Horrifying body camera footage of a Springfield, Massachusetts police officer repeatedly using his taser on a frightened and compliant pregnant woman was released last week.
On May 13, 1942 eleven Jewish communists belonging to the Herbert Baum terror group — and the Werner Steinbrinck group (also called “Franka Group”) — carried out a cowardly arson attack on the exhibition “The Soviet Paradise” at Berlin’s Lustgarten. Five German civilians were killed in the fire.
Schultz & Larsen is a Danish rifle and silencer manufacturing company that was founded in 1919 in Otterup. In 1994 it was acquired by Jørgen Nielsen, and the production plants split between Otterup and Rask Mølle near Horsens. Currently the company is owned by Morten Krogh.
The company was registered in January 1919 by Hans Schultz and his son-in-law Niels Larsen, and was later managed by Larsen’s son Uffe Schultz Larsen. All three were Olympic shooters with Niels winning five medals in 1912–1924. Their fame as competitive shooters helped raise the popularity of their business – Schultz & Larsen rifles were traditionally known for their accuracy and were in high esteem among Danish marksmen.
The factory was an expansion of a gunsmith workshop. Schultz founded the workshop in 1904 and hired Niels Larsen in 1910. Following the Treaty of Versailles plenty of German machinery was sold abroad for scrap. Schultz and Larsen acquired a suitable set for manufacturing rifles and started producing small caliber target rifles. Later in the 1920s–30s the company also acted as an important subcontractor to Theodor Bergmann‘s German company, among other things they produced the MP35 submachine gun and the gun barrels to the MG 15 machine gun. In the mid 1930s Hermann Gerlich used the factory in his work on anti-tank projectiles, which was hampered in Germany. Schultz & Larsen were relatively inactive during World War II, with Germany controlling the factory and closing it in 1943. In those years the factory mostly repaired small arms and produced RPLT 42 carbines for the Danish coast guard; much of those weapons were stolen from the factory by the Danish resistance movement.
After the war the production focused on hunting rifles, and a range of target rifles based on the Mauser M 98, initially using components from Kar 98k rifles left behind in Denmark by German occupying forces. Schultz & Larsen also made target rifle conversions of captured Kar 98ks. Early versions, the M52 and M58, were made for service-style target shooting, and used shortened, polished and refurbished Kar 98k stocks combined with new heavy target-weight .30-06 or 6.5×55mm barrels as required. Later versions had new target stocks fitted and were available in .30-06, 6.5×55mm and 7.62×51mm NATO, and generally resemble the Norwegian Kongsberg Mauser M59, except there was no upper handguard or cleaning rod.
High-quality Schultz & Larsen barrels contributed to the development of the British Swing target rifle: “George Swenson had personally acquired the UK concession for Schultz & Larsen products, having known the brothers Larsen for some years. It was in fact the excellence of this firm’s cut-rifled barrels, and their capability to extract maximum accuracy from sometimes very indifferent Radway Green government 7.62 NATO ammunition, largely due to the research carried out mainly by George and myself (not to mention help from Wally Middleton, then director of Radway Green) between 1968 and 1970, that helped launch the SWING model Sin 71 Rifle”.
The Schultz & Larsen M5x series was followed by M60, M65, M68 and then by M84 and M100 rifles. They were highly praised among hunters and were sold out right after production. However, the production was manual and time-consuming, and hence unprofitable. In 1994 Jørgen Nielsen bought the factory and merged into his business. According to Jørgen Nielsen’s website there is no longer any collaboration between Jørgen and Schultz & Larsen. Today the owner and CEO of the company is Morten Krogh.
Hans Christian Schultz (23 March 1864 – 26 June 1937) was a Danish sports shooter and founder of the Schultz & Larsen rifle company. He competed in six rifle events at the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics and finished fourth and eighth with the Danish team, respectively. His best individual result was a 21st place.
Schultz took up shooting in his teens and later served as a specialist in guns and ammunition with the Danish Army. By the time he moved to Otterup in 1889 he was already known as a gun expert, and frequently received rifles from other places for reparation and tuneup. In 1904 he founded a gunsmith workshop. In 1908 he learned about a talented young shooter, Niels Larsen, who dreamed of having a rifle from Schultz. Eventually Schultz hired Larsen in 1910. They competed together at the 1912 Olympics and became business partners in 1917. In January 1919 they opened Schultz & Larsen, a rifle manufacturing company based on the Schultz’s workshop. Earlier in 1916 Larsen married Schultz’s daughter Ellen; they had a son Uffe Schultz Larsen, who later competed in four Olympics and took over the company.
Niels Hansen Ditlev Larsen (21 November 1889 – 15 November 1969) was a Danishsport shooter and rifle manufacturer. He competed in various rifle and pistol events in the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics and won one gold, one silver and three bronze medals, becoming the most successful Danish Olympic shooter.
Biography
Larsen took up shooting early, and was training in a city club by the age of 14. His talent was noticed by Hans Schultz, an Olympic shooter who owned a guns workshop in Otterup. Schultz hired Larsen in 1910; in 1912 they competed together in the Stockholm Olympics, in 1917 became business partners, and in 1919 expanded the Schultz’s workshop into the Schultz & Larsen factory. Earlier in 1916 Larsen married Schultz’s daughter Ellen. Their son Uffe Schultz Larsen also became an Olympic shooter and worked for Schultz & Larsen.
Olympic results
1912 Stockholm
In 1912 Larsen won the bronze medal in the 300 metre free rifle, three positions event and also with the Danish team in the team free rifle competition. He also participated in the following events:
Eight years later Larsen won the gold medal as member of the Danish team in the team 300 metre military rifle, standing event and the silver medal in the 300 metre free rifle, three positions competition. He also participated in the following events:
Uffe Schultz Larsen (2 June 1921 – 29 November 2005) was a Danish sport shooter who won a silver medal in the 50 m rifle prone position at the 1952 World Championships. He competed in various events at the 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics with the best result of 13th place. His father Niels Larsen and grandfather Hans Schultz were also Olympic rifle shooters.
A man in Montreal froze to death on Saturday night outside a homeless shelter that was required to remove him due to COVID-19 health measures enacted by the Canadian government.
In ecology, r/K selection theory relates to the selection of combinations of traits in an organism that trade off between quantity and quality of offspring. The focus on either an increased quantity of offspring at the expense of individual parental investment of r-strategists, or on a reduced quantity of offspring with a corresponding increased parental investment of K-strategists, varies widely, seemingly to promote success in particular environments. The concepts of quantity or quality offspring are sometimes referred to as “cheap” or “expensive”, a comment on the expendable nature of the offspring and parental commitment made. The stability of the environment can predict if many expendable offspring are made or if fewer offspring of higher quality would lead to higher reproductive success. An unstable environment would encourage the parent to make many offspring, because the likelihood of all of the majority of them surviving to adulthood is slim. In contrast, more stable environments allow parents to confidently invest in one offspring because they are more likely to survive to adulthood.
The terminology of r/K-selection was coined by the ecologists Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson in 1967 based on their work on island biogeography; although the concept of the evolution of life history strategies has a longer history (see e.g. plant strategies).
The theory was popular in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was used as a heuristic device, but lost importance in the early 1990s, when it was criticized by several empirical studies. A life-history paradigm has replaced the r/K selection paradigm but continues to incorporate many of its important themes.
A North Atlantic right whale with solitary calf. Whale reproduction follows a K-selection strategy, with few offspring, long gestation, long parental care, and a long period until sexual maturity.
Overview
A litter of mice with their mother. The reproduction of mice follows an r-selection strategy, with many offspring, short gestation, less parental care, and a short time until sexual maturity.
In r/K selection theory, selective pressures are hypothesised to drive evolution in one of two generalized directions: r– or K-selection. These terms, r and K, are drawn from standard ecological algebra as illustrated in the simplified Verhulst model of population dynamics:{\displaystyle {\frac {dN}{dt}}=rN\left(1-{\frac {N}{K}}\right)}
where N is the population, r is the maximum growth rate, K is the carrying capacity of the local environment, and dN/dt, the derivative of N with respect to time t, is the rate of change in population with time. Thus, the equation relates the growth rate of the population N to the current population size, incorporating the effect of the two constant parameters r and K. (Note that decrease is negative growth.) The choice of the letter K came from the GermanKapazitätsgrenze (capacity limit), while r came from rate.
r-selection
r-selected species are those that emphasize high growth rates, typically exploit less-crowded ecological niches, and produce many offspring, each of which has a relatively low probability of surviving to adulthood (i.e., high r, low K). A typical r species is the dandelion (genus Taraxacum).
In unstable or unpredictable environments, r-selection predominates due to the ability to reproduce rapidly. There is little advantage in adaptations that permit successful competition with other organisms, because the environment is likely to change again. Among the traits that are thought to characterize r-selection are high fecundity, small body size, early maturity onset, short generation time, and the ability to disperse offspring widely.
Organisms whose life history is subject to r-selection are often referred to as r-strategists or r-selected. Organisms that exhibit r-selected traits can range from bacteria and diatoms, to insects and grasses, to various semelparouscephalopods and small mammals, particularly rodents. As with K-selection, below, the r/K paradigm (Differential K theory) has controversially been associated with human behavior and separately evolved populations.
K-selection
A Bald eagle, an individual of a typical K-strategist species. K-strategists have longer life expectancies, produce relatively fewer offspring and tend to be altricial, requiring extensive care by parents when young.
By contrast, K-selected species display traits associated with living at densities close to carrying capacity and typically are strong competitors in such crowded niches, that invest more heavily in fewer offspring, each of which has a relatively high probability of surviving to adulthood (i.e., low r, high K). In scientific literature, r-selected species are occasionally referred to as “opportunistic” whereas K-selected species are described as “equilibrium”.
In stable or predictable environments, K-selection predominates as the ability to compete successfully for limited resources is crucial and populations of K-selected organisms typically are very constant in number and close to the maximum that the environment can bear (unlike r-selected populations, where population sizes can change much more rapidly).
Traits that are thought to be characteristic of K-selection include large body size, long life expectancy, and the production of fewer offspring, which often require extensive parental care until they mature. Organisms whose life history is subject to K-selection are often referred to as K-strategists or K-selected. Organisms with K-selected traits include large organisms such as elephants, humans, and whales, but also smaller long-lived organisms such as Arctic terns, parrots and eagles.
Continuous spectrum
Although some organisms are identified as primarily r– or K-strategists, the majority of organisms do not follow this pattern. For instance, trees have traits such as longevity and strong competitiveness that characterise them as K-strategists. In reproduction, however, trees typically produce thousands of offspring and disperse them widely, traits characteristic of r-strategists.
Similarly, reptiles such as sea turtles display both r– and K-traits: although sea turtles are large organisms with long lifespans (provided they reach adulthood), they produce large numbers of unnurtured offspring.
The r/K dichotomy can be re-expressed as a continuous spectrum using the economic concept of discounted future returns, with r-selection corresponding to large discount rates and K-selection corresponding to small discount rates.
Ecological succession
In areas of major ecological disruption or sterilisation (such as after a major volcanic eruption, as at Krakatoa or Mount St. Helens), r– and K-strategists play distinct roles in the ecological succession that regenerates the ecosystem. Because of their higher reproductive rates and ecological opportunism, primary colonisers typically are r-strategists and they are followed by a succession of increasingly competitive flora and fauna. The ability of an environment to increase energetic content, through photosynthetic capture of solar energy, increases with the increase in complex biodiversity as r species proliferate to reach a peak possible with K strategies.
Eventually a new equilibrium is approached (sometimes referred to as a climax community), with r-strategists gradually being replaced by K-strategists which are more competitive and better adapted to the emerging micro-environmental characteristics of the landscape. Traditionally, biodiversity was considered maximized at this stage, with introductions of new species resulting in the replacement and local extinction of endemic species. However, the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis posits that intermediate levels of disturbance in a landscape create patches at different levels of succession, promoting coexistence of colonizers and competitors at the regional scale.
Application
While usually applied at the level of species, r/K selection theory is also useful in studying the evolution of ecological and life history differences between subspecies, for instance the African honey bee, A. m. scutellata, and the Italian bee, A. m. ligustica. At the other end of the scale, it has also been used to study the evolutionary ecology of whole groups of organisms, such as bacteriophages.
Some researchers, such as Lee Ellis, J. Philippe Rushton, and Aurelio José Figueredo, have applied r/K selection theory to various human behaviors, including crime, sexual promiscuity, fertility, IQ, and other traits related to life history theory. Rushton’s work resulted in him developing “differential K theory” to attempt to explain many variations in human behavior across geographic areas, a theory which has been criticized by many other researchers. Other researchers have proposed that the evolution of human inflammatory responses is related to r/K selection.
Status
Although r/K selection theory became widely used during the 1970s, it also began to attract more critical attention. In particular, a review by the ecologist Stephen C. Stearns drew attention to gaps in the theory, and to ambiguities in the interpretation of empirical data for testing it.
In 1981, a review of the r/K selection literature by Parry demonstrated that there was no agreement among researchers using the theory about the definition of r– and K-selection, which led him to question whether the assumption of a relation between reproductive expenditure and packaging of offspring was justified. A 1982 study by Templeton and Johnson showed that in a population of Drosophila mercatorum under K-selection the population actually produced a higher frequency of traits typically associated with r-selection. Several other studies contradicting the predictions of r/K selection theory were also published between 1977 and 1994.
When Stearns reviewed the status of the theory in 1992, he noted that from 1977 to 1982 there was an average of 42 references to the theory per year in the BIOSIS literature search service, but from 1984 to 1989 the average dropped to 16 per year and continued to decline. He concluded that r/K theory was a once useful heuristic that no longer serves a purpose in life history theory.
More recently, the panarchy theories of adaptive capacity and resilience promoted by C. S. Holling and Lance Gunderson have revived interest in the theory, and use it as a way of integrating social systems, economics and ecology.
Writing in 2002, Reznick and colleagues reviewed the controversy regarding r/K selection theory and concluded that:
The distinguishing feature of the r– and K-selection paradigm was the focus on density-dependent selection as the important agent of selection on organisms’ life histories. This paradigm was challenged as it became clear that other factors, such as age-specific mortality, could provide a more mechanistic causative link between an environment and an optimal life history (Wilbur et al. 1974; Stearns 1976, 1977). The r– and K-selection paradigm was replaced by new paradigm that focused on age-specific mortality (Stearns, 1976; Charlesworth, 1980). This new life-history paradigm has matured into one that uses age-structured models as a framework to incorporate many of the themes important to the r–K paradigm.— Reznick, Bryant and Bashey, 2002
Alternative approaches are now available both for studying life history evolution (e.g. Leslie matrix for an age-structured population) and for density-dependent selection (e.g. variable density lottery model).
The gestation period of a white rhino is 16 months. A single calf is born and usually weighs between 40 and 65 kg (88 and 143 lb). Calves are unsteady for their first two to three days of life. When threatened, the baby will run in front of the mother, which is very protective of her calf and will fight for it vigorously. Weaning starts at two months, but the calf may continue suckling for over 12 months. The birth interval for the white rhino is between two and three years. Before giving birth, the mother will chase off her current calf. White rhinos can live to be up to 40–50 years old.
Gestation lasts 15 to 16 months. The first three to four months are spent with the blastula in suspended development before it implants itself in the uterus. This strategy of delayed implantation, common among pinnipeds, presumably evolved to optimize both the mating season and the birthing season, determined by ecological conditions that promote newborn survival. Calves are born during the spring migration, from April to June. They weigh 45 to 75 kg (99 to 165 lb) at birth and are able to swim. The mothers nurse for over a year before weaning, but the young can spend up to five years with the mothers. Walrus milk contains higher amounts of fats and protein compared to land animals but lower compared to phocid seals. This lower fat content in turn causes a slower growth rate among calves and a longer nursing investment for their mothers. Because ovulation is suppressed until the calf is weaned, females give birth at most every two years, leaving the walrus with the lowest reproductive rate of any pinniped.
Because of Big Tech censorship, Parler, the free speech alternative to Twitter, became the fastest growing social media company — until they got deplatformed by Amazon, Apple and Google in a coordinated attack. …
Parler responded to the deplatforming by filing a lawsuit against Amazon.
According to a new filing by Parler’s lawyers, John Matze was forced to flee his home with his family and go into hiding after receiving “deaths threats” and “invasive personal security breaches.”
Opposing the left without protection is foolhardy.
Shocking video evidence shows that cops let Trump Supporters, Antifa and BLM inside the Capitol Building on January 6th. James Sullivan claims that he’s working with the FBI to PROVE that 226 Antifa members instigated riots and are largely responsible. Meanwhile, DC remains on severe military lockdown. #BlackLivesMatter#NationalGuard#InaugurationDay