regional capital Gdańsk.

For details of the history of the region, see History of Pomerania.

The village has a population of 82.

References

Coordinates: 54°7′48″N 17°16′2″E / 54.13000°N 17.26722°E / 54.13000; 17.26722

Emperor Wu of Han

Emperor Wu of Han (30 June 156 BC – 29 March 87 BC), born Liu Che, courtesy name Tong, was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of China, ruling from 141–87 BC.

Emperor Wu's reign lasted 54 years — a record that was not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later, although he has remained the longest reigning Emperor of Han ethnicity. His reign resulted in vast territorial expansion, development of a strong and centralized state resulting from his governmental re-organization, including his promotion of Confucian doctrines. In the field of historical social and cultural studies, Emperor Wu is known for his religious innovations and patronage of the poetic and musical arts, including development of the imperial Music Bureau into a prestigious entity. It was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly or indirectly. Many new crops and other items were introduced to China during his reign.

As a military campaigner, Emperor Wu led Han China through its greatest expansion — at its height, the Empire's borders spanned from modern Kyrgyzstan in the west, to Korea in the east, and to northern Vietnam in the south. Emperor Wu successfully repelled the nomadic Xiongnu from systematically raiding northern China, and dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of modern Uzbekistan. This resulted in further missions to Central Asia. Although historical records do not describe him to be aware of Buddhism, emphasizing rather his interest in shamanism, the cultural exchanges that occurred as a consequence of these embassies suggest that he received Buddhist statues from Central Asia, as depicted in the murals found in the Mogao Caves.

W postcode area

Postcode district boundaries: Bing / Google

The W (Western and Paddington) postcode area, also known as the London W postcode area is a group of postcode districts covering part of central and part of west London, England. The area originates from the Western (W1) and Paddington (W2-14) districts of the London postal district.

Postal administration

The Western district consists of the single original W1 postal district. The area it covers is of very high density development and it has been subdivided into a number of smaller postcode districts. Where districts are used for purposes other than the sorting of mail, such as use as a geographic reference and on street signs, the W1 subdivisions continue to be classed as one 'district'. In June 2000 there was a recoding of the area with the W1M, W1N, W1P, W1R, W1V, W1X and W1Y districts replaced.

The mail centre for W1 is London Central and for W2-14 is Greenford.

Deliveries for W1 (and for WC1 and WC2) came from the Western District Office office on Rathbone Place, until it was decommissioned. This office was a stop on the former London Post Office Railway, which has been mothballed since 2003. The Western District Office was initially located on Wimpole Street, which was also a stop on the London Post Office Railway.

Wolfenstein 3D

Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for the PC operating system DOS, the game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software video games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. A promotional version of Wolfenstein 3D was released as shareware, which permitted it to be copied widely. The game was later ported to a wide range of computer systems and video game consoles.

The shareware release contains one episode consisting of ten levels. The commercial release consists of three episodes, which include the shareware episode and two subsequent episodes. Later releases included a three-episode mission pack titled The Nocturnal Missions. The player assumes the role of a World War II Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz, who is trying to escape from Castle Wolfenstein, a Nazi German prison. After the initial escape episode, Blazkowicz carries out a series of crucial missions against the Nazis.