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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Shirley Chisholm — Unbought and Unbossed

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
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Wikipedia

Angle of incidence (optics)

The angle of incidence, in geometric optics, is the angle between a ray incident on a surface and the line perpendicular (at 90 degree angle) to the surface at the point of incidence, called the normal. The ray can be formed by any waves, such as optical, acoustic, microwave, and X-ray. In the figure below, the line representing a ray makes an angle θ with the normal (dotted line). The angle of incidence at which light is first totally internally reflected is known as the critical angle. The angle of reflection and angle of refraction are other angles related to beams.

In computer graphics and geography, the angle of incidence is also known as the illumination angle of a surface with a light source, such as the Earth's surface and the Sun.[1] It can also be equivalently described as the angle between the tangent plane of the surface and another plane at right angles to the light rays.[2] This means that the illumination angle of a certain point on Earth's surface is 0° if the Sun is precisely overhead and that it is 90° at sunset or sunrise.

Determining the angle of reflection with respect to a planar surface is trivial, but the computation for almost any other surface is significantly more difficult. (See specular reflection.)

Refraction of light at the interface between two media

Grazing angle or glancing angle

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Focusing X-rays with glancing reflection in a Wolter telescope

It is sometimes more useful to refer to the angle between the beam and the surface tangent, rather than that between the beam and the surface normal. The 90-degree complement to the angle of incidence is called the grazing angle or glancing angle.[3] For example, a ray with 30° angle of incidence has a 60° grazing angle.

A beam or ray that is nearly parallel to a surface (i.e., having small grazing angles) is called a "grazing beam" or a "grazing ray".[citation needed] For example, grazing incidence diffraction is used in X-ray spectroscopy and atom optics, where significant reflection can be achieved only at small values of the grazing angle. Similarly, a Wolter telescope used for X-ray astronomy is based on the principle of total external reflection at small grazing angles. Moreover, ridged mirrors are designed to reflect atoms coming at a small grazing angle, usually measured in milliradians. In optics, there is Lloyd's mirror.

Cameras

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In an interchangeable lens camera, the combination of the throat diameter and the flange distance affect the angle of incidence. A larger throat and a smaller flange distance make for a larger angle of incidence, allowing for more flexibility in lens design, without requiring retrofocus designs for wider angle lenses.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Godse, A. P. (2008). Computer Graphics. Technical Publications. p. 292. ISBN 9788189411008.
  2. ^ Hengl, Tomislav; Reuter, Hannes I. (2022). Geomorphometryoncepts, Software, Applications. Developments in soil science. Vol. 33. Farha. p. 202. ISBN 9780123743459.
  3. ^ "Details for IEV number 705-04-04: "grazing angle"". International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-12-26.
  4. ^ Mansurov, Nasim (13 November 2025). "Camera Lens Mounts Explained - Mount Size, Flange Distance and the Angle of Incidence". Retrieved 21 May 2026.
[edit]

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

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Wikipedia

Angle of incidence (optics)

The angle of incidence, in geometric optics, is the angle between a ray incident on a surface and the line perpendicular (at 90 degree angle) to the surface at the point of incidence, called the normal. The ray can be formed by any waves, such as optical, acoustic, microwave, and X-ray. In the figure below, the line representing a ray makes an angle θ with the normal (dotted line). The angle of incidence at which light is first totally internally reflected is known as the critical angle. The angle of reflection and angle of refraction are other angles related to beams. In computer graphics and geography, the angle of incidence is also known as the illumination angle of a surface with a light source, such as the Earth's surface and the Sun. It can also be equivalently described as the angle between the tangent plane of the surface and another plane at right angles to the light rays. This means that the illumination angle of a certain point on Earth's surface is 0° if the Sun is precisely overhead and that it is 90° at sunset or sunrise. Determining the angle of reflection with respect to a planar surface is trivial, but the computation for almost any other surface is significantly more difficult. (See specular reflection.)

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Wikipedia

Refractive index

In optics, the refractive index (also called refraction index or index of refraction), often denoted n, is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum (c) to the speed of light in a given optical medium (v), n=c/v. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material, as described by Snell's law of refraction, n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2, where θ1 and θ2 are the angle of incidence and angle of refraction, respectively, of a ray crossing the interface between two media with refractive indices n1 and n2. The refractive indices also determine the amount of light that is reflected when reaching the interface, as well as the critical angle for total internal reflection, their intensity (Fresnel equations) and Brewster's angle. The refractive index, n {\displaystyle n} , can be seen as the factor by which the speed and the wavelength of the radiation are reduced with respect to their vacuum values: the speed of light in a medium is v = c/n, and similarly the wavelength in that medium is λ = λ0/n, where λ0 is the wavelength of that light in vacuum. This implies that vacuum has a refractive index of 1, and assumes that the frequency (f = v/λ) of the wave is not affected by the refractive index. The refractive index may vary with wavelength. This causes white light to split into constituent colors when refracted. This is called dispersion. This effect can be observed in prisms and rainbows, and as chromatic aberration in lenses. Light propagation in absorbing materials can be described using a complex-valued refractive index. The imaginary part then handles the attenuation, while the real part accounts for refraction. For most materials the refractive index changes with wavelength by several percent across the visible spectrum. Consequently, refractive indices for materials reported using a single value for n must specify the wavelength used in the measurement. The concept of refractive index applies across the full electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to radio waves. It can also be applied to wave phenomena such as sound. In this case, the speed of sound is used instead of that of light, and a reference medium other than vacuum must be chosen. Refraction also occurs in oceans when light passes into the halocline where salinity has impacted the density of the water column. For lenses (such as eye glasses), a lens made from a high refractive index glass will be thinner, and hence lighter, than a – usually cheaper – conventional lens with a lower refractive index. Plastics materials tend to have lower refractive indices than glasses, but have significantly less density than glasses. For many years, the lightest eyeglasses have been fabricated from plastics.

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Wikipedia

Total internal reflection

In physics, total internal reflection (TIR) is the phenomenon in which waves arriving at the interface (boundary) from one medium to another (e.g., from water to air) are not refracted into the second ("external") medium, but completely reflected back into the first ("internal") medium. It occurs when the second medium has a higher wave speed (i.e., lower refractive index) than the first, and the waves are incident at a sufficiently oblique angle on the interface. For example, the water-to-air surface in a typical fish tank, when viewed obliquely from below, reflects the underwater scene like a mirror with no loss of brightness (Fig. 1). A scenario opposite to TIR, referred to as total external reflection, occurs in the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray regimes. TIR occurs not only with electromagnetic waves such as light and microwaves, but also with other types of waves, including sound and water waves. If the waves are capable of forming a narrow beam (Fig. 2), the reflection tends to be described in terms of "rays" rather than waves; in a medium whose properties are independent of direction, such as air, water or glass, the "rays" are perpendicular to the associated wavefronts. The total internal reflection occurs when the critical angle is exceeded. Refraction is generally accompanied by partial reflection. When waves are refracted from a medium of lower propagation speed (higher refractive index) to a medium of higher propagation speed (lower refractive index)—e.g., from water to air—the angle of refraction (between the outgoing ray and the surface normal) is greater than the angle of incidence (between the incoming ray and the normal). As the angle of incidence approaches a certain threshold, called the critical angle, the angle of refraction approaches 90°, at which the refracted ray becomes parallel to the boundary surface. As the angle of incidence increases beyond the critical angle, the conditions of refraction can no longer be satisfied, so there is no refracted ray, and the partial reflection becomes total. For visible light, the critical angle is about 49° for incidence from water to air, and about 42° for incidence from common glass to air. Details of the mechanism of TIR give rise to more subtle phenomena. While total reflection, by definition, involves no continuing flow of power across the interface between the two media, the external medium carries a so-called evanescent wave, which travels along the interface with an amplitude that falls off exponentially with distance from the interface. The "total" reflection is indeed total if the external medium is lossless (perfectly transparent), continuous, and of infinite extent, but can be conspicuously less than total if the evanescent wave is absorbed by a lossy external medium ("attenuated total reflectance"), or diverted by the outer boundary of the external medium or by objects embedded in that medium ("frustrated" TIR). Unlike partial reflection between transparent media, total internal reflection is accompanied by a non-trivial phase shift (not just zero or 180°) for each component of polarization (perpendicular or parallel to the plane of incidence), and the shifts vary with the angle of incidence. The explanation of this effect by Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in 1823, added to the evidence in favor of the wave theory of light. The phase shifts are used by Fresnel's invention, the Fresnel rhomb, to modify polarization. The efficiency of the total internal reflection is exploited by optical fibers (used in telecommunications cables and in image-forming fiberscopes), and by reflective prisms, such as image-erecting Porro/roof prisms for monoculars and binoculars.

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Wikipedia

Snell's law

Snell's law (also known as the Snell–Descartes law, and the law of refraction) is a formula used to describe the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing through a boundary between two different isotropic media, such as water, glass, or air. In optics, the law is used in ray tracing to compute the angles of transmission or refraction, and in experimental optics to find the refractive index of a material. The law is also satisfied in meta-materials, which allow light to be bent "backward" at a negative angle of refraction with a negative refractive index. The law states that, for a given pair of media, the ratio of the sines of angle of incidence ( θ 1 ) {\displaystyle \left(\theta _{1}\right)} and angle of refraction ( θ 2 ) {\displaystyle \left(\theta _{2}\right)} is equal to the refractive index of the second medium with regard to the first ( n 2 , 1 {\displaystyle n_{2,1}} ) which is equal to the ratio of the refractive indices ( n 2 n 1 ) {\displaystyle \left({\tfrac {n_{2}}{n_{1}}}\right)} of the two media, or equivalently, to the ratio of the phase velocities ( v 1 v 2 ) {\displaystyle \left({\tfrac {v_{1}}{v_{2}}}\right)} in the two media. sin ⁡ θ 1 sin ⁡ θ 2 = n 2 , 1 = n 2 n 1 = v 1 v 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {\sin \theta _{1}}{\sin \theta _{2}}}=n_{2,1}={\frac {n_{2}}{n_{1}}}={\frac {v_{1}}{v_{2}}}} The law follows from Fermat's principle of least time, which in turn follows from the propagation of light as waves.

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which Black woman became the first elected to the United States Congress?

Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.