Kiva

A kiva is a room used by Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square walled and underground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies.

Similar subterranean rooms are found among ruins in the American southwest, indicating uses by the ancient peoples of the region including the Ancestral Puebloans, the Mogollon and the Hohokam. Those used by the ancient Pueblos of the Pueblo I Era and following, designated by the Pecos Classification system developed by archaeologists, were usually round and evolved from simpler pithouses. For the Ancestral Puebloans, these rooms are believed to have had a variety of functions, including domestic residence along with social and ceremonial purposes.

Evolution of the kiva

During the late 8th century, Mesa Verdeans started building square pit structures that archeologists call protokivas. They were typically 3 or 4 feet (0.91 or 1.22 m) deep and 12 to 20 feet (3.7 to 6.1 m) in diameter. By the mid-10th and early 11th centuries, these had evolved into smaller circular structures called kivas, which were usually 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6 m) across. Mesa Verde-style kivas included a feature from earlier times called a sipapu, which is a hole dug in the north of the chamber that is thought to represent the Ancestral Puebloan's place of emergence from the underworld.

Kamen Rider

Kamen Rider (仮面ライダー, Kamen Raidā, Masked Rider) is a tokusatsu superhero television series and weekly science fiction manga created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. It debuted on television on April 3, 1971, and ran until February 10, 1973, airing on the Mainichi Broadcasting System and NET TV (now TV Asahi). The manga adaptation was also featured in Shōnen Magazine around the same period. The series has evolved into a franchise with many subsequent annual iterations. The cultural impact of the series in Japan resulted in astronomer Akimasa Nakamura naming two minor planets in honor of the series: 12408 Fujioka, after actor Hiroshi Fujioka, known for his portrayal of Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider 1, and 12796 Kamenrider, after the series itself.

Story

The series takes place in a world plagued by Shocker, a mysterious world-wide terrorist organization. To further its plans for world domination, Shocker recruited its agents through kidnapping, turning their victims into mutant cyborgs and, ultimately, brainwashing them. However, one victim named Takeshi Hongo escaped just before the final brainwashing. With his sanity and moral conscience intact, Hongo battled Shocker's minions as the grasshopper-themed altered human (改造人間, kaizō ningen) superhero Kamen Rider. Another victim of the altered human process, freelance photographer Hayato Ichimonji, became Kamen Rider 2 after Kamen Rider, who renamed himself as "Kamen Rider 1", saved him from Shocker's brainwashing. Assisted by motorcycle race team manager Tobei Tachibana and FBI agent Kazuya Taki, the Kamen Riders fought in both solo and partnered missions against Shocker and its successor organization, Gel-Shocker.

Kamen Rider Kiva

Kamen Rider Kiva (仮面ライダーキバ, Kamen Raidā Kiba, Masked Rider Kiva) is the title of the 2008 Kamen Rider Japanese tokusatsu television series produced by Toei Company and Ishimori Productions. It premiered on January 27, 2008, following the finale of Kamen Rider Den-O. It aired as a part of TV Asahi's 2008 Super Hero Time block with Engine Sentai Go-onger. Advertisements showed a horror film theme to the series, with the motif for Kamen Rider Kiva as a vampire. The advertising slogan for the series is "Wake up! Break the chains of destiny!!" (覚醒（ウェイクアップ）! 運命（さだめ）の鎖を解き放て!!, Weiku appu! Sadame no kusari o tokihanate!!). The first episode began with a commemoration of the series in honor of the seventieth anniversary of Shotaro Ishinomori's birthday.

Synopsis

Twenty-two years after the disappearance of his father, Wataru Kurenai lives in an infamous "haunted house" where he is destined as Kamen Rider Kiva to fight life-draining monsters called Fangires, the very race his father fought years ago before his disappearance. Wataru must also deal with Kamen Rider Ixa who is part of an organization seeking to destroy the Fangire menace, as well as the Fangires' own Rider, Kamen Rider Saga. The story is split between the actions of Wataru in the present (2008–09) and his father Otoya in the past (1986–87), slowly revealing the link between the Fangire Race and Kiva.

Amazon Robotics

Amazon Robotics (formerly Kiva Systems) is a Massachusetts-based company that manufactures mobile robotic fulfillment systems. It is a subsidiary company of Amazon.com and its material handling systems are currently used by companies including: The Gap, Walgreens, Staples, Gilt Groupe, Office Depot, Crate & Barrel, and Saks 5th Avenue.

History

After working on the business process team at Webvan, a failed online grocery delivery business, Mick Mountz concluded that the company’s downfall was due to the inflexibility of existing material handling systems and the high cost of order fulfillment. These challenges inspired Mountz to create a better way to pick, pack, and ship orders through a system that could deliver any item to any operator at any time. To accomplish his vision, Mountz sought help from Peter Wurman and Raffaello D'Andrea, who were experts in the area of engineering and robotics. In 2003, Mountz became the founder and CEO of Kiva Systems, through his partnership with co-founders Wurman and D'Andrea.