Passing lane

A passing lane (North American English) or overtaking lane (British, Irish and Australian English) is the lane on a multi-lane highway or motorway closest to the center of the road (the central reservation). In Californian terminology, the passing lane is often known as the number one lane,left lane, or leftmost lane, due to left hand drive (driving on the right), and the rightmost slow lane is sometimes called the "outside lane", because the lane nearest the center of the roadway is considered "inside". Some regions of the world reverse the definitions of "inside" and "outside", as described under #Regional terminology.

In modern traffic planning, passing lanes on freeways are usually designed for through/express traffic, while the outer lanes have entry/exit ramps. However due to routing constraints, some freeways may have ramps exiting from the passing lane; these are known as "left exits" in North America.

A passing lane is often colloquially referred to as a fast lane because it is often used for extended periods of time for through traffic or fast traffic. In theory, a passing lane should be used only for passing, thus allowing, even on a road with only two lanes in each direction, motorists to travel at their own pace.

Lane

In the context of traffic control, a lane is part of a carriageway (roadway) that is designated for use by a single line of vehicles, to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by lane markings. On multilane roadways and busier two-lane roads, lanes are designated with road surface markings. Major highways often have two multi-lane roadways separated by a median.

Some roads and bridges that carry very low volumes of traffic are less than 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, and are only a single lane wide. Vehicles travelling in opposite directions must slow or stop to pass each other. In rural areas, these are often called country lanes. In urban areas, alleys are often only one lane wide. Urban and suburban one lane roads are often designated for one-way traffic.

Capacity

Lane capacity varies widely due to conditions such as neighbouring lanes, lane width, elements next to the road, number of driveways, presence of parking, speed limits, number of heavy vehicles and so on - the range can be as low as 1000 passenger cars / hour to as high as 4800 passenger cars /hour but mostly falls between 1500 to 2400 passenger cars / hour.

Gropecunt Lane

Gropecunt Lane /ˈɡroʊpkʌnt ˈleɪn/ was a street name found in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages, believed to be a reference to the prostitution centred on those areas; it was normal practice for a medieval street name to reflect the street's function or the economic activity taking place within it. Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words grope and cunt. Streets with that name were often in the busiest parts of medieval towns and cities, and at least one appears to have been an important thoroughfare.

Although the name was once common throughout England, changes in attitude resulted in its replacement by more innocuous versions such as Grape Lane. A variation of Gropecunt was last recorded as a street name in 1561.

Toponymy

Variations include Gropecunte, Gropecountelane, Gropecontelane, Groppecountelane and Gropekuntelane. There were once many such street names in England, but all have now been bowdlerised. In the city of York, for instance, Grapcunt Lane—grāp is the Old English word for grope—was renamed as the more acceptable Grape Lane.

Key (basketball)

The key, officially referred to as the free throw lane by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the restricted area by the international governing body FIBA, and colloquially as the lane or the paint, is an area on a basketball court underneath the basket bounded by the endline, the foul line and other lines which are known as freebody lines, that are usually painted (although unpainted on some courts with painted perimeters). It is a critical area on the court where much of the action takes place in a game. Restrictions areas under the key is also an area the defender can not be in more than 3 seconds, not including the key

The key, in all games, starting with FIBA's amendments to its rules in 2010 (to be first implemented after the 2010 FIBA World Championship), is rectangular. Prior to 2006, the key in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments (mostly basketball played outside the United States, and almost all international tournaments including the World Championships and the Olympics) was trapezoidal in shape. Both NBA and FIBA keys are 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, while NCAA keys are narrower at 12 feet (3.7 m).

Tuatara

Tuatara are reptiles endemic to New Zealand and which, although resembling most lizards, are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. Their name derives from the Māori language, and means "peaks on the back". The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of their order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of great interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids (the group that also includes birds, dinosaurs, and crocodiles).

Tuatara are greenish brown and gray, and measure up to 80 cm (31 in) from head to tail-tip and weigh up to 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) with a spiny crest along the back, especially pronounced in males. Their dentition, in which two rows of teeth in the upper jaw overlap one row on the lower jaw, is unique among living species. They are even more unusual in having a pronounced photoreceptive eye, the "third eye", which is thought to be involved in setting circadian and seasonal cycles. They are able to hear, although no external ear is present, and have a number of unique features in their skeleton, some of them apparently evolutionarily retained from fish. Although tuatara are sometimes called "living fossils", recent anatomical work has shown that they have changed significantly since the Mesozoic era. While mapping its genome, it has been discovered that the species has between five and six billion base pairs of DNA sequence.

Tuatara (comics)

Tuatara is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics universe.

Fictional character biography

Tuatara's first appearance took place in Super Friends #8 (November 1977), which is set outside the mainstream DC Comics continuity. Jeremy Wakefield is a young New Zealander who can see through time with the help of a third eye. He explained that with two eyes, we can see three dimensions and with three eyes through four dimensions. The fourth dimension is time. He thus named himself after the tuatara, a reptile with a parietal eye or "third eye". In his first mission he helped the Red Tornado dismantle a bomb in the Prehistoric Era. After aiding the Super Friends fight against a time menace, Tuatura becomes a member of the Global Guardians.

Brainwashing

Tuatara's first mainstream appearance was in Justice League International vol. 1, #12 (April 1988). A few years later, the Global Guardians are all brainwashed into service under the Queen Bee of Bialya Tuatara, Rising Sun and Wild Huntsman are sent off on specific missions to attack Nazi strongholds and Justice League members. Tuatara is sent to attack a Neo-Nazi fringe group based in Dover, England. The Justice League members Metamorpho, Elongated Man and Flash were traveling to the site on a ferry when they encounter Tuatara. He had sneaked aboard the ferry itself. The battle, which takes place mostly underwater, is ended when he is wrapped up in the Elongated Man's body. He is taken to the surface, calls the League members 'Nazis' and soon falls into a coma.

Tuatara (band)

Tuatara is a Seattle-based instrumental music group featuring members of R.E.M., The Minus 5, Critters Buggin, The Chills and the Screaming Trees.

The band was named, at Harwood's suggestion, after a reptile from his native New Zealand.

History

The band was formed in 1996 by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck (guitar), Barrett Martin of the Screaming Trees (drums and percussion), Justin Harwood of Luna and The Chills (bass guitar, double bass), and Skerik of Critters Buggin (saxophones).

Originally a project to get musician friends some soundtrack work, the project evolved into an active band, doing occasional live shows, and recording their first album Breaking the Ethers, encompassing a sound influenced by various styles of music, from Lebanese and Asian music to more traditional Western folk music.

The band expanded in 1998, adding guitarist Scott McCaughey on guitar, Steve Berlin on saxophone and flute, Craig Flory on clarinets and saxophones, Elizabeth Pupo-Walker on congas and other percussion, and Mike Stone on drum kit; with Stone now on drums, Barrett Martin focused more on vibes and marimba. This expanded line-up released Trading With the Enemy, which added more exotic instrumentation while sticking to the familiar formula of borrowing from a variety of styles.