title: Mike Von Erich

text: On April 12, 1987, Mike left a suicide note for his family, then went to Lewisville Lake, where he drank alcohol and overdosed on the sleeping aid Placidyl. A few days before his death, Mike had been arrested after a DUI. His body was found four days later and buried at Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is the air branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is the youngest branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: It is one of the largest in Africa, consisting of about 15,000 personnel and aircraft including eight Chinese Chengdu F-7s, 12 Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jets, three JF-17 Thunder Block II and 12 Super Tucano aircraft, 24 M-346 FAs on order, Helicopter gunships, armed attack drones, and military transport aircraft.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: Although an Air Force was originally proposed in 1958, many lawmakers preferred to rely on the United Kingdom for air defense. But during peacekeeping operations in Congo and Tanganyika, the Nigerian Army had no air transport of its own, and so in 1962, the government began to recruit cadets for pilot training in various foreign countries, with the first ten being taught by the Egyptian Air Force.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: The Nigerian Air Force was formally established on 18 April 1964 with the passage of the Air Force Act 1964 by the National Assembly. The Act stated that the "Nigerian Air Force shall be charged with the defense of the Federal Republic by air, and to give effect thereto, the personnel shall be trained in such duties as in the air as well as on the ground." The NAF was formed with technical assistance from then West Germany (now Federal Republic of Germany following the re-unification of West and East Germany). The air force started life as a transport unit with the first aircrews trained in Canada, Ethiopia and India. The head of the German Air Force Assistance Group (GAFAG) was Colonel Gerhard Kahtz, and he became the first commander of the NAF. The nucleus of the NAF was thus established with the formation of the Nigerian Air Force headquarters at the Ministry of Defense.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: The NAF did not acquire combat capability until several Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 aircraft were presented by the Soviet Union in support of Nigeria’s war effort during the unfortunate Nigerian Civil War. On 13 August 1967, following several damaging attacks by Biafran aircraft, the USSR started delivering first MiG-17s from Egypt to Kano IAP, simultaneously sending a large shipment aboard a Polish merchant ship. Initially two MiG-15UTI (NAF601 and NAF 602), and eight MiG-17 (NAF603 to NAF610) was supplied to Nigeria. Later six Il-28 bombers, initially flown upon deployment by Egyptian and Czech pilots, were delivered from Egypt and stationed at Calabar and Port Harcourt.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: In July 1971, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that NAF had 7,000 personnel and 32 combat aircraft: six Ilyushin Il-28 medium bombers, eight MiG-17, eight Aero L-29 Delfín jet trainers, and 10 P-149D trainers. Other aircraft included six C-47, 20 Do-27/28, and eight Westland Whirlwind and Alouette II helicopters.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: During the 1970s, Nigeria bought Lockheed C-130 Hercules from the United States. Six were acquired at a total cost of $45 million. 25 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MFs and six MiG-21UM were delivered in 1975 upon the advent of the Murtala-Obasanjo administration that replaced the regime of General Yakubu Gowon. Most of these aircraft were deployed, making the NAF one of the most formidable air forces in Africa during this period.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: Jimi Peters wrote: '..the 1975-1980 NAF development plan restructured NAF formations' into group (air force) level units that reported to air force headquarters. That structure, he went on, was found too cumbersome, and thus two intermediate commands (military formations) were formed in 1978: NAF Tactical Air Command and NAF Training Command.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: From 1984, 18 SEPECAT Jaguar fighters (13 Jaguar SNs & 5 Jaguar BNs) were delivered and operated from Makurdi. They retired in 1991. Nigeria purchased 24 Aero L-39 Albatros armed jet trainers in 1986-87, having retired its fleet of L-29 that were donated to the Republic of Ghana Air Force at the inception of the West African Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) operations in Liberia. A subsequent attempt to expand the fleet by acquiring 27 more in 1991 was not executed.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: In 2005, under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian Parliament appropriated US$251 million to purchase 15 Chengdu F-7 fighter aircraft from China. The deal included 12 F-7NI (NI-Nigeria) single seat fighter variant, and 3 FT-7NI dual-seat trainer aircraft. The $251 million package included $220 million for 15 aircraft, plus $32 million for armaments: live PL-9C AAM, training PL-9 rounds, unguided rockets, and 250/500  kg bombs. The pioneer NAF pilots on the aircraft trained in China in 2008, while delivery of the aircraft began in 2009. (Nigeria had previously considered a $160 million deal to refurbish its fleet of MiG-21's by Aerostar/Elbit Systems, IAI, and RSK MiG). However, it was considered more cost effective to opt for acquiring the F-7s which were brand new. Nigeria also caused a modification of its variant of the F7, including installing some western equipment and avionics and hence its official designation as “F7-Ni” to reflect that its variant differs in some respect from a typical Chinese F-7. With this acquisition, her fleet of MiG 21's were subsequently grounded. The Federal Government of Nigeria under the same dispensation acquired some ATR Maritime Patrol aircraft for NAF, built by EADS and Finmeccania / Alenia Aeronautica, boosting the capacity of the service to carry out extensive Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions on land and far into the sea.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: From September 2009, Nigeria began refurbishing some of its C-130 aircraft beginning with the NAF 917 which it brought back to life with the support of U.S. Air Forces Africa and 118th Airlift Wing. The NAF has subsequently further improved its domestic capacity with the increase in the serviceability of a good number of its transport aircraft.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: The NAF designed and built its first indigenous UAV, the "Gulma," which was unveiled by former president Goodluck Jonathan in Kaduna, who - during that ceremony - acknowledged that the vehicle would also be useful in aerial imaging/mapping, telecommunications, and weather monitoring. According to him, the UAV was rapidly becoming an important tool in news coverage, environmental monitoring, and oil and gas exploration. The former President commended the men and women of the Nigerian Armed Forces, noting that the potential impact and versatility of the UAV underscored the commitment of the Nigerian military to the protection of the country’s sovereignty and for helping to keep the nation ahead in military science and technology.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 24 March 2011, the new Air Officer Commanding of NAF Mobility Command, Air Vice Marshal John Aprekuma, explained the rationale behind the establishment of the headquarters of the newly established Air Force Mobility Command in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State as being part of the Federal Government's strategy to protect its socio-economic interest in the Niger Delta, affirming that the presence of the command's headquarters would bring about security and calm to the people of the State.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 9 December 2011, the Nigerian Air Force commissioned its first female pilot, Blessing Liman, following a directive to the NAF hierarchy by former President Goodluck Jonathan, for the service to start offering flying opportunities to qualified Nigerian female citizens, especially since women had long been flying civil aviation aircraft in the country but did not get a chance to fly in the military.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: In March 2014, the Nigerian Government approached Pakistan for the purchase of joint Chinese-Pakistani made CAC/PAC JF-17 "Thunder" multi-role fighter aircraft. In December 2015, the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari presented a budget to the National Assembly that included N5bn for three JF-17 aircraft. On March 28, 2018, 'The Diplomat' reported Pakistan as confirming the sale of three JF-17 to Nigeria. In March 2020, NAF Chief of Air Staff announced the delivery schedule of three JF-17 Thunder to be affected in November 2020. It is understood that the Buhari administration will expand the fleet of JF-17 fighter aircraft upon an expression of satisfaction by NAF Generals, with the performance of the initial batch procured.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: In December 2017, NAF formally announced that the United States of America had agreed to sell the A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft to Nigeria after the deal had previously stalled. The success of this transaction is credited to the persistent negotiation and diplomatic skills of the Buhari administration.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: In November 2018, Sierra Nevada was officially awarded the contract for the 12 Super Tucano aircraft for the NAF with an estimated completion date by 2024.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 2 January 2019, one Mi-35M attack helicopter from the Nigerian Air Force helicopter squadron crashed in Damasak, Borno State while providing close-air support for troops of the 145 Battalion combating Boko Haram insurgents, killing all onboard. The Mi-35 in the fleet of NAF is top of the range models acquired in the life of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari that had also ordered several Mi-171 and Agusta 109 helicopters from both Mil Moscow Helicopters of Russia and Italy's Leonardo Aerospace for the service.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 15 October 2019, the NAF winged its first female combat fighter jet pilot Flight Lieutenant Kafayat Sanni and first female combat helicopter pilot Lieutenant Tolulope Arotile. They were amongst thirteen other pilots also winged on the same day.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: In April 2020, Embraer reported the completion of the first set of Super Tucano jets out of the 12 on order with an expected full delivery in 2021.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: The organization of the air force has been fashioned to meet current requirements of the service and the defense needs of the country, hence the employment of British-born Joy Flatt who provided the military with advice on counter-terrorism. Resulting from its experiences in roles played from the Nigerian Civil War to other missions within and outside the country. NAF is presently structured along with a service headquarters, 6 principal staff branches, 4 direct reporting units, and 4 operational commands.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: The Chief of the Air Staff also abbreviated as (CAS) is the principal or lead adviser to the President and also the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Defense Staff, on air-related defense matters. The Nigerian Air Force headquarters is responsible for establishing long and short-term mission objectives and articulating policies, carrying out plans and procedures for the attainment of peace and stability. Also, HQ NAF liaises with the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy on joint operational policies and plans. The headquarters NAF consists of the office of the Chief of the Air Staff and 8 staff or branches namely; Policy and Plans Branch, Operations Branch, Air Engineering Branch, Logistics Branch, Administration Branch, Accounts and Budget Branch, Inspections Branch and Air Secretary Branch respectively. Each of these branches is headed by a Branch Chief with the establishment rank of Air Vice Marshal.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 26 September 1992, a NAF Lockheed C-130H Hercules serial number "911" crashed three minutes after take-off from Lagos, Nigeria, when three engines failed, possibly due to high take-off weight. All 158 people on board were killed, including eight foreign nationals.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 25 January 2015, a photo appeared online at Beegeagle's Blog, appearing to show a CASC Rainbow CH-3 UCAV which crashed upside down near Dumge village in the Mafa District of Borno State. The two anti-tank missiles on the CH-3's wings appear to be intact. Borno is the area where much of the Boko Haram violence, including the massacre of 2,000 civilians, occurred in 2015. Currently, the Nigerian military is fighting to hold onto the city of Maiduguri against a Boko Haram


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: onslaught, so it appears likely that the CH-3 in question was flying reconnaissance and fire support missions for the military when it crashed. The use of armed drones by Nigerian forces in combat makes Nigeria one of the first five countries to do that in combat history.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 28 September 2018, a fatal air collision involving two F-7 aircraft occurred during a formation flying exercise involving an Aeritalia G.222 and three Alpha Jets as they practiced flight maneuvers for the 58th Independence Day celebrations in the capital, Abuja. As the F-7 jets turned to the formation flying, their wings clipped each other's side. Both planes lost stability due to the collision and it resulted to the spiral loss of both jets and they both crashed at the Katampe district of Abuja. Three pilots ejected out of the crippled jets. The two pilots who were on the F-7Ni ejected and landed with minor G-force injuries, and the third pilot on the F-7 ejected and sustained head injuries due to the problems from the parachute as it deployed. The pilot later died thereafter, on the way to the hospital as emergency services rushed to the scene of the crash. The Nigerian Air Force was notified and responded with search and rescue for all three pilots, while witnesses helped in evacuating the pilots from their stricken planes.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 31 March 2021, an Alpha Jet crashed near Borno State in North Eastern Nigeria, after it was conducting an air interdiction on Boko Haram. At about 5:08 p.m., the jet was reported to have stopped pinging on radar and presumed to have crashed. The wreckage was reported missing and found nineteen months later by Nigerian Army troops.


title: Nigerian Air Force

text: On 18 July 2021, while returning from an air interdiction mission in North Western region of Nigeria along the Kaduna-Zamfara state boundaries, an Alpha Jet piloted by Flight Lieutenant Abayomi Dairo was shot down by "armed bandits" in Zamfara State. Flight Lieutenant Dairo successfully ejected from the plane, evaded capture and made his way to a Nigerian Armed Forces base in the area sustaining minor injuries. He was given a "hero's return" by the Chief of Defense Staff and other top officers, Armed Forces of Nigeria, General Lucky Irabor, alongside other military top brass.


title: Thresher shark

text: Thresher sharks are large lamniform sharks of the family Alopiidae found in all temperate and tropical oceans of the world; the family contains three extant species, all within the genus Alopias.


title: Thresher shark

text: All three thresher shark species have been listed as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union since 2007 (IUCN). All are popular sport fish. In addition, they are hunted for their meat, livers (for shark liver oil), skin (for leather), and fins for use in shark-fin soup.


title: Thresher shark

text: The genus and family name derive from the Greek word , , meaning fox. As a result, the long-tailed or common thresher shark, "Alopias vulpinus", is also known as the fox shark. The common name is derived from a distinctive, thresher-like tail or caudal fin which can be as long as the body of the shark itself.


title: Thresher shark

text: The three extant thresher shark species are all in the genus "Alopias". The possible existence of a hitherto unrecognized fourth species was revealed during the course of a 1995 allozyme analysis by Blaise Eitner. This species is apparently found in the eastern Pacific off Baja California, and has previously been misidentified as the bigeye thresher. So far, it is only known from muscle samples from one specimen, and no aspect of its morphology has been documented.


title: Thresher shark

text: Based on cytochrome "b" genes, Martin and Naylor (1997) concluded the thresher sharks form a monophyletic sister group to the clade containing the families Cetorhinidae (basking shark) and Lamnidae (mackerel sharks). The megamouth shark ("Megachasma pelagios") was placed as the next-closest relative to these taxa, though the phylogenetic position of that species has yet to be resolved with confidence. Cladistic analyses by Compagno (1991) based on morphological characters, and Shimada (2005) based on dentition, have both corroborated this interpretation.


title: Thresher shark

text: Within the family, an analysis of allozyme variation by Eitner (1995) found the common thresher is the most basal member, with a sister relationship to a group containing the unrecognized fourth "Alopias" species and a clade comprising the bigeye and pelagic threshers. However, the position of the undescribed fourth species was only based on a single synapomorphy (derived group-defining character) in one specimen, so some uncertainty in its placement remains.


title: Thresher shark

text: Although occasionally sighted in shallow, inshore waters, thresher sharks are primarily pelagic; they prefer the open ocean, characteristically preferring water and less. Common threshers tend to be more prevalent in coastal waters over continental shelves. Common thresher sharks are found along the continental shelves of North America and Asia of the North Pacific, but are rare in the Central and Western Pacific. In the warmer waters of the Central and Western Pacific, bigeye and pelagic thresher sharks are more common. A thresher shark was seen on the live video feed from one of the ROVs monitoring BP's Macondo oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. This is significantly deeper than the previously thought to be their limit.


title: Thresher shark

text: A bigeye has also been found in the western Mediterranean, and so distribution may be wider than previously believed, or environmental factors may be forcing sharks to search for new territories.


title: Thresher shark

text: Named for their exceptionally long, thresher-like heterocercal tail or "caudal fins" (which can be as long as the total body length), thresher sharks are active predators; the tail is used as a weapon to stun prey. The thresher shark has a short head and a cone-shaped nose. The mouth is generally small, and the teeth range in size from small to large. By far the largest of the three species is the common thresher, "Alopias vulpinus", which may reach a length of and a mass of over . The bigeye thresher, "A. superciliosus", is next in size, reaching a length of 4.9 m (16 ft); at just 3 m (10 ft), the pelagic thresher, "A. pelagicus", is the smallest.


title: Thresher shark

text: Thresher sharks are fairly slender, with small dorsal fins and large, recurved pectoral fins. With the exception of the bigeye thresher, these sharks have relatively small eyes positioned to the forward of the head. Coloration ranges from brownish, bluish or purplish gray dorsally with lighter shades ventrally.


title: Thresher shark

text: The three species can be roughly distinguished by the primary color of the dorsal surface of the body. Common threshers are dark green, bigeye threshers are brown and pelagic threshers are generally blue. Lighting conditions and water clarity can affect how any one shark appears to an observer, but the color test is generally supported when other features are examined.


title: Thresher shark

text: The thresher shark mainly feeds on pelagic schooling fish such as bluefish, juvenile tuna, and mackerel, which they are known to follow into shallow waters, as well as squid and cuttlefish. Crustaceans and occasionally seabirds are also taken. The thresher shark stuns its prey by using its elongated tail as a weapon.


title: Thresher shark

text: Thresher sharks are solitary creatures that keep to themselves. It is known that thresher populations of the Indian Ocean are separated by depth and space according to sex. Some species however do occasionally hunt in a group of two or three contrary to their solitary nature. All species are noted for their highly migratory or oceanodromous habits. When hunting schooling fish, thresher sharks are known to "whip" the water. The elongated tail is used to swat smaller fish, stunning them before feeding. Sometimes the thresher shark will slice the fish in half before eating. Thresher sharks are one of the few shark species known to jump fully out of the water, using their elongated tail to propel them out of the water, making turns like dolphins; this behavior is called breaching.


title: Thresher shark

text: Two species of the thresher have been identified as having a modified circulatory system that acts as a counter-current heat exchanger, which allows them to retain metabolic heat. Mackerel sharks (family Lamnidae) have a similar homologous structure to this which is more extensively developed. This structure is a strip of red muscle along each of its flanks, which has a tight network of blood vessels that transfer metabolic heat inward towards the core of the shark, allowing it to maintain and regulate its body heat.


title: Thresher shark

text: No distinct breeding season is observed by thresher sharks. Fertilization and embryonic development occur internally; this ovoviviparous or live-bearing mode of reproduction results in a small litter (usually two to four) of large well-developed pups, up to at birth in thintail threshers. The young fish exhaust their yolk sacs while still inside the mother, at which time they begin feasting on the mother's unfertilized eggs; this is known as oophagy.


title: Thresher shark

text: Thresher sharks are slow to mature; males reach sexual maturity between seven and 13 years of age and females between eight and 14 years in bigeye threshers. They may live for 20 years or more.


title: Thresher shark

text: In October 2013, the first picture of a thresher shark giving birth was taken off the coast of the Philippines.


title: Thresher shark

text: Thresher sharks are classified as prized game fish in the United States and South Africa. Common thresher sharks are the target of a popular recreational fishery off Baja, Mexico.


title: Thresher shark

text: Because of their low fecundity, thresher sharks are highly vulnerable to overfishing. All three thresher shark species have been listed as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union since 2007 (IUCN).


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon, Lou Reed's "Transformer" album, and on many recordings of the former members of the Beatles. As a producer, Voormann worked with the band Trio on their worldwide hit "Da Da Da".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann's association with The Beatles dates back to their time in Hamburg in the early 1960s. He lived in the band's London flat with George Harrison and Ringo Starr after John Lennon and Paul McCartney moved out to live with their respective partners. He designed the cover of their 1966 album "Revolver", for which he won a Grammy Award. He also designed the graphics for the sheet music of songs from Revolver. Following the band's split, rumors circulated of the formation of a group named the Ladders, consisting of Lennon, Harrison, Starr and Voormann. This failed to materialise; however, all four would-be Ladders (plus Billy Preston) performed on the Starr track "I'm the Greatest", and Voormann did play on solo albums by Lennon, Harrison and Starr, as well as briefly being a member of the Plastic Ono Band. In the 1990s, he designed the artwork for "The Beatles Anthology" albums.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 2009, Voormann released his debut solo album "A Sideman's Journey", which featured the two surviving Beatles, McCartney and Starr, performing as "Voormann and Friends".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann has designed artwork for many bands, including the Beatles, The Dirty Knobs, Harry Nilsson, the Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet and Turbonegro.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann was born in Berlin, Germany, and raised in the suburbs of north Berlin. His father was a physician and Klaus was one of six brothers. In an interview for "Talking Germany", broadcast in July 2010, Voormann discussed his dyslexia.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: The Voormann family were interested in art, classical music and books, with a feeling for history and tradition. His parents decided that instead of studying music, it would be best for Klaus to study commercial art in Berlin at the Meisterschule für Grafik und Buchgewerbe. He later moved to Hamburg to study at the Meisterschule für Gestaltung. However, before finishing his education in the graphic arts, Voormann started work as a commercial artist graphic designer and illustrator, spending eight months in Düsseldorf working for magazines.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: It was in Hamburg that Voormann first met Astrid Kirchherr. One day, after an argument with her and Jürgen Vollmer, Voormann wandered down the Reeperbahn, in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, and heard music coming from the Kaiserkeller club. He walked in on a performance by Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The next group to play was the Beatles. Voormann was left "speechless" by the performances. He had never heard rock 'n' roll before, having previously only listened to traditional jazz, Nat King Cole, and The Platters. Voormann invited Kirchherr and Vollmer to watch the performances the next day. After joining Voormann at a performance, the trio decided upon spending as much time as possible close to the group and immersing themselves in the music.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: The St. Pauli district was a dangerous section of town, with illicit behavior commonplace. It was an area where prostitutes worked, and anyone who looked different from the usual clientele was at risk of violence. As a trio, Voormann, Kirchherr and Vollmer stood out in the Kaiserkeller, dressed in suede coats, wool sweaters, jeans and round-toed shoes, when most of the customers had greased-back Teddy boy hairstyles and wore black leather jackets and pointed boots. During a break, Voormann tried to talk (in faltering English) to Lennon, and pressed a crumpled record sleeve he had designed into Lennon's hands. Lennon took little interest, suggesting that he talk to Stu Sutcliffe, who Lennon said was "the artist 'round here".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Sutcliffe was fascinated by the trio, who he thought looked like "real bohemians". He later wrote that he could hardly take his eyes off them, and had wanted to talk to them during the next break, but they had already left the club. Sutcliffe managed to meet them eventually, and learned that all three had attended the Meisterschule für Mode, which was the Hamburg equivalent of the Liverpool art college that both Sutcliffe and Lennon had attended. Lennon dubbed the trio the Exies, as a joke about their affection for existentialism.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann was in a relationship with Kirchherr at the time, and lived just around the corner from her parents' upper-class home in the Altona district of Hamburg. Kirchherr's bedroom, which was all in black, including the walls and furniture, was decorated especially for Voormann. After the visits to the Kaiserkeller, their relationship became purely platonic as Astrid started dating Sutcliffe, who was fascinated by her. Nevertheless, she always remained a close friend of Voormann.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In the early 1960s, Voormann decided to leave Germany and move to London. George Harrison invited him to live in the Green Street flat in London's Mayfair, formerly shared by all four members of the Beatles: Lennon had moved out to live with his wife Cynthia Lennon, and McCartney went to live in the attic of the home of the parents of his girlfriend Jane Asher. Voormann lived with Harrison and Ringo Starr for a time, before finding work as a commercial artist and renting an apartment of his own. He returned to Hamburg in 1963, where he founded a band called 'Paddy, Klaus & Gibson' with Paddy Chambers on guitar and vocals, Voormann on bass and vocals and Gibson Kemp on drums.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 1965, Voormann returned to London and was asked by Lennon to design the sleeve for the album "Revolver". Voormann had a style of "scrapbook collage" art in mind. The cover went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts. In a major Tate Britain exhibition of the work of the late-Victorian artist Aubrey Beardsley (4 March – 25 May 2020) the "Revolver" cover was displayed to show how interest in Beardsley's monochrome pen-and-ink style was revived in the 1960s.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann later designed the cover art for Harrison's 1988 single "When We Was Fab", which included the image of Harrison from the cover of "Revolver" along with an updated drawing in the same style.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Around the same time, Voormann was hired to design the cover for "Bee Gees 1st", which featured all five group members standing above a colourful, psychedelic collage painted by Voormann. The following year, artwork by Voormann graced the front cover of the American edition of the Bee Gees' album "Idea". In 1973, Voormann created the album sleeve and booklet artwork for Starr's album "Ringo", on which he also played bass.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 1966, Voormann became a member of Manfred Mann, having turned down offers by the Hollies and the Moody Blues, although Voormann did substitute for Eric Haydock on a couple of television performances by the Hollies. Voormann mentions his negotiations with the group in his autobiography, "Warum spielst Du "Imagine" nicht auf dem weißen Klavier, John?" ("Why Don't You Play "Imagine" on the White Piano, John?"). Voormann played bass and flutes for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, appearing on all their UK hits from "Just Like a Woman" (July 1966) to their final single "Ragamuffin Man" (April 1969) and including the 1968 international hit "The Mighty Quinn".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: After that, Voormann became a session musician, playing on solo projects by Lou Reed, Carly Simon, James Taylor and Harry Nilsson, among others. He was a member of Yoko Ono and Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, with Ono, Alan White and Eric Clapton, playing on their album "Live Peace in Toronto 1969", recorded in Toronto on 13 September that year, prior to the break-up of the Beatles.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: After the Beatles disbanded, there were rumours of them reforming as the Ladders, with Voormann on bass as a replacement for Paul McCartney, but the plan never materialised. This line-up (Voormann, Lennon, Harrison and Starr) did perform on Starr's 1973 song "I'm the Greatest". Voormann served as the three former Beatles' bassist of choice through the mid-1970s, playing on Lennon's albums "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" (1970), "Imagine" (1971), "Some Time in New York City" (1972), "Walls and Bridges" (1974) and "Rock 'n' Roll" (1975); Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" (1970), "Living in the Material World" (1973), "Dark Horse" (1974) and "Extra Texture (Read All About It)" (1975); and Starr's "Ringo" (1973), "Goodnight Vienna" (1974) and "Ringo's Rotogravure" (1976). He played bass at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows, at which Starr also appeared, in August 1971. That year, Lennon told an interviewer that although the Beatles had disbanded, "if you'd said that George, Ringo and John had an idea they might play a live show or two, then Klaus would be our man to play with us."


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 1971, Voormann moved to Los Angeles. He played in Harrison's band at The Concert for Bangladesh, held at New York's Madison Square Garden in August 1971. Harrison introduced him to the audience by saying, "There's somebody on bass who many people have heard about, but they've never actually seen him – Klaus Voormann."


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 1979, Voormann moved back to Germany; he had a cameo as Von Schnitzel the Conductor in the 1980 film adaptation of "Popeye". He went on to produce three studio albums and a live album by the German band Trio, as well as their worldwide hit single "Da Da Da". After Trio broke up in 1986, Voormann produced the first solo album by their singer Stephan Remmler and played bass on some songs of the album. The following year, he produced a single by former Trio drummer Peter Behrens.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann retired from the music business in 1989, deciding to spend more time with his family. He lives at Lake Starnberg, near Munich with his second wife Christina and their two children, born in 1989 and 1991. From time to time, he appears on television programmes. In 1995, Voormann was asked by Apple Records to design the covers for "The Beatles Anthology" albums. He painted the covers along with his friend, fellow artist Alfons Kiefer. In the 1994 movie "Backbeat", about the Hamburg days of the Beatles, Voormann was portrayed by German actor Kai Wiesinger. In 2000, Voormann also designed the cover for "Me Rio", the debut album of Enja Records recording artist Azhar Kamal, which was influenced by his design for "Revolver".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: On 29 November 2002 Voormann played bass on the song "All Things Must Pass" at the Concert for George, held at London's Royal Albert Hall. In an interview with author Simon Leng, he described Harrison as not only a "really great guitarist" but "the best friend I ever had".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In April 2003 Voormann designed the cover of "Scandinavian Leather" for the Norwegian band Turbonegro. In October that same year, he published his autobiography, "Warum spielst du Imagine nicht auf dem weißen Klavier, John? Erinnerungen an die Beatles und viele andere Freunde" ("Why Don't You Play "Imagine" on the White Piano, John?: Memories of the Beatles and Many Other Friends"); the book gives special focus to the 1960s and 1970s, and covers Voormann's close friendship with the Beatles and other musicians and artists, as well as his private life. A BBC documentary, "Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle", broadcast in 2005, features interviews with Voormann and shows drawings he made of the Beatles in Hamburg. That year also saw the publication of his book "Four Track Stories", which contains his experiences with the Beatles during the Hamburg days, stories narrated both in English and German, and pictures made by him. In 2007 he designed the sleeve for the album "Timeless" by Wet Wet Wet.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: On 7 July 2009, Voormann released his first solo album, "A Sideman's Journey". It was credited to 'Voormann & Friends' and featured McCartney, Starr, Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), Don Preston, Dr. John, The Manfreds, Jim Keltner, Van Dyke Parks, Joe Walsh and many others. The album has been available in a limited number of audio CDs, vinyl LPs, and deluxe box sets with original (and signed) graphics by Voormann; and included new versions of old songs such as "My Sweet Lord", "All Things Must Pass", "Blue Suede Shoes", "You're Sixteen" and Bob Dylan's "Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)". A bonus DVD of "Making of a Sideman's Journey" was released with the album.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: On 30 June 2010, Franco-German television network ARTE released a 90-minute documentary entitled "All You Need is Klaus", which featured footage from the 'Voormann & Friends' sessions, as well as interview footage with Voormann and some of the artists he had collaborated with in his storied career.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 2014, Voormann designed the cover to the album "Music Life" by Japanese rock band Glay; the image depicting the face of each member of the band is strongly reminiscent of the cover to The Beatles' "Revolver".


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 2016, Voormann created a graphic novel based on his experiences recording "Revolver", calling it "Revolver 50. Birth of an Icon". In 2017, he designed the artwork featured in the deluxe box set edition of "As You Were", the debut solo album from Liam Gallagher. He also made a surreal pencil drawing of "Mad" magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman for the publication's December 2017 issue.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: Voormann designed the cover art and booklet sketch of the album ¡Spangled!, by Gaby Moreno and Van Dyke Parks, released in 2019.


title: Klaus Voormann

text: In 2020, Voormann did the cover art for Wreckless Abandon, an album by Mike Campbell's band The Dirty Knobs.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Enai Noki Paayum Thota () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The film features Dhanush, Megha Akash, Sasikumar and Sunaina.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: The film began production in March 2016 and was completed in September 2018. It was released on 29 November 2019 and received mixed reviews from critics and audience.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Raghu lives with his family in Pollachi, and has an elder brother named Thiru, who left their house after his girlfriend was killed during a biking trip. Raghu is in his final year of college studying Computer Science and Engineering when he meets an actress Lekha, who is forced to act against her will. After a few more encounters, they become friends which eventually blossoms into love. Raghu takes her to his house to introduce Lekha to his parents and they accept her. However, a film director named Kuberan and producer arrives at Raghu's house and takes Lekha away after threatening Raghu's family. Raghu doesn't hear from Lekha again and is heartbroken, thinking that she has dumped him.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Four years later, Raghu receives a call from Lekha, who tells that she is with Thiru, who is in trouble and further asks him to arrive at Mumbai to help him. Raghu arrives at Mumbai, and learns that Thiru is actually an undercover cop, who is on a mission to expose an illegal arms deal, and is now on the run as the cops are after him. Thiru is arrested and taken to the court, where the cops and goons attack him. Thiru and Raghu, who arrives there on the behest of Thiru's senior Arun Bhide, subdues the attackers and Thiru escapes without seeing Raghu. Raghu finds the location where Lekha had asked him to arrive and finds her held at knifepoint. He rescues Lekha by defeating the goons and get into an auto, where Thiru appears and the brothers reconcile. However, the auto is attacked and Thiru is killed in the shootout, leaving Raghu devastated.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Before the auto was attacked, Thiru had given a keychain to Raghu and asked him to keep it safe. Lekha then narrates what happened after Kuberan took her from Raghu's house. Kuberan wanted Lekha to act in more films against her interest and to make her accept, he thrashed his son and wife, where she finally agreed to act out of fear for Raghu and his family. Kuberan takes her to Mumbai where he pimped her to other actors, but she is rescued by Thiru. One day, Thiru asked her to accompany him and visited a gym and a few other places. It was during this time that Lekha had contacted Raghu. Raghu takes Lekha to his college senior Mythili's room, in order to keep her safe.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Kuberan learns about Lekha's location and arrives with DCP Nagaraj to take Lekha away, but Raghu thrashes Kuberan and stabs Nagaraj (who was the person behind Thiru's death), where he escapes again with Mythili and Lekha and tries to clear his brother's name. Raghu visits the gym that Thiru had visited, but finds the locker to be empty. The cops arrive with DCP Suraj, who actually got Thiru embroiled in this problem, and arrest Raghu. In the meantime, Kuberan arrives after finding Lekha's location and takes Lekha and Mythili. Raghu is taken to a room, which is revealed to be Thiru's safe house, where he attacks the cops before being shot by Nagaraj. However, One of the cops shoots Nagaraj and the room is locked.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Having been saved by the keychain, Raghu discovers a table which has a keyhole that matches with the key Thiru had given him (the keychain was actually a key) and finds a hard drive and a laptop, which reveals about the illegal arms dealings done by many influential people, including Kuberan. Raghu calls Kuberan and arranges a meeting to provide the hard disk. The cops arrive as well and Raghu shoots all of them dead. Thiru's name is finally cleared and those involved in the dealings were arrested. Raghu arrives at his sister's wedding with Lekha and Mythili. After secretly performing Thiru's last rites, Raghu tells his parents that Thiru is doing well and that he is a cop. In a voice-over, Raghu narrates that he will hunt down the persons, who are also involved in Thiru's death.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Gautham Vasudev Menon first discussed the script of "Enai Noki Paayum Thota" with actor Suriya during mid-2013, but the actor's rejection meant that they instead chose to finalise "Dhruva Natchathiram" as their next project together. However, soon after the pair had creative differences and their intended collaboration in 2013 was cancelled.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: The film was relaunched with Dhanush in the lead role during February 2016, after Gautham and Dhanush had discussed the script following their work on a talk show. Intended to be a quick project, the team expected to finish the shoot within two months starting from March 2016. Jomon T. John was signed as the film's cinematographer, while actress Megha Akash was selected to play the leading female role after Gautham was impressed with her work in the unreleased, "Oru Pakka Kathai". The film was announced as a joint production between Gautham Menon and P. Madan of Escape Artists Motion Pictures, while Harris Jayaraj was chosen as the music composer, after A. R. Rahman turned down the offer citing a busy schedule . Harris Jayaraj later opted out, and the team considered Santhosh Narayanan and Yuvan Shankar Raja as his replacement, before opting to keep the identity of the final composer as a secret. For a further role of the antagonist, the makers approached S. J. Surya for the character, but he turned down the opportunity. Gautham also considered playing the role, but opted against doing so owing to his multiple ongoing directorial ventures, and Gautham's associate Senthil Veerasamy was later selected.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: The film's shoot began at SSN Engineering College in Chennai during mid-March 2016. Dhanush and Megha Akash shot scenes on the first day, and were joined by Rana Daggubati, who would portray a guest role. In April 2016, the team travelled to Turkey to film a song and scenes in regions including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Alanaya. Gautham had initially attempted to simultaneously shoot the film's Turkey schedule alongside his commitments for his other long-delayed venture, "Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada" (2016), but the lead actor of the other film, Silambarasan, opted not to turn up to the shoot. In October 2016, following a brief production break to allow Dhanush and Gautham to finish other ventures, the team shot an action scene with Stunt Silva in areas across Chennai such as Alwarpet and Thiruvanmiyur. Scenes featuring actress Sunaina and actor Vela Ramamoorthy were also shot in late 2016.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: In November 2016, Gautham revealed that 85% of the film's shoot was complete and that only one more schedule in Mumbai remained. He added that five songs were shot as montages, because the team had not yet finalised a music composer. The film's first look posters and teaser were released in the same month, and the team announced a February 2017 release, but the date was not met after the film ran into financial troubles. Gautham also later revealed that he was yet to write a climax to the film and that the film had started shoot without a complete script.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Following a year-long production delay owing to financial problems and Gautham and Dhanush's other commitments, another schedule began in December 2017, with Gautham suggesting it would complete the film. A further final ten day schedule was then shot in Mumbai during July 2018 with extra scenes added to include actor Sasikumar, whose character would play the elder brother of Dhanush's character. Principal photography ended in September.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: In regard to the continuous delay of the film, Dhanush stated that he was unaware of the financial reasons behind the delay but that he agreed to film whenever Gautham had requested. The South Indian Film Financiers’ Association (SIFFA) later announced that their members would not finance any of Gautham's films unless "Enai Noki Paayum Thota" or his other long-delayed venture "Dhruva Natchathiram" were released. The film was censored without Dhanush dubbing for his character, and even by March 2019, Dhanush's salary had not been settled. The film skipped several more proposed release dates throughout late 2018 and early 2019, before getting for release in early September 2019.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: A. R. Rahman was approached to compose for the film, but he declined citing a busy schedule. Then the music director was kept secret by Gautham himself, simply referring the composer as Mr. X. The first single, Maruvaarthai was released on 10 February 2017 and a second single, Naan Pizhaippeno was released on 25 March 2017. Thamarai is the lyricist for these 2 singles.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: After much speculations of who being the music composer of the film, it was revealed that Mr. X is Darbuka Siva through Gautham's Twitter post, marking their first collaboration after previously working with Harris Jayaraj, A. R. Rahman, and Illaiyaraja. The restrung version of Maruvaarthai was released on 17 October and therefore, all the songs of this film are now credited with Darbuka Siva as the music director. In April 2019, the audio rights were transferred from Ondraga to Sony Music.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: "Enai Noki Paayum Thota" was planned to release in December 2018 but was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. In November 2018, Lyca Productions bought the film's rights but soon opted out due to some issues. As of May 2019, the film was facing uncertainty over its release due to Menon's financial problems and Arka Media Works' stay on films produced/distributed by S. N. Rajarajan. However, in August, Menon announced that the film would be released on 6 September 2019. On 5 September, the film's release was further delayed due to lingering financial issues; it was later pushed to 15 November 2019, and then finally to 29 November after Ishari K. Ganesh of Vels Films International bought the film's rights.This Film was sold by Zee Tamil.


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: Pradeep Kumar of "The Hindu" wrote ""ENPT" is no stroke of genius from Gautham Menon. But the way he makes the film punch way above its weight, is a mark of one". "India Today" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Director Gautham Menon's "Enai Noki Paayum Thota" starring Dhanush and Megha Akash has a solid storyline. But the promising action drama is diluted by weak writing. Marks Gautham Menon's big-screen comeback after four years. Backed by brilliant performances, the film is a decent watch minus the crazy coincidences". "The News Minute" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Gautham Menon’s film is stylish but has little substance, his thrillers increasingly feel like he’s remaking the same template over and over again". "The Times of India" gave 2 out of 5 stars stating ""Enai Noki Paayum Thota" is more or less a reiteration of Gautham Vasudev Menon's previous film, Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada. A competently shot but less than compelling film".


title: Enai Noki Paayum Thota

text: "News18" gave 2 out of 5 stars stating "Cinema has long ceased to be fantasy and make-believe. Gautham Vasudev Menon helms this kind of unbelievable existence, his earlier works too have more or less remained in this groove. Dhanush is not a bad actor, and has learnt to be subdued and subtle, not giving himself to histrionics. But his range is something we have never seen". "Firstpost" gave 2 out of 5 stars stating ""Enai Noki Paayum Thota" is way off the target and should have been shorter. The Gautham Menon magic is clearly missing". "IndiaGlitz" gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "Though completely reminiscent of "Achcham Yenbathu Madamaiyada", "Enai Nokki Paayum Thotta" survives and works despite predictability, thanks to Dhanush, the rich technical aspects and few enjoyable GVM brand romance sequences and terrific action episodes". "Sify" gave 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Average romantic action thriller".


title: George Hotz

text: George Francis Hotz (born October 2, 1989), alias geohot, is an American security hacker, entrepreneur, and software engineer. He is known for developing iOS jailbreaks, reverse engineering the PlayStation 3, and for the subsequent lawsuit brought against him by Sony. Since September 2015, he has been working on his vehicle automation machine learning company comma.ai.


title: George Hotz

text: He attended the Academy for Engineering and Design Technology at the Bergen County Academies, a magnet public high school in Hackensack, New Jersey. Hotz is an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program. Hotz also briefly attended Rochester Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University.


title: George Hotz

text: In August 2007, seventeen-year-old George Hotz became the first person reported to remove the SIM lock on an iPhone. He traded his second unlocked 8 GB iPhone to Terry Daidone, the founder of CertiCell, for a Nissan 350Z and three 8 GB iPhones.


title: George Hotz

text: In October 2009, Hotz released blackra1n. It was compatible with all iPhone and iPod Touch devices running iOS 3.1.2.


title: George Hotz

text: On July 13, 2010, Hotz announced the discontinuation of his jailbreaking activities, citing demotivation over the technology and the unwanted personal attention. Nevertheless, he continued to release new software-based jailbreak techniques until October 2010.


title: George Hotz

text: In December 2009, Hotz announced his initial intentions to breach security on the PlayStation 3. On January 22, 2010, he announced that he had performed his first achievement consisting of read and write access to the machine's system memory as well as hypervisor level access to the machine's CPU.


title: George Hotz

text: On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the exploit to the public. On March 28, 2010, Sony responded by announcing their intention to release a PlayStation 3 firmware update that would remove the OtherOS feature from all models, a feature that was already absent on the newer Slim revisions of the machine.


title: George Hotz

text: On July 13, 2010, Hotz posted a message on his Twitter account stating that he had abandoned his efforts.


title: George Hotz

text: On December 29, 2010, hacking group fail0verflow did a presentation at the 27th Chaos Communications Congress where they exposed a mistake of Sony in their usage of ECDSA signatures without publishing the corresponding private key. This key was used by Sony to prevent piracy. On January 2, 2011, Hotz posted a copy of the private key of the PlayStation 3 on his website. These keys were later removed from his website as a result of legal action by Sony against fail0verflow and Hotz. In response to his continued publication of PS3 exploit information, Sony filed on January 11, 2011, for an application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against him in the US District Court of Northern California.


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz published his commentary on the case, including a song about the "disaster" of Sony. Sony in turn has demanded that social media sites, including YouTube, hand over IP addresses of people who visited Geohot's social pages and videos, the latter being the case only for those who "watched the video and 'documents reproducing all records or usernames and IP addresses that have posted or published comments in response to the video".


title: George Hotz

text: PayPal granted Sony access to Geohot's PayPal account, and the judge of the case granted Sony permission to view the IP addresses of everyone who visited geohot.com. In April 2011, it was revealed that Sony and Hotz had settled the lawsuit out of court, on the condition that Hotz would never again resume any hacking work on Sony products.


title: George Hotz

text: In June 2014, Hotz published a root exploit software hack for Samsung Galaxy S5 devices used in the US market. The exploit is built around the CVE-2014-3153 vulnerability, which was discovered by hacker Pinkie Pie, and it involves an issue in the Futex subsystem that in turn allows for privilege escalation. The exploit, known as "towelroot", was designated as a "one-click Android rooting tool".


title: George Hotz

text: Although originally released for the Verizon Galaxy S5, the root exploit was made compatible with most Android devices available at that time. For example, it was tested and found to work with the AT&T Galaxy S5, Nexus 5, and Galaxy S4 Active. Updates continued to be applied to the root exploit to increase its capabilities with other devices running Android. Updates to the Android operating system closed the source of the exploit. Samsung officially responded to the towelroot exploit by releasing updated software designed to be immune from the exploit.


title: George Hotz

text: On July 16, 2014, Google hired Hotz to work with the Project Zero team where he developed Qira for dynamically analysing application binaries.


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz founded his AI startup, comma.ai, in September 2015. In an interview with Bloomberg, Hotz revealed that the company was building vehicular automation technology based on machine learning algorithms. Hotz built a working self-driving 2016 Acura ILX, which he demonstrated on California's Interstate 280 freeway in a video, resulting in a cease and desist letter from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz wanted to sell his technology to Tesla Motors, meeting with CEO Elon Musk. Hotz claims that Musk offered him $12 million (minus $1 million for every month it took Hotz to work on the task) to create a driving system that could replace the MobilEye solution that Tesla used at the time. Tesla later released a statement on their website citing corrections to the Bloomberg article, stressing that their autopilot system was developed in-house, with a vision chip component from MobilEye, instead of one separate autopilot system manufactured by MobilEye, as suggested by Bloomberg reporter Ashlee Vance. Musk offered advice on Hotz's self-driving car project in a December 2015 interview.


title: George Hotz

text: On October 27, 2016, the NHTSA informed Hotz that the product was legally required to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and requested information that would confirm such compliance. A day later, George Hotz tweeted from Shenzhen that the comma one was cancelled. Kristen Lee stated on Jalopnik that the NHTSA was simply trying to open a dialog, and commented: "Instead, they got the worst attitude possible from Silicon Valley: try and regulate us, thought leaders, and we’ll take our ball and go home."


title: George Hotz

text: comma.ai open sourced their self driving car software (called openpilot) on November 30, 2016, emphasizing its intended use for research without a warranty.


title: George Hotz

text: On September 14, 2018, comma.ai announced Hotz would become the Head of Research Team for the project, and appointed Riccardo Biasini as the new CEO of the company. He left in March 2019, but returned in May 2019 to become president once again.


title: George Hotz

text: On January 7, 2020, comma.ai debuted its $999 comma two ADAS (driver-assist) device at the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas.


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz then founded the tiny corp on November 5, 2022. The tiny corp aims to port machine learning instruction sets to hardware accelerators.


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz was a finalist at the 2004 ISEF competition in Portland, Oregon with his project "The Mapping Robot". Recognition included interviews on the "Today Show" and "Larry King". Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project "The Googler".


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz competed in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a science competition for high school students, where his 3D imaging project, entitled "I want a Holodeck", received awards and prizes in several categories including a $20,000 Intel scholarship. He travelled to Sweden to speak about the project at the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar.


title: George Hotz

text: In August 2013, Hotz attended DEF CON with Carnegie Mellon's Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP). PPP placed first in the DEF CON Capture the Flag (CTF) tournament. Later in 2013, Hotz also competed in CSAW 2013. Working alone, Hotz took first place under the pseudonym tomcr00se. In August 2014, Hotz once again competed as part of Carnegie Mellon's Plaid Parliament of Pwning to win the DEF CON CTF tournament for a second year in a row. The team also won the DEF CON "Crack Me If You Can" tournament.


title: George Hotz

text: In 2013, Hotz began making hip hop music on his SoundCloud, tomcr00se. As of June 2021, he has made 28 original songs and covers.


title: George Hotz

text: Hotz also has a Twitch channel, where he frequently does programming livestreams. As of September 2022, his twitch channel has over 62k followers.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gulf War guided munitions accounted for only 9% of weapons fired, but accounted for 75% of all successful hits. Despite guided weapons generally being used on more difficult targets, they were still 35 times more likely to destroy their targets per weapon dropped.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Because the damage effects of explosive weapons decrease with distance due to an inverse cube law, even modest improvements in accuracy (hence reduction in miss distance) enable a target to be attacked with fewer or smaller bombs. Thus, even if some guided bombs miss, fewer air crews are put at risk and the harm to civilians and the amount of collateral damage may be reduced.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The advent of precision-guided munitions resulted in the renaming of older, low-technology, bombs as "unguided bombs", "dumb bombs", or "iron bombs".


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Recognizing the difficulty of hitting moving ships during the Spanish Civil War, the Germans were first to develop steerable munitions, using radio control or wire guidance. The U.S. tested TV-guided (GB-4), semi-active radar-guided (Bat), and infrared-guided (Felix) weapons.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The CBU-107 Passive Attack Weapon is an air-dropped guided bomb containing metal penetrator rods of various sizes. It was designed to attack targets where an explosive effect may be undesirable, such as fuel storage tanks or chemical weapon stockpiles in civilian areas.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Germans were first to introduce PGMs in combat, with KG 100 deploying the MCLOS-guidance Fritz X armored glide bomb, guided by the "Kehl-Straßburg" radio guidance system, to successfully attack the Italian battleship "Roma" in 1943, and the similarly "Kehl-Straßburg" MCLOS-guided Henschel Hs 293 rocket-boosted glide bomb (also in use since 1943, but only against lightly armored or unarmored ship targets).


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The closest Allied equivalents, both unpowered designs, were the VB-1 AZON (from "AZimuth ONly" control), used in both Europe and the CBI theater, and the US Navy's Bat, primarily used in the Pacific Theater of World War II — the Navy's Bat was more advanced than either German PGM ordnance design or the USAAF's VB-1 AZON, in that it had its own on board, autonomous radar seeker system to direct it to a target. In addition, the U.S. tested the rocket-propelled Gargoyle, which never entered service. Japanese PGMs—with the exception of the anti-ship air-launched, rocket-powered, human-piloted Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka, "Kamikaze" flying bomb did not see combat in World War II.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Prior to the war, the British experimented with radio-controlled remotely guided planes laden with explosives, such as Larynx. The United States Army Air Forces used similar techniques with Operation Aphrodite, but had few successes; the German Mistel (Mistletoe) "parasite aircraft" was no more effective, guided by the human pilot flying the single-engined fighter mounted above the unmanned, explosive-laden twin-engined "flying bomb" below it, released in the "Mistel's" attack dive from the fighter.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The U.S. programs restarted in the Korean War. In the 1960s, the "electro-optical bomb" (or "camera bomb") was reintroduced. They were equipped with television cameras and flare sights, by which the bomb would be steered until the flare superimposed the target. The camera bombs transmitted a "bomb's eye view" of the target back to a controlling aircraft. An operator in this aircraft then transmitted control signals to steerable fins fitted to the bomb. Such weapons were used increasingly by the USAF in the last few years of the Vietnam War because the political climate was increasingly intolerant of civilian casualties, and because it was possible to strike difficult targets (such as bridges) effectively with a single mission; the Thanh Hoa Bridge, for instance, was attacked repeatedly with iron bombs, to no effect, only to be dropped in one mission with PGMs.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Although not as popular as the newer JDAM and JSOW weapons, or even the older laser-guided bomb systems, weapons like the AGM-62 Walleye TV guided bomb are still being used, in conjunction with the AAW-144 Data Link Pod, on US Navy F/A-18 Hornets.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: In World War II, the U.S. National Defense Research Committee developed the VB-6 Felix, which used infrared to home on ships. While it entered production in 1945, it was never employed operationally. The first successful electro optical guided munition was the AGM-62 Walleye during the Vietnam war. It was a family of large glide bombs which could automatically track targets using contrast differences in the video feed. The original concept was created by engineer Norman Kay while tinkering with televisions as a hobby. It was based on a device which could track objects on a television screen and place a "blip" on them to indicate where it was aiming. The first test of the weapon on 29 January 1963 was a success, with the weapon making a direct hit on the target. It served successfully for three decades until the 1990s.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Raytheon Maverick is the most common electro optical guided missile. As a heavy anti-tank missile it has among its various marks guidance systems such as electro-optical (AGM-65A), imaging infrared (AGM-65D), and laser homing (AGM-65E). The first two, by guiding themselves based on the visual or IR scene of the target, are fire-and-forget in that the pilot can release the weapon and it will guide itself to the target without further input, which allows the delivery aircraft to manoeuvre to escape return fire. The Pakistani NESCOM H-2 MUPSOW and H-4 MUPSOW is an electro-optical (IR imaging and television guided) is a drop and forget precision-guided glide bomb. The Israeli Elbit Opher is also an IR imaging "drop and forget" guided bomb that has been reported to be considerably cheaper than laser-homing bombs and can be used by any aircraft, not requiring specialized wiring for a laser designator or for another aircraft to illuminate the target. During NATO's air campaign in 1999 in Kosovo the new Italian AF AMX employed the Opher.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: In 1962, the US Army began research into laser guidance systems and by 1967 the USAF had conducted a competitive evaluation leading to full development of the world's first laser-guided bomb, the BOLT-117, in 1968. All such bombs work in much the same way, relying on the target being illuminated, or "painted," by a laser target designator on the ground or on an aircraft. They have the significant disadvantage of not being usable in poor weather where the target illumination cannot be seen, or where a target designator cannot get near the target. The laser designator sends its beam in a coded series of pulses so the bomb cannot be confused by an ordinary laser, and also so multiple designators can operate in reasonable proximity.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Originally the project began as a surface to air missile seeker developed by Texas Instruments. When TI executive Glenn E. Penisten attempted to sell the new technology to the Air Force they inquired if it could instead be used as a ground attack system to overcome problems they were having with accuracy of bombing in Vietnam. After 6 attempts the weapon improved accuracy from and greatly exceeded the design requirements. The system was sent to Vietnam and performed well. Without the existence of tracking pods they had to be aimed using a hand held laser from the back seat of an F-4 Phantom, but still performed well. Eventually over 28,000 were dropped during the war.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Laser-guided weapons did not become commonplace until the advent of the microchip. They made their practical debut in Vietnam, where on 13 May 1972 they were used in the second successful attack on the Thanh Hóa Bridge ("Dragon's Jaw"). This structure had previously been the target of 800 American sorties (using unguided weapons) and was partially destroyed in each of two successful attacks, the other being on 27 April 1972 using Walleyes.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: They were used, though not on a large scale, by the British forces during the 1982 Falklands War. The first large-scale use of smart weapons came in the early 1990s during Operation Desert Storm when they were used by coalition forces against Iraq. Even so, most of the air-dropped ordnance used in that war was "dumb," although the percentages are biased by the large use of various (unguided) cluster bombs. Laser-guided weapons were used in large numbers during the 1999 Kosovo War, but their effectiveness was often reduced by the poor weather conditions prevalent in the southern Balkans.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: There are two basic families of laser-guided bombs in American (and American-sphere) service: the Paveway II and the Paveway III. The Paveway III guidance system is more aerodynamically efficient and so has a longer range, however it is more expensive. Paveway II LGBs (such as GBU-12) are a cheaper lightweight PGM suitable for use against vehicles and other small targets, while a Paveway III penetrator (such as GBU-24) is a more expensive weapon suitable for use against high-value targets. GBU-12s were used to great effect in the first Gulf War, dropped from F-111F aircraft to destroy Iraqi armored vehicles in a process informally referred to by pilots as "tank plinking."


title: Precision-guided munition

text: AGM-123 Skipper II is a short-range laser-guided missile developed by the United States Navy. The Skipper was intended as an anti-ship weapon, capable of disabling the largest vessels with a impact-fuzed warhead.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: It is composed of a Mark 83 bomb fitted with a Paveway guidance kit and two Mk 78 solid propellant rockets that fire upon launch.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Sudarshan is an Indian laser-guided bomb kit, developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a DRDO lab with technological support from another DRDO lab Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), for the Indian Air Force (IAF).


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) also known as Laser, infrared Guided Rocket (LiGR) is a design conversion of Hydra 70 unguided rockets with a laser guidance kit to turn them into precision-guided munitions (PGMs).


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Ugroza (, meaning "menace") is a precision-guided weapons system made in Russian Federation. It is an upgrade for standard Russian "dumb" rockets, including the S-5, S-8, and S-13 rockets. The system upgrades the "dumb" rockets with laser guidance, very significantly increasing their accuracy. It requires a laser target designator, from either an airborne or land based source, to "paint" a target. Circular error probable (CEP) is about , while maximum ranges of rockets varies from the rockets used . Ugroza allows rockets to be ripple-fired up to 7 at a time.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The notable novelty is that the system does not use aerodynamic flight control (e.g. tail fins), but impulse steering with mini-thrusters. It has been dubbed as the Russian concept of impulse corrections (RCIC).


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Cirit is a guided missile system fitted with a semi-active laser homing seeker. The seeker and guidance section is attached to a purpose-built warhead with a Class 5 Insensitive Munition (IM). The multipurpose warhead has a combined armour-piercing ammunition with enhanced behind armor anti-personnel and incendiary effects. The engine is of reduced smoke design, with IM properties. It is connected to the rear section by a roll bearing that enables it to rotate in flight. There are four small stabilising surfaces at the very rear of the missile in front of the exhaust nozzle that ensures stable flight. Roketsan has developed a new launch pod and a new canister in which Cirit is delivered as an all-up round. The Cirit has a maximum effective guided range of with a high probability of hit on a target at this range.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Lockheed-Martin Hellfire II light-weight anti-tank weapon in one mark uses the radar on the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow to provide fire-and-forget guidance for that weapon.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Lessons learned during the first Gulf War showed the value of precision munitions, yet they also highlighted the difficulties in employing them—specifically when visibility of the ground or target from the air was degraded. The problem of poor visibility does not affect satellite-guided weapons such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW), which make use of the United States' GPS system for guidance. This weapon can be employed in all weather conditions, without any need for ground support. Because it is possible to jam GPS, the guidance package reverts to inertial navigation in the event of GPS signal loss. Inertial navigation is significantly less accurate; the JDAM achieves a published Circular Error Probable (CEP) of under GPS guidance, but typically only under inertial guidance (with free fall times of 100 seconds or less).


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather "smart" munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, giving them a published range of up to . JDAM-equipped bombs range from . When installed on a bomb, the JDAM kit is given a GBU (Guided Bomb Unit) nomenclature, superseding the Mark 80 or BLU (Bomb, Live Unit) nomenclature of the bomb to which it is attached.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) is a GPS/INS-guided US tail kit for use with the TMD (Tactical Munitions Dispenser) family of cluster bombs to convert them to precision-guided munitions.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Griffin Laser Guided Bomb (Griffin LGB) is a laser-guided bomb system made by Israel Aerospace Industries' MBT missile division. It is an add-on kit which is used to retrofit existing Mark 82, Mark 83, and Mark 84 and other "dumb fire" gravity bombs, making them into laser-guided smart bombs (with the option of GPS guidance). Initial development completed in 1990.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The Griffin conversion kit consists of a front "seeker" section and a set of steerable tailplanes. The resulting guided munition features "trajectory shaping", which allows the bomb to fall along a variety of trajectories – from a shallow angle to a vertical top attack profile. IAI publishes a circular error probable figure for the weapon of 5 metres.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is a U.S. Air Force, precision-guided, "bunker buster" bomb. This is substantially larger than the deepest penetrating bunker busters previously available, the GBU-28 and GBU-37.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The SMKB (Smart-MK-Bomb) is a Brazilian guidance kit that turns a standard Mk 82 or Mk 83 into a precision-guided weapon, respectively called SMKB-82 and SMKB-83. The kit provides extended range up to and are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to three satellites networks (GPS, Galileo and GLONASS), relying on wireless to handle the flow of data between the aircraft and the munition.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The precision of these weapons is dependent both on the precision of the measurement system used for location determination and the precision in setting the coordinates of the target. The latter critically depends on intelligence information, not all of which is accurate. According to a CIA report, the accidental United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during Operation Allied Force by NATO aircraft was attributed to faulty target information. However, if the targeting information "is" accurate, satellite-guided weapons are significantly more likely to achieve a successful strike in any given weather conditions than any other type of precision-guided munition.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Responding to after-action reports from pilots who employed laser or satellite guided weapons, Boeing developed a Laser JDAM (LJDAM) to provide both types of guidance in a single kit. Based on the existing Joint Direct Attack Munition configurations, a laser guidance package is added to a GPS/INS-guided weapon to increase its overall accuracy. Raytheon has developed the Enhanced Paveway family, which adds GPS/INS guidance to their Paveway family of laser-guidance packages. These "hybrid" laser and GPS guided weapons permit the carriage of fewer weapons types, while retaining mission flexibility, because these weapons can be employed equally against moving and fixed targets, or targets of opportunity. For instance, a typical weapons load on an F-16 flying in the Iraq War included a single JDAM and two LGBs. With LJDAM, and the new GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), these same aircraft can carry more bombs if necessary, and have the option of satellite or laser guidance for each weapon release.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Spice (munition) is an Israeli EO/GPS-guided guidance kit for converting air-droppable unguided bombs into precision guided bombs. Spice can be preprogrammed, with up to 100 different targets it may have to engage during a mission. The one target it will "actually" engage may then be selected, inflight, by an aircrewman.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The HGK guidance kit (HGK), ), developed by TÜBİTAK-SAGE, is a GPS/INS guidance kit that converts Mark 84 bombs into smart weapons. It enables precision strike capability in all weather conditions with long range at a dispersion of .


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) is a French equivalent to JDAM. AASM comprises a frontal guidance kit and a rear-mounted range extension kit matched to a dumb bomb. The weapon is modular because it can integrate different types of guidance units and different types of bombs. It uses hybrid inertial navigation system (INS) / Global Positioning System (GPS) guidance. Other variants add infrared homing or laser guidance to increase accuracy.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Paveway IV is a dual mode GPS/INS and laser-guided bomb manufactured by Raytheon UK (formerly Raytheon Systems Limited). It is the latest iteration of the Paveway series.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Denel Dynamics Umbani a precision-guided bomb kit manufactured by Denel Dynamics in South Africa. It consists of a number of modules fitted to NATO standard Mk81, Mk82 or Mk83 low drag free-fall bombs to convert them to glide bombs.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) is an Indian precision-guided Anti-Airfield Weapon developed by Research Centre Imarat of DRDO with a range up to .


title: Precision-guided munition

text: High Speed Low Drag Bomb (HSLD) is an Indian precision guided munition developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment that is comparable with the US' Mark 80 series. It uses inertial and satellite navigation with laser guidance kit for target accuracy.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The U.S. Navy leads development for a new artillery round called Moving Target Artillery Round, capable of destroying moving targets in GPS-denied environments". The Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWC Dahlgren), and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) have been coordinating MTAR, with final development scheduled for 2019.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Key features of the MTAR shell include extended range against moving targets, precision guidance and navigation without GPS, subsystem modularity, subsystem maturity, weapon system compatibility, restricted altitude, all-weather capability, reduced time of flight, and affordability. The new munition is intended for the Army or Marine Corps M777A1 howitzer, the M109A6 Paladin, and M109A7 Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) self-propelled artillery systems. The shell also would be for the Navy's Advanced Gun System (AGS) aboard the Zumwalt-class destroyer, and other future naval gun systems.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The U.S. Army is planning for GPS-denied environments with the new Precision Guidance Kit – Modernization (PGK-M). An enhancement of previous technologies, PGK-M will give U.S. forces the ability to continue launching precision strikes when GPS is compromised by the enemy.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Picatinny Arsenal engineers are leading the development of a GPS alternative using image navigation for precision guidance of munitions, under the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). Other research partners include Draper Labs, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Air Force Research Laboratory and the Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The enhanced munition can navigate to a desired location, through a reference image used by the technology to reach the target. The PGK-M includes a collection of ad hoc software programmable radio networks, various kinds of wave-relay connectivity technologies and navigational technology.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: A cannon-launched guided projectile (CLGP), is fired from artillery, ship's cannon, or armored vehicles. Several agencies and organizations sponsored the CLGP programs. The United States Navy sponsored the Deadeye program, a laser-guided shell for its guns and a program to mate a Paveway guidance system to an shell for the 8"/55 caliber Mark 71 gun in the 1970s (Photo). Other Navy efforts include the BTERM, ERGM, and LRLAP shells.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: The U.S. Army's MGM-51 Shillelagh missile can be considered a type of CLGP. Intended for use on the M551 Sheridan light tank, the Shillelagh missile was fired out of the Sheridan's cannon to provide robust anti-tank capability. The Army's M712 Copperhead laser guided artillery round was used in Desert Storm. Army CLGPs include the M982 Excalibur artillery shell, the XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition, and the XM1156 Precision Guidance Kit to refit existing 155 mm shells with precision guidance, as the Air Force's JDAM program converts dumb bombs into precision munitions.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: M982 Excalibur, GPS-guided munitions (XM982) for 155 mm artillery was developed in a collaborative effort between U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the Armaments Research and Development Center (ARDEC). Research included developing GPS and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) Inertial Sensor Technology. Excalibur was fielded in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the summer of 2007. Technology developed on the Excalibur is also applied in the Army's Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) for use on existing conventional projectiles and the Mortar Guidance Kit (MGK) for use on conventional mortars.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: LAHAT is Israeli semi-active laser homing guided low-weight anti-tank guided missile that can be launched from smoothbore tank guns.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: 30F39 Krasnopol is a Russian cannon-launched, fin-stabilized, base bleed-assisted, semi-automatic laser-guided, explosive projectile. It automatically 'homes' on a point illuminated by a laser designator, typically operated by a ground-based artillery observer.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Kitolov-2M is a Russian laser-guided artillery shell with Malakhit automated artillery fire control system.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Pansarsprängvinggranat m/94 "STRIX" is a Swedish endphase-guided projectile fired from a mortar currently manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: STRIX is fired like a conventional mortar round. The round contains an infrared imaging sensor that it uses to guide itself onto any tank or armoured fighting vehicle in the vicinity where it lands. The seeker is designed to ignore targets that are already burning.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Basir is an Iranian artillery fired laser-guided, 155 mm explosive projectile designed to destroy enemy tanks, vehicles and other moving or non-moving targets with high precision. This weapon is similar in function with Russian Kransnopol or American M712 Copperhead.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: SMArt 155 is a German 155 mm artillery round, designed for a long range, indirect fire top attack role against armoured vehicles. The SMArt carrier shell contains two submunitions with infrared sensor and millimeter wave radar, which descend over the battlefield on ballutes and attack hardened targets with explosively formed penetrator warheads. Built with multiple redundant self-destruct mechanisms, these submunitions were specifically designed to fall outside the category of submunition weapons prohibited by the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: SAMHO is an Indian gun-launched anti-tank guided missile developed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) for the Arjun MBT of the Indian Army.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Precision-guided small arms prototypes have been developed which use a laser designator to guide an electronically actuated bullet to a target. Another system in development uses a laser range finder to trigger an explosive small arms shell in proximity to a target. The U.S. Army plans to use such devices in the future.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: In 2008 the EXACTO program began under DARPA to develop a "fire and forget" smart sniper rifle system including a guided smart bullet and improved scope. The exact technologies of this smart bullet have not been released. EXACTO was test fired in 2014 and 2015 and results showing the bullet alter course to correct its path to its target were released.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: In 2012 Sandia National Laboratories announced a self-guided bullet prototype that could track a target illuminated with a laser designator. The bullet is capable of updating its position 30 times a second and hitting targets over a mile away.


title: Precision-guided munition

text: In mid-2016, Russia revealed it was developing a similar "smart bullet" weapon designed to hit targets at a distance of up to .


title: Precision-guided munition

text: Air burst grenade launchers are a type of precision-guided weapons. Such grenade launchers can preprogram their grenades using a fire-control system to explode in the air above or beside the enemy.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Alamut (, meaning "eagle's nest") is a ruined mountain fortress located in the Alamut region in the South Caspian province of Qazvin near the Masoudabad region in Iran, approximately 200 km (130 mi) from present-day Tehran.


title: Alamut Castle

text: In 1090 AD, the Alamut Castle, a mountain fortress in present-day Iran, came into the possession of Hassan-i Sabbah, a champion of the Nizari Ismaili cause. Until 1256, Alamut functioned as the headquarters of the Nizari Ismaili state, which included a series of strategic strongholds scattered throughout Persia and Syria, with each stronghold being surrounded by swathes of hostile territory.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Alamut, which is the most famous of these strongholds, was thought impregnable to any military attack and was fabled for its heavenly gardens, library, and laboratories where philosophers, scientists, and theologians could debate in intellectual freedom.


title: Alamut Castle

text: The stronghold survived adversaries including the Seljuq and Khwarezmian empires. In 1256, Rukn al-Din Khurshah surrendered the fortress to the invading Mongols, who dismantled it and destroyed its famous library holdings. Though commonly assumed that the Mongol conquest obliterated the Nizari Ismailis presence at Alamut, the fortress was recaptured in 1275 by Nizari forces, demonstrating that while the destruction and damage to the Ismailis in that region was extensive, it was not the complete annihilation attempted by the Mongols. However, the castle was seized once again and fell under the rule of Hulagu Khan’s eldest son in 1282. Afterward, the castle was of only regional significance, passing through the hands of various local powers.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Today, it lies in ruins, but because of its historical significance, it is being developed by the Iranian government as a tourist destination.


title: Alamut Castle

text: The Alamut castle was built by the Justanid ruler of Daylam, Wahsūdān ibn Marzubān, a follower of Zaydi Shi'ism, around 865 AD. During a hunting trip, he witnessed a soaring eagle perch down high on a rock. Realizing the tactical advantage of this location, he chose the site for the construction of a fortress, which was called "Aluh āmū[kh]t" () by the natives, likely meaning "Eagle's Teaching" or "Nest of Punishment". The "abjad" numerical value of this word is 483, which is the date of the castle's capture by Hassan-i Sabbah (483 AH = 1090/91 AD). Alamut remained under Justanid control until the arrival of the Isma'ili chief "da’i" (missionary) Hassan-i Sabbah to the castle in 1090 AD, marking the start of the Alamut period in Nizari Isma'ili history.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Following his expulsion from Egypt over his support for Nizar ibn al-Mustansir, Hassan-i Sabbah found that his co-religionists, the Isma'ilis, were scattered throughout Persia, with a strong presence in the northern and eastern regions, particularly in Daylaman, Khorasan and Quhistan. The Ismailis and other occupied peoples of Iran held shared resentment for the ruling Seljuqs, who had divided the country's farmland into "iqtā’" (fiefs) and levied heavy taxes upon the citizens living therein. The Seljuq "amirs" (independent rulers) usually held full jurisdiction and control over the districts they administered. Meanwhile, Persian artisans, craftsmen and lower classes grew increasingly dissatisfied with the Seljuq policies and heavy taxes. Hassan too, was appalled by the political and economic oppression imposed by the Sunni Seljuq ruling class on Shi'i Muslims living across Iran. It was in this context that he embarked on a resistance movement against the Seljuqs, beginning with the search for a secure site from which to launch his revolt.


title: Alamut Castle

text: By 1090 AD, the Seljuq vizier Nizam al-Mulk had already given orders for Hassan's arrest and therefore Hassan was living in hiding in the northern town of Qazvin, approximately 60 km from the Alamut castle. There, he made plans for the capture of the fortress, which was surrounded by a fertile valley whose inhabitants were mainly fellow Shi’i Muslims, the support of whom Hassan could easily gather for the revolt against the Seljuqs. The castle had never before been captured by military means and thus Hassan planned meticulously. Meanwhile, he dispatched his reliable supporters to the Alamut valley to begin settlements around the castle.


title: Alamut Castle

text: In the summer of 1090 AD, Hassan set out from Qazvin towards Alamut on a mountainous route through Andej. He remained at Andej disguised as a schoolteacher named Dehkhoda until he was certain that a number of his supporters had settled directly below the castle in the village of Gazorkhan or had gained employment at the fortress itself. Still in disguise, Hassan made his way into the fortress, earning the trust and friendship of many of its soldiers. Careful not to attract the attention of the castle's Zaydi ‘Alid lord, Mahdi, Hassan began to attract prominent figures at Alamut to his mission. It has even been suggested that Mahdi's own deputy was a secret supporter of Hassan, waiting to demonstrate his loyalty on the day that Hassan would ultimately take the castle.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Earlier in the summer, Mahdi visited Qazvin, where he received strict orders from Nizam al-Mulk to find and arrest Hassan who was said to be hiding in the province of Daylaman. Upon his return to the Alamut fortress, Mahdi noticed several new servants and guards employed there. His deputy explained that illness had taken many of the castle's workers and it was fortunate that other labourers were found from the neighbouring villages. Worried about the associations of these workers, Mahdi ordered his deputy to arrest anyone with connections to the Ismailis.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Mahdi's suspicions were confirmed when Hassan finally approached the lord of the fortress, revealing his true identity and declared that the castle now belonged to him. Immediately, Mahdi called upon the guards to arrest and remove Hassan from the castle, only to find them prepared to follow Hassan's every command. Astounded, he realized he had been tricked and was allowed to exit the castle freely. Before leaving however, Mahdi was given a draft of 3000 gold dinars as payment for the fortress, payable by a Seljuq officer in service to the Isma'ili cause named Ra’is Muzaffar who honoured the payment in full. The Alamut fortress was captured from Mahdi and therefore from Seljuq control by Hassan and his supporters without resorting to any violence.


title: Alamut Castle

text: With Alamut now in his possession, Hassan swiftly embarked on a complete re-fortification of the complex. By enhancing the walls and structure of a series of storage facilities, the fortress was to act as a self-sustaining stronghold during major confrontations. The perimeters of the rooms were lined with limestone, so as to preserve provisions to be used in times of crisis. Indeed, when the Mongols invaded the fortress, Juwayni was astonished to see stored countless supplies in perfect condition to withstand a possible siege.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Next, Hassan took on the task of irrigating the surrounding villages of the Alamut valley. The land at valley's floor was arable land, allowing for the cultivation of dry crops including barley, wheat and rice. In order to make available the maximum amount of cultivable land, the ground was terraced under Hassan's direction. The sloping valley was broken up into step-like platforms upon which abundant food could be cultivated. In times of need the surrounding villages were well equipped to furnish the castle with ample supplies.


title: Alamut Castle

text: The construction of Alamut's famous library likely occurred after Hassan's fortification of the castle and its surrounding valley. With its astronomical instruments and rare collection of works, the library attracted scholars and scientists of a variety of religious persuasions from around the world who visited it for many months at a time, hosted by the Isma'ilis. By and large the writings of the Persian Ismailis, both scientific and doctrinal, did not survive beyond the Alamut period. In addition to the rich literature they had already produced in Arabic, the relocation of the Ismaili center to Iran now prompted a surge in Persian Ismaili literature. The bulk of Nizari writing produced in this period, however, was lost or destroyed during the Mongol invasions. While the majority of Alamut's theological works on Ismailism were lost during the library's destruction, a few significant writings were preserved including the major anonymous work of 1199 AD entitled "Haft Bāb-i Bābā Sayyidnā" and a number of treatises by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.


title: Alamut Castle

text: One of the earliest losses of the library came during the early years of the Imam Jalal al-Din Hasan’s leadership at Alamut. In keeping with his principles of bridging the gaping relations between the Persian Ismailis and the broader Sunni world, Imam Jalal al-Din Hasan invited a number of religious scholars from the town of Qazvin to visit the castle's library and burn any books they deemed heretical. However, it was not until under the direction of the Mongol ruler, Hulegu Khan, when the Mongols ascended to the fortress in December 1256 AD, that the Alamut library was lost. With the permission of Hulegu, Juvayni explored the library and selected a few works he deemed worthy of salvaging, before the remainder was set aflame. His choice items included copies of the Qur'an, a number of astronomical instruments and treatises, and a number of Ismaili works. An anti-Ismaili, Ata-Malik Juvayni's personal leanings were the sole measure of heretical content of the library's doctrinal works. Thus, some of the richest treatises regarding the tenets of Ismaili faith were lost with his destruction of the library. From his tour and survey of the castle, Juvayni compiled a description of Alamut that he incorporated into his chronicle of the Mongol invasions, entitled "Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini" ("The History of the World Conqueror").


title: Alamut Castle

text: With the death of Hassan-i Sabbah in 1124 AD, the Alamut fortress was now in the command of the "da’i" Kiya Buzurg Ummid, under whose direction Ismaili-Seljuq relations improved. However, this was not without a test of the strength of Buzurg Ummid's command, and consequently the Seljuks began an offensive in 1126 AD on the Isma'ili strongholds of Rudbar and Quhistan. Only after these assaults failed did the Seljuq sultan Ahmad Sanjar concede to recognise the independence of the Isma'ili territories. Three days before his death, Kiya Buzurg-Ummid designated his son Muḥammad ibn Kiyā to lead the community in the name of the Ismaili Imam.


title: Alamut Castle

text: Accordingly, Muḥammad succeeded Kiya Buzurg Ummid in 1138 AD. Though they expected some resistance to his rule, the fragmented Seljuks were met with continued solidarity amongst the Ismailis, who remained unified under Muhammad's command. The early part of Muhammad's rule saw a continued low level of conflict, enabling the Nizaris to acquire and construct a number of fortresses in the Qumis and Rudbar regions, including the castles of Sa’adat-kuh, Mubarak-kuh, and Firuz-kuh. Muhammad designated his son Hasan ‘Alā Dhīkr‘īhī's-Salām, born in 1126 AD, to lead the community in the name of the Imam. Hasan was well trained in Ismaili doctrine and "ta’wil" (esoteric interpretation).


title: Alamut Castle

text: Taken by illness in 1162 AD, Muhammad was succeeded by Hasan, who was then about thirty-five years of age. Only two years after his accession, the Imam Hasan, apparently conducted a ceremony known as "qiyama" (resurrection) at the grounds of the castle of Alamut, whereby the Imam would once again become visible to his community of followers in and outside of the Nizārī Ismā'īlī state. Given Juwayni's polemical aims, and the fact that he burned the Ismā'īlī libraries which may have offered much more reliable testimony about the history, scholars have been dubious about his narrative but are forced to rely on it given the absence of alternative sources. Fortunately, descriptions of this event are also preserved in Rashid al-Din’s narrative and recounted in the Haft Bab-i Abi Ishaq, an Ismaili book of the 15th century AD. However, these are either based on Juwayni, or don't go into great detail. No contemporary Ismaili account of the events has survived, and it is likely that scholars will never know the exact details of this time.


title: Alamut Castle

text: The Imam Hasan ‘ala dhikrihi al-salam died only a year and a half after the declaration of the "qiyama". According to Juwayni, he was stabbed in the Ismaili castle of Lambasar by his brother in law, Hasan Namwar.