-itis

Itis

Itis may refer to:

Integrated Taxonomic Information System

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagency group within the U.S. federal government, involving several US Federal agencies and has now become an international body, with Canadian and Mexican government agencies participating. The database draws from a large community of taxonomic experts. Primary content staff are housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and IT services are provided by a US Geological Survey facility in Denver. The primary focus of ITIS is North American species, but many groups are worldwide and ITIS continues to collaborate with other international agencies to increase its global coverage.

Reference database

ITIS provides an automated reference database of scientific and common names for species. As of April 2012, it contains over 719,000 scientific names, synonyms, and common names for terrestrial, marine, and freshwater taxa from all biological kingdoms (animals, plants, fungi, and microbes). While the system does focus on North American species at minimum, it also includes many species not found in North America, especially among birds, fishes, amphibians, mammals, many reptiles, and several invertebrate animal groups. Data presented in ITIS are considered public information, and may be freely distributed and copied, though appropriate citation is requested. ITIS is frequently used as the de facto source of taxonomic data in biodiversity informatics projects.

Loser

Loser may refer to:

Film and television

Literature and publications

Music

In other uses

Loser (film)

Loser is a 2000 American romantic comedy film starring Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Greg Kinnear. It is about a small-town teenager who is accepted into New York University and must cope with the pressures of college life and the big city.

Plot

Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs), a small-town, intelligent kid from Upstate New York is accepted into NYU on an academic scholarship. Trying to follow the advice of his father (Dan Aykroyd) he tries to gain friends by trying to be polite and interested in others. His attempts are noticed by his new roommates Chris (Thomas Sadoski), Adam (Zak Orth) and Noah (Jimmi Simpson), three rich, spoiled, obnoxious city boys who consider his polite behavior, working class background and determination for education lame and brand him a loser. To salvage their reputation, the trio concoct a false story to the housing administration about Paul's attitude and have him thrown out of the dorm. Paul takes residence in a veterinary hospital. Chris meets Paul and again concocts another story about how they were trying to help him as a ploy for Paul to let them use the hospital to throw parties since a resident at the dorm fell into sickness due to excessive alcohol, forbidding them to hold any parties thereon.

Loser (band)

Loser was an American alternative rock band, formed in late 2004.

In 2005 guitarist John 5 of Marilyn Manson fame formed Loser. The band was partly co-founded by John 5's friend, producer Bob Marlette. Vocalist Joe Grah already had a significant amount of success in his home state of Texas with the band Jibe. Marlette recommended Grah to John 5, and so he hopped on a plane to Texas to see Jibe play. Grah flew back to Los Angeles and was hired on the spot. Recruiting fellow Texan musicians bassist Charles Lee and drummer Glendon Crain, Loser began working on their debut album Just Like You. The band played its first show in Hollywood, California on June 9, (6-9-05).

The name Loser came about as a reaction to John 5's past:

When questioned in an interview regarding the band's sound, John 5 replied, "It is just great rock music. It is kinda like the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, new-age stuff."

The band had initial success not long after signing with Island Records, when the track "Disposable Sunshine" was included on the 2005 Fantastic Four soundtrack. During the recording of the soundtrack, however, Crain briefly left the band and was replaced by drummer Elias Andra, a friend of Lee's. (Andra had had some success himself with the industrial metal band Psycho Plague, his own creation, which toured as a headline act with Linkin Park.) However, no sooner had promotional shots been taken than Andra left and Crain returned.