title: Indecent Proposal

text: Engelhard's novel contained cultural friction that the screenwriter left out of the movie: the main character, named Joshua, is Jewish, and his billionaire foil is Arab. In a review of the novel, "The New York Times" summarized its themes as "the sanctity of marriage versus the love of money, the Jew versus significant non-Jews such as shiksas and sheiks, skill versus luck, materialism versus spirituality, Israel versus the Arab countries, the past versus the future, and the religious world versus the secular one."


title: Indecent Proposal

text: The soundtrack was released on April 6, 1993, by MCA Records. "In All the Right Places" by Lisa Stansfield was released as the album's lead single on May 24, 1993, and is the film's theme song. Sheena Easton makes a cameo appearance in the movie performing "The Nearness of You" at a pivotal part of the movie. The length of the soundtrack is 60 minutes and 37 seconds. "No Ordinary Love" by English band Sade was also prominently featured in the film, though it was not included on its soundtrack album.


title: Indecent Proposal

text: On July 30, 2018, Paramount Players announced that a remake of the film was in development, with the screenplay being written by Erin Cressida Wilson.


title: Red herring

text: A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentionally, as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g., in politics), or may be used in argumentation inadvertently.


title: Red herring

text: The term was popularized in 1807 by English polemicist William Cobbett, who told a story of having used a strong-smelling smoked fish to divert and distract hounds from chasing a rabbit.


title: Red herring

text: As an informal fallacy, the red herring falls into a broad class of relevance fallacies. Unlike the straw man, which involves a distortion of the other party's position, the red herring is a seemingly plausible, though ultimately irrelevant, diversionary tactic. According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", a red herring may be intentional or unintentional; it is not necessarily a conscious intent to mislead.


title: Red herring

text: The expression is mainly used to assert that an argument is not relevant to the issue being discussed. For example, "I think we should make the academic requirements stricter for students. I recommend you support this because we are in a budget crisis, and we do not want our salaries affected." The second sentence, though used to support the first sentence, does not address that topic.


title: Red herring

text: In fiction and non-fiction a red herring may be intentionally used by the writer to plant a false clue that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. For example, the character of Bishop Aringarosa in Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" is presented for most of the novel as if he is at the centre of the church's conspiracies, but is later revealed to have been innocently duped by the true antagonist of the story. The character's name is a loose Italian translation of "red herring" ("aringa rosa"; "rosa" actually meaning "pink", and very close to "rossa", "red").


title: Red herring

text: A red herring is found in the first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet", where the murderer writes at the crime scene the word "Rache" ("revenge" in German), leading the and the to mistakenly presume that a German was involved.


title: Red herring

text: A red herring is often used in legal studies and exam problems to mislead and distract students from reaching a correct conclusion about a legal issue, intended as a device that tests students' comprehension of underlying law and their ability to properly discern material factual circumstances.


title: Red herring

text: There is no fish species called "red herring", rather it is a name given to a particularly strong kipper, made from fish (typically herring) strongly cured in brine or heavily smoked. This process makes the fish particularly pungent smelling and, with strong enough brine, turns its flesh reddish. In this literal sense, as a strongly cured kipper, the term can be dated to the mid-13th century, in the poem "The Treatise" by Walter of Bibbesworth: "He eteþ no ffyssh But heryng red."


title: Red herring

text: Until 2008, the figurative sense of "red herring" was thought to originate from a supposed technique of training young scent hounds. There are variations of the story, but according to one version, the pungent red herring would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent confuses the animal) perpendicular to the animal's trail to confuse the dog. The dog eventually learned to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent. A variation of this story is given, without mention of its use in training, in "The Macmillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases" (1976), with the earliest use cited being from W. F. Butler's "Life of Napier", published in 1849. "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" (1981) gives the full phrase as "Drawing a red herring across the path", an idiom meaning "to divert attention from the main question by some side issue"; here, once again, a "dried, smoked and salted" herring when "drawn across a fox's path destroys the scent and sets the hounds at fault." Another variation of the dog story is given by Robert Hendrickson (1994) who says escaping convicts used the pungent fish to throw off hounds in pursuit.


title: Red herring

text: According to a pair of articles by Professor Gerald Cohen and Robert Scott Ross published in "Comments on Etymology" (2008), supported by etymologist Michael Quinion and accepted by the "Oxford English Dictionary", the idiom did not originate from a hunting practice. Ross researched the origin of the story and found the earliest reference to using herrings for training animals was in a tract on horsemanship published in 1697 by Gerland Langbaine. Langbaine recommended a method of training horses (not hounds) by dragging the carcass of a cat or fox so that the horse would be accustomed to following the chaos of a hunting party. He says if a dead animal is not available, a red herring would do as a substitute. This recommendation was misunderstood by Nicholas Cox, published in the notes of another book around the same time, who said it should be used to train hounds (not horses). Either way, the herring was not used to distract the hounds or horses from a trail, rather to guide them along it.


title: Red herring

text: The earliest reference to using herring for distracting hounds is an article published on 14 February 1807 by radical journalist William Cobbett in his polemical periodical "Political Register". According to Cohen and Ross, and accepted by the OED, this is the origin of the figurative meaning of red herring. In the piece, William Cobbett critiques the English press, which had mistakenly reported Napoleon's defeat. Cobbett recounted that he had once used a red herring to deflect hounds in pursuit of a hare, adding "It was a mere transitory effect of the political red-herring; for, on the Saturday, the scent became as cold as a stone." Quinion concludes: "This story, and [Cobbett's] extended repetition of it in 1833, was enough to get the figurative sense of "red herring" into the minds of his readers, unfortunately also with the false idea that it came from some real practice of huntsmen."


title: Red herring

text: Although Cobbett popularized the figurative usage, he was not the first to consider red herring for scenting hounds in a literal sense; an earlier reference occurs in the pamphlet "Nashe's Lenten Stuffe", published in 1599 by the Elizabethan writer Thomas Nashe, in which he says "Next, to draw on hounds to a scent, to a red herring skin there is nothing comparable." The "Oxford English Dictionary" makes no connection with Nashe's quote and the figurative meaning of red herring to distract from the intended target, only in the literal sense of a hunting practice to draw dogs toward a scent.


title: Red herring

text: The use of herring to distract pursuing scent hounds was tested on Episode 148 of the series "MythBusters". Although the hound used in the test stopped to eat the fish and lost the fugitive's scent temporarily, it eventually backtracked and located the target, resulting in the myth being classified by the show as "Busted".


title: Boeing 727

text: The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.


title: Boeing 727

text: After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airports.


title: Boeing 727

text: On December 5, 1960, the 727 was launched with 40 orders each from United Airlines and Eastern Air Lines.


title: Boeing 727

text: The first 727-100 rolled out November 27, 1962, first flew on February 9, 1963, and entered service with Eastern on February 1, 1964.


title: Boeing 727

text: The only trijet aircraft to be produced by Boeing, the 727 is powered by Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofans below a T-tail, one on each side of the rear fuselage and a center one fed through an S-duct.


title: Boeing 727

text: Launched in 1965, the stretched 727-200 flew in July 1967 and entered service with Northeast Airlines that December.


title: Boeing 727

text: The Boeing 727 design was a compromise among United Airlines, American Airlines, and Eastern Air Lines; each of the three had developed requirements for a jet airliner to serve smaller cities with shorter runways and fewer passengers. United Airlines requested a four-engine aircraft for its flights to high-altitude airports, especially its hub at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado. American Airlines, which was operating the four-engined Boeing 707 and Boeing 720, requested a twin-engined aircraft for efficiency. Eastern Airlines wanted a third engine for its overwater flights to the Caribbean, since at that time twin-engine commercial flights were limited by regulations to routes with 60-minute maximum flying time to an airport (see ETOPS). Eventually, the three airlines agreed on a trijet design for the new aircraft.


title: Boeing 727

text: In 1959, Lord Douglas, chairman of British European Airways (BEA), suggested that Boeing and de Havilland Aircraft Company (later Hawker Siddeley) work together on their trijet designs, the 727 and D.H.121 Trident, respectively. The two designs had a similar layout, the 727 being slightly larger. At that time Boeing intended to use three Allison AR963 turbofan engines, license-built versions of the Rolls-Royce RB163 Spey used by the Trident. Boeing and de Havilland each sent engineers to the other company's locations to evaluate each other's designs, but Boeing eventually decided against the joint venture. De Havilland had wanted Boeing to license-build the D.H.121, while Boeing felt that the aircraft needed to be designed for the American market, with six-abreast seating and the ability to use runways as short as .


title: Boeing 727

text: In 1960, Pratt & Whitney was looking for a customer for its new JT8D turbofan design study, based on its J52 (JT8A) turbojet, while United and Eastern were interested in a Pratt & Whitney alternative to the RB163 Spey. Once Pratt & Whitney agreed to go ahead with development of the JT8D, Eddie Rickenbacker, chairman of the board of Eastern, told Boeing that the airline preferred the JT8D for its 727s. Boeing had not offered the JT8D, as it was about heavier than the RB163, though slightly more powerful; the RB163 was also further along in development than the JT8D. Boeing reluctantly agreed to offer the JT8D as an option on the 727, and it later became the sole powerplant.


title: Boeing 727

text: With high-lift devices on its wing, the 727 could use shorter runways than most earlier jets (e.g. the 4800-ft runway at Key West International Airport).


title: Boeing 727

text: Later 727 models were stretched to carry more passengers and replaced earlier jet airliners such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, as well as aging propeller airliners such as the DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, and the Lockheed Constellations on short- and medium-haul routes.


title: Boeing 727

text: For over a decade, more 727s were built per year than any other jet airliner; in 1984, production ended with 1,832 built and 1,831 delivered, the highest total for any jet airliner until the 737 surpassed it in the early 1990s.


title: Boeing 727

text: The airliner's middle engine (engine 2) at the very rear of the fuselage gets air from an inlet ahead of the vertical fin through an S-shaped duct. This S-duct proved to be troublesome in that flow distortion in the duct induced a surge in the centerline engine on the take-off of the first flight of the 727-100. This was fixed by the addition of several large vortex generators in the inside of the first bend of the duct.


title: Boeing 727

text: The 727 was designed for smaller airports, so independence from ground facilities was an important requirement. This led to one of the 727's most distinctive features: the built-in airstair that opens from the rear underbelly of the fuselage, which initially could be opened in flight. Hijacker D. B. Cooper used this hatch when he parachuted from the back of a 727, as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest. Boeing subsequently modified the design with the Cooper vane so that the airstair could not be lowered in flight. The design included an auxiliary power unit (APU), which allowed electrical and air-conditioning systems to run independently of a ground-based power supply, and without having to start one of the main engines. An unusual design feature is that the APU is mounted in a hole in the keel beam web, in the main landing gear bay. The 727 is equipped with a retractable tailskid that is designed to protect the aircraft in the event of an over-rotation on takeoff. The 727's fuselage has an outer diameter of . This allows six-abreast seating (three per side) and a single aisle when wide coach-class seats are installed. An unusual feature of the fuselage is the difference between the lower lobe forward and aft of the wing as the higher fuselage height of the center section was simply retained towards the rear.


title: Boeing 727

text: Nosewheel brakes were available as an option to reduce braking distance on landing, which provided reduction in braking distances of up to .


title: Boeing 727

text: The 727 proved to be such a reliable and versatile airliner that it came to form the core of many startup airlines' fleets. The 727 was successful with airlines worldwide partly because it could use smaller runways while still flying medium-range routes. This allowed airlines to carry passengers from cities with large populations, but smaller airports to worldwide tourist destinations. One of the features that gave the 727 its ability to land on shorter runways was its clean wing design. With no wing-mounted engines, leading-edge devices (Krueger, or hinged, flaps on the inner wing and extendable leading edge slats out to the wingtip) and trailing-edge lift enhancement equipment (triple-slotted, fowler flaps) could be used on the entire wing. Together, these high-lift devices produced a maximum wing lift coefficient of 3.0 (based on the flap-retracted wing area). The 727 was stable at very low speeds compared to other early jets, but some domestic carriers learned after review of various accidents that the 40-degree flap setting could result in a higher-than-desired sink rate or a stall on final approach. These carriers' Pilots' Operation Handbooks disallowed using more than 30° of flaps on the 727, even going so far as installing plates on the flap lever slot to prevent selection of more than 30° of flaps.


title: Boeing 727

text: The 727 is one of the noisiest commercial jetliners, categorized as Stage 2 by the U.S. Noise Control Act of 1972, which mandated the gradual introduction of quieter Stage 3 aircraft. The 727's JT8D jet engines use older low-bypass turbofan technology, whereas Stage 3 aircraft use the more efficient and quieter high-bypass turbofan design. When the Stage 3 requirement was being proposed, Boeing engineers analyzed the possibility of incorporating quieter engines on the 727. They determined that the JT8D-200 engine could be used on the two side-mounted pylons. The JT8D-200 engines are much quieter than the original JT8D-1 through -17 variant engines that power the 727, as well as more fuel efficient due to the higher bypass ratio, but the structural changes to fit the larger-diameter engine ( fan diameter in the JT8D-200 compared to in the JT8D-1 through -17) into the fuselage at the number two engine location were prohibitive.


title: Boeing 727

text: Current regulations require that a 727, or any other Stage 2 noise jetliner in commercial service must be retrofitted with a hush kit to reduce engine noise to Stage 3 levels to continue to fly in U.S airspace. These regulations have been in effect since December 31, 1999. One such hush kit is offered by FedEx, and has been purchased by over 60 customers. Aftermarket winglet kits, originally developed by Valsan Partners and later marketed by Quiet Wing Corp. have been installed on many 727s to reduce noise at lower speeds, as well as to reduce fuel consumption. In addition, Raisbeck Engineering developed packages to enable 727s to meet the Stage 3 noise requirements. These packages managed to get light- and medium-weight 727s to meet Stage 3 with simple changes to the flap and slat schedules. For heavier-weight 727s, exhaust mixers must be added to meet Stage 3. American Airlines ordered and took delivery of 52 Raisbeck 727 Stage 3 systems. Other customers included TWA, Pan Am, Air Algérie, TAME, and many smaller airlines.


title: Boeing 727

text: Since September 1, 2010, 727 jetliners (including those with a hush kit) are banned from some Australian airports because they are too loud.


title: Boeing 727

text: In addition to domestic flights of medium range, the 727 was popular with international passenger airlines. The range of flights it could cover (and the additional safety added by the third engine) meant that the 727 proved efficient for short- to medium-range international flights in areas around the world.


title: Boeing 727

text: The 727 also proved popular with cargo and charter airlines. FedEx Express introduced 727s in 1978. The 727s were the backbone of its fleet until the 2000s; FedEx began replacing them with Boeing 757s in 2007. Many cargo airlines worldwide employ the 727 as a workhorse, since, as it is being phased out of U.S. domestic service because of noise regulations, it becomes available to overseas users in areas where such noise regulations have not yet been instituted. Charter airlines Sun Country, Champion Air, and Ryan International Airlines all started with 727 aircraft.


title: Boeing 727

text: The 727 had some military uses, as well. Since the aft stair could be opened in flight, the Central Intelligence Agency used them to drop agents and supplies behind enemy lines in Vietnam. In early 1988, The Iraqi Air Force modified a Boeing 727 by fitting it with Thomson-CSF TMV-018 Syrel pods for ESM and Raphael-TH pods with side looking radar. Known as 'Faw-727', it was reportedly used as an ELINT platform in the Invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (during which it was briefly locked on by a Kuwaiti Mirage F1 on August 2) and the subsequent Iraqi monitoring of Coalition forces during Desert Shield.


title: Boeing 727

text: The 727 has proven to be popular where the airline serves airports with gravel, or otherwise lightly improved, runways. The Canadian airline First Air, for example, previously used a 727-100C to serve the communities of Resolute Bay and Arctic Bay in Nunavut, whose Resolute Bay Airport and former Nanisivik Airport both have gravel runways. The high-mounted engines greatly reduce the risk of foreign object damage.


title: Boeing 727

text: A military version, the Boeing C-22, was operated as a medium-range transport aircraft by the Air National Guard and National Guard Bureau to airlift personnel. A total of three C-22Bs were in use, all assigned to the 201st Airlift Squadron, District of Columbia Air National Guard.


title: Boeing 727

text: At the start of the 21st century, the 727 remained in service with a few large airlines. Faced with higher fuel costs, lower passenger volumes due to the post-9/11 economic climate, increasing restrictions on airport noise, and the extra expenses of maintaining older planes and paying flight engineers' salaries, most major airlines phased out their 727s; they were replaced by twin-engined aircraft, which are quieter and more fuel-efficient. Modern airliners also have a smaller flight deck crew of two pilots, while the 727 required two pilots and a flight engineer. Delta Air Lines, the last major U.S. carrier to do so, retired its last 727 from scheduled service in April 2003. Northwest Airlines retired its last 727 from charter service in June 2003. Many airlines replaced their 727s with either the 737-800 or the Airbus A320; both are close in size to the 727-200. , a total of 109 Boeing 727s were in commercial service with 34 airlines; three years later, the total had fallen to 64 airframes in service with 26 airlines.


title: Boeing 727

text: On March 2, 2016, the first 727 produced (N7001U), which first flew on February 9, 1963, made a flight to a museum after extensive restoration. The 727-100 had carried about three million passengers during its years of service. Originally a prototype, it was later sold to United Airlines, which donated it to the Museum of Flight in Seattle in 1991. The jet was restored over 25 years by the museum and was ferried from Paine Field in Everett, Washington to Boeing Field in Seattle, where it was put on permanent display at the Aviation Pavilion. The Federal Aviation Administration granted the museum a special permit for the 15-minute flight. The museum's previous 727-223, tail number N874AA, was donated to the National Airline History Museum in Kansas City and was planned to be flown to its new home once FAA ferry approval was granted. After a series of financial problems with the restoration, N874AA was seized by Boeing Field for nonpayment of storage fees in 2021 and subsequently broken up and scrapped.


title: Boeing 727

text: On January 13, 2019, the last commercial passenger flight of a Boeing 727 was flown between Zahedan and Tehran by Iran Aseman Airlines.


title: Boeing 727

text: The two series of 727 are the initial -100 (originally only two figures as in -30), which was launched in 1960 and entered service in February 1964, and the -200 series, which was launched in 1965 and entered service in December 1967.


title: Boeing 727

text: The first 727-100 (N7001U) flew on February 9, 1963. FAA type approval was awarded on December 24 of that year, with initial delivery to United Airlines on October 29, 1963, to allow pilot training to commence. The first service was flown by Eastern Air Lines on February 1, 1964, between Miami, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.


title: Boeing 727

text: A total of 571 Boeing 727-00/100 series aircraft were delivered (407 -100s, 53 -100Cs, and 111 -100QCs), the last in October 1972. One 727-100 was retained by Boeing, bringing total production to 572.


title: Boeing 727

text: The -100 designation was assigned retroactively to distinguish the original short-body version. Actual aircraft followed a "727-00" pattern. Aircraft were delivered for United Airlines as 727-22, for American Airlines as 727-23, and so on (not -122, -123, etc.) and these designations were retained even after the advent of the 727-200.


title: Boeing 727

text: Convertible passenger cargo version, additional freight door and strengthened floor and floor beams, three alternative fits:


title: Boeing 727

text: QC stands for Quick Change. This is similar to the convertible version with a roller-bearing floor for palletised galley and seating and/or cargo to allow much faster changeover time (30 minutes).


title: Boeing 727

text: QF stands for Quiet Freighter. A cargo conversion for United Parcel Service, these were re-engined with Stage 3-compliant Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans.


title: Boeing 727

text: A stretched version of the 727-100, the -200 is longer () than the -100 (). A 10-ft (3-m) fuselage section ("plug") was added in front of the wings and another 10-ft fuselage section was added behind them. The wing span and height remain the same on both the -100 and -200 (, respectively). The original 727-200 had the same maximum gross weight as the 727-100; however, as the aircraft evolved, a series of higher gross weights and more powerful engines were introduced along with other improvements, and from line number 881, 727-200s are dubbed -200 Advanced. The aircraft gross weight eventually increased from for the latest versions. The dorsal intake of the number-two engine was also redesigned to be round in shape, rather than oval as it was on the -100 series.


title: Boeing 727

text: The first 727-200 flew on July 27, 1967, and received FAA certification on November 30, 1967. The first delivery was made on December 14, 1967, to Northeast Airlines. A total of 310 727-200s were delivered before the -200 was replaced on the production line by the 727-200 Advanced in 1972.


title: Boeing 727

text: The Advanced version of the 727-200 was introduced in 1970. It featured powerful engines, fuel capacity and MTOW () increased the range from or by (2550/1930-1)*100round0%. After the first delivery in mid-1972, Boeing eventually raised production to more than a hundred per year to meet demand by the late 1970s. Of the passenger model of the 727-200 Advanced, a total of 935 were delivered, after which it had to give way to a new generation of aircraft.


title: Boeing 727

text: A freighter version of the 727-200 Advanced became available in 1981, designated the Series 200F Advanced. Powered by Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17A engines, it featured a strengthened fuselage structure, an by forward main deck freight door, and a windowless cabin. Fifteen of these aircraft were built, all for Federal Express. This was the last production variant of the 727 to be developed by Boeing; the last 727 aircraft completed by Boeing was a 727-200F Advanced.


title: Boeing 727

text: Certificated by Valsan Partners in December 1988 and marketed by Goodrich from 1997, the side engines are replaced by more efficient, quieter JT8D-217C/219, and the center engine gains a hush kit for $8.6 million (but loses the thrust reverser) (2000): fuel consumption is reduced by 10-12%, range and restricted airfield performance are improved.


title: Boeing 727

text: A proposed 169 seat version was developed in consultation with United Airlines in 1972, which initially expressed an interest in ordering 50 aircraft. There was also interest from Indian Airlines for a one-class version with 180 seats. The fuselage would have been lengthened by and the undercarriage strengthened. The three engines would have been replaced by two more powerful JT8D-217 engines under the T tail. Many cockpit components would have been common with 737-200 and improved engine management systems would have eliminated the need for the flight engineer. United did not proceed with its order and Indian Airlines instead ordered the larger Airbus A300, so the project was cancelled in 1976.


title: Boeing 727

text: A concept with a fuselage and two high bypass turbofan engines under the wings (but retaining the T tail) was proposed in 1977. More compact systems, a redesign of the internal space and removing the need for the flight engineer would have increased the capacity to 189 seats in two class configuration. After only a few months the concept was developed into the Boeing 7N7 design which eventually became the Boeing 757.


title: Boeing 727

text: A Boeing 727 that was reportedly modified by Iraq in early 1988 to serve as an ELINT platform. It was used during the Invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Shield.


title: Boeing 727

text: , there were 35 Boeing 727s in commercial service. Iran Aseman Airlines, the last passenger airline operator, made the last scheduled 727 passenger flight on 13 January 2019. These operators have five or more aircraft for cargo as of July 2018:


title: Boeing 727

text: T2 Aviation Ltd uses 2 modified former FedEx 727-200 freighters, operated by 2 Excel Aviation, equipped with oil dispersal tanks and spray booms to respond to oil spills.


title: Boeing 727

text: Colombian cargo carrier Aerosucre uses two 727-200s, in addition to Total Linhas Aéreas, who also uses 3 727-200Fs.


title: Boeing 727

text: Uruguayan cargo carrier Air Class Cargo SA (http://www.airclasscargo.com/) uses two 727-200s: active registration numbers CX-CLC and CX-CAR.


title: Boeing 727

text: USA Jet Airlines out of Willow Run, MI (KYIP) operates two Ex-Capital Cargo Boeing 727-200 freighters on ad-hoc cargo operations.


title: Boeing 727

text: In addition, the 727 has seen sporadic government use, having flown for the Belgian, Yugoslav, Mexican, New Zealand, and Panama air forces, among the small group of government agencies that have used it.


title: Boeing 727

text: A number of 727s have been outfitted for use as private aircraft, especially since the early 1990s when major airlines began to eliminate older 727-100 models from their fleet. Donald Trump traveled in a former American Airlines 727-100 with dining room, bedroom and shower facilities known as Trump Force One before upgrading to a larger Boeing 757 in 2009; Peter Nygård acquired a 727-100 for private use in 2005. American financier Jeffrey Epstein owned a private 727 nicknamed the "Lolita Express". The Gettys bought N311AG from Revlon in 1986, and Gordon Getty acquired the aircraft in 2001.


title: Boeing 727

text: , a total of 351 incidents involving 727s had occurred, including 119 hull-loss accidents resulting in a total of 4,211 fatalities.


title: Boeing 727

text: There are a comparatively large number of surviving retired 727s, largely as a result of donation by FedEx of 84 of them to various institutions. The vast majority of the aircraft were given to university aviation maintenance programs. All but 5 are located within the United States.


title: Tundra

text: In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term "tundra" comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mountain tract". There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra.


title: Tundra

text: Tundra vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs, sedges, grasses, mosses, and lichens. Scattered trees grow in some tundra regions. The ecotone (or ecological boundary region) between the tundra and the forest is known as the tree line or timberline. The tundra soil is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. The soil also contains large amounts of biomass and decomposed biomass that has been stored as methane and carbon dioxide in the permafrost, making the tundra soil a carbon sink. As global warming heats the ecosystem and causes soil thawing, the permafrost carbon cycle accelerates and releases much of these soil-contained greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a feedback cycle that increases climate change.


title: Tundra

text: Arctic tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere, north of the taiga belt. The word "tundra" usually refers only to the areas where the subsoil is permafrost, or permanently frozen soil. (It may also refer to the treeless plain in general so that northern Sápmi would be included.) Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada. The polar tundra is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Nganasan and Nenets in the permafrost area (and the Sami in Sápmi).


title: Tundra

text: Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year. The soil there is frozen from down, making it impossible for trees to grow. Instead, bare and sometimes rocky land can only support certain kinds of Arctic vegetation, low-growing plants such as moss, heath (Ericaceae varieties such as crowberry and black bearberry), and lichen.


title: Tundra

text: There are two main seasons, winter and summer, in the polar tundra areas. During the winter it is very cold, dark, and windy with the average temperature around , sometimes dipping as low as . However, extreme cold temperatures on the tundra do not drop as low as those experienced in taiga areas further south (for example, Russia's and Canada's lowest temperatures were recorded in locations south of the tree line). During the summer, temperatures rise somewhat, and the top layer of seasonally-frozen soil melts, leaving the ground very soggy. The tundra is covered in marshes, lakes, bogs, and streams during the warm months. Generally daytime temperatures during the summer rise to about but can often drop to or even below freezing. Arctic tundras are sometimes the subject of habitat conservation programs. In Canada and Russia, many of these areas are protected through a national Biodiversity Action Plan.


title: Tundra

text: Tundra tends to be windy, with winds often blowing upwards of . However, it is desert-like, with only about of precipitation falling per year (the summer is typically the season of maximum precipitation). Although precipitation is light, evaporation is also relatively minimal. During the summer, the permafrost thaws just enough to let plants grow and reproduce, but because the ground below this is frozen, the water cannot sink any lower, so the water forms the lakes and marshes found during the summer months. There is a natural pattern of accumulation of fuel and wildfire which varies depending on the nature of vegetation and terrain. Research in Alaska has shown fire-event return intervals (FRIs) that typically vary from 150 to 200 years, with dryer lowland areas burning more frequently than wetter highland areas.


title: Tundra

text: The biodiversity of tundra is low: 1,700 species of vascular plants and only 48 species of land mammals can be found, although millions of birds migrate there each year for the marshes. There are also a few fish species. There are few species with large populations. Notable plants in the Arctic tundra include blueberry ("Vaccinium uliginosum"), crowberry ("Empetrum nigrum"), reindeer lichen ("Cladonia rangiferina"), lingonberry ("Vaccinium vitis-idaea"), and Labrador tea ("Rhododendron groenlandicum"). Notable animals include reindeer (caribou), musk ox, Arctic hare, Arctic fox, snowy owl, ptarmigan, northern red-backed voles, lemmings, the mosquito, and even polar bears near the ocean. Tundra is largely devoid of poikilotherms such as frogs or lizards.


title: Tundra

text: Due to the harsh climate of Arctic tundra, regions of this kind have seen little human activity, even though they are sometimes rich in natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, and uranium. In recent times this has begun to change in Alaska, Russia, and some other parts of the world: for example, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug produces 90% of Russia's natural gas.


title: Tundra

text: A severe threat to tundra is global warming, which causes permafrost to thaw. The thawing of the permafrost in a given area on human time scales (decades or centuries) could radically change which species can survive there. It also represents a significant risk to infrastructure built on top of permafrost, such as roads and pipelines.


title: Tundra

text: In locations where dead vegetation and peat have accumulated, there is a risk of wildfire, such as the of tundra which burned in 2007 on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Such events may both result from and contribute to global warming.


title: Tundra

text: Antarctic tundra occurs on Antarctica and on several Antarctic and subantarctic islands, including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Kerguelen Islands. Most of Antarctica is too cold and dry to support vegetation, and most of the continent is covered by ice fields. However, some portions of the continent, particularly the Antarctic Peninsula, have areas of rocky soil that support plant life. The flora presently consists of around 300–400 species of lichens, 100 mosses, 25 liverworts, and around 700 terrestrial and aquatic algae species, which live on the areas of exposed rock and soil around the shore of the continent. Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass ("Deschampsia antarctica") and Antarctic pearlwort ("Colobanthus quitensis"), are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula.


title: Tundra

text: In contrast with the Arctic tundra, the Antarctic tundra lacks a large mammal fauna, mostly due to its physical isolation from the other continents. Sea mammals and sea birds, including seals and penguins, inhabit areas near the shore, and some small mammals, like rabbits and cats, have been introduced by humans to some of the subantarctic islands. The Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion includes the Bounty Islands, Auckland Islands, Antipodes Islands, the Campbell Island group, and Macquarie Island. Species endemic to this ecoregion include "Corybas dienemus" and "Corybas sulcatus", the only subantarctic orchids; the royal penguin; and the Antipodean albatross.


title: Tundra

text: There is some ambiguity on whether Magellanic moorland, on the west coast of Patagonia, should be considered tundra or not. Phytogeographer Edmundo Pisano called it tundra () since he considered the low temperatures key to restrict plant growth.


title: Tundra

text: The flora and fauna of Antarctica and the Antarctic Islands (south of 60° south latitude) are protected by the Antarctic Treaty.


title: Tundra

text: Alpine tundra does not contain trees because the climate and soils at high altitude block tree growth. The cold climate of the alpine tundra is caused by the low air temperatures, and is similar to polar climate. Alpine tundra is generally better drained than arctic soils. Alpine tundra transitions to subalpine forests below the tree line; stunted forests occurring at the forest-tundra ecotone (the treeline) are known as "Krummholz".


title: Tundra

text: Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. The flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by plants that grow close to the ground, including perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses, and lichens. The flora is adapted to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season.


title: Tundra

text: Tundra climates ordinarily fit the Köppen climate classification "ET", signifying a local climate in which at least one month has an average temperature high enough to melt snow (), but no month with an average temperature in excess of . The cold limit generally meets the "EF" climates of permanent ice and snows; the warm-summer limit generally corresponds with the poleward or altitudinal limit of trees, where they grade into the subarctic climates designated "Dfd", "Dwd" and "Dsd" (extreme winters as in parts of Siberia), "Dfc" typical in Alaska, Canada, mountain areas of Scandinavia, European Russia, and Western Siberia (cold winters with months of freezing).


title: Tundra

text: Despite the potential diversity of climates in the "ET" category involving precipitation, extreme temperatures, and relative wet and dry seasons, this category is rarely subdivided. Rainfall and snowfall are generally slight due to the low vapor pressure of water in the chilly atmosphere, but as a rule potential evapotranspiration is extremely low, allowing soggy terrain of swamps and bogs even in places that get precipitation typical of deserts of lower and middle latitudes. The amount of native tundra biomass depends more on the local temperature than the amount of precipitation.


title: BMP-2

text: The BMP-2 ("Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty", , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s.


title: BMP-2

text: Although the BMP-1 was a revolutionary design, its main armament, the 2A28 Grom and the 9S428 ATGM launcher capable of firing 9M14 Malyutka (NATO: AT-3A Sagger A) and 9M14M Malyutka-M (NATO: AT-3B Sagger B) ATGMs, quickly became obsolete. Therefore, the Soviet Union decided to produce an updated and improved version of the BMP-1. The main emphasis was put on improving the main armament. In 1972, work got under-way to develop an improved version of the BMP-1.


title: BMP-2

text: During its combat debut in the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian and Syrian BMPs proved vulnerable to .50 calibre machine-gun fire in the sides and rear, and to 106 mm M40 recoilless rifles. The 2A28 Grom|73 mm gun proved inaccurate beyond 500 metres, and the 9M14 Malyutka missile could not be guided effectively from the confines of the turret.


title: BMP-2

text: Several Soviet technical teams were sent to Syria in the wake of the war to gather information. These lessons, combined with observations of western AFV developments, resulted in a replacement program for the original BMP in 1974. The first product of this program was the BMP-1P upgrade, which was intended as a stopgap to address the most serious problems with the existing design.


title: BMP-2

text: Smoke grenade launchers were added to the rear of the turret and the manually guided 9M14 Malyutka missile system was replaced with the semi-automatically guided 9K111 Fagot / 9M113 Konkurs system. The BMP-1P was in production by the late 1970s. Existing BMP-1s were gradually upgraded to the standard during the 1980s.


title: BMP-2

text: In the centre of the vehicle is the welded steel turret, which seats the commander and gunner, both of whom have hatches. The commander sits to the right and has three day-vision periscopes, a 1PZ-3 day-sight designed for anti-aircraft use with 1×, 2× and 4× magnification, an OU-3GA2 infra-red searchlight, a TNP-165A designator and a TKN-3B binocular sight with 4.75× day magnification and 4× night-sight magnification.


title: BMP-2

text: The gunner sits to the commander's left and has a smaller rectangular hatch with a rearward-facing day periscope. There are three other day periscopes facing forward and left. The gunner has a BPK-1-42 binocular sight with a moon/starlight vision range of 650 metres, or 350 metres using the infra-red searchlight, and a TNPT-1 designator. An FG-126 infra-red searchlight is mounted coaxially to the 30 mm cannon.


title: BMP-2

text: The driver sits in the front left of the vehicle, with the engine in a separate compartment to his right. The driver has his own entry hatch above him, with three-day-periscopes. The centre TNPO-170A periscope can be replaced with either a TNPO-350B extended periscope for amphibious operation or a TVNE-1PA night vision scope. An infantryman sits immediately behind the driver, and has a firing port and vision block. TNPO-170A periscopes are used throughout the vehicle and are electrically heated.


title: BMP-2

text: In the BMP-1 and BMP-2, ammunition is stored near or even inside the compartment, which can lead to a catastrophic failure in case of a hull breach.


title: BMP-2

text: The BMP-1 and BMP-2 share the same chassis and have almost identical road performance. The BMP-2 is heavier, but also has a more powerful engine to compensate.


title: BMP-2

text: The BMP-2 is amphibious with little preparation, using hydrodynamic fairings to convert track momentum into water jets. Peacetime regulations require that any BMPs entering water must have a working radio set, since its bearings are not airtight and it can be carried away by currents in case of loss of engine power (the vehicle lacks an anchor).


title: BMP-2

text: The main armament is a turret with a stabilized 30 mm 2A42 autocannon with dual ammunition feeds, which provide a choice of 3UBR6 AP-T and 3UOR6 HE-T / 3UOF8 HE-I ammunition and 9M113 Konkurs ATGM. The gun has a selectable rate of fire, either slow at 200 to 300 rounds per minute or fast at 550 rounds per minute. This gives a continuous fire time of 100–150 seconds (or only 55 seconds, depending on the rate of fire chosen) before running out of ammo. The original stabilization provides reasonable accuracy up to a speed of about 35 kilometres per hour.


title: BMP-2

text: The AP-T ammunition can penetrate 15 millimetres of armour at sixty degrees at 1,500 metres. A new APDS-T tungsten round can penetrate 25 millimetres at the same distance. A typical ammunition load is 160 rounds of AP ammunition and 340 rounds of HE ammunition. The ammunition sits in two trays located on the turret rear floor. The gun can be fired from either the commander's or the gunner's station.


title: BMP-2

text: The commander's 1PZ-3 sight is specifically designed for anti-aircraft operation. Combined with the high maximum elevation of 74 degrees, it allows the 30 mm cannon to be used effectively against helicopters and slow flying aircraft. The turret traverse and elevation are powered and it can traverse 360 degrees in 10.28 seconds and elevate through 74 degrees in 12.33 seconds.


title: BMP-2

text: Reloading the BMP-2's 30 mm cannon can be somewhat problematic and can take up to two hours, even if the ammunition is prepared. The cannon is normally only used on the slow rate of fire, otherwise, fumes from the weapon would build up in the turret faster than the extractor fan can remove them.


title: BMP-2

text: The effective range of the 30 mm cannon is up to 1,500 metres against armour, 4,000 metres against ground targets, and 2,500 metres against air targets.


title: BMP-2

text: A coaxial 7.62 mm PKT machine gun is mounted to the left of the 30 mm cannon. 2,000 rounds of ammunition are carried for it. On the roof of the turret is an ATGM launcher. On Russian vehicles this fires 9M113 Konkurs missiles. On export models it normally fires 9K111 Fagot missiles. A ground-mount for the missile is carried, allowing it to be used away from the vehicle. The missiles are a substantial improvement on the 9M14 Malyutka missiles used on the BMP-1, in both range and accuracy.


title: BMP-2

text: Behind the turret is the troop compartment that holds six troops. A seventh sits just behind the driver. The troops sit back to back, along the center of the vehicle. Down each side of the compartment are three firing ports with periscopes. Access to the compartment is by the two rear doors, which hold fuel tanks. Both doors have integral periscopes. The left door has a firing port.


title: BMP-2

text: In addition to the main weapons, it can carry a man-portable surface-to-air missile launcher and two missiles, and an RPG launcher and five rounds. The vehicle is fitted with a PAZ overpressure NBC system and fire suppression system, and carries a GPK-59 gyrocompass.


title: BMP-2

text: The original BMP-1 had a vulnerability in its mine protection scheme, which only became obvious during the war in Afghanistan. The one-man-turret fighting vehicle seated its driver and commander in tandem layout, in the front-left side of the hull alongside the diesel engine. When a BMP-1 hit a tilt-rod anti-tank land mine its steeply sloped lower front glacis armour plate allowed the mine's arming rod to tilt with little resistance until the maximum deflection was reached, at which time the mine was already well under the chassis.


title: BMP-2

text: When it subsequently detonated, the blast usually killed both the driver and the vehicle commander. This shortcoming was addressed in the BMP-2 design, where the tank commander shares the well-armoured two-man turret with the gunner. The driver's station has been enlarged and he is provided with an armored driver's seat, in addition to extra belly-armor in the lower front.


title: BMP-2

text: The BMP-2's armor is broadly similar to the original BMP-1. Its side armor is not effective against the most recent .50-calibre SLAP (Saboted Light Armor Penetrator) nor the front armor against the 25 mm cannon of the US M2 Bradley MICV or the British GKN Warrior IFV's 30 mm RARDEN. Like the BMP-1, the rear doors of the BMP-2 are filled with diesel fuel which may present some risk from incendiary rounds. These additional fuel tanks are used only during transport from area to area and are typically drained before entering combat.


title: BMP-2

text: The basic hull armor on the BMP-2 can be easily penetrated by any shaped-charge missile, from the 66 mm LAW on up. One important modification carried out as the result of operational experience in Afghanistan was the fitting of a second layer of stand-off armor, usually a high resistant ballistic rubber-like material, to act as spaced armour around the top of the hull sides and around the attack.


title: BMP-2

text: The BMP-2's hull provides all-around protection from 7.62 mm armor piercing rounds at 30 meters, while the front can withstand several hits from 23 mm armor piercing shells. The IFV lacks the ability to install add-on protection packages like slat armor cages or explosive reactive armor (ERA).


title: BMP-2

text: In the Soviet Army, BMPs were typically issued to the motor rifle battalions of tank regiments. In a typical motor-rifle division, one motor-rifle regiment had BMPs, the other two had wheeled BTRs.


title: BMP-2

text: Proliferation varied greatly among the rest of the Warsaw Pact nations. For example, at least some East German motor-rifle divisions were recorded to have all three motor-rifle regiments with BMPs, ranging down to the Romanian and Bulgarian Armies, some of whose divisions had no BMPs at all.


title: BMP-2

text: Poland planned to replace its BWP-1 with BWP-2 (BMP-2 and BMP-2D); but, because of financial problems, only ordered 62 vehicles in 1988, which were delivered in 1989. Since obtaining a sufficient number of BWP-2 vehicles after the political changes of 1989 became impossible, Poland was forced to abandon this plan. The 62 BWP-2 that Poland bought were sold to Angola in 1995.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies which provided regional television services and also shared programmes between each other to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs the ITV1 channel, and STV Group, which runs the STV channel.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 broadcasting licences for every region except for central and northern Scotland, which are held by STV Group.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Today, ITV plc simply commissions the network schedule centrally – programmes are made by its own subsidiary ITV Studios and independent production companies. Regional programming remains in news and some current affairs series.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: In Northern Ireland, ITV plc used the brand name UTV as the name of the channel until April 2020; it is still, however, used for local programming being shown here. This was the name used by former owner UTV Media (now known as Wireless Group). ITV plc bought UTV in 2016.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Although the ITV network's history goes back to 1955, many regional franchisees changed over the years. Some of the most important names in the network's past – notably Thames, ABC and ATV – have no connection with the modern network.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954, designed to break the monopoly on television held by the BBC Television Service. The act created the Independent Television Authority (ITA, then IBA after the Sound Broadcasting Act) to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands and the North of England, with separate franchises for Weekdays and Weekends. The first ITV service to launch was London's Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the whole country was covered by fourteen regional stations, all launched by 1962.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The network has been modified several times through franchise reviews that have taken place in 1963, 1967, 1974, 1980 and 1991, during which broadcast regions have changed and service operators have been replaced. Only one service operator has ever been declared bankrupt, WWN in 1963, with all other operators leaving the network as a result of a franchise review. Separate weekend franchises were removed in 1968 (with the exception of London) and over the years more services were added; these included a national breakfast franchise from 1983 onward—operating between 6:00 am and 9:25 am—and a teletext service. The Broadcasting Act 1990 changed the nature of ITV; the then regulator the IBA was replaced with a light-touch regulator, the ITC; companies became able to purchase other ITV regional companies and franchises were now being awarded based upon a highest-bidder auction, with few safeguards in place. This heavily criticised part of the review saw four operators replaced, and the operators facing different annual payments to the Treasury: Central Television, for example, paid only £2,000—despite holding a lucrative and large region—because it was unopposed, while Yorkshire Television paid £37.7 million for a region of the same size and status, owing to heavy competition.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. By 2004, the ITV network was owned by five companies, of which two, Carlton and Granada had become major players by owning between them all the franchises in England, Wales, the Scottish borders and the Isle of Man. That same year, the two merged to form ITV plc with the only subsequent acquisitions being the takeover of Channel Television, the Channel Islands franchise, in 2011; and UTV, the franchise for Northern Ireland, in 2015.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The ITV network is not owned or operated by one company, but by a number of licensees, which provide regional services while also broadcasting programmes across the network. Since 2016, the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences. The last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators' licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. While this has been the longest period that the ITV network has gone without a major review of its licence holders, Ofcom announced (following consultation) that it would split the Wales and West licence from 1 January 2014, creating a national licence for Wales and joining the newly separated West region to Westcountry Television, to form a new licence for the enlarged South West of England region.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: All companies holding a licence were part of the non-profit body ITV Network Limited, which commissioned and scheduled network programming, with compliance previously handled by ITV plc and Channel Television. However, due to amalgamation of several of these companies since the creation of ITV Network Limited (and given Channel Television is now owned by ITV plc), it has been replaced by an affiliation system. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, with STV and UTV paying a fee to broadcast it. All licensees have the right to opt out of network programming (except for the national news bulletins), however many do not due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. Prior to the affiliate system being introduced, STV would frequently (and sometimes controversially) opt out of several popular network programmes – such as the original run of the first series of "Downton Abbey" – citing the need to provide more Scottish content to its viewers.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: As a public service broadcaster, the ITV network is obliged to broadcast programming of public importance, including news, current affairs, children's and religious programming as well as party election broadcasts on behalf of the major political parties and political events, such as the Budget. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the digital terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV in their region. UTV and STV (formerly Scottish Television and Grampian Television) previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, when they adopted the ITV plc channels. Despite this, STV was given a broadcasting licence for what would become the STV2 channel in 2013, however this was short-lived and the channel closed in 2018. The broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4. ITV Encore launched in June 2014 and ITVBe launched in October 2014. ITV Box Office launched in February 2017.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: On 13 September 2022, ITV confirmed that on during the day of Monday 19 September, the day of the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, all programming schedules on ITV's digital channels will be scrapped, with the main ITV News coverage being shown live and uninterrupted on every channel. This was the first time ITV decided to do this, with the company keeping their digital channels' schedules mostly as advertised in the run up to the funeral (with a few amendments for cancelled sporting events on ITV4) and all royal coverage being on their main channel.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV plc owns thirteen of the fifteen franchises and broadcasts to England, Wales, southern Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland through its subsidiary company ITV Broadcasting Limited. The company also owns the breakfast television licence, which as of January 2020, broadcasts across the network between 6:00 and 10:00am each morning using the "Good Morning Britain" (previously "Daybreak") and "Lorraine" names. The company broadcasts a centralised service under the ITV1 brand. In Northern Ireland, ITV used the UTV brand name as the name of the channel until April 2020.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The group also owns ITV Studios, the production arm of the company and formed from an amalgamation of all the production departments of the regional licences they own. The company produces a large proportion of ITV's networked programming (around 47%, but previously as high as 66% according to some reports), with the rest coming primarily from independent suppliers (under the Broadcasting Act 1990, at least 25% of ITV's total output must be from independent companies). ITV plc hopes to increase the amount of in-house programming to as close to the 75% limit as possible.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The group cut the number of regional news programmes offered from 17 in 2007 to 9 by 2009, resulting several regions being merged to form one programme, including the Border and Tyne Tees regions, the Westcountry and West regions and the removal of sub regional programming, with some regions only represented by pre-recorded segments.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: STV Group plc owns two franchises, covering central and northern Scotland, through subsidiary companies STV Central and STV North, broadcasting a central service under the STV brand.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The company has had several disputes with ITV plc in recent years over network programming. STV aims to broadcast more Scottish programmes at peak times and so removed several key ITV plc programmes from their schedule in July 2009 including "The Bill", "Midsomer Murders" and "Lewis". Despite STV's explanation of expense, ITV plc were angered by the decision, as a recent schedule change had made "The Bill" central to their programming, and broadcast the programmes on ITV3 as well to ensure Scottish viewers could see the programmes. On 23 September ITV plc was reported to be in the process of suing STV for £20 million, as ITV felt dropping the shows constituted a breach of network agreements; STV subsequently counter-sued ITV plc for £35 million.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The dispute was ended in 2011 with STV agreeing to pay ITV plc £18 million. The signing of the new affiliation deal has resulted in STV paying a flat fee for all networked programming, and so to drop any programmes is unlikely due to the large costs involved.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: There are fifteen regional licences, covering fourteen regions (there are separate weekday and weekend licences for the London region), and one national licence for the breakfast service. All licences listed here were renewed until the end of 2024. Licences in England and Wales were held by the individual regional ITV plc owned companies prior to November 2008.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The appointment to provide national news for Channel 3 is also subject to approval by Ofcom. This appointment has been held by ITN since the channel's inception, and has also been approved through the end of 2024.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: For over 60 years of ITV, its homegrown programmes have become among the best remembered as well as being extremely successful. Before the 1990s, nearly all of the content for the channel was produced by the fifteen franchise licensees: the regional companies.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: However, following legislation in the Broadcasting Act 1990 imposing a 25% quota for commissioning of independent productions, the number of programmes from independent production companies not connected to the traditional ITV network, has increased rapidly. Notable examples include Talkback Thames (one half of which, Thames Television, was itself a former ITV franchisee), producers of "The Bill" and co-producers of "The X Factor", and 2waytraffic (previously Celador), producers of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".


title: ITV (TV network)

text: From the late 1990s, ITV's long-standing commitment to strong current affairs and documentary programming began to diminish with the ending of productions such as "World in Action" (Granada Television), "This Week" (Rediffusion London/Thames Television), "First Tuesday" (Yorkshire Television), "Network First", "Survival" (Anglia Television), and "Weekend World" (LWT) and their replacement with populist shows such as "Tonight". "News at Ten" was also axed in 1999, although it was reinstated in 2001. In December 2009, the final edition of ITV's long-running arts programme, "The South Bank Show" was broadcast.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV's primetime schedules are dominated by its soap operas, such as the flagship "Coronation Street" and "Emmerdale". At the start of the 21st century, Independent Television faced criticism for including a large amount of "reality TV" programmes in the schedule, such as "Celebrity Fit Club", "Celebrity Wrestling" and "Celebrity Love Island". In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in the fields of sports coverage and drama productions, and it continues to schedule national news in primetime.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Television has been broadcast on ITV at breakfast since 1 February 1983. It was initially run by an independent contractor - TV-am, and later GMTV - until GMTV Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Historically, ITV aired breakfast programmes from 6am until 9.25am but ITV extended this to 10am on weekdays on 6 January 2020. and now broadcasts two breakfast programmes on weekdays - "Good Morning Britain" and "Lorraine". "Good Morning Britain" keeps viewers up to date with all the latest news, sports, features and weather, whilst "Lorraine" predominantly focuses on celebrity interviews, recipes, fashion and showbiz. At weekends, ITV Breakfast airs children's programming, a simulcast of CITV Breakfast, under the CITV brand.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV's strong daytime line-up helped by programmes such as "This Morning", "Loose Women", "Dickinson's Real Deal" and game shows "Tipping Point" and "The Chase" are very popular, achieving the highest audience share during the daytime slot.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: In recent years the network has tried to use formats that ITV Studios own outright (whether they have originated in the UK with their Lifted Entertainment company or have come from production companies they own abroad), though some popular programme formats like "The Masked Singer" have still been acquired from other companies abroad. Currently ITV are behind the formats for "Dancing on Ice", "The Voice UK" (the format originally coming from their Dutch production company) and "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!", while forthcoming music game show "Walk The Line" has been co-developed by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment and ITV.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Since the network started, Independent Television News Limited (ITN) has held the contract to produce news for the ITV network, with 30-minute national news bulletins currently broadcast at 1:30 pm, and 10:00 pm, and an hour-long bulletin at 6.30pm. These bulletins were broadcast under the ITN brand from 1955 until 1999, when a new network identity reinforced the ITV brand, resulting in the new bulletins being broadcast under the ITV News brand.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITN has long been respected in the news industry as a source of reliable information and news, and as a result the service has won many awards for their programmes, the latest being in May 2011 when "News at Ten" was named best news programme by the Royal Television Society and BAFTA.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The ITV National Weather forecast was first broadcast in 1989, using data supplied by the Met Office, and was presented by a number of weather forecasters. The forecasts are sponsored in which the sponsors message, would appear prior to and following the forecast. The forecasts are made immediately after the main national news bulletins.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Prior to the creation of the national forecast, each regional company provided its own regional forecast. The regional forecasts today are incorporated into the main regional news bulletins, and in the summer months, includes a pollen count.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Currently only new episodes of long-form news and current affairs programmes like "Exposure", "Peston" and "On Assignment" are being scheduled after "News at Ten", with the latter title currently only appearing on a month-by-month basis. As the channel carries a simulcast of the Ideal World shopping network for a couple of hours after midnight, the time between the news and the shopping is usually kept for re-runs, with ITV repeating its primetime entertainment shows or sports programming from ITV4.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV continues with its regularly scheduled programming after Ideal World at around 3am with showbiz news bulletin "FYI Extra" and repeats, many of which have on-screen BSL signing for the deaf community. Replacing the information based "ITV Nightscreen" slot in 2021 was "Unwind With ITV", programming produced in association with the Campaign Against Living Miserably. At around 4am each night this mindfulness programme shows calming shots of natural landscapes and relaxing animations for around an hour, with versions of the footage also seen on ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The regional ITV companies are required to provide local news as part of their franchise agreement together with local weather forecasts, with the main local bulletin at 6pm and regional bulletins located after each national news programme. In addition to this, traditionally ITV companies would provide other regional programming based on current affairs, entertainment or drama. However, apart from a monthly political programme, most non-news regional programming in the English regions was dropped by ITV plc in 2009, although it continues in Wales and the Channel Islands, as well as on STV and UTV and ITV Border in Scotland from 2014 to cover mainly Scottish politics whilst ITV Border in England broadcast network programming . On 14 January 2013, ITV plc regional news programmes titles were discontinued in favour of more generic branding under the "ITV News" title with the region listed as the subheading. However some "heritage" brand names were retained including "Calendar", "Granada Reports" and "Lookaround". On 28 June 2014, "ITV News Cymru Wales" returned to its historic name of "Wales at Six".


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The network broadcasts children's programming under the CITV (Children's ITV) strand. Children's programming was originally provided during weekday afternoons and weekend mornings, however following the launch of the CITV Channel in 2006, all children's programming, with the exception of the weekend ITV Breakfast slot, were relocated from the ITV line-up to the CITV channel in 2007, a move which was challenged by Ofcom in April 2007.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Schools programming on the network began in 1957 in some regions and expanded as more regions began broadcasting. It was a contractual obligation for some ITV companies to broadcast schools programming, and this was initially broadcast as part of the normal scheduling. The programmes were moved into a segment for broadcast during the day in the 1960s, under the banner "Independent Television for Schools and Colleges" and from 1987 were broadcast on Channel 4 in the "ITV Schools on Channel 4" segment. In 1993, this segment became "Channel 4 Schools" and later in 2000 "4Learning". These strands of programming consisted of schools programming from all the ITV companies or from independent sources. The schools strand itself is now defunct, with no particular branding segment used.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: The Public Teletext Licence allows the holder to broadcast a text-based information service around the clock on Channel 3 (as well as Channel 4 and S4C) frequencies. Teletext on ITV was provided by ORACLE from 1974 until 1993 and from 1993 to 2010 by Teletext Ltd., whose news, sport and TV listings pages rivalled the BBC's offering, Ceefax on terrestrial and BBC Red Button on digital. Teletext Ltd. also provided digital teletext for the Channel 3 services, as well as the text output for both Channel 4 and S4C under the same licence and Channel 5. However, the licence was revoked by Ofcom on 29 January 2010 for failing to provide news and local non-news information on ITV and there is currently no teletext licence holder for ITV.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: ITV (as UTV) is widely available in Ireland, where it is received directly in areas bordering Northern Ireland, or in coastal areas from Wales (as ITV Cymru Wales). Until 2015, it was also carried on cable, when it was replaced by UTV Ireland, which was itself replaced by be3, now Virgin Media Three. ITV programming is also available to Irish viewers on Virgin Media One (including soap operas "Emmerdale" and "Coronation Street"). ITV is also available on cable and IPTV in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Since 27 March 2013, it has been offered by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to members of HM Forces and their families around the world, replacing the BFBS3 TV channel, which already carried a selection of ITV programmes.


title: ITV (TV network)

text: Since the launch of ITV, there have been concerns from politicians and the press that ITV faced a conflict concerning programme audiences and advertisers. As advertisers are reluctant to buy advertising space around low viewing programmes, there is a pressure on ITV to broadcast more popular programmes in peak times. This has become more profound in recent years following a relaxation in regulation and significantly more competition in the advertising market following the huge increase in commercial channels. In recent years, programmes have started to dominate from the reality television genre including the celebrity and talent show subgenres. This has led to accusations of ITV 'dumbing down' their programmes and appealing to the 'lowest common denominator', accusations that are at odds with the network's status as a public service broadcaster. ITV was/is also heavily criticised for scaling back its regional programmes, including regional news, also ITV has been criticised (since 2010) for showing "Emmerdale" and "Coronation Street" at the 8:30 weekday slot (except Tuesdays).


title: ITV (TV network)

text: There has never been an identity for ITV as a whole that was adopted uniformly by all broadcasters within the ITV network. Before 1989, each regional company used its own name for identification and the name "ITV" was rarely seen on screen, except for some sub-brands such as ITV Schools or ITV Sport. From 1989, a national ITV corporate identity was established, which saw regional brands combined with the national ITV brand, although the balance between regional and national brands varied from company to company, and some companies never used the ITV brand at all. It was not until 2002 that national ITV-branded continuity was adopted across all the regions in England (see ITV1), although regional continuity before local programmes continued until 2006.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The final was played between Juventus and Real Madrid at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. It was the second time that the two teams faced each other in the competition's decisive match, having previously met in the 1998 final. Real Madrid, the defending champions, beat Juventus 4–1 to win a record-extending 12th title. With this victory, Real Madrid became the first team to successfully defend their title in the Champions League era, and the first to successfully defend a European Cup since Milan in 1990.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: As winners, Real Madrid qualified as the UEFA representative for the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, Manchester United, in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, ultimately triumphing in both competitions.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: A total of 78 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations were expected to participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league, and Kosovo, whose participation was not accepted in their first attempt as UEFA members). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: For the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: In the default access list, the Champions League title holders enter the group stage. However, since Real Madrid already qualified for the group stage (as the runners-up of the 2015–16 La Liga), the Champions League title holders berth in the group stage is given to the Europa League title holders, Sevilla.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: League positions of the previous season qualified via league position shown in parentheses. Sevilla qualified as Europa League title holders. (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draws for the first and second qualifying rounds were held on 20 June 2016. The first legs were played on 28 June, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 July 2016.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The first legs were played on 12 and 13 July, and the second legs were played on 19 and 20 July 2016.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League play-off round.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2016. The first legs were played on 26 and 27 July, and the second legs were played on 2 and 3 August 2016.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2016. The first legs were played on 16 and 17 August, and the second legs were played on 23 and 24 August 2016.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the group stage was held on 25 August 2016, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting 2015–16 season):


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams enter the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays are 13–14 September, 27–28 September, 18–19 October, 1–2 November, 22–23 November, and 6–7 December 2016.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The youth teams of the clubs that qualify for the group stage also play in the 2016–17 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they compete in the UEFA Champions League Path (the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations compete in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs).


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: A total of 17 national associations are represented in the group stage. Leicester City and Rostov made their debut appearances in the group stage. For the first time since the 2002–03 edition, England's Chelsea did not qualify for the group stage.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the round of 16 was held on 12 December 2016. The first legs were played on 14, 15, 21 and 22 February, and the second legs were played on 7, 8, 14 and 15 March 2017.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2017. The first legs were played on 11 and 12 April, and the second legs were played on 18 and 19 April 2017.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The draw for the semi-finals was held on 21 April 2017. The first legs were played on 2 and 3 May, and the second legs were played on 9 and 10 May 2017.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: The final was played on 3 June 2017 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.


title: 2016–17 UEFA Champions League

text: New UEFA Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season, Defender of the Season, Midfielder of the Season, and Forward of the Season positional awards were introduced for the 2016–17 season. Votes were cast by coaches of the 32 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players were announced on 4 August 2017. The award winners were announced and presented during the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 24 August 2017.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Shane Gillis (born December 11, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, radio personality, sketch comedy writer, and podcaster. He is co-host of "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast" with fellow stand-up comedian Matt McCusker. In 2019, Gillis was named one of Just for Laughs' "New Faces" at their yearly comedy festival in Montreal.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Gillis was announced as a new cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live", only to be fired from the show four days later, due to backlash from clips of a 2018 episode of a podcast featuring jokes that contained racial slurs. In 2021, Gillis released his first comedy special, "Shane Gillis: Live in Austin" on YouTube. Gillis is also known for his collaborations with filmmaker John McKeever, on their online sketch series "Gilly & Keeves".


title: Shane Gillis

text: Shane Gillis is a native of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, a town located just outside Harrisburg. While attending Trinity High School in nearby Camp Hill, he was on its football team as an offensive tackle. He graduated in 2006. He went to West Point on a football scholarship, but quit shortly into his first year. He subsequently attended and played a year of football at Elon University and eventually graduated from West Chester University.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Gillis began performing comedy in 2012. He regularly performed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. To further his career, he relocated to Philadelphia. In 2015, he placed third at Helium Comedy Club's annual "Philly's Phunniest" tournament, and he won the tournament the next year. Shane has named among his biggest stand-up influences Louis CK, Norm Macdonald, Dave Chappelle, Patrice O'Neal, Bernie Mac, and Bill Burr.


title: Shane Gillis

text: In 2016, Gillis began "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast" with Matt McCusker. In 2017, Gillis became a frequent guest on "The Bonfire" with Big Jay Oakerson and Dan Soder, increasing his popularity. He also began a weekly show on Compound Media called "A Fair One" with Tommy Pope.


title: Shane Gillis

text: In 2019, Comedy Central named Gillis an "Up Next" comedian as he performed at Comedy Central's Clusterfest. That same year, Gillis was recognized as a "New Face" at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. During an interview for "All Things Considered" at that festival, Gillis was interrupted by stand-up comedian Robert Kelly, who said, "You're very funny, dude ... I mean, I wanted to hate it." The interviewer, Andrew Limbong, described Gillis' set at the festival, writing: "Shane Gillis gives off post-jock energy—like someone who used to play a sport in school, then had the self-awareness to realize he wasn't cut out for it and stopped—but he isn't bitter about it at all. His friendly demeanor distracts you, while he sneaks in just a whiff of social insight within a barrage of self-deprecating sex jokes."


title: Shane Gillis

text: Gillis's addition to "Saturday Night Live" as a featured cast member was announced on September 12, 2019, along with Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Later that day, however, several clips of a 2018 episode of "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast", which have since been removed from YouTube, resurfaced, in which Gillis made jokes that included the word "Chink", an ethnic slur about people of Asian descent. In other clips, Gillis and co-host Matt McCusker ranked comedians by race, gender, and sexual orientation, which included the use of gay slurs. Later that night, Gillis posted a tweet saying that "I'm a comedian who pushes boundaries" and that "if you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you're going to find a lot of bad misses. I'm happy to apologize to anyone who's actually offended by anything I've said." Four days later, a spokesperson for Lorne Michaels, the creator of the show, announced that Gillis had been removed from the cast.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Afterwards, Gillis maintained that while the clips looked bad, they were taken out of context and he was misquoted in the majority of articles reporting the story. Gillis also stated that he immediately regretted using the "I'm a comedian who pushes boundaries" statement, blaming it on having "literally 5 minutes of being pressured to write anything", acknowledging the statement was "corny" and that he officially retracted the statement.


title: Shane Gillis

text: In January 2020, Gillis was named "2019's Stand-Up Comedian of the Year" in Theinterrobang's Sixth Annual Comedy Awards.


title: Shane Gillis

text: In December 2020, Shane and comedian John McKeever launched the web series "Gilly and Keeves", featuring comedy sketches starring Gillis and McKeever such as "ISIS Toyota", "Uncle Daycare", and "Trump Speed Dating".


title: Shane Gillis

text: On September 7, 2021, Gillis released his first live comedy special, "Shane Gillis: Live in Austin" on YouTube. Comedy website "The Laugh Button" ranked Shane's special in second place in their top 20 comedy specials of 2021.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Since 2021, Gillis along with comics Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir, have made a series of appearances on "The Joe Rogan Experience", known as the ""Protect Our Parks"" episodes. In 2021 and 2022, Shane had been invited to open for comedians Louis CK and Chris Rock on their recent stand-up tours.


title: Shane Gillis

text: Gillis frequently appears on the Faction Talk show The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Dan Soder on Sirius XM, The Doug Stanhope Podcast on the GaS Digital Network, comedy podcasts Legion of Skanks and The Real Ass Podcast. He has also appeared in the comedy podcast The Adam Friedland Show. He was profiled in "The New Yorker" on September 19, 2022.


title: Crore

text: A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 10 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is equal to one hundred thousand, and is written as 1,00,000).


title: Crore

text: It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is often used in Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan English.


title: Crore

text: Large amounts of money in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan are often written in terms of "Koti" or "crore". For example (one hundred and fifty million) is written as "fifteen "crore" rupees", "15 crore" or "". In the abbreviated form, usage such as "15 cr" (for "15 "crore" rupees") is common.


title: Crore

text: Trillions (in the short scale) of money are often written or spoken of in terms of "lakh crore". For example, "one trillion rupees" is equivalent to:


title: Crore

text: The word "crore" derives from the Prakrit word "kroḍi", which in turn comes from the Sanskrit "koṭi" (कोटि), denoting ten million in the Indian numbering system, which has separate terms for most powers of ten from 10 up to 10. The "crore" is known by various regional names.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell developed in a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). The Excalibur was developed and/or manufactured by prime contractor Raytheon Missiles & Defense, BAE Systems AB (BAE Systems Bofors) and other subs and primes in multiple capacities such as Camber Corporation and Huntington Ingalls Industries. It is a GPS- and inertial-guided munition capable of being used in close support situations within of friendly troops or in situations where targets might be prohibitively close to civilians to attack with conventional unguided artillery fire. In 2015 the United States planned to procure 7,474 rounds with a FY2015 total program cost of US$1.9341 billion at an average cost of US$258,777 per unit. By 2016, unit costs were reduced to US$68,000 per round. Versions that add laser-guidance capability and are designed to be fired from naval guns began testing in 2015. By October 2018, over 1,400 rounds had been fired in combat.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: Excalibur was developed as a longer-range alternative to conventional artillery shells, with GPS guidance for improved accuracy. Excalibur has a range of approximately depending on configuration, with a circular error probable (CEP) of , while unguided Western artillery shells can land up to from the target at a range of . While much more expensive at $68,000 per shell compared to a $800 unguided M777 shell, it is less expensive than the $150,000 rocket used in US guided-missile systems like M142 HIMARS and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. Excalibur's extended range is achieved through the use of folding glide fins, which allow the projectile to glide from the top of a ballistic arc towards the target. A lower cost alternative to the Excalibur is to use the US Army designed M1156 Precision Guidance Kit to turn existing 155 mm shells into precision weapons.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: The munition was co-developed by United States-based Raytheon Missiles & Defense (guidance system) and the Swedish BAE Systems Bofors (body, base, ballistics and payload). Excalibur is used to minimize collateral damage, for targets beyond the range of standard munitions, for precise firing within of friendly troops, or when terrain prevents direct fire. It has a multi-function fuze that can be programmed to explode in the air, once it hits a hard surface, or after it penetrates a target. One Excalibur projectile can accurately hit an intended target that would require the use of between 10 and 50 unguided artillery rounds.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: Initial combat experience with Excalibur in Iraq in the summer of 2007 was highly successful, with 92% of rounds falling within of their targets. Its performance was so impressive that the U.S. Army planned to increase production to 150 rounds per month from the previous 18 rounds per month. In 2012, Excalibur rounds reached new record ranges in combat of . In December 2020, the round was successfully tested out to a range of using a supercharged propellant out of a 58-caliber-long ERCA gun tube.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: Self-propelled guns compatible with the Excalibur projectile are the American M109A6 Paladin and M109A7, British AS-90, German PzH 2000, South African G6, and Swedish Archer. Towed guns compatible with the Excalibur projectile are the American M198 and M777 howitzers. According to media, Excalibur ammunition was also used with AHS Krab in 2022 in combat in Ukraine, obtaining range above 50 km.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: The U.S. Navy had considered using the Excalibur in the "Zumwalt"-class destroyer's Advanced Gun System following the cancellation of the Long Range Land Attack Projectile, but the plan was later abandoned.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: There are three versions of the system. Initial development effort was towards Increment I; Milestone C decisions will be made on Increment II and III in FY2013 with a demonstration of those capabilities by 2020.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: Excalibur started as a development program in 1992. The Operational Requirements Document (ORD) of May 1997 called for 200,000 rounds of an unguided munition with increased range at an estimated cost of $4,000/round, and Texas Instruments was awarded the initial EMD contract on 23 January 1998. In November 2001 the volume was cut to 76,677 rounds and soon after this was further reduced to 61,483, but the developers were encouraged by the Indian experience of using Russian Krasnopol guided shells against Pakistani bunkers in the Kargil War of 1999.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: In March 2004 the program was merged with a Swedish/U.S. program to create Trajectory Correctable Munitions, reflected in a new ORD in September 2004 which removed the Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition "cluster bomb" variant in favor of the discriminating munition variant. Later that year the U.S. Army reduced its planned order to 30,000 rounds. Low-rate production of 500 rounds was approved in May 2005 and Raytheon was awarded a contract to produce 165 rounds in June 2005, worth $22.1 million. In September of that year, the round was successfully demonstrated at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Raytheon was awarded a $42.7 million contract for production of 335 Excalibur projectiles and related test articles and services in June 2006 for that fiscal year.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: In August 2006, technical problems relating to environmental sensitivity and GPS signal lock were discovered, pushing the expected in-service date to spring 2007. Testing in September demonstrated an actual average CEP of or better.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: Increment Ia-1 completed testing in early 2007 and in April that year the U.S. Army approved an Urgent Material Release to allow deployment to Iraq. The Excalibur was first operationally fired in Iraq in May 2007. Increment Ia-2 achieved a range in a live-fire demonstration in April 2007 and in July the Army Acquisition Executive approved the Milestone C decision for Ia-2 to enter low-rate production. The munition was developed with US$55.1 million in financial assistance from Sweden, which expected to receive service rounds in 2010. The Excalibur debuted in Afghanistan in February 2008. The Australian Army ordered US$40 million of Excalibur rounds in October 2007, an order revised in April 2008 to an estimated US$58 million. In 2008 unit cost was US$85,000.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: In September 2008 both Raytheon and Alliant Techsystems were awarded competitive development contracts for Increment Ib mass production, but Raytheon secured the final manufacturing contract in August 2010. Test firings of Increment Ia-1 rounds in March 2009 revealed that the Honeywell inertial measurement unit was not up to standard, and it was replaced by a unit from Atlantic Inertial Systems. In April 2010 the U.S. Army's planned order was cut further, from 30,000 rounds to 6,264, which increased the unit cost sufficiently that it triggered an investigation under the Nunn–McCurdy Amendment. Normally a Nunn-McCurdy breach signals a program in trouble, but a 2012 RAND report concluded that the unit cost increases were caused by the cuts in procurement numbers: fewer shells were needed for the same effect, due to the improved accuracy of modern artillery.


title: M982 Excalibur

text: The Excalibur gives U.S. brigade commanders a precision weapon that is locally available, regardless of weather conditions (unlike bombs dropped from aircraft). Because the M982 is so accurate, the risks of friendly-fire casualties and collateral damage are no longer deterrents to using gun artillery in urban environments, and the Excalibur is sometimes called in only away from friendly infantrymen. In February 2012, a U.S. Marine Corps M777 howitzer in Helmand province, Afghanistan, fired a single Excalibur round that killed a group of insurgents at a Marine-record range of .


title: M982 Excalibur

text: In December 2012, Raytheon received a $56.6 million contract for low-rate initial production of Excalibur Ib projectiles. On 10 September 2013, Raytheon received a $54 million contract for a second lot of Excalibur Ib artillery rounds. The Excalibur Ib has improved reliability and lower unit cost than the previous Excalibur Ia-1 and Ia-2. At the time of the award, over 690 Excalibur projectiles had been fired in theater. In February 2014, the U.S. Army and Raytheon fired 30 Excalibur Ib shells at test targets to confirm the performance and reliability of the configuration before full-rate production. Projectiles were fired from Paladin and M777 howitzers at ranges from , each hitting within an average of from the target.