text: In response to its Remedial Plan Notice, First Great Western undertook a more thorough refurbishment of the Thames Turbo fleet than originally planned: the trains were to be fitted with improved lighting, carpets, toilets, and a revised seating layout. This refurbishment started in September 2016.


title: Great Western Railway (train operating company)

text: The "Networker Turbo Express" is a three-coach DMU, similar to the Class 165 units but with an internal layout more suitable for longer-distance services. They are now mostly based at St Philip's Marsh depot in Bristol, where they currently work on most of the lines in the area including the Wessex Main Line, Severn Beach line, Heart of Wessex Line, Golden Valley line and Bristol to Taunton line.


text: The "Electrostar" is a four-coach EMU built by Bombardier, with a 2+2 seating layout, tables, power sockets and free Wi-Fi. It can be operated in four, eight- and twelve-coach formations. The class began to enter service in September 2016 on weekday peak services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington, using the overhead electrical equipment used by Heathrow Express. Services using the class were extended to Maidenhead in May 2017 and later to Didcot Parkway, and from Reading to Newbury.


text: Bombardier Transportation at Ilford Depot had modified twelve of these trains by December 2020, installing new first-class seating, Wi-Fi, luggage racks and on-board entertainment, to be used on Heathrow Express services. Rebranded as "Heathrow Express", and refurbished with Heathrow Express moquette, they replaced the existing , entering service on 29 December 2020.


text: Great Western Railway will be retaining 24 power cars and 48 carriages from its former High Speed Train fleet to form 12 'Castle' 2+4 sets. They are branded as "Class 255" sets and will be for use on multiple services between Cardiff, Exeter and Penzance. All power cars being retained will have new nameplates, named after castles from across the area that GWR serve. The sets are progressively being fitted with automatic doors and controlled emission toilets, to allow their operation beyond 2020, at Doncaster Works. Due to a delay in refurbishing the Castle sets, slam door 2+4 sets known as 'Classic' sets were used until the end of 2019.


text: Until 2017, GWR operated the vast majority of its long-distance services with a fleet of 58 InterCity 125 High Speed Train sets, each consisting of eight Mark 3 coaches sandwiched between two Class 43 locomotives. GWR operated the largest InterCity 125 fleet, owning five sets outright; the rest were leased from Angel Trains and Porterbrook. From 2009 to 2012 (when Class 180s were reintroduced on the Cotswold line) all the company's intercity services were worked by HSTs except the Night Riviera sleeper service between London Paddington and Penzance. From late 2017, following the completion of electrification from to the west of England, intercity services gradually became operated by Class 800 IETs, although a few peak services remained operated by HSTs until early 2019. GWR continued to use HSTs on services to Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance until May 2019, when they were all withdrawn in favour of Class 802 units.


text: The youngest Class 43 locomotive dated from 1982. After a successful trial by Angel Trains and FGW in 2004, two power cars received new MTU engines while two received new Paxman VP185s, fitted by Brush Traction of Loughborough. The MTU engine proved the better option, both for reliability and for emissions, resulting in FGW, Brush and Angel Trains starting the HST Modernisation programme. The last power cars to be re-engineered were released in April 2008, while several other companies' HSTs have now all undergone a similar programme.


text: GWR's High Speed Train fleet were refurbished by Bombardier in Derby and Ilford between 2006 and 2008, with leather seats introduced in first class, redesigned toilets, a redesigned buffet, and at-seat power points. The company opted for mainly airline seats, giving more seats per train.


text: Following the Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail crashes, GWR requires its HSTs to have automatic train protection and Automatic Warning System safety systems in operation. If either is faulty, the train is not used.


text: The fleet of 17 two-coach Sprinter units was inherited from Wessex Trains as part of the Greater Western franchise shuffle. The fleet had been refurbished by Wessex Trains in 2003, with 2+2 seating arranged in a mixture of 'airline' (face to back) and table seating. The fleet is widespread throughout the former Wessex area, and carried a maroon livery with advertising vinyls for South West Tourism. Each unit was sponsored by a district, town or attraction and carried a unique livery. Most received names of attractions, places and branch lines. Two units were repainted into the new First 'Local' livery, but all units are now due to receive the new green GWR livery. As part of a national fleet shuffle, eight units went to Arriva Trains Wales on 10 December 2006, and were replaced with 8 Class 158 units.


text: First Great Western received five extra Class 150/2 units in May 2007 as part of its Remedial Plan Notice, to enable three-car Class 158 trains to operate on the Portsmouth-Cardiff services. Five Class 150 sets were hired from Arriva Trains Wales from March 2008 until they were returned in November 2010.


text: The is a two- or three-coach DMU used on regional express services in the former Wessex Trains area. In February 2008, as part of its Remedial Plan Notice, First Great Western announced that it would form some hybrid three-car Class 158 units in March 2008, made possible by the transfer of five Class 150/2 units from Arriva Trains Wales. There are now ten hybrid units in operation and, combined with the non-hybrid three-car unit, this provides eleven three-car units to operate services between Portsmouth and Cardiff, Great Malvern and Weymouth. After the introduction of Class 150/1 trains from London Overground and London Midland, three of the remaining five two-coach Class 158s will be reformed to provide two further three-coach Class 158s.


text: The fleet was refurbished in a programme begun in 2007, which included fitting of reupholstered seats, new lighting and floor coverings, CCTV within the passenger saloons, and refurbished toilets. At the same time, the exteriors of the vehicles were repainted in the updated FGW livery, including artwork depicting various local places of interest. GWR's Class 158 vehicles were refurbished at Wabtec in Doncaster.


text: In 2018, the 158s began running alongside the first completed Class 255 "Castle" set on services between Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance. Since then, more of the 158 fleet has gradually started to move more west with more 158 sets working services between Exmouth and Paignton / Barnstaple. The timetable change in December 2019 saw the start of the 158s taking over the 143s on the Tarka Line to Barnstaple primarily, with some of the units also working on the Cardiff / Bristol to Penzance route alongside the "Castle" sets.


text: In April 2018, GWR announced that it was procuring nineteen tri-mode dual-voltage units from spring 2019 for use on Reading to Gatwick and Oxford, Thames Valley branch lines and mainline suburban services to London Paddington to provide extra capacity and to cover the loss of units which operate the Heathrow Express service. The introduction of the Class 769 was later delayed first to early 2021, then to December 2021.


text: In 2022, GWR's parent company FirstGroup issued an expressions of interest notice to manufacturers to supply a new fleet of bi-mode locomotives for its subsidiary TransPennine Express, with an option for additional locomotives to replace GWR's sleeper service locomotives.


text: On 31 May 2022, GWR announced they are looking for 30 four coach 110 mph capable 25kv EMU's for services between London Paddington and Swindon, capable of continuing to Cardiff.


text: Locomotive-hauled trains were in use on services between Cardiff, Bristol, Taunton and Paignton from December 2008 until November 2010 using Virgin Trains locomotives with Mark 2 coaching stock. A second set hauled by EWS s was used between December 2009 and October 2010. These were withdrawn when sufficient DMUs were available following the transfer of six Class 150/1 sets from London Overground. First Great Western issued a tender in May 2013 so that locomotive-hauled trains, or other train formations, could be operated on the Taunton-Cardiff route again, proposed to start in December 2013, to cover for DMUs out of service for refurbishment on Monday-to-Friday diagrams. GWR also runs loco-hauled sets composed of seating coaches and a Class 57 locomotive from the Night Riviera service between Penzance and Exeter St Davids as part of the summer timetable to release a DMU for other services.


text: Twelve "Pacer" DMUs were received by First Great Western in 2007, starting operations that December. These were sub-leased from Northern Rail (where they had been stored), in part to cover for refurbishment of FGW's Sprinter fleets but also to allow the Class 158s to be re-formed as three-coach sets. They were based at Exeter TMD, working alongside the similar on services in Devon and Cornwall, including the Avocet Line, Riviera Line and Tarka Line. Five 142s were returned to Northern Rail in late 2008, following the completion of the refresh of Class 150 Sprinter units. The remaining seven units were returned to Northern Rail by November 2011 as they had been replaced by Class 150 units cascaded from London Overground and London Midland following the arrival of new "Turbostar" units.


text: GWR's Night Riviera service also included the UK's last Motorail service, until that aspect was withdrawn at the end of the 2005 summer season due to low usage.


text: First Great Western previously leased 14 "Adelante" units, operating on the Great Western Main Line, but following technical issues they were transferred elsewhere. In 2012, five units were returned to First Great Western to operate weekday services on the Cotswold Line, allowing class 165 and 166 units to be reallocated to increase capacity on Thames Valley services. The Class 180s left GWR in stages between June and December 2017 to join Grand Central.


text: The 150/1s in the GWR fleet transferred to Arriva Rail North in stages, beginning with the first three in August 2017 when their leases expired, and ending in April 2018. The 153s also transferred elsewhere in stages too, with the first four units going to East Midlands Trains and the next five units going to Arriva Rail North. This left just five 153 units with GWR, which eventually transferred to Transport for Wales in April 2019.


text: Great Western Trains adopted a livery of dark-green upper body and ivory lower body, with a stylised 'Merlin' bird logo. Following the rebranding as First Great Western, fader vinyls were added to the lower body, with a gold bar containing the stylised FirstGroup "F" logo and separate Great Western logotype. This livery was sometimes known as the 'fag packet' livery.


text: When the Class 180 "Adelante" units were delivered, they were painted in the intercity version of FirstGroup's corporate bus livery. This consisted of a purple-blue base, with pink and gold bars and large pink "F"s on the carriage sides and white highlights along the roof and around the driver's cab. The doors were painted white to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The HST fleet was repainted to match as they went through overhaul; however, the livery on the power cars was progressively altered to a plain blue base with pink and gold stripes, following problems with dirt build-up on the large white areas.


text: The rolling stock used on the Night Riviera sleeper service retained the green and gold First Great Western livery until the stock forming these services was refurbished in 2007, when they were painted into 'dynamic lines' livery with vinyls advertising that the coaches operated the 'Night Riviera Sleeper'.


text: The new Greater Western franchise involved repainting the HST fleet into FirstGroup's 'Dynamic Lines' livery for intercity and commuter services in the former First Great Western and First Great Western Link areas. The livery was initially applied to the HST fleet as they went through refurbishment, although the Class 180 units did not receive the new livery due to the termination of their lease. The commuter units also received the new livery while receiving standard maintenance, as a refurbishment was not originally planned. A second livery known as 'Local Lines' was applied to the DMU fleet, replacing the 'Dynamic Lines' with the names of local attractions forming a similar outline.


text: The rebranding of the company as Great Western Railway introduced a new GWR logo and a dark green livery with white stripes and grey doors in September 2015. Most rolling stock has since been re-liveried into this green livery; however, there are still a number of units that retain the plain FGW blue livery as these units are not due for a repaint. However, every train that wore the 'Local Lines' livery has been re-liveried into the green livery.


text: Great Western Railway trains are based at eight depots. Other depots at Landore (Swansea) and Old Oak Common (London) closed in 2018.


text: Channel 5 broadcast two television series looking into day-to-day challenges of the Great Western mainline, including events at Dawlish (as well as the sea wall destruction), Cheltenham race day and rugby at Cardiff. It was broadcast as "The Railway: First Great Western" and the last series aired in 2015. A similar series based on London Paddington started in September 2017 and covered events such as the reaction to the Manchester Arena and London Bridge attacks, and several days of severe disruption.


text: The franchise was due to end on 31 March 2020. In November 2017, the DfT announced its intention to negotiate a further extension for the franchise until April 2022 with an option to extend for a further two years. A new contract was agreed on 30 March 2020, running for three years, extendable to four.


title: United States fifty-dollar bill

text: The United States fifty-dollar bill ($50) is a denomination of United States currency. The 18th U.S. president (1869-1877), Ulysses S. Grant, is featured on the obverse, while the U.S. Capitol is featured on the reverse. All current-issue $50 bills are Federal Reserve Notes.


title: United States fifty-dollar bill

text: As of December 2018, the average life of a $50 bill in circulation is 12.2 years before it is replaced due to wear. Approximately 3.5% of all notes printed in 2019 were $50 bills. They are delivered by Federal Reserve Banks in beige straps. Next to the United States two-dollar bill, the fifty-dollar bill has the lowest circulation of any U.S. denomination measured by volume, with 1.8 billion notes in circulation as of December 31, 2019.


title: United States fifty-dollar bill

text: In 2005, a proposal to put Ronald Reagan's portrait on the $50 bill was put forward, but never went beyond the House Financial Services Committee, even though Republicans controlled the House. In 2010, North Carolina Republican Patrick McHenry introduced another bill to put Reagan's portrait on the $50 bill.


title: Robinson R44

text: The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Based on the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 and received FAA certification in December 1992, with the first delivery in February 1993.


title: Robinson R44

text: The R44 has been the world's best-selling general aviation (GA) helicopter every year since 1999. It is one of the most-produced GA aircraft of the 21st century, with 5,941 deliveries from 2001 to 2020.


title: Robinson R44

text: The R44 is a single-engined helicopter with a semi-rigid two-bladed main rotor, a two-bladed tail rotor and a skid landing gear. It has an enclosed cabin with two rows of side-by-side seating for a pilot and three passengers. Tail rotor direction of rotation on the R44 is reversed compared to the R22 for improved yaw control authority. On the R44 the advancing blade is on the bottom.


title: Robinson R44

text: Designed during the 1980s by Frank Robinson and his staff of engineers, the R44 first flew on 31 March 1990. The R44 Astro was awarded an FAA Type Certificate in December 1992, with the first deliveries taking place in January 1993. The first R44 Newscopter featuring onboard electronic news gathering equipment was delivered in 1998. In January 2000, Robinson introduced the Raven with hydraulically assisted controls and adjustable pedals. In July 2002, Robinson introduced the Raven II featuring a more powerful, fuel-injected engine and wider blades, allowing a higher gross weight and improved altitude performance.


title: Robinson R44

text: During November 2015 Robinson announced the Cadet, a Raven I with a cargo area instead of the two back seats, a slightly less powerful engine and a more efficient muffler.


title: Robinson R44

text: Robinson has carried out ground run testing with an aircraft diesel engine that could replace its Lycoming IO-540 avgas engine. The diesel could provide better altitude performance, a fuel burn reduced from per hour and better fuel availability.


title: Robinson R44

text: In 1997, a Robinson R44 was piloted by Jennifer Murray for the first helicopter circumnavigation of the world by a woman, covering a distance of 36,000 miles in 97 days. , an R44 holds the piston speed record of 227 km/h.


title: Robinson R44

text: The aircraft is operated by many private individuals, companies and flying clubs. It is also a popular choice for law enforcement agencies.


title: Robinson R44

text: The R44 was found to be prone to post-accident fires due to damage to the aluminum fuel tanks, allowing fuel to leak out. In 2009, the company began installing bladder-type fuel tanks in all new R44 helicopters. It also issued Service Bulletin SB-78 on 20 December 2010, requiring R44 helicopters with all-aluminum fuel tanks to be retrofitted with bladder-type tanks to "improve the R44's fuel system's resistance to a post-accident fuel leak." The company recommended that the change should be done as soon as practical, but no later than 31 December 2014. The compliance date was later moved to 30 April 2013.


title: Robinson R44

text: An accident investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in March 2013 found, after analyzing historical data, that a significantly higher proportion of R44 aircraft (12%) caught fire after crashing, compared to accidents involving other types of piston-engine helicopters (7%). Preliminary analysis by the ATSB of the NTSB's accident database found a similar statistic, with 15% of accidents in the US involving R44 helicopters having post-crash fires.


title: Robinson R44

text: Although the data did not consider which type of fuel tanks were fitted, the report mentioned four fatal accidents to the R44 fitted with bladder-type tanks, but as far as they knew, did not involve a post-accident fire. The ATSB recommended that the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) take further action to urge R44 owners to fit bladder-type tanks. The FAA, the governing body in the country of manufacture whose directives would normally be followed in other countries like Australia, had not mandated the retrofit; CASA therefore issued Australian-specific airworthiness directive AD/R44/23, grounding R44 aircraft on 30 April 2013 that had not yet been upgraded.


title: Robinson R44

text: On 19 February 2015, the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority issued an Airworthiness Directive grounding 80 of the country's R44 helicopters after two people were killed in an accident traced to a particular type of main rotor blade, the P/N C016-7 or Dash 7, which a preliminary investigation determined had failed in flight. It was the second failure or partial failure in two months. This was the largest-scale grounding of any aircraft in New Zealand's history. The CAA determined through laboratory tests that the rotor blade had failed due to overload during the crash and was not the cause of the accident and the fleet was ungrounded on 24 February 2015. The CAA left the Airworthiness Directive requiring repetitive inspections in place, however. Director of Civil Aviation Graeme Harris stated, "We don't want to see any complacency amongst operators as there is still a concern with these blades and we are waiting on test results from the USA before we review the Airworthiness notice." Following the grounding in New Zealand, Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) also grounded R44 helicopters with the same rotor blades.


title: Smoke detector

text: A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detected either optically (photoelectric) or by physical process (ionization). Detectors may use one or both sensing methods. Sensitive alarms can be used to detect and deter smoking in banned areas. Smoke detectors in large commercial and industrial buildings are usually connected to a central fire alarm system.


title: Smoke detector

text: Household smoke detectors, also known as "smoke alarms", generally issue an audible or visual alarm from the detector itself or several detectors if there are multiple devices interlinked. Household smoke detectors range from individual battery-powered units to several interlinked units with battery backup. With interlinked units, if any unit detects smoke, alarms will trigger at all of the units. This happens even if household power has gone out.


title: Smoke detector

text: Commercial smoke detectors issue a signal to a fire alarm control panel as part of a fire alarm system. Usually, an individual commercial smoke detector unit does not issue an alarm; some, however, do have built-in sounders.


title: Smoke detector

text: The risk of dying in a residential fire is cut in half in houses with working smoke detectors. The US National Fire Protection Association reports 0.53 deaths per 100 fires in homes with working smoke detectors compared to 1.18 deaths without (2009–2013). However, some homes do not have any smoke alarms and some homes do not have any working batteries in their smoke alarms.


title: Smoke detector

text: The first automatic electric fire alarm was patented in 1890 by Francis Robbins Upton, an associate of Thomas Edison. In 1902, George Andrew Darby patented the first European electrical heat detector in Birmingham, England. In the late 1930s, Swiss physicist Walter Jaeger attempted to invent a sensor for poison gas. He expected the gas entering the sensor to bind to ionized air molecules and thereby alter an electric current in a circuit of the instrument. However, his device did not achieve its purpose as small concentrations of gas did not affect the sensor's conductivity. Frustrated, Jaeger lit a cigarette and was surprised to notice that a meter on the instrument had registered a drop in current. Unlike poison gas, the smoke particles from his cigarette were able to alter the circuit's current. Jaeger's experiment was one of the developments that paved the way for the modern smoke detector. In 1939, Swiss physicist Ernst Meili devised an ionization chamber device capable of detecting combustible gases in mines. He also invented a cold cathode tube that could amplify the small signal generated by the detection mechanism so that it was strong enough to activate an alarm.


title: Smoke detector

text: In 1951, ionization smoke detectors were first sold in the United States. In the following years, they were used only in major commercial and industrial facilities due to their large size and high cost. In 1955, simple "fire detectors" for homes were developed, which detected high temperatures. In 1963, The United States Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) granted the first license to distribute smoke detectors that used radioactive material. In 1965, the first low-cost smoke detector for domestic use was developed by Duane D. Pearsall and Stanley Bennett Peterson. It was an individual, replaceable, battery-powered unit that could be easily installed. The "SmokeGard 700" was beehive-shaped, fire-resistant, and made of steel. The company began mass-producing these units in 1975. Studies in the 1960s determined that smoke detectors respond to fires much faster than heat detectors.


title: Smoke detector

text: The first single-station smoke detector was invented in 1970 and was brought out the next year. It was an ionization detector powered by a single 9-volt battery. It cost about and sold at a rate of a few hundred thousand units per year. Several developments in smoke detector technology occurred between 1971 and 1976, including the replacement of cold-cathode tubes with solid-state electronics. This greatly reduced the detectors' cost and size, and made it possible to monitor battery life. The previous alarm horns which required special batteries were replaced with horns that were more energy-efficient and allowed the use of widely available batteries. These detectors could also function with smaller amounts of radioactive source material, and the sensing chamber and smoke detector enclosure were redesigned to make operation more effective. The rechargeable batteries were often replaced by a pair of AA batteries along with a plastic shell encasing the detector.


title: Smoke detector

text: The photoelectric (optical) smoke detector was invented by Donald Steele and Robert Emmark from Electro Signal Lab and patented in 1972.


title: Smoke detector

text: Smoke can be detected using a photoelectric sensor or an ionization process. Fire without smoke can be detected by sensing carbon dioxide. Incomplete burning can be detected by sensing carbon monoxide.


title: Smoke detector

text: A photoelectric, or optical smoke detector, contains a source of infrared, visible, or ultraviolet light — typically an incandescent light bulb or light-emitting diode (LED) — a lens, and a photoelectric receiver — typically a photodiode. In spot-type detectors, all of these components are arranged inside a chamber where air, which may contain smoke from a nearby fire, flows. In large open areas such as atria and auditoriums, optical beam or projected-beam smoke detectors are used instead of a chamber within the unit: a wall-mounted unit emits a beam of infrared or ultraviolet light which is either received and processed by a separate device or reflected to the receiver by a reflector. In some types, particularly optical beam types, the light emitted by the light source passes through the air being tested, and reaches the photosensor. The received light intensity will be reduced due to scattering from particulates of smoke, air-borne dust, or other substances; the circuitry detects the light intensity and generates the alarm if it is below a specified threshold, potentially due to smoke.


title: Smoke detector

text: In other types, typically chamber types, the light is not directed at the sensor, which is not illuminated in the absence of particles. If the air in the chamber contains particles (smoke or dust), the light is scattered and some of it reaches the sensor, triggering the alarm.


title: Smoke detector

text: According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), "photoelectric smoke detection is generally more responsive to fires that begin with a long period of smoldering". Studies by Texas A&M and the NFPA cited by the City of Palo Alto, California state, "Photoelectric alarms react slower to rapidly growing fires than ionization alarms, but laboratory and field tests have shown that photoelectric smoke alarms provide adequate warning for all types of fires and have been shown to be far less likely to be deactivated by occupants."


title: Smoke detector

text: Although photoelectric alarms are highly effective at detecting smoldering fires and do provide adequate protection from flaming fires, fire safety experts and the NFPA recommend installing what are called combination alarms, which are alarms that either detect both heat and smoke or use both the ionization and photoelectric smoke sensing methods. Some combination alarms may also include a carbon monoxide detection capability.


title: Smoke detector

text: The type and sensitivity of light source and photoelectric sensor and type of smoke chamber differ between manufacturers.


title: Smoke detector

text: An ionization smoke detector uses a radioisotope, typically americium-241, to ionize air; a difference due to smoke is detected and an alarm is generated. Ionization detectors are more sensitive to the flaming stage of fires than optical detectors, while optical detectors are more sensitive to fires in the early smouldering stage.


title: Smoke detector

text: The smoke detector has two ionization chambers, one open to the air, and a reference chamber which does not allow the entry of particles. The radioactive source emits alpha particles into both chambers, which ionizes some air molecules. There is a potential difference (voltage) between pairs of electrodes in the chambers; the electrical charge on the ions allows an electric current to flow. The currents in both chambers should be the same as they are equally affected by air pressure, temperature, and the ageing of the source. If any smoke particles enter the open chamber, some of the ions will attach to the particles and not be available to carry the current in that chamber. An electronic circuit detects that a current difference has developed between the open and sealed chambers, and sounds the alarm. The circuitry also monitors the battery used to supply or back up power, and sounds an intermittent warning when it nears exhaustion. A user-operated test button simulates an imbalance between the ionization chambers, and sounds the alarm if and only if power supply, electronics, and alarm device are functional. The current drawn by an ionization smoke detector is low enough for a small battery used as sole or backup power supply to be able to provide power for years without the need for external wiring.


title: Smoke detector

text: Ionization smoke detectors are usually cheaper to manufacture than optical detectors. Ionization detectors may be more prone than photoelectric detectors to false alarms triggered by non-hazardous events, and are much slower to respond to typical house fires.


title: Smoke detector

text: Americium-241 is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 432.6 years. Alpha particle radiation, as opposed to beta (electron) and gamma (electromagnetic) radiation, is used for two reasons: the alpha particles can ionize enough air to make a detectable current; and they have low penetrative power, meaning they will be stopped, safely, by the air or the plastic shell of the smoke detector. During the alpha decay, emits gamma radiation, but it is low-energy and therefore not considered a significant contributor to human exposure.


title: Smoke detector

text: The amount of elemental americium-241 in ionization smoke detectors is small enough to be exempt from the regulations applied to larger deployments. A smoke detector contains about of radioactive element americium-241 (), corresponding to about 0.3 µg of the isotope. This provides sufficient ion current to detect smoke, while producing a very low level of radiation outside the device. Some Russian-made smoke detectors, most notably the RID-6m and IDF-1m models, contain a small amount of Plutonium (18 MBq), rather than the typical source, in the form of reactor-grade mixed with Titanium Dioxide onto a cylindrical alumina surface.


title: Smoke detector

text: The amount of Americium-241 contained in ionizing smoke detectors doesn't represent a significant radiological hazard. If the americium is left in the ionization chamber of the alarm, the radiological risk is insignificant because the chamber acts as a shield to the alpha radiation. A person would have to open the sealed chamber and ingest or inhale the americium for the dose to be comparable to natural background radiation. The radiation risk of exposure to an ionizing smoke detector operating normally is much smaller than natural background radiation.


title: Smoke detector

text: Disposal regulations and recommendations for ionization smoke detectors vary from region to region. The government of New South Wales, Australia considers it safe to discard up to 10 ionization smoke detectors in a batch with domestic rubbish. The EPA considers ionizing smoke detectors safe to dispose with household trash. Alternatively, smoke detectors can be returned to the manufacturer.


title: Smoke detector

text: Photoelectric detectors and ionization detectors differ in their performance depending on the type of smoke generated by a fire.


title: Smoke detector

text: A presentation by Siemens and the Canadian Fire Alarm Association reports that the ionization detector is the best at detecting incipient-stage fires with invisibly small particles, fast-flaming fires with smaller 0.01–0.4 micron particles, and dark or black smoke, while more modern photoelectric detectors are best at detecting slow-smouldering fires with larger 0.4–10.0 micron particles, and light-coloured white/grey smoke.


title: Smoke detector

text: Photoelectric smoke detectors respond faster to fire that is in its early, smoldering stage. The smoke from the smoldering stage of a fire is typically made up of large combustion particles between 0.3 and 10.0 µm. Ionization smoke detectors respond faster (typically 30–60 seconds) to the flaming stage of a fire. The smoke from the flaming stage of a fire is typically made up of microscopic combustion particles between 0.01 and 0.3 µm. Also, ionization detectors are weaker in high air flow environments.


title: Smoke detector

text: Some European countries, including France, and some US states and municipalities have banned the use of domestic ionization smoke alarms because of concerns that they are not reliable enough as compared to other technologies. Where an ionizing smoke detector has been the only detector, fires in the early stages have not always been effectively detected.


title: Smoke detector

text: In June 2006, the Australian Fire & Emergency Service Authorities Council, the peak representative body for all Australian and New Zealand fire departments, published an official report, 'Position on Smoke Alarms in Residential Accommodation'. Clause 3.0 states, "Ionization smoke alarms may not operate in time to alert occupants to escape from a smoldering fire."


title: Smoke detector

text: In August 2008, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) passed a resolution recommending the use of photoelectric smoke alarms, saying that changing to photoelectric alarms "Will drastically reduce the loss of life among citizens and firefighters."


title: Smoke detector

text: In May 2011, the Fire Protection Association of Australia’s (FPAA) official position on smoke alarms stated, "The Fire Prevention Association of Australia considers that all residential buildings should be fitted with photoelectric smoke alarms..."


title: Smoke detector

text: In December 2011, the Volunteer Firefighter's Association of Australia published a World Fire Safety Foundation report, 'Ionization Smoke Alarms are DEADLY', citing research outlining substantial performance differences between ionization and photoelectric technology.


title: Smoke detector

text: In November 2013, the Ohio Fire Chiefs' Association (OFCA) published an official position paper supporting the use of photoelectric technology in Ohioan residences. The OFCA's position states, "In the interest of public safety and to protect the public from the deadly effects of smoke and fire, the Ohio Fire Chiefs' Association endorses the use of photoelectric smoke alarms in both new construction and when replacing old smoke alarms or purchasing new alarms."


title: Smoke detector

text: In June 2014, tests by the Northeastern Ohio Fire Prevention Association (NEOFPA) on residential smoke alarms were broadcast on ABC's ‘Good Morning America’ program. The NEOFPA tests showed ionization smoke alarms were failing to activate in the early, smoldering stage of a fire. The combination ionization/photoelectric alarms failed to activate for an average of over 20 minutes after the stand-alone photoelectric smoke alarms. This vindicated the June 2006 official position of the Australasian Fire & Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) and the October 2008 official position of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). Both the AFAC and the IAFF recommend photoelectric smoke alarms, but not combination ionization/photoelectric smoke alarms.


title: Smoke detector

text: According to fire tests conformant to EN 54, the cloud from open fire can usually be detected before particulates.


title: Smoke detector

text: Due to the varying levels of detection capabilities between detector types, manufacturers have designed multi-criteria devices which cross-reference the separate signals to both rule out false alarms and improve response times to real fires.


title: Smoke detector

text: Carbon monoxide sensors detect potentially fatal concentrations of carbon monoxide, which may build up due to faulty ventilation where there are combustion appliances such as gas heaters and cookers, although there is no uncontrolled fire outside the appliance.


title: Smoke detector

text: High levels of carbon dioxide () may indicate a fire, and can be detected by a carbon dioxide sensor. Such sensors are often used to measure levels of which may be undesirable and harmful, but not indicative of a fire. This type of sensor can also be used to detect and warn of the much higher levels of generated by a fire. Some manufacturers say that detectors based on levels are the fastest fire indicators. Unlike ionization and optical detectors, they can also detect fires that do not generate smoke, such as those fueled by alcohol or gasoline. detectors are not susceptible to false alarms due to particles making them particularly suitable for use in dusty and dirty environments.


title: Smoke detector

text: Smoke alarm systems used in a home or residential environment are typically smaller and less expensive than commercial units.


title: Smoke detector

text: The system may include one or more individual standalone units, or multiple units that are interconnected. They typically generate a loud acoustic warning signal as their only action. Several detectors (whether standalone or interconnected) are normally used in the rooms of a dwelling. There are inexpensive smoke alarms that may be interconnected so that any detector that triggers sounds all alarms. They are powered by mains electricity, with disposable or rechargeable battery backup. They may be interconnected by wires, or wirelessly. They are required in new installations in some jurisdictions.


title: Smoke detector

text: Several smoke detection methods are used and documented in industry specifications published by Underwriters Laboratories. Alerting methods include:


title: Smoke detector

text: Some models have a hush or temporary silence feature that allows silencing, typically by pressing a button on the housing, without removing the battery. This is especially useful in locations where false alarms can be relatively common (e.g. near a kitchen), or users might remove the battery permanently to avoid the annoyance of false alarms, preventing the alarm from detecting a fire should one break out.


title: Smoke detector

text: While current technology is very effective at detecting smoke and fire conditions, the deaf and hard of hearing community has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the alerting function in awakening sleeping individuals in certain high-risk groups. People part of groups like the elderly, those with hearing loss, and those who are intoxicated, may have a more difficult time utilizing sound-based detectors. Between 2005 and 2007 research sponsored by the United States National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) focused on understanding the cause of the higher number of deaths in such high-risk groups. Initial research into the effectiveness of the various alerting methods is sparse. Research findings suggest that a low frequency (520 Hz) square wave output is significantly more effective at awakening high-risk individuals. Wireless smoke and carbon monoxide detectors linked to alert mechanisms such as vibrating pillow pads for the hearing impaired, strobes, and remote warning handsets are more effective at waking people with serious hearing loss than other alarms.


title: Smoke detector

text: Batteries are used either as sole or as backup power for residential smoke detectors. Mains-operated detectors have disposable or rechargeable batteries; others run only on 9-volt disposable batteries. When the battery is exhausted a battery-only smoke detector becomes inactive; most smoke detectors chirp repeatedly if the battery is low. It has been found that battery-powered smoke detectors in many houses have dead batteries. It has been estimated that in the UK over 30% of smoke alarms have dead or removed batteries. In response public information campaigns have been created to remind people to change smoke detector batteries regularly. In Australia, for example, a public information campaign suggests that smoke alarm batteries should be replaced on April Fools' Day every year. In regions using daylight saving time, campaigns may suggest that people change their batteries when they change their clocks or on a birthday.


title: Smoke detector

text: Some mains-powered detectors are fitted with a non-rechargeable lithium battery for backup with a life of typically ten years. After this, it is recommended that the detector be replaced. User-replaceable disposable 9-volt lithium batteries, which last at least twice as long as alkaline batteries, are also available for smoke detectors.


title: Smoke detector

text: The US National Fire Protection Association recommends that home-owners replace smoke detector batteries at least once per year, when it starts chirping (a signal that the battery is low). Batteries should also be when or if it fails a test, which the NFPA recommends to be carried out at least once per month by pressing the "test" button on the alarm.


title: Smoke detector

text: A 2004 NIST report concluded that "Smoke alarms of either the ionization type or the photoelectric type consistently provided time for occupants to escape from most residential fires," and, "Consistent with prior findings, ionization type alarms provided somewhat better response to flaming fires than photoelectric alarms (57 to 62 seconds faster response), and photoelectric alarms provided (often) considerably faster response to smoldering fires than ionization type alarms (47 to 53 minutes faster response)."


title: Smoke detector

text: Regular cleaning can prevent false alarms caused by the build-up of dust and insects, particularly on optical type alarms as they are more susceptible to these factors. A vacuum cleaner can be used to clean domestic smoke detectors to remove detrimental dust. Optical detectors are less susceptible to false alarms in locations such as near a kitchen producing cooking fumes.


title: Smoke detector

text: On the night of May 31, 2001, Bill Hackert and his daughter Christine of Rotterdam, New York died when their house caught fire and a First Alert ionization smoke detector failed to sound. The cause of the fire was a frayed electrical cord behind a couch that smoldered for hours before engulfing the house with flames and smoke. The ionization smoke detector was found to be defectively designed, and in 2006 a jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York decided that First Alert and its then parent company, BRK Brands, was liable for millions of dollars in damages.


title: Smoke detector

text: In the United States most state and local laws regarding the required number and placement of smoke detectors are based upon standards established in NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. Laws governing the installation of smoke detectors vary depending on the locality. However, some rules and guidelines for existing homes are relatively consistent throughout the developed world. For example, Canada and Australia require a building to have a working smoke detector on every level. The United States NFPA code cited in the previous paragraph requires smoke detectors on every habitable level and within the vicinity of all bedrooms. Habitable levels include attics that are tall enough to allow access. Many other countries have comparable requirements.


title: Smoke detector

text: In new construction, minimum requirements are typically more stringent. All smoke detectors must be hooked directly to the electrical wiring, be interconnected and have a battery backup. In addition, smoke detectors are required either inside or outside every bedroom, depending on local codes. Smoke detectors on the outside will detect fires more quickly, assuming the fire does not begin in the bedroom, but the sound of the alarm will be reduced and may not wake some people. Some areas also require smoke detectors in stairways, main hallways and garages.


title: Smoke detector

text: A dozen or more detectors may be connected via wiring or wirelessly such that if one detects smoke, the alarms will sound on all the detectors in the network, improving the likelihood that occupants will be alerted even if smoke is detected far from their location. Wired interconnection are more practical in new construction than for existing buildings.


title: Smoke detector

text: In the UK the installation of smoke alarms in new builds must comply with British Standard BS5839 pt6. BS 5839: Pt.6: 2004 recommends that a new-build property consisting of no more than 3 floors (less than 200 square metres per floor) should be fitted with a Grade D, LD2 system. Building Regulations in England, Wales and Scotland recommend that BS 5839: Pt.6 should be followed, but as a minimum a Grade D, LD3 system should be installed. Building Regulations in Northern Ireland require a Grade D, LD2 system to be installed, with smoke alarms fitted in the escape routes and the main living room and a heat alarm in the kitchen; this standard also requires all detectors to have a mains supply and a battery back up.


title: Smoke detector

text: Commercial smoke detectors are either conventional or addressable, and are connected to security alarm or fire alarm systems controlled by fire alarm control panels (FACP). These are the most common type of detector, and are usually significantly more expensive than single-station battery-operated residential smoke alarms. They are used in most commercial and industrial facilities and other places such as ships and trains, but are also part of some security alarm systems in homes. These detectors don't need to have built in alarms, as alarm systems can be controlled by the connected FACP, which will set off relevant alarms, and can also implement complex functions such as a staged evacuation.


title: Smoke detector

text: The word "conventional" is slang used to distinguish the method used to communicate with the control unit in newer addressable systems. So-called "conventional detectors" are smoke detectors used in older interconnected systems and resemble electrical switches by their way of working. These detectors are connected in parallel to the signaling path so that the current flow is monitored to indicate a closure of the circuit path by any connected detector when smoke or other similar environmental stimuli sufficiently influences any detector. The resulting increase in current flow (or a dead short) is interpreted and processed by the control unit as a confirmation of the presence of smoke and a fire alarm signal is generated. In a conventional system, smoke detectors are typically wired together in each zone and a single fire alarm control panel usually monitors a number of zones which can be arranged to correspond to different areas of a building. In the event of a fire, the control panel is able to identify which zone or zones contain the detector or detectors in alarm. However, they cannot identify which individual detector or detectors are in a state of alarm.


title: Smoke detector

text: An addressable system gives each detector an individual number, or address. Addressable systems allow the exact location of an alarm to be plotted on the FACP, while allowing several detectors to be connected to the same zone. In certain systems, a graphical representation of the building is provided on the screen of the FACP which shows the locations of all of the detectors in the building, while in others the address and location of the detector or detectors in alarm are simply indicated.


title: Smoke detector

text: Addressable systems are usually more expensive than conventional non-addressable systems, and offer extra options, including a custom level of sensitivity (sometimes called Day/Night mode) which can determine the amount of smoke in a given area and contamination detection from the FACP that allows determination of a wide range of faults in detection capabilities of smoke detectors. Detectors become contaminated usually as a result of the build up of atmospheric particulates in the detectors being circulated by the heating and air-conditioning systems in buildings. Other causes include carpentry, sanding, painting, and smoke in the event of a fire. Panels can also be interconnected to monitor a very large number of detectors in multiple buildings. This is most commonly used in hospitals, universities, resorts and other large centres or institutions.


title: Smoke detector

text: Fire detection products have the European Standard "EN 54 Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems" that is a mandatory standard for every product that is going to be delivered and installed in any country in the European Union (EU). "EN 54 part 7" is the standard for smoke detectors. European standard are developed to allow free movement of goods in the European Union countries. EN 54 is widely recognized around the world. The EN 54 certification of each device must be issued annually.


title: Smoke detector

text: Information that is in bold is the standard coverage of the detector. Smoke detector coverage is 60 square meters and temperature smoke detector coverage is 20 square meters. The height from the ground is an important issue for correct protection.


title: Smoke detector

text: An additional (harmonised) EN14604 also exists, which tends to be the standard usually cited at the domestic point of sale. This standard expands on the EN54 recommendations for domestic smoke alarms and specifies requirements, test methods, performance criteria, and manufacturer's instructions. It also includes additional requirements for smoke alarms, which are suitable for use in leisure accommodation vehicles. However, much of EN14604 is voluntary. A study published in 2014 assessed six areas of compliance & found 33% of devices claiming to meet this standard did not do so in one or more of the specifics. The study also found 19% of the products to have a problem with actual fire detection.


title: Smoke detector

text: In the United States, the first standard for home smoke alarms was established in 1967. In 1969, the AEC allowed homeowners to use smoke detectors without a license. The Life Safety Code (NFPA 101), passed by the National Fire Protection Association in 1976, first required smoke alarms in homes. Smoke alarm sensitivity requirements in UL 217 were modified in 1985 to reduce susceptibility to nuisance alarms. In 1988 BOCA, ICBO, and SBCCI model building codes begin requiring smoke alarms to be interconnected and located in all sleeping rooms. In 1989 NFPA 74 first required smoke alarms to be interconnected in every new home construction, and in 1993 NFPA 72 first required that smoke alarms be installed in all bedrooms. The NFPA began requiring the replacement of smoke detectors after ten years in 1999.


title: Smoke detector

text: In 1999, Underwriters Laboratory (UL) changed smoke alarm labeling requirements so that all smoke alarms must have a manufactured date written in plain English.


title: Smoke detector

text: In June 2013, a World Fire Safety Foundation report titled, 'Can Australian and U.S. Smoke Alarm Standards be Trusted?' was published in the official magazine of the Australian Volunteer Firefighter Association. The report brings into question the validity of testing criteria used by American and Australian government agencies when undergoing scientific testing of ionization smoke alarms.


title: Smoke detector

text: In June 2010 the City of Albany, California, enacted a photoelectric only legislation after a unanimous decision by the Albany City Council; several other Californian and Ohioan cities enacted similar legislation shortly afterwards.


title: Smoke detector

text: In November 2011, the Northern Territory enacted Australia's first residential photoelectric legislation mandating the use of photoelectric smoke alarms in all new Northern Territory homes.


title: Smoke detector

text: From January 1, 2017, the Australian state of Queensland mandated all smoke alarms in new dwellings (or where a dwelling is substantially renovated) must be photoelectric, and not also contain an ionization sensor. They also were to be hardwired to the mains power supply with a secondary power source (i.e. battery) and be interconnected with every other smoke alarm in the dwelling. This is so all would be activated together.


title: Smoke detector

text: From that date, all replacement smoke alarms must be photoelectric; from January 1, 2022, all dwellings sold, leased, or where a lease is renewed must comply as for new dwellings; and from January 1, 2027, all dwellings must comply as for new dwellings.


title: Smoke detector

text: In June 2013, in an Australian Parliamentary speech, the question was asked, "Are ionization smoke alarms defective?" This was further to the Australian Government's scientific testing agency (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - CSIRO) data revealing serious performance problems with ionization technology in the early, smoldering stage of a fire, a rise in litigation involving ionization smoke alarms, and increasing legislation mandating the installation of photoelectric smoke alarms. The speech cited in May 2013, World Fire Safety Foundation report published in the Australian Volunteer Firefighter Association's magazine titled, 'Can Australian and U.S. Smoke Alarm Standards be Trusted?' The speech concluded with a request for one of the world's largest ionization smoke alarm manufacturers and the CSIRO to disclose the level of visible smoke required to trigger the manufacturers' ionization smoke alarms under CSIRO scientific testing.


title: Skepticism

text: Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the person doubts that these claims are accurate. In such cases, skeptics normally recommend not disbelief but suspension of belief, i.e. maintaining a neutral attitude that neither affirms nor denies the claim. This attitude is often motivated by the impression that the available evidence is insufficient to support the claim. Formally, skepticism is a topic of interest in philosophy, particularly epistemology. More informally, skepticism as an expression of questioning or doubt can be applied to any topic, such as politics, religion, or pseudoscience. It is often applied within restricted domains, such as morality (moral skepticism), atheism (skepticism about the existence of God), or the supernatural. Some theorists distinguish "good" or moderate skepticism, which seeks strong evidence before accepting a position, from "bad" or radical skepticism, which wants to suspend judgment indefinitely.


title: Skepticism

text: Philosophical skepticism is one important form of skepticism. It rejects knowledge claims that seem certain from the perspective of common sense. Radical forms of philosophical skepticism deny that "knowledge or rational belief is possible and urge us to suspend judgment on many or all controversial matters." More moderate forms claim only that nothing can be known with certainty, or that we can know little or nothing about nonempirical matters, such as whether God exists, whether human beings have free will, or whether there is an afterlife. In ancient philosophy, skepticism was understood as a way of life associated with inner peace.


title: Skepticism

text: Skepticism has been responsible for many important developments in science and philosophy. It has also inspired several contemporary social movements. Religious skepticism advocates for doubt concerning basic religious principles, such as immortality, providence, and revelation. Scientific skepticism advocates for testing beliefs for reliability, by subjecting them to systematic investigation using the scientific method, to discover empirical evidence for them.


title: Skepticism

text: "Skepticism", also spelled "scepticism", (from the Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to search, to think about or look for) refers to a doubtful attitude toward knowledge claims. So if a person is skeptical of their government's claims about an ongoing war then the person has doubts that these claims are true. Or being skeptical that one's favorite hockey team will win the championship means that one is uncertain about the strength of their performance. Skepticism about a claim implies that one does not believe this claim to be true. But it does not automatically follow that one should believe that the claim is false either. Instead, skeptics usually recommend a neutral attitude: beliefs about this matter should be suspended. In this regard, skepticism about a claim can be defined as the thesis that "the only justified attitude with respect to [this claim] is suspension of judgment". It is often motivated by the impression that one cannot be certain about it. This is especially relevant when there is significant expert disagreement. Skepticism is usually restricted to a claim or a field of inquiry. So religious and moral skeptics have a doubtful attitude about religious and moral doctrines. But some forms of philosophical skepticism, are wider in that they reject any form of knowledge.


title: Skepticism

text: Some definitions, often inspired by ancient philosophy, see skepticism not just as an attitude but as a way of life. This is based on the idea that maintaining the skeptical attitude of doubt toward most concerns in life is somehow superior compared to living in dogmatic certainty, for example, because such a skeptic person has more happiness and peace of mind or because it is morally better. In contemporary philosophy, on the other hand, skepticism is often understood neither as an attitude nor as a way of life but as a thesis: the thesis that knowledge does not exist.


title: Skepticism

text: Skepticism is related to various terms. It is sometimes equated with agnosticism and relativism. However, there are slight differences in meaning. Agnosticism is often understood more narrowly as skepticism about religious questions, in particular, about the Christian doctrine. Relativism does not deny the existence of knowledge or truth but holds that they are relative to a person and differ from person to person, for example, because they follow different cognitive norms. The opposite of skepticism is dogmatism, which implies an attitude of certainty in the form of an unquestioning belief. A similar contrast is often drawn in relation to blind faith and credulity.


title: Skepticism

text: Various types of skepticism have been discussed in the academic literature. Skepticism is usually restricted to knowledge claims on one particular subject, which is why its different forms can be distinguished based on the subject. For example, religious skeptics distrust religious doctrines and moral skeptics raise doubts about accepting various moral requirements and customs. Skepticism can also be applied to knowledge in general. However, this attitude is usually only found in some forms of philosophical skepticism. A closely related classification distinguishes based on the source of knowledge, such as skepticism about perception, memory, or intuition. A further distinction is based on the degree of the skeptical attitude. The strongest forms assert that there is no knowledge at all or that it is impossible. Weaker forms merely state that one can never be absolutely certain.


title: Skepticism

text: Some theorists distinguish between a good or healthy form of moderate skepticism in contrast to a bad or unhealthy form of radical skepticism. On this view, the "good" skeptic is a critically-minded person who seeks strong evidence before accepting a position. The "bad" skeptic, on the other hand, wants to "suspend judgment indefinitely ... even in the face of demonstrable truth". Another categorization focuses on the motivation for the skeptical attitude. Some skeptics have ideological motives: they want to replace inferior beliefs with better ones. Others have a more practical outlook in that they see problematic beliefs as the cause of harmful customs they wish to stop. Some skeptics have very particular goals in mind, such as bringing down a certain institution associated with the spread of claims they reject.


title: Skepticism

text: Philosophical skepticism is a prominent form of skepticism and can be contrasted with non-philosophical or ordinary skepticism. Ordinary skepticism involves a doubting attitude toward knowledge claims that are rejected by many. Almost everyone shows some form of ordinary skepticism, for example, by doubting the knowledge claims made by flat earthers or astrologers. Philosophical skepticism, on the other hand, is a much more radical and rare position. It includes the rejection of knowledge claims that seem certain from the perspective of common sense. Some forms of it even deny that one knows that "I have two hands" or that "the sun will come out tomorrow". It is taken seriously in philosophy nonetheless since it has proven very hard to conclusively refute philosophical skepticism.


title: Skepticism

text: Skepticism has been responsible for important developments in various fields, such as science, medicine, and philosophy. In science, the skeptical attitude toward traditional opinions was a key factor in the development of the scientific method. It emphasizes the need to scrutinize knowledge claims by testing them through experimentation and precise measurement. In the field of medicine, skepticism has helped the establishment of more advanced forms of treatment by putting into doubt traditional forms based on intuitive appeal rather than empirical evidence. In the history of philosophy, skepticism has often played a productive role not just for skeptics but also for non-skeptical philosophers. This is due to its critical attitude that continues to challenge the epistemological foundations of a great variety of philosophical theories. This challenge can help to keep speculation in check and may provoke creative responses transforming the theory in question in order to overcome the problems posed by skepticism. According to Richard H. Popkin, "the history of philosophy can be seen, in part, as a struggle with skepticism". In this regard, it has led many contemporary philosophers to abandon the quest for absolutely certain or indubitable first principles of philosophy, which was still prevalent in many earlier periods. Skepticism has been an important topic throughout the history of philosophy and is still a widely discussed subject today.


title: Skepticism

text: As a philosophical school or movement, skepticism arose both in ancient Greece and India. In India the Ajñana school of philosophy espoused skepticism. It was a major early rival of Buddhism and Jainism, and a possibly major influence on Buddhism. Two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, Sariputta and Moggallāna, were initially the students of the Ajñana philosopher Sanjaya Belatthiputta, and a strong element of skepticism is found in Early Buddhism, most particularly in the Aṭṭhakavagga sutra, but it is inconclusive the total effect these philosophies had on each other. Since skepticism is a philosophical attitude and a style of philosophizing rather than a position, the Ajñanins may have influenced other skeptical thinkers of India such as Nagarjuna, Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa, and Shriharsha.


title: Skepticism

text: In Greece philosophers as early as Xenophanes (c. 570 – c. 475 BCE) expressed skeptical views, as did Democritus


title: Skepticism

text: and a number of Sophists. Gorgias, for example, reputedly argued that nothing exists, that even if there were something we could not know it, and that even if we could know it we could not communicate it. The Heraclitean philosopher Cratylus refused to discuss anything and would merely wriggle his finger, claiming that communication is impossible since meanings are constantly changing. Socrates also had skeptical tendencies, claiming to know nothing worthwhile.


title: Skepticism

text: There were two major schools of skepticism in the ancient Greek and Roman world. The first was Pyrrhonism, founded by Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360–270 BCE). The second was Academic Skepticism, so-called because its two leading defenders, Arcesilaus (c. 315–240 BCE) who initiated the philosophy, and Carneades (c. 217–128 BCE), the philosophy's most famous proponent, were heads of Plato's Academy. Pyrrhonism's aims are psychological. It urges suspension of judgment ("epoche") to achieve mental tranquility ("ataraxia"). The Academic Skeptics denied that knowledge is possible ("acatalepsy"). The Academic Skeptics claimed that some beliefs are more reasonable or probable than others, whereas Pyrrhonian skeptics argue that equally compelling arguments can be given for or against any disputed view. Nearly all the writings of the ancient skeptics are now lost. Most of what we know about ancient skepticism is from Sextus Empiricus, a Pyrrhonian skeptic who lived in the second or third century CE. His works contain a lucid summary of stock skeptical arguments.


title: Skepticism

text: Ancient skepticism faded out during the late Roman Empire, particularly after Augustine (354–430 CE) attacked the skeptics in his work "Against the Academics" (386 CE). There was little knowledge of, or interest in, ancient skepticism in Christian Europe during the Middle Ages. Interest revived during the Renaissance and Reformation, particularly after the complete writings of Sextus Empiricus were translated into Latin in 1569. A number of Catholic writers, including Francisco Sanches (c. 1550–1623), Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), and Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) deployed ancient skeptical arguments to defend moderate forms of skepticism and to argue that faith, rather than reason, must be the primary guide to truth. Similar arguments were offered later (perhaps ironically) by the Protestant thinker Pierre Bayle in his influential Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697–1702).


title: Skepticism

text: The growing popularity of skeptical views created an intellectual crisis in seventeenth-century Europe. One major response was offered by the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596–1650). In his classic work, "Meditations of First Philosophy" (1641), Descartes sought to refute skepticism, but only after he had formulated the case for skepticism as powerfully as possible. Descartes argued that no matter what radical skeptical possibilities we imagine there are certain truths (e.g., that thinking is occurring, or that I exist) that are absolutely certain. Thus, the ancient skeptics were wrong to claim that knowledge is impossible. Descartes also attempted to refute skeptical doubts about the reliability of our senses, our memory, and other cognitive faculties. To do this, Descartes tried to prove that God exists and that God would not allow us to be systematically deceived about the nature of reality. Many contemporary philosophers question whether this second stage of Descartes's critique of skepticism is successful.


title: Skepticism

text: In the eighteenth century a new case for skepticism was offered by the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–1776). Hume was an empiricist, claiming that all genuine ideas can be traced back to original impressions of sensation or introspective consciousness. Hume argued that on empiricist grounds there are no sound reasons for belief in God, an enduring self or soul, an external world, causal necessity, objective morality, or inductive reasoning. In fact, he argued that "Philosophy would render us entirely Pyrrhonian, were not Nature too strong for it." As Hume saw it, the real basis of human belief is not reason, but custom or habit. We are hard-wired by nature to trust, say, our memories or inductive reasoning, and no skeptical arguments, however powerful, can dislodge those beliefs. In this way, Hume embraced what he called a "mitigated" skepticism, while rejecting an "excessive" Pyrrhonian skepticism that he saw as both impractical and psychologically impossible.


title: Skepticism

text: Hume's skepticism provoked a number of important responses. Hume's Scottish contemporary, Thomas Reid (1710–1796), challenged Hume's strict empiricism and argued that it is rational to accept "common-sense" beliefs such as the basic reliability of our senses, our reason, our memories, and inductive reasoning, even though none of these things can be proved. In Reid's view, such common-sense beliefs are foundational and require no proof in order to be rationally justified. Not long after Hume's death, the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) argued that human moral awareness makes no sense unless we reject Hume's skeptical conclusions about the existence of God, the soul, free will, and an afterlife. According to Kant, while Hume was right to claim that we cannot strictly "know" any of these things, our moral experience entitles us to believe in them.


title: Skepticism

text: Today, skepticism continues to be a topic of lively debate among philosophers. British philosopher, Julian Baggini, posits that reason is perceived as "an enemy of mystery and ambiguity," but, if used properly can be an effective tool for solving many larger societal issues.


title: Skepticism

text: Religious skepticism generally refers to doubting given religious beliefs or claims. Historically, religious skepticism can be traced back to Xenophanes, who doubted many religious claims of his time. For example, a religious skeptic might believe that Jesus existed (see historicity of Jesus) while questioning claims that he was the messiah or performed miracles. Religious skepticism is not the same as atheism or agnosticism, though these often do involve skeptical attitudes toward religion and philosophical theology (for example, towards divine omnipotence). Religious people are generally skeptical about claims of other religions, at least when the two denominations conflict concerning some stated belief. Additionally, they may also be skeptical of the claims made by atheists. The historian Will Durant writes that Plato was "as skeptical of atheism as of any other dogma".


title: Skepticism

text: A scientific or empirical skeptic is one who questions beliefs on the basis of scientific understanding and empirical evidence.


title: Skepticism

text: Scientific skepticism may discard beliefs pertaining to "purported phenomena" not subject to reliable observation and thus not systematic or testable empirically. Most scientists, being scientific skeptics, test the reliability of certain kinds of claims by subjecting them to a systematic investigation using some type of the scientific method. As a result, a number of claims are considered as "pseudoscience", if they are found to improperly apply or ignore the fundamental aspects of the scientific method.


title: Skepticism

text: Professional skepticism is an important concept in auditing. It requires an auditor to have a "questioning mind", to make a critical assessment of evidence, and to consider the sufficiency of the evidence.


title: Deep house

text: Deep house (110~125 BPM) is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard (aka Mr. Fingers), including his influential track "Can You Feel It".


title: Deep house

text: Deep house is known for tempos typically from 110 to 125 bpm, muted basslines, spacious use of percussion elements (typically using a Roland TR-909 drum machine), soft keyboard sounds (pads), use of advanced chord structures, ambient mixes, and soulful vocals. Lyrics usually focus on positive/uplifting themes or more melancholic subjects akin to blues. The use of vocals persisted in deep house as new forms of house music often abandoned them, but as of 2019, this difference has largely disappeared.


title: Deep house

text: Deep house was largely pioneered by Chicago producers such as Marshall Jefferson (On the House) and Larry Heard (Mr. Fingers) and with tracks such as "Mystery of Love" (1985) and "Can You Feel It?" (1986); the latter had a similar impact on deep house to that of Derrick May's "Strings of Life" (1987) on Detroit techno. The jazzy sound became more common due to the favored use of gentler, more organic (yet still synthesizer based) production and instrument sounds. Author Richie Unterberger has stated that Heard's deep house sound moved house music away from its posthuman tendencies back towards the lush, soulful sound of early disco music (particularly that of old Philadelphia International and Salsoul records). "Can You Feel It" became a deep house blueprint; Heard used a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer to create the deep bassline, along with a Roland TR-909 drum machine for the beats.


title: Deep house

text: DJ Ron Trent stated that the term was initially used to describe the DJ work of Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, who departed from a strictly electronic house sound to incorporate eclectic elements like disco, jazz, and underground music.


title: Deep house

text: In the 2000s and 2010s, the genre remained very popular. By around Aug 2014, however, the perception of the genre was resulting in a sense that some house music was being labeled deep inappropriately, and the term has since been used to encapsulate various types of bassline-driven house music, later named Brazilian bass or slap house, as the genre evolves from its historical origins.


title: Deep house

text: Record labels of the genre include Alleviated Records (Larry Heard), AFTR:HRS, Glasgow Underground, Naked Music, Om Records, Peacefrog Records, Soma, Source, Anjunadeep and Spinnin' Deep. Examples of deep house albums from artists known from other genres include "The Martyr Mantras" (1990) and "" (1989) from The Style Council.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Richard David Wolff (born April 1, 1942) is an American Marxian economist, known for his work on economic methodology and class analysis. He is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor in the graduate program in international affairs of the New School. Wolff has also taught economics at Yale University, City University of New York, University of Utah, University of Paris I (Sorbonne), and The Brecht Forum in New York City.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: In 1988 Wolff co-founded the journal "Rethinking Marxism". In 2010 he published "Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It", also released on DVD. In 2012 he released three new books: "Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism", with David Barsamian (San Francisco: City Lights Books), "Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian", with Stephen Resnick (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: MIT University Press), and "Democracy at Work" (Chicago: Haymarket Books). In 2019 he released his book "Understanding Marxism" (Democracy at Work).


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff hosts the weekly 30-minute-long program, "Economic Update", which is produced by the non-profit Democracy at Work, which he co-founded. "Economic Update" is on YouTube, FreeSpeech TV, WBAI-FM in New York City (Pacifica Radio), CUNY TV (WNYE-DT3), and available as a podcast. Wolff is featured regularly in television, print, and internet media. "The New York Times Magazine" has named him "America's most prominent Marxist economist". Wolff lives in Manhattan with his wife and frequent collaborator, Harriet Fraad, a practicing psychotherapist.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: To escape Nazism, Wolff's parents emigrated from Europe to the United States during World War II. His father, a French lawyer working until that point in Cologne, Germany, gained employment as a steelworker in Youngstown, Ohio (in part because his European certification was not recognized in the United States), and the family eventually settled outside New York City. His mother was a German citizen. Wolff's father was acquainted with Max Horkheimer. Wolff states that his European background influenced his world view:


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: "[E]verything you expect about how the world works probably will be changed in your life, that unexpected things happen, often tragic things happen, and being flexible, being aware of a whole range of different things that happen in the world, is not just a good idea as a thinking person, but it's crucial to your survival. So, for me, I grew up convinced that understanding the political and economic environment I lived in was an urgent matter that had to be done, and made me a little different from many of my fellow kids in school who didn't have that sense of the urgency of understanding how the world worked to be able to navigate an unstable and often dangerous world. That was a very important lesson for me."


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff earned a BA "magna cum laude" in history from Harvard in 1963 and moved on to Stanford—he attained an MA in economics in 1964—to study with Paul A. Baran. Baran died prematurely from a heart attack in 1964 and Wolff transferred to Yale University, where he received an MA in economics in 1966, MA in history in 1967, and a PhD in economics in 1969. As a graduate student at Yale, Wolff worked as an instructor. His dissertation, "Economic Aspects of British Colonialism in Kenya, 1895–1930", was eventually published in book form in 1974.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff taught at the City College of New York from 1969 to 1973. Here he started his lifelong collaboration with fellow economist Stephen Resnick, who arrived in 1971 after being denied tenure at Yale for signing an anti-war petition. Both would then be part, along with Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, and Rick Edwards, of the "radical package" that was hired in 1973 by the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where Wolff has been full professor since 1981. Wolff retired in 2008 but remains professor emeritus and that year joined The New School as a visiting professor.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: The first co-authored academic publication by Wolff and Resnick was "The Theory of Transitional Conjunctures and the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism," which laid out the pillars of the framework that they have worked on ever since. They formulated a non-determinist, class-analytical approach for understanding the debates regarding the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Their topics have included Marxian theory and value analysis, overdetermination, radical economics, international trade, business cycles, social formations, the Soviet Union, and comparing and contrasting Marxian and non-Marxian economic theories.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff's work with Resnick took Louis Althusser and Étienne Balibar's "Reading Capital" as its point of departure and developed a subtle reading of Karl Marx's "Capital" Volumes II and III in their influential "Knowledge and Class". For the authors, Marxian class analysis entails the detailed study of the conditions of existences of concrete forms of performance, appropriation, and distribution of surplus labor. While there could be an infinite number of forms of surplus appropriation, the Marxist canon refers to ancient (independent), slave, feudal, capitalist, and communist class processes.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: In 1989, Wolff joined efforts with a group of colleagues, ex- and then current students to launch "Rethinking Marxism", an academic journal that aims to create a platform for rethinking and developing Marxian concepts and theories within economics as well as other fields of social inquiry. For more than two decades, he served as a member of the editorial board of the journal. Currently, he continues to serve as a member of the advisory board of the journal.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff was a visiting professor in spring 1994 at University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. Wolff continues to teach graduate seminars and undergraduate courses and direct dissertation research in economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and, most recently, in the graduate program in international affairs (GPIA) at The New School.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: A founding member of the Green Party of New Haven, Connecticut, Wolff was the party's mayoral candidate in 1985. In 2011, he called for the establishment of a broad-based left-wing mass party in the United States. Wolff, especially since 2008, gives many public lectures throughout the United States and other countries. He is regular lecturer at the Brecht Forum. Wolff is often a guest on television and radio news programs, and, within the U.S., has appeared on a variety of programs, as well as writing for a number of publications and websites. Wolff hosts a weekly radio/TV show and podcast on economics and society, "Economic Update", at WBAI in New York City.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: One of his students, George Papandreou, became Prime Minister of Greece serving from 2009 to 2011. Wolff remembers Papandreou as a student who "sought then to become both a sophisticated and a socialist economist." However, CUNY Economics professor Costas Panayotakis observed that "after being elected Greek prime minister in the fall of 2009 on a platform that excoriated austerity as the wrong kind of policy to be adopted at a time of deep economic crisis, George Papandreou has reversed himself and, faced with a debt crisis, called in the International Monetary Fund and imposed the most brutal austerity program the country has ever seen."


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff is a co-founder of "Democracy at Work", a non-profit that produces media and live events to expose capitalism's systemic problems and to show how democratizing our workplaces solves them. The organization is based on his 2012 book, "Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism". Wolff also hosts the nationally syndicated program "Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff", which is produced by Democracy at Work.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: In addition to his native English, Wolff is fluent in French and German. Wolff lives in New York City with his wife, Harriet Fraad, a psychotherapist. They have two children.


title: Richard D. Wolff

text: Wolff is a distant relative of German political activist Wilhelm Wolff, to whom the first volume of Karl Marx's "Das Kapital" was dedicated.


title: Cedrus

text: Cedrus, common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitudes of 1,500–3,200 m in the Himalayas and 1,000–2,200 m in the Mediterranean.


title: Cedrus

text: "Cedrus" trees can grow up to 30–40 m (occasionally 60 m) tall with spicy-resinous scented wood, thick ridged or square-cracked bark, and broad, level branches. The shoots are dimorphic and are made up of long shoots, which form the framework of the branches, and short shoots, which carry most of the leaves. The leaves are evergreen and needle-like, 8–60 mm long, arranged in an open spiral phyllotaxis on long shoots, and in dense spiral clusters of 15–45 together on short shoots; they vary from bright grass-green to dark green to strongly glaucous pale blue-green, depending on the thickness of the white wax layer which protects the leaves from desiccation. The seed cones are barrel-shaped, 6–12 cm long and 3–8 cm broad, green maturing grey-brown, and, as in "Abies", disintegrate at maturity to release the winged seeds. The seeds are 10–15 mm long, with a 20–30 mm wing; as in "Abies", the seeds have two or three resin blisters, containing an unpleasant-tasting resin, thought to be a defence against squirrel predation. Cone maturation takes one year, with pollination in autumn and the seeds maturing the same time a year later. The pollen cones are slender ovoid, 3–8 cm long, produced in late summer, and shedding pollen in autumn.


title: Cedrus

text: Cedars share a very similar cone structure with the firs ("Abies") and were traditionally thought to be most closely related to them, but molecular evidence supports a basal position in the family.


title: Cedrus

text: The five taxa of "Cedrus" are assigned according to taxonomic opinion to between one and four species: The oldest known fossil of "Cedrus" is "Cedrus penzhinaensis" known from fossil wood found in Early Cretaceous (Albian) sediments of Kamchatka, Russia.


title: Cedrus

text: Cedars are adapted to mountainous climates; in the Mediterranean, they receive winter precipitation, mainly as snow, and summer drought, while in the western Himalaya, they receive primarily summer monsoon rainfall and occasional winter snowfall. While no members of "Cedrus" are native to the Americas, members of "Juniperus" and Cupressaceae are native and called by the common name of "cedar".


title: Cedrus

text: Cedars are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including pine processionary and turnip moth (recorded on deodar cedar).


title: Cedrus

text: Cedars are very popular ornamental trees, and are often cultivated in temperate climates where winter temperatures do not fall below circa −25 °C. The Turkish cedar is slightly hardier, to −30 °C or just below. Extensive mortality of planted specimens can occur in severe winters when temperatures fall lower. Locales with successful longaeval cultivation include the Mediterranean region, western Europe north to the British Isles, southern Australia and New Zealand, and southern and western North America.


title: Cedrus

text: Cedar wood and cedarwood oil are natural repellents to moths, hence cedar is a popular lining for cedar chests and closets in which woolens are stored. This specific use of cedar is mentioned in "The Iliad", Book 24, referring to the cedar-roofed or lined storage chamber where Priam went to fetch treasures to be used as ransom. The ancients made cedarwood oil from Lebanon cedar, a true cedar of the genus "Cedrus", However, the species used for modern cedar chests and closets in North America is "Juniperus virginiana", and cedarwood oil is now typically derived from various junipers and cypresses (of the family "Cupressaceae"). Cedar is also commonly used to make shoe trees because it can absorb moisture and deodorize.


title: Cedrus

text: Many species of cedar are suitable for training as bonsai. They work well for many styles, including formal and informal upright, slanting, and cascading.


title: Cedrus

text: Some authorities consider "Cedrus" the only "true cedars" and discourage use of the name for other genera without an additional qualifier, such as "white-cedar". Nevertheless, the name "cedar" has been applied (since about 1700) to other trees, such as the North American "Thuja plicata", commonly called "western red cedar", and "Juniperus virginiana", commonly called "red cedar" or "eastern red cedar". In some cases, the botanical name alludes to this usage, such as the genus "Calocedrus", meaning "beautiful cedar" (also known as "incense cedar"). Several species of genera "Calocedrus", "Thuja", and "Chamaecyparis" in the Pacific Northwest having similarly aromatic wood are referred to as "false cedars" .


title: Cedrus

text: Both the Latin word "cedrus" and the generic name "cedrus" are derived from Greek κέδρος "kédros". Ancient Greek and Latin used the same word, "kédros" and "cedrus", respectively, for different species of plants now classified in the genera "Cedrus" and "Juniperus" (juniper). Species of both genera are native to the area where Greek language and culture originated, though as the word "kédros" does not seem to be derived from any of the languages of the Middle East, it has been suggested the word may originally have applied to Greek species of juniper and was later adopted for species now classified in the genus "Cedrus" because of the similarity of their aromatic woods. The name was similarly applied to citron and the word citrus is derived from the same root. However, as a loan word in English, cedar had become fixed to its biblical sense of "Cedrus" by the time of its first recorded usage in AD 1000.


title: Kelly Harmon

text: Kelly Jean Harmon Miller ( Harmon; born November 9, 1948) is an American actress and model, best known for appearing in a series of television commercials for mints. She was a regular on the 1983 NBC series "Bay City Blues", playing the role of Sunny Hayward. She also made guest appearances on many TV shows, including "Battlestar Galactica", "CHiPS", "One Day at a Time", and "T.J. Hooker". Harmon also appeared in many commercials, including a series of "remarkable mouth" spots used by WRIF radio in Detroit.


title: Kelly Harmon

text: Harmon has her own interior design company in Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in lifestyle magazines such as "Town & Country" and "House Beautiful".


title: Kelly Harmon

text: Harmon is the middle of three children, the younger daughter of football star and sportscaster Tom Harmon (1919–1990) and actress Elyse Knox Her brother Mark (b.1951) is an actor and sister Kristin was an actress-turned-painter.


title: Kelly Harmon

text: On May 31, 1969, Harmon married automotive executive John DeLorean. They separated in 1971 and divorced the following year. On June 23, 1984, she married Robert L. "Bob" Miller, an L.A.-based publishing entrepreneur, combining three children from previous marriages.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: Daybreak is an American post-apocalyptic comedy-drama television series created by Brad Peyton and Aron Eli Coleite, based on the comic series by Brian Ralph. It premiered on October 24, 2019, on Netflix and stars Colin Ford, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sophie Simnett, Austin Crute, Cody Kearsley, Jeanté Godlock, Gregory Kasyan, Krysta Rodriguez, and Matthew Broderick.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: The series follows the story of 17-year-old Canadian high school outcast Josh Wheeler, who is searching for his missing British girlfriend Sam Dean in post-apocalyptic Glendale, California. He is joined by a ragtag group of misfits, including 10-year-old pyromaniac Angelica and Josh's former high school bully Wesley, who is now a pacifist would-be samurai. Josh tries to survive among the hordes of Mad Max-style gangs (evil jocks, cheerleaders turned Amazonian warriors, etc), people who have turned into zombie-like creatures called Ghoulies, and the mysterious Baron Triumph.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: Peyton started creating a series based on the graphic novel in 2012. He realised that the book had influences from Ferris Bueller. On July 26, 2018, Netflix announced an order for the production of a ten-episode first season. Aron Eli Coleite was set to serve as showrunner for the series. The series is created by Brad Peyton and Coleite who are credited as executive producers alongside Jeff Fierson. ASAP Entertainment will be involved in the production of the series. In September 2019, it was reported that the series was set to premiere on October 24, 2019. On December 16, 2019, Netflix canceled the series after one season.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: In October 2018, it was announced that Matthew Broderick would star in the series. In the same month, it was reported that Colin Ford, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Sophie Simnett, Austin Crute, Gregory Kasyan, Krysta Rodriguez, Cody Kearsley, and Jeante Godlock joined the cast.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: Principal photography for the first season took place on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from October 2018 to April 2019.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: On September 16, 2019, a teaser trailer for the series was released. On October 7, 2019, Netflix released the official trailer for the series.


title: Daybreak (2019 TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 70% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 7.0/10, based on 33 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Daybreak" blend of soapy teen drama and post apocalyptic horror has some truly inspired moments, even if it feels like you've seen a few of them before." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: Gregory David Roberts (born Gregory John Peter Smith; 1952) is an Australian author best known for his novel "Shantaram". He is a former heroin addict and convicted bank robber who escaped from Pentridge Prison in 1980 and fled to India, where he lived for ten years.


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: Roberts reportedly became addicted to heroin after his marriage ended and he lost custody of his young daughter. To finance his drug habit, he turned to crime, becoming known as the "Building Society Bandit" and the "Gentleman Bandit", because he only robbed institutions with adequate insurance. He wore a three-piece suit, and he always said "please" and "thank you" to the people he robbed.


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: At the time, Roberts believed that his manner lessened the brutality of his acts but, later in his life, he admitted that people only gave him money because he had made them afraid. He escaped from Pentridge Prison in 1980.


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: In 1990, Roberts was captured in Frankfurt, trying to smuggle himself into the country. He was extradited to Australia and served a further six years in prison, two of which were spent in solitary confinement. According to Roberts, he escaped prison again during that time but thought better of it and smuggled himself back into jail. His intention was to serve the rest of his sentence to give himself the chance to be reunited with his family. During his second stay in Australian prison, he began writing "Shantaram". The manuscript was destroyed twice by prison staff while Roberts was writing it.


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: After leaving prison, Roberts was finally able to finish and publish his novel "Shantaram". The book's title comes from the name his best friend's mother gave him, which means "Man of Peace", or "Man of God's Peace".


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: There is debate as to how much of "Shantaram" is based on true events or is a conflation of real life and fantasy. On that aspect of "Shantaram" and of the follow-up novel, "The Mountain Shadow", Roberts has stated:


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: Roberts lived in Melbourne, Germany, and France and finally returned to Mumbai, where he set up charitable foundations to assist the city's poor with health care coverage. He was also reunited with his daughter. He got engaged to Françoise Sturdza, who is the president of the Heart for India Foundation. Roberts also wrote the original screenplay for the movie adaptation of "Shantaram".


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: In 2009, Roberts was named a Zeitz Foundation Ambassador for Community. Ambassadors help raise awareness and shape activities in their areas. In 2011, Roberts stepped aside as an ambassador due to the pressure of other commitments but continues to assist the Zeitz Foundation as a Friend.


title: Gregory David Roberts

text: In September 2020, Roberts released his debut single, "Drive All Night". This was followed by "Lisa Run Away". His debut album, "Love and Faith", was recorded in Jamaica and released in December 2020.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Marcos René Maidana (born 17 July 1983) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2011 to 2012, and the WBA welterweight title from 2013 to 2014. A versatile brawler in the ring, Maidana was well known for his formidable punching power, and was never stopped in any of his five losses.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: Maidana started his career in 2004 before turning 21 years old. He fought his first 18 fights in his native Argentina over two years, winning all, including 17 via stoppage. On his 18th bout, he won the WBA Fedelatin super lightweight title. Over the next year, Maidana only fought once in Argentina, five times in Germany and once in Panama. At the end of 2008, Maidana had a professional record of 25–0, with 24 stoppages.


title: Marcos Maidana

text: On 2 February 2009, Maidana challenged for his first world title, the WBA super lightweight championship against Andreas Kotelnik at the StadtHalle in Rostock, Germany. Kotelnik beat Maidana via controversial split decision, with the judges scoring the fight 115–114, 113–115, and 115–113 in Kotelnik's favor. Maidana was credited with landing 342 of 1241 punches thrown (28%), with 259 of them being power punches and Kotelnik was more accurate in landing 229 of his 655 thrown (35%).