K12 may refer to:
K12 Inc. is a for-profit education company that sells online schooling and curriculum to state and local governments. Its educational products and services are designed as alternatives to traditional "bricks and mortar" education for public school students from kindergarten to 12th grade. K12 is a publicly traded education management organization (EMO) that provides online education services to charter school students. It is paid for from taxes. K12 is the largest EMO in terms of enrollment.
The company was founded in 1999 by former banker Ronald J. Packard. Initial investors in the company included Michael R. Milken and Lowell Milken of education company Knowledge Universe, who along with the Milken Family Foundation, invested $10 million.Andrew Tisch of the Loews Corporation and Larry Ellison of Oracle Corporation also contributed venture capital.
William Bennett, Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan was hired as the company's first chairman of the board, resigning in 2005 after some controversial comments on the radioshow "Morning in America" in which he said aborting black babies, although a "morally reprehensible" idea, would result in a lower crime rate. Lowell Milken served on the K12 board of directors until July 2007. Tisch currently serves as chairman of the board and Packard has served as CEO since the company's founding.
K12 is the second highest peak in the Saltoro Mountains, a subrange of the Karakoram range in the Siachen region, near Jammu and Kashmir. It lies near the Line of Control. Its name comes from its designation given during the original survey of the Karakoram range.
K12 lies to the southwest of the Siachen Glacier; the K12 glacier heads on its northeast slopes and feeds the Siachen. The western slopes of K12 drain to the Bilafond Glacier system, and thence to the Dansam River, and eventually the Indus River.
K12 has seen little climbing activity, partly because of the unsettled political situation and the continued military presence in the area. It was first attempted in 1960, after a reconnaissance visit by famed explorer Eric Shipton in 1957. After a further unsuccessful attempt by a Japanese party in 1971, another Japanese expedition put two climbers, Shinichi Takagi and Tsutomu Ito, on the summit. They fell and died on the descent, and their bodies were not recovered. Another Japanese expedition returned in 1975 and made the second ascent. In 1984 the Indian army took hold of this peak as part of its plan to block any claims on the Siachen Glacier by Pakistan on the undemarcated portion of the Line of Control. No subsequent climbs or attempts are recorded in the Himalayan Index.
Bluebird is a 2013 drama film written and directed by Maine native Lance Edmands. Set and filmed in Northern Maine, it tells the story of how a school bus driver's momentary distraction causes a near-tragedy and affects the whole community. It co-stars Amy Morton, Margo Martindale, John Slattery, Emily Meade, Louisa Krause and Adam Driver. It was filmed in Winter 2012. After opening in limited release on February 27, 2015, it was released on the web on March 1.
Edmands finished the first draft of the screenplay in 2009. During the film's production, it received assistance and funding from the Sundance Institute, the San Francisco Film Society and the Swedish Film Institute. It premiered as part of the World Narrative Feature Competition at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.
The Bluebird-Proteus CN7 was a technologically advanced wheel-driven land speed record-breaking car, driven by Donald Campbell, built in 1960 and rebuilt in 1962.
In 1956, Campbell began planning a car to break the land speed record, which then stood at 394 mph (630 km/h). The Norris brothers, who had designed Campbell's highly successful Bluebird K7 hydroplane designed Bluebird-Proteus CN7 with 500 mph (800 km/h) in mind. The car weighed 4 tons and was built with an advanced aluminum honeycomb sandwich of immense strength, with fully independent suspension. The car had 4 wheel drive, through 52 inch Dunlop wheels / tyres, air brakes as well as all round inboard disc brakes. The CN7 (Campbell–Norris 7) was built by Motor Panels in Coventry, and was completed by the spring of 1960, and was powered by a Bristol-Siddeley Proteus free-turbine (turboshaft) engine of 4,450 shp (3,320 kW).
The Bristol-Siddeley Proteus was the Bristol Aeroplane Company's first successful gas-turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). The Proteus was a two spool, reverse flow gas turbine. Because the turbine stages of the inner spool drove no compressor stages, but only the propeller, this engine is sometimes classified as a free turbine. The engine, a Proteus 705, was specially modified to have a drive shaft at each end of the engine, to separate fixed ratio gearboxes on each axle.
Secret Messages is the eleventh studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in 1983 through Jet Records. It was the last ELO album with bass guitarist Kelly Groucutt, conductor Louis Clark, and real stringed instruments, and the last ELO album to be released on Jet Records. It was also the final ELO studio album to become a worldwide top 40 hit upon release.
The record was originally planned to be a double album, but was thwarted by Jet's distributor, CBS Records, claiming that producing a double vinyl album would be too expensive, and as a result, leader Jeff Lynne had to reduce it to a single album. This version of the album was digitally recorded and was to have been ELO's first compact disc. Six of the songs from the intended double album appeared as B-sides and reappeared on the Afterglow box set in 1990, including a string-laden eight-minute long tribute to the band's home town (Birmingham) entitled "Hello My Old Friend". Some of the tracks reappeared on the 2001 re-issue of the album. "Endless Lies", which had been altered for its inclusion on the subsequently-released Balance of Power album, appears in its original 1983 form on the 2001 remaster of this album.