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If you are in need of extra space you might consider a second floor addition to your house. Often going up makes better sense than expanding out. A second floor addition in built by Unique Builders & Development will provide more square footage; boosting your homes livability and greatly increase its potential value.

The decision of whether to add to the back of your home or to add a second floor has a number of considerations:

Unique Builders & Development will build the room of your dreams. Our in-house team of professionals will be intricately involved from planning stages through completion of your second floor addition; keeping your costs down. Outsourcing projects is why many builders have a higher price tag and no substantial guarantee of their work.

The project manager will directly report to you and keep you updated during the entire process. Only the best materials and brands will be integrated into your home, giving you a lifetime quality guarantee. By hiring the best, you have a guarantee that your new game room, home theater, bathroom or even a bigger master suite is everything you imagined and more!

Whether its a game room, a sun room addition, a second floor addition, a room above the garage, or a garage conversion we use a delicate balance of form and function to create the room addition of your dreams.

Unique Builders & Development your source for second floor additions in Houston!

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Second Floor Additions Houston | Over 30 Years of Experienc

Remodeling text: Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: My current 1,100 square foot single story three bedroom one bath home is not large enough for my growing family. To get a somewhat larger new home that barely meets our needs costs $100,000 more than what I can sell my existing home. It seems as if I need to stay put and add space here. My lot is small so a second story seems the only way to go. How hard is it to add a second story to a home? What do I need to think about? Maria E., Sacramento, CA

DEAR MARIA: It is not too hard to add a second story to a home. You have quite a bit to think about to put it bluntly. In fact, there are so many things to consider, I almost do not know where to start. Fortunately, you have already done part of the mathematical analysis that has illustrated a point many people overlook. You can almost always buy square footage in an existing or used home for far less than new home square footage. A new home in a great location on a nice lot can be very pricey. Older existing homes in great neighborhoods often can be fantastic bargains when you simply compare them to a new home on a finished living space basis.

Adding square footage to your home by going up instead of out presents many challenges. Photo credit: Tim Carter

The first thing you need to do in my opinion is to visit your local government zoning office. They should be able to tell you if you are permitted to add a second story. Ask them about total structure height. Many building and zoning codes only allow the top of the structure to be so many feet above the grade level. You may have to visit your local recorder's office at the same time to see if any subdivision restrictions were recorded with your property deed or plat. As crazy as it sounds, maybe the developer of your land included restrictions that simply do not allow second story additions.

If you determine you can add a second story, it is time to talk with two remodeling contractors who have done this type of work. Interview a few and ask them to provide addresses of several homes where they have added a second story. Ask them what they feel the current cost per square foot is to add the necessary room to your home. Be sure to ask what the extra cost might be to add a full bathroom. Remember, these are just guesstimate numbers and you should be prepared to pay as much as 20 percent more as the plans are developed and challenges are addressed.

Using these very rough preliminary numbers, see if you can afford to add the amount of space you need. For example, if you feel you need 800 more square feet of space and the remodelers tell you it is going to cost $145.00 per square foot, plus $8,000.00 more for the full bath, you are looking at a possible cost of $124,000.00 plus the 20 percent contingency. Can you borrow $148,800 comfortably? Visit your local banker or mortgage company and ask them to help you with a quick refinancing analysis.

If you qualify for a new loan, you should now start thinking about the actual project. Here is a partial list of the things I see as issues:

How would you like me to build your new home? It's probably impossible for me to fit your job into my schedule, but I will gladly share hundreds of my tricks and building secrets with you and your builder. Check out my New House Specifications.

If you are lucky and the remodelers you speak with are experienced, they may add several more things to my abbreviated list. Furthermore, as you begin to proceed with plans, it would be very wise to speak with two or three homeowners who went through the process. Ask them about how they dealt with the disruption. Ask them what they would do differently if they could rewind the tape and play the experience over once more. You just might be surprised with their input.

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Adding a Second Story | Ask the Builder

A second story addition is a complex project often requiring structural upgrades to the existing house below. New mechanical, plumbing, and electrical service will need to extend to the new space.

SECOND STORY ADDITION TIPS

To be less disruptive to the existing house, the existing ceiling and ceiling joists are often left in place, and a new floor structure is added on top of this. This allows for electrical lines, recessed can lights, and other elements to remain in the ceiling below the new addition. However, it also results in a very thick floor assembly. This can mean additional stairs may be necessary to reach the top floor (which take up more room) and on the exterior, special attention needs to be paid to the resulting proportions, so the house doesn't look too top heavy.

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Seattle Second Story Addition Specialists : Motionspace ...

Convert Your Existing Single Story Ranch Into A Spacious Colonial

Additional Square Footage To Be Added: 960 sq/ft

Add tons of space by adding a whole second floor to your existing home. This addition is based on a very common single floor ranch, but it can be easily adapted to any single level home, such as a cape. The new addition will allow you to utilize the space on the first floor for entertaining, cooking, and recreation. The new second floor will have plenty of space for three bedrooms, two bathrooms and plenty of closet space. This add-a-level design allows you to have a dramatic 2 story foyer with a staircase that overlooks it. You can finally have that grand entrance that you have been dreaming of.

Construction 24' x 40' 2nd Story Addition

The existing roof will be completely removed and a new second floor will be built over the existing house. Some existing walls on the first floor will be reconfigured to allow for a staircase to access the second floor. At the end of the hallway a balcony will allow you to look over into the foyer below. A new gable roof will be added with usable attic space. Optionally a small overhang can be built over the front door to provide protection from the elements when entering the home. The existing HVAC system was factored in the estimate below to be extended to control the new space with a separate zone. Your existing HVAC setup could lower or higher our cost to build estimate below.

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Second Story Addition Costs - Home Additions & Home ...

Since 2000, we at Modular Home Additions have completed nearly 1000 projectsmany of which have been for repeated customers. We are proud to create beautiful homes, and we strive to show through our actions and projects instead of words that we have a great product. We don't rely on fancy word play to show you why we're the best. Instead, take a look at the fact that we have been voted "The Best in Town" for four years in a rowsomething that has been given to us by our customers and neighbors.

Just a few more reasons we stand out from the competition:

The Modular concept is revolutionary, fast, and simpleyet extremely powerful. By factory building all structural components, we are able to expedite the building process. Then, on the first day, we can have the demolition of your existing roof completed. From there, we ship all of the pre-built components and install them within a few hours. We then have your roof shingled and ready for interior finishing.

Our concept gives you the following:

If you are ready to take the next step to creating the home of your dreams, do not hesitate to contact us! You can even check out our available floor plans, check our testimonials, or look at our past projects. When you're ready, all you need to do is give us a call at (416) 759-4663. From home extensions to second story additions, we can do it all!

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Toronto Home Additions - Modular Home Additions

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC.[1] At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had ever taken place.[2] The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian", with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry.[3] The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy, but it lacked the naval power of Carthage. By the end of the third war, after more than a hundred years and the loss of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides, Rome had conquered Carthage's empire, completely destroyed the city, and become the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean.

With the end of the Macedonian Wars which ran concurrently with the Punic Wars and the defeat of the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great in the RomanSeleucid War (Treaty of Apamea, 188 BC) in the eastern sea, Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and one of the most powerful cities in classical antiquity. The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD.

During the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network. Of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. While Carthage's navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, standing army. Instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars.[4] However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens. The Carthaginians were famed for their abilities as sailors, and unlike their armies, many Carthaginians from the lower classes served in their navy, which provided them with a stable income and career.

In 200 BC the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large disciplined armed forces. On the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War the Romans had no navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war.

The First Punic War (264241 BC) was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa, but was largely a naval war. It began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage. The Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions quickly escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. After a harsh defeat at the Battle of Agrigentum in 262 BC, the Carthaginian leadership resolved to avoid further direct land-based engagements with the powerful Roman legions, and concentrate on the sea where they believed Carthage's large navy had the advantage. Initially the Carthaginian navy prevailed. In 260 BC they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands. Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months the Romans had a fleet of over one hundred warships. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the traditional tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added the corvus, an assault bridge, to Roman ships. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike and stop them. Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navy's advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, and allowed Rome's superior infantry to be brought to bear in naval conflicts. However, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient. Save for the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Tunis in Africa, and two naval engagements, the First Punic War was a nearly unbroken string of Roman victories. In 241 BC, Carthage signed a peace treaty under the terms of which they evacuated Sicily and paid Rome a large war indemnity. The long war was costly to both powers, but Carthage was more seriously destabilized. In 238 BC, Carthage was plunged into the Mercenary War, during which Rome seized Sardinia and Corsica. Rome was now the most powerful state in the western Mediterranean: its large navy able to prevent seaborne invasion of Italy, control important sea trade routes, and invade foreign shores.[5]

Carthage spent the years following the war improving its finances and expanding its colonial empire in Hispania under the militaristic Barcid family. Rome's attention was mostly concentrated on the Illyrian Wars. In 219 BC Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, attacked Saguntum in Hispania, a city allied to Rome, starting the second Punic War.

According to Polybius there had been several trade agreements between Rome and Carthage, even a mutual alliance against king Pyrrhus of Epirus. When Rome and Carthage made peace in 241 BC, Rome secured the release of all 8,000 prisoners of war without ransom and, furthermore, received a considerable amount of silver as a war indemnity. However, Carthage refused to deliver to Rome the Roman deserters serving among their troops. A first issue for dispute was that the initial treaty, agreed upon by Hamilcar Barca and the Roman commander in Sicily, had a clause stipulating that the Roman popular assembly had to accept the treaty in order for it to be valid. The assembly not only rejected the treaty but increased the indemnity Carthage had to pay.

Carthage had a liquidity problem and attempted to gain financial help from Egypt, a mutual ally of Rome and Carthage, but failed. This resulted in delay of payments owed to the mercenary troops that had served Carthage in Sicily, leading to a climate of mutual mistrust and, finally, a revolt supported by the Libyan natives, known as the Mercenary War (240238 BC). During this war, Rome and Syracuse both aided Carthage, although traders from Italy seem to have done business with the insurgents. Some of them were caught and punished by Carthage, aggravating the political climate which had started to improve in recognition of the old alliance and treaties.

During the uprising in the Punic mainland, the mercenary troops in Corsica and Sardinia toppled Punic rule and briefly established their own, but were expelled by a native uprising. After securing aid from Rome, the exiled mercenaries then regained authority on the island of Sicily. For several years a brutal campaign was fought to quell the insurgent natives. Like many Sicilians, they would ultimately rise again in support of Carthage during the Second Punic War.

Eventually, Rome annexed Corsica and Sardinia by revisiting the terms of the treaty that ended the first Punic War. As Carthage was under siege and engaged in a difficult civil war, they begrudgingly accepted the loss of these islands and the subsequent Roman conditions for ongoing peace, which also increased the war indemnity levied against Carthage after the first Punic War. This eventually plunged relations between the two powers to a new low point.

After Carthage emerged victorious from the Mercenary War there were two opposing factions: the reformist party was led by Hamilcar Barca while the other, more conservative, faction was represented by Hanno the Great and the old Carthaginian aristocracy. Hamilcar had led the initial Carthaginian peace negotiations and was blamed for the clause that allowed the Roman popular assembly to increase the war indemnity and annex Corsica and Sardinia, but his superlative generalship was instrumental in enabling Carthage to ultimately quell the mercenary uprising, ironically fought against many of the same mercenary troops he had trained. Hamilcar ultimately left Carthage for the Iberian peninsula where he captured rich silver mines and subdued many tribes who fortified his army with levies of native troops.

Hanno had lost many elephants and soldiers when he became complacent after a victory in the Mercenary War. Further, when he and Hamilcar were supreme commanders of Carthage's field armies, the soldiers had supported Hamilcar when his and Hamilcar's personalities clashed. On the other hand, he was responsible for the greatest territorial expansion of Carthage's hinterland during his rule as strategus and wanted to continue such expansion. However, the Numidian king of the relevant area was now a son-in-law of Hamilcar and had supported Carthage during a crucial moment in the Mercenary War. While Hamilcar was able to obtain the resources for his aim, the Numidians in the Atlas Mountains were not conquered, like Hanno suggested, but became vassals of Carthage.

The Iberian conquest was begun by Hamilcar Barca and his other son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, who ruled relatively independently of Carthage and signed the Ebro Treaty with Rome. Hamilcar died in battle in 228 BC. Around this time, Hasdrubal became Carthaginian commander in Iberia (229 BC). He maintained this post for some eight years until 221 BC. Soon the Romans became aware of a burgeoning alliance between Carthage and the Celts of the Po river valley in northern Italy. The latter were amassing forces to invade Italy, presumably with Carthaginian backing. Thus, the Romans preemptively invaded the Po region in 225 BC. By 220 BC, the Romans had annexed the area as Gallia Cisalpina.[6] Hasdrubal was assassinated around the same time (221 BC), bringing Hannibal to the fore. It seems that, having apparently dealt with the threat of a Gaulo-Carthaginian invasion of Italy (and perhaps with the original Carthaginian commander killed), the Romans lulled themselves into a false sense of security. Thus, Hannibal took the Romans by surprise a mere two years later (218 BC) by merely reviving and adapting the original Gaulo-Carthaginian invasion plan of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal.

After Hasdrubal's assassination by a Celtic assassin, Hamilcar's young sons took over, with Hannibal becoming the strategus of Iberia, although this decision was not undisputed in Carthage. The output of the Iberian silver mines allowed for the financing of a standing army and the payment of the war indemnity to Rome. The mines also served as a tool for political influence, creating a faction in Carthage's magistrate that was called the Barcino.

In 219 BC Hannibal attacked the town of Saguntum, which stood under the special protection of Rome. According to Roman tradition, Hannibal had been made to swear by his father never to be a friend of Rome, and he certainly did not take a conciliatory attitude when the Romans berated him for crossing the river Iberus (Ebro) which Carthage was bound by treaty not to cross. Hannibal did not cross the Ebro River (Saguntum was near modern Valencia well south of the river) in arms, and the Saguntines provoked his attack by attacking their neighboring tribes who were Carthaginian protectorates and by massacring pro-Punic factions in their city. Rome had no legal protection pact with any tribe south of the Ebro River. Nonetheless, they asked Carthage to hand Hannibal over, and when the Carthaginian oligarchy refused, Rome declared war on Carthage.

The 'Barcid Empire' consisted of the Punic territories in Iberia. According to the historian Pedro Barcel, it can be described as a private military-economic hegemony backed by the two independent powers, Carthage and Gades (modern Cdiz). These shared the profits of the silver mines in southern Iberia with the Barcas family and closely followed Hellenistic diplomatic customs. Gades played a supporting role in this field, but Hannibal visited the local temple to conduct ceremonies before launching his campaign against Rome. The Barcid Empire was strongly influenced by the Hellenistic kingdoms of the time and for example, contrary to Carthage, it minted silver coins in its short time of existence.[7][pageneeded]

The Second Punic War (218 BC 201 BC) is most remembered for the Carthaginian Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. His army invaded Italy from the north and resoundingly defeated the Roman army in several battles, but never achieved the ultimate goal of causing a political break between Rome and its allies.

While fighting Hannibal in Italy, Hispania, and Sicily, Rome simultaneously fought against Macedon in the First Macedonian War. Eventually, the war was taken to Africa, where Carthage was defeated at the Battle of Zama by Scipio Africanus. The end of the war saw Carthage's control reduced to only the city itself.

There were three military theaters in this war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly; Hispania, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success until eventually retreating into Italy; and Sicily, where the Romans held military supremacy.

After assaulting Saguntum in Hispania (219 BC), Hannibal attacked Italy in 218 BC by leading the Iberians and three dozen elephants through the Alps. Although Hannibal surprised the Romans and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Italy, he lost his only siege engines and most of his elephants to the cold temperatures and icy mountain paths. In the end he could defeat the Romans in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Rome itself, thus leaving him unable to win the war.

Hannibal defeated the Roman legions in several major engagements, including the Battle of the Trebia (December 218 BC), the Battle of Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and most famously the Battle of Cannae (216 BC), but his long-term strategy failed. Lacking siege engines and sufficient manpower to take the city of Rome itself, he had planned to turn the Italian allies against Rome and to starve the city out through a siege. However, with the exception of a few of the southern city-states, the majority of the Roman allies remained loyal and continued to fight alongside Rome, despite Hannibal's near-invincible army devastating the Italian countryside. Rome also exhibited an impressive ability to draft army after army of conscripts after each crushing defeat by Hannibal, allowing them to recover from the defeats at Cannae and elsewhere and to keep Hannibal cut off from aid.

Hannibal never successfully received any significant reinforcements from Carthage. Despite his many pleas, Carthage only ever sent reinforcements successfully to Hispania. This lack of reinforcements prevented Hannibal from decisively ending the conflict by conquering Rome through force of arms.

The Roman army under Quintus Fabius Maximus intentionally deprived Hannibal of open battle in Italy for the rest of the war, while making it difficult for Hannibal to forage for supplies. Nevertheless, Rome was also incapable of bringing the conflict in the Italian theatre to a decisive close. Not only did Roman legions contend with Hannibal in Italy and with Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal in Hispania, but Rome had embroiled itself in yet another foreign war, the first of its Macedonian wars against Carthage's ally Philip V, at the same time.

Through Hannibal's inability to take strategically important Italian cities, through the general loyalty Italian allies showed to Rome, and through Rome's own inability to counter Hannibal as a master general, Hannibal's campaign continued in Italy inconclusively for sixteen years. Though he managed to sustain his forces for 15 years, Hannibal did so only by ravaging farm-lands, keeping his army healthy, which brought anger among the Romans' subject states. Realizing that Hannibal's army was outrunning its supply lines quickly, Rome took countermeasures against Hannibal's home base in Africa by sea command and stopped the flow of supplies. Hannibal quickly turned back and rushed to home defense, but suffered defeat in the Battle of Zama (202 BC).

In Hispania, a young Roman commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio (later to be given the agnomen Africanus because of his feats during this war), eventually defeated the larger but divided Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal and two other Carthaginian generals. Abandoning Hispania, Hasdrubal moved to bring his mercenary army into Italy to reinforce Hannibal.

The Third Punic War (149146 BC) involved an extended siege of Carthage, ending in the city's thorough destruction. The resurgence of the struggle can be explained by growing anti-Roman agitations in Hispania and Greece, and the visible improvement of Carthaginian wealth and martial power in the fifty years since the Second War.

With no military, Carthage suffered raids from its neighbor Numidia. Under the terms of the treaty with Rome, such disputes were arbitrated by the Roman Senate. Because Numidia was a favored client state of Rome, Roman rulings were slanted heavily to favor the Numidians. After some fifty years of this condition, Carthage had managed to discharge its war indemnity to Rome, and considered itself no longer bound by the restrictions of the treaty, although Rome believed otherwise. Carthage mustered an army to repel Numidian forces. It immediately lost the war with Numidia, placing itself in debt yet again, this time to Numidia.

This new-found Punic militarism alarmed many Romans, including Cato the Elder who, after a voyage to Carthage, ended all his speeches, no matter what the topic, by saying: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" "By the way I think that Carthage must be destroyed".

In 149 BC, in an attempt to draw Carthage into open conflict, Rome made a series of escalating demands, one being the surrender of three hundred children of the nobility as hostages, and finally ending with the near-impossible demand that the city be demolished and rebuilt away from the coast, deeper into Africa. When the Carthaginians refused this last demand, Rome declared the Third Punic War. Having previously relied on mercenaries to fight their wars for them, the Carthaginians were now forced into a more active role in the defense of their city. They made thousands of makeshift weapons in a short time, even using women's hair for catapult strings, and were able to hold off the initial Roman attack. A second offensive under the command of Scipio Aemilianus resulted in a three-year siege before he breached the walls, sacked the city, and systematically burned Carthage to the ground in 146 BC.

After Rome emerged as victorious, significant Carthaginian settlements, such as those in Mauretania, were taken over and aggrandized by the Romans. Volubilis, for example, was an important Roman town situated near the westernmost border of Roman conquests. It was built on the site of the previous Carthaginian settlement that overlies an earlier neolithic habitation.[8]

Ancient Roman wars

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Punic Wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Weekend Box Office (August 7 - 9, 2015)

by Gitesh Pandya

THISWEEKEND Tom Cruise kept his box office title as the veteran actor's latest hit Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation spent its second straight weekend at number one beating a handful of new releases including the new super hero offering Fantastic Four which stumbled into second place. The latest Ethan Hunt adventure grossed an estimated $29.4M dropping an encouraging 47%. That is a terrific hold for an action sequel as MI5 has been benefitting from strong word-of-mouth from those who have seen it already. The cume rose to $108.7M with 369 IMAX screens contributing a high 14% of the total at $15.5M.

All five Mission: Impossible films have now spent exactly two weekends at number one. Four did it during their first two frames while 2011's Ghost Protocol did an IMAX-only debut and then spent its second and third weekends in the top spot that holiday season once in full wide release. The 19-year-old spy franchise is still relevant with today's moviegoers and once again a solid and entertaining product is drawing in customers.

Rogue Nation opened in 18 more overseas markets and collected a stellar $65.5M this weekend from 58 total territories to boost Paramount's international cume to $156.7M and the global haul to $265.4M. With major markets like France, Brazil, and Italy still to open this month followed by China on September 8, MI5 looks on course to make over $700M worldwide which would be a new career high for Tom Cruise.

The new action entry Fantastic Four suffered one of the worst openings ever for a major Marvel super hero property grossing an estimated $26.2M which was less than half of what the two previous films in the franchise opened to. Panned by film critics, the PG-13 pic averaged only $6,558 from 3,995 locations for Fox falling well below what comic book movies do in the prime summer season.

This reboot was clobbered by poor reviews which repelled audiences. Those who did buy tickets agreed and gave a thumbs down. The CinemaScore grade was a lousy C- and other metrics also showed among the lowest scores for any Hollywood film this summer. Moviegoers made a strong statement this weekend telling studios that they will not come out and spend money on super hero movies that are not well-made and exciting. Marvel and DC should listen up given the long list of big-budget comic book movies they have scheduled over the next several years.

Fantastic Four played 60% male according to studio data with younger appeal making the split between those over and under 25 almost even. With a huge 25% tumble on Saturday from Friday, the road ahead looks bleak with the domestic final possibly ending up in the $60-65M range. Last summer's Marvel super hero team flicks X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy made more than that in just their first two days of release. Both were loved by critics and audiences alike.

The first two Fantastic Four pics in the franchise featuring a different cast bowed to $56.1M in 2005 and $58.1M in 2007. The new Four opened to $34.1M in 43 international markets this weekend. Fantastic Four 2 with the same new cast is already on the release calendar for June 9, 2017, but it will need to be seen if any changes are made to that plan.

New distributor STX enjoyed a solid opening for its first release, the psychological thriller The Gift, which landed in third with an estimated $12M from 2,503 sites for a good $4,794 average. The R-rated Jason Bateman pic played 53% female and 73% over 25 and earned rave reviews across the board. Budgeted at only $5M, Gift was not as well-liked by paying audiences as evidenced by the so-so B grade from CinemaScore but even with average legs this one should recoup its production and marketing costs in the near future.

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Weekend Box Office - Box Office Guru

Electricity figures everywhere in our lives. Electricity lights up our homes, cooks our food, powers our computers, television sets, and other electronic devices. Electricity from batteries keeps our cars running and makes our flashlights shine in the dark.

Here's something you can do to see the importance of electricity. Take a walk through your school, house or apartment and write down all the different appliances, devices and machines that use electricity. You'll be amazed at how many things we use each and every day that depend on electricity.

But what is electricity? Where does it come from? How does it work? Before we understand all that, we need to know a little bit about atoms and their structure.

All matter is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of smaller particles. The three main particles making up an atom are the proton, the neutron and the electron.

Electrons spin around the center, or nucleus, of atoms, in the same way the moon spins around the earth. The nucleus is made up of neutrons and protons.

Electrons contain a negative charge, protons a positive charge. Neutrons are neutral they have neither a positive nor a negative charge.

There are many different kinds of atoms, one for each type of element. An atom is a single part that makes up an element. There are 118 different known elements that make up every thing! Some elements like oxygen we breathe are essential to life.

Each atom has a specific number of electrons, protons and neutrons. But no matter how many particles an atom has, the number of electrons usually needs to be the same as the number of protons. If the numbers are the same, the atom is called balanced, and it is very stable.

So, if an atom had six protons, it should also have six electrons. The element with six protons and six electrons is called carbon. Carbon is found in abundance in the sun, stars, comets, atmospheres of most planets, and the food we eat. Coal is made of carbon; so are diamonds.

Some kinds of atoms have loosely attached electrons. An atom that loses electrons has more protons than electrons and is positively charged. An atom that gains electrons has more negative particles and is negatively charge. A "charged" atom is called an "ion."

Continue reading here:
The Energy Story - Chapter 2: What Is Electricity?

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a United States Navy corpsman raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi,[1] during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and quite possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.[2] Three Marines depicted in the photograph, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and Michael Strank, were killed in action over the next few days. The three surviving flag-raisers were Marines Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, and Navy Corpsman John Bradley. The latter three became celebrities after their identifications in the photograph.

The image was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the Marine Corps War Memorial which was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who died for their country past and present, and is located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C. The original mold is located on the Marine Military Academy grounds, a private college preparatory academy located in Harlingen, Texas.

On February 19, 1945, the United States military forces invaded Iwo Jima as part of its island-hopping strategy to defeat Japan. Iwo Jima originally was not a target, but the relatively quick fall of the Philippines left the Americans with a longer-than-expected lull prior to the planned invasion of Okinawa. Iwo Jima is located halfway between Japan and the Mariana Islands, where American long-range bombers were based, and was used by the Japanese as an early warning station, radioing warnings of incoming American bombers to the Japanese homeland. The Americans, after capturing the island, weakened the Japanese early warning system, and used it as an emergency landing strip for damaged bombers.

Iwo Jima is a volcanic island, shaped like a trapezoid. Marines on the island described it as "a large, gray pork chop".[4] The island was heavily fortified, and the invading United States Marines suffered high casualties. The island is dominated by Mount Suribachi, a 546-foot (166m) dormant volcanic cone situated on the southern tip of the island. Politically, the island is part of the prefecture of Tokyo. It would be the first Japanese homeland soil to be captured by the Americans, and it was a matter of honor for the Japanese to prevent its capture.[5] Tactically, the top of Suribachi is one of the most important locations on the island. From that vantage point, the Japanese defenders were able to spot artillery accurately onto the Americans particularly the landing beaches. The Japanese fought most of the battle from underground bunkers and pillboxes. It was common for Marines to knock out one pillbox using grenades or a flamethrower, only to experience renewed shooting from it a few minutes later, after more Japanese infantry slipped into the pillbox using a tunnel. The American effort concentrated on isolating and capturing Suribachi first, a goal that was achieved on February 23, 1945, four days after the battle began. Despite capturing Suribachi, the battle continued to rage for many days, and the island would not be declared "secure" until 31 days later, on March 26.[6]

A U.S. flag was first raised atop Mount Suribachi soon after the mountaintop was captured at around 10:20 on February 23, 1945.

Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson, the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, ordered Marine Captain Dave Severance, commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines to send a platoon to capture the summit of the mountain.1Lt. Harold G. Schrier, executive officer of Easy Company who had replaced the Third Platoon commander who had been wounded, volunteered to lead a 40-man combat patrol up the mountain. Lt. Schrier assembled the patrol at 8 am to begin the climb up the mountain. Before the climb up, Lt. Col. Johnson (or 1st Lt. George G. Wells the battalion adjutant whose job it was to carry the flag and who had taken the 54-by-28-inch/140-by-71-centimeter flag from the battalion's transport ship the USSMissoula to Iwo Jima) handed Schrier a flag.[9][10] Johnson said to Schrier, "If you get to the top put it up".

Lt. Schrier successfully led the combat patrol to the top. The flag was attached to a pipe, and the flagstaff was raised by Lt. Schrier assisted by his platoon sergeant.[11] However, on February 25, during a press interview aboard the flagship USS Eldorado about the flag-raising, Platoon Sergeant Ernest Thomas stated that Lt. Schrier, himself, and Sgt. Henry Hansen (platoon guide) had actually raised the flag. Lt. Schrier who received the Navy Cross for volunteering to take the patrol up the mountain and raise the American flag, would later receive a Silver Star Medal while commanding Company D, 2/28 Marines on Iwo Jima.

The first photographs of the first flag flown on Mt. Suribachi were taken by SSgt. Louis R. Lowery, a photographer with Leatherneck magazine, who accompanied the patrol up the mountain.[12][13] Others present at this first flag-raising included Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg, Pfc. James Michels, and Pvt. Gene Marshall, the E Company, 3rd Platoon radioman sometimes disputed as Pfc. Raymond Jacobs. However, Pfc. Raymond Jacobs (F Company, Second Battalion, 28th Marines) has been identified as being the radioman present during the first flag raising. This flag was too small, however, to be easily seen from the nearby landing beaches.

The Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, had decided the previous night that he wanted to go ashore and witness the final stage of the fight for the mountain. Now, under a stern commitment to take orders from Howlin' Mad Smith, the secretary was churning ashore in the company of the blunt, earthy general. Their boat touched the beach just after the flag went up, and the mood among the high command turned jubilant. Gazing upward, at the red, white, and blue speck, Forrestal remarked to Smith: "Holland, the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years".[15][16]

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World WarII Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943, a USnaval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad Participants Allies Axis Commanders and leaders Main Allied leaders Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Winston Churchill Chiang Kai-shek Main Axis leaders Adolf Hitler Hirohito Benito Mussolini Casualties and losses Military dead: Over 16,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 45,000,000 Total dead: Over 61,000,000 (193745) ...further details Military dead: Over 8,000,000 Civilian dead: Over 4,000,000 Total dead: Over 12,000,000 (193745) ...further details

World WarII (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War (after the recent Great War), was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, though related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the world's nationsincluding all of the great powerseventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. In a state of "total war", the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust (during which approximately 11 million people were killed)[1][2] and the strategic bombing of industrial and population centres (during which approximately one million people were killed, including the use of two nuclear weapons in combat),[3] it resulted in an estimated 50 million to 85 million fatalities. These made World WarII the deadliest conflict in human history.[4]

The Empire of Japan aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific and was already at war with the Republic of China in 1937,[5] but the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939[6] with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Following the MolotovRibbentrop Pact, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. For a year starting in late June of 1940, the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth were the only Allied forces continuing the fight against the European Axis powers, with campaigns in North Africa and the Horn of Africa as well as the long-running Battle of the Atlantic. In June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history, which trapped the major part of the Axis' military forces into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European territories in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific.

The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, and Germany was defeated in North Africa and then, decisively, at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. In 1943, with a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasion of Italy which brought about Italian surrender, and Allied victories in the Pacific, the Axis lost the initiative and undertook strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands.

The war in Europe ended with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the subsequent German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 August and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, and the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Japan and invasion of Manchuria, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. Thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies.

World WarII altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The United Nations (UN) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powersthe United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and Francebecame the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[7] The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia and Africa began. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and to create a common identity.[8]

The start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939,[9][10] beginning with the German invasion of Poland; Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937,[11] or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931.[12][13]

Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and the two wars merged in 1941. This article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World WarII include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935.[14] The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of the Second World War as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939.[15]

The exact date of the war's end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945 (V-J Day), rather than the formal surrender of Japan (2 September 1945); it is even claimed in some European histories that it ended on V-E Day (8 May 1945).[citation needed] A peace treaty with Japan was signed in 1951 to formally tie up any loose ends such as compensation to be paid to Allied prisoners of war who had been victims of atrocities.[16]A treaty regarding Germany's future allowed the reunification of East and West Germany to take place in 1990 and resolved other post-World War II issues.[17]

World War I had radically altered the political European map, with the defeat of the Central Powersincluding Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empireand the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia. Meanwhile, existing victorious Allies such as France, Belgium, Italy, Greece and Romania gained territories, and new Nation states were created out of the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman and Russian Empires.

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