title: Troy Parrott

text: Parrott made his senior Republic of Ireland debut on 14 November 2019, starting in a 3–1 friendly win against New Zealand and providing an assist for Ireland's second goal of the game which was Sean Maguire's first international goal. On 24 August 2020, he was named in the squad to face Finland and Bulgaria in the Nations League games in 2020. He made his first competitive appearance for Ireland as a substitute in a 0–0 draw with Bulgaria on 18 November 2020. Parrott scored his first senior international goals on the 3 June 2021 when he scored two goals in a 4–1 win over Andorra in a friendly at the Estadi Nacional.


title: Troy Parrott

text: On 29 March 2022, he scored a 97th-minute winning goal in a 1–0 win over Lithuania in a friendly at the Aviva Stadium.


title: She's So Unusual

text: She's So Unusual is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper, released on October 14, 1983, by Portrait Records. The album was re-released in 2014 to commemorate its 30th anniversary, and was called "She's So Unusual: A 30th Anniversary Celebration". The re-release contains demos and remixes of previously released material, as well as new artwork.


title: She's So Unusual

text: In 1978, Lauper formed the band Blue Angel. The band soon signed a recording contract with Polydor Records; however, their debut album, "Blue Angel", was a commercial failure. The band parted ways after firing their manager, who sued Lauper for $80,000 and forced her into bankruptcy. Lauper went on to sing in many New York night clubs, and caught the eye of David Wolf, who became her manager and subsequently got her signed to Portrait Records.


title: She's So Unusual

text: Six singles were released from the album, with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" becoming a worldwide hit and her first song to chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Time After Time" became her first number-one hit on the chart and experienced similar success worldwide. Lauper found success with the next two singles as well, with both "She Bop" and "All Through the Night" peaking in the top five. This makes Lauper the first female singer to have four top five singles on the Hot 100 from one album. "She's So Unusual" was promoted by the Fun Tour throughout 1983 and 1984.


title: She's So Unusual

text: The album is primarily new wave-based, with many of the songs being influenced by synthpop and pop rock. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from music critics, who noted Lauper's unique vocals. Lauper earned several awards and accolades for the album, including two Grammy Awards at the 27th Grammy Awards, one of which was for Best New Artist. "She's So Unusual" peaked at number four on the "Billboard" 200 chart and stayed in the chart's top forty for 65 weeks. It has sold over 6 million copies in the United States and 16 million copies worldwide. This makes it Lauper's best-selling album to date and one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s. In 2003, "She's So Unusual" was ranked at number 494 on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and it subsequently placed at number 184 in a 2020 reboot of the list. In 2019, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: She's So Unusual

text: In 1978, Lauper met saxophone player John Turi and formed the band Blue Angel. They recorded a demo tape of original music. Steve Massarsky heard the tape and liked Lauper's voice. He bought out Blue Angel's contract for $5,000 and became their manager.


title: She's So Unusual

text: Lauper received many offers to go solo, but rebuffed any offer that didn't include the rest of the band. Blue Angel was eventually signed by Polydor Records and released a self-titled album on the label in 1980. Despite some positive critical attention, the album was a commercial failure. The members of Blue Angel also had a falling-out with Massarsky and fired him as their manager. He later filed an $80,000 suit against them, which forced Lauper into bankruptcy.


title: She's So Unusual

text: After Blue Angel broke up, Lauper spent time working in retail stores and singing in local clubs. In 1981, while singing in a local New York bar, Lauper met David Wolff, who took over as her manager. With his help, Lauper signed with Portrait Records, a subsidiary of Epic Records, in the spring of 1983 and soon began recording her debut album.


title: She's So Unusual

text: The front cover of "She's So Unusual" was photographed on Henderson Walk in Coney Island, New York in the summer of 1983 by Annie Leibovitz. Lauper is depicted wearing a vintage red prom-style dress that she purchased at the vintage clothing shop where she used to work, Screaming Mimi's. She is also seen holding a bouquet of flowers which were purchased from a vendor on the boardwalk at the time of the shoot. Lauper has heavy costume jewelry on her ears, arms, neck and her right ankle. She is barefoot, with the exception of the fishnet stockings, and her red high-heels appear to have been taken off in front of her as they lay on their sides at the bottom of the photo. The cover shot was captured in front of the wax museum, The World In Wax Musee. It can be seen behind Lauper that the museum had been closed for some time and at the time of closure was featuring a wax statue of Puerto Rican baseball great Roberto Clemente. The wooden awning above the doorway with the two blue panels read the name of the museum.


title: She's So Unusual

text: The lead single from the album was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", released on September 6, 1983. This single achieved massive success in the United States with its music video playing in heavy rotation on several stations, and eventually peaking at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It received Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of 2,000,000 copies. The single was a success internationally, reaching the top ten in 19 countries and number one in 10 countries, including; Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil and Norway. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" received nominations at the 1985 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and won Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, among several nominations.


title: She's So Unusual

text: "Time After Time" was the second single released from the album, and was released in April 1984. It repeated the success of the previous single and spent two consecutive weeks at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Lauper's first number one hit on the Hot 100 and eventually spending a total of 20 weeks on the chart and receiving Gold certification from the RIAA for 1,000,000 copies sold. Like the previous single, "Time After Time" was an international success and reached the top ten in 15 countries. The song received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.


title: She's So Unusual

text: The third single from the album was "She Bop", released on July 2, 1984. This single reached number three on the Hot 100, becoming her third consecutive top five hit, and spent a total of 18 weeks on the chart. With sales of over 1,000,000 copies, the song was certified Gold by the RIAA. The single proved to be another international success for Lauper, reaching the top ten in 8 countries. "She Bop" was controversial upon release and placed at number 15 on the PMRC's "Filthy Fifteen".


title: She's So Unusual

text: "All Through the Night" was single number four, released in September 1984. Like Lauper's previous three singles, "All Through The Night" reached the top five of the Hot 100 with a peak of number five. It was written by, and originally recorded by Jules Shear, who provided backup vocals as well. The song was a moderate international success, reaching the top ten in 6 countries, and received Gold certification in Canada.


title: She's So Unusual

text: Single number five was "Money Changes Everything", released in December 1984. It was a moderate success and reached number #27 on the Hot 100, Lauper's first single to not reach the top ten. It also did moderately well in Australia, reaching #19 on its chart.


title: She's So Unusual

text: The sixth and final single from the album was a cover of the Prince song, "When You Were Mine", released on January 31, 1985, in Canada and Japan only. It achieved little success, reaching number #62 on the "Canadian Singles Chart".


title: She's So Unusual

text: "She's So Unusual" peaked at number four on the "Billboard" 200 chart, due to the success of the album's first single on U.S. radio and heavy airplay of its music video on MTV. In the weeks following, the album's sales remained stable thanks to the following four singles and Lauper's world tour and appearances on popular television and radio programs. Overall, the album stayed 77 weeks on the "Billboard" 200. It became one of the best-selling albums of 1984. At least until 1986, the album was the second best-selling album in Canada by a female artist during the decade, behind Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album, selling more than 900,000 copies. "She's So Unusual" has since sold over six million copies in the United States, where it was certified six times platinum by the RIAA. The album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide.


title: She's So Unusual

text: "She's So Unusual" was voted the eleventh best album of the year in "The Village Voice"s annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1984. In a retrospective review for AllMusic, music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album a "giddy mix of self-confidence, effervescent popcraft, unabashed sentimentality, subversiveness, and clever humor". Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" called it "a pop classic". "Alternative Press" said that, with "some fine tunes" and the CD reissue's three bonus tracks, the album "certainly bears another listen."


title: She's So Unusual

text: "She's So Unusual" and its singles earned Lauper six Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year and ultimately winning the awards for Best Recording Package and Best New Artist. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and "Time After Time" was nominated for Song of the Year. Lauper earned ten MTV Video Music Award nominations. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" received six nominations including Video of the Year, and won for Best Female Video. "Time After Time" received three nominations and "She Bop" received one nomination.


title: She's So Unusual

text: "She's So Unusual" was ranked at number 494 on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003, rising to number 487 in a 2012 update of the list, then to number 184 in a 2020 update. "Rolling Stone" also placed "She's So Unusual" at number 41 on its 2002 list of 50 essential albums by women in rock, and the record retained the placement on a similar list published by the magazine a decade later. In 2012, "Slant Magazine" listed it as the 22nd best album of the 1980s, calling it an "absolutely peerless collection of profound pop jewels". In 2019, the Library of Congress selected "She's So Unusual" for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: She's So Unusual

text: 2013 marked the 30th Anniversary of "She's So Unusual". To honor it and to thank her fans for its success, Lauper embarked on a World Tour called the "".


title: She's So Unusual

text: A part of the show, Lauper sings the entire track listing of the record in the order it appears on the CD while telling stories about the production of the record and her life at the time she recorded it.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Armed Forces. The Fire Scout is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support and precision targeting support for ground, air and sea forces. The initial RQ-8A version was based on the Schweizer 330, while the enhanced MQ-8B was derived from the Schweizer 333. The larger MQ-8C Fire Scout variant is based on the Bell 407.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: As the US Navy was withdrawing its RQ-2 Pioneers from service, it began to seek a second generation UAV. The Navy requirement specified a vertical takeoff & landing (VTOL) aircraft, with a payload capacity of 90 kg (200 lb), a range of 125 miles (200 km), an endurance on station of three hours at an altitude of , and the ability to land on a ship in a wind. The UAV was to fly 190 hours before planned maintenance.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: There were three finalists in the competition, which was designated "VTOL-UAV" or "VTUAV". Bell, Sikorsky, and a collaboration of Teledyne Ryan and Schweizer Aircraft submitted designs. The Ryan-Schweizer UAV was selected as the winner in the spring of 2000. The "RQ-8A Fire Scout", as it was named, was a derivative of the Schweizer three-passenger, turbine powered "330SP" helicopter, with a new fuselage, new fuel system, and UAV electronics and sensors.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The initial prototype of the Fire Scout was piloted in initial tests, flying autonomously for the first time in January 2000. The Rolls-Royce 250-C20 turbine engine ran on JP-8 and JP-5 jet fuel (the latter of which has a higher flashpoint and is considered safe for shipboard storage and use).


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The Fire Scout was to be fitted with a sensor ball turret that carries electro-optic and infrared cameras, and a laser range finder. It was to be controlled over a data link derived from the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV, operating over a line of sight to a distance of 172 miles (280 km). The control system was to be fitted onto a ship, or could be carried on a Humvee light vehicle for US Marine service.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: Although progress on the project had been regarded as satisfactory, the Navy decided the Fire Scout didn't meet their needs after all, and cut funding for production in December 2001. However, the development program continued, and Northrop Grumman pitched a range of improved configurations to anyone who was interested. As it turned out, the U.S. Army was very interested, awarding a contract for seven improved "RQ-8B" evaluation machines in late 2003. In 2006, it was redesignated "MQ-8B".


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The MQ-8B features a four-blade main rotor, in contrast to the larger-diameter three-blade rotor of the RQ-8A, to reduce noise and improve lift capacity and performance. The four-blade rotor had already been evaluated on Fire Scout prototypes. They increase gross takeoff weight by , to with payloads of up to for short-range missions. The MQ-8B is long, wide, and tall.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The MQ-8B is fitted with stub wings which serve both an aerodynamic purpose as well as an armament carriage location. Weapons to be carried include Hellfire missiles, Viper Strike laser-guided glide weapons, and, in particular, pods carrying the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), a laser-guided 70 mm (2.75 in) folding-fin rocket, which the Army saw as ideal for the modern battlefield. The Army was also interested in using the Fire Scout to carry up to of emergency supplies to troops in the field.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The MQ-8B is being modified to permit rapid swap out of payload configurations. The current sensor configuration of a day/night turret with a laser target designator will remain an option. Alternate sensor payloads in consideration include a TSAR with Moving Target Indicator (MTI) capability, a multispectral sensor, a SIGINT module, the Target Acquisition Minefield Detection System (ASTAMIDS), and the Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL). The Army wanted the Fire Scout to operate as an element of an integrated ground sensor network as well.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: In April 2006, production on the flight test airframes was initiated at Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems production plant in Moss Point, Mississippi. The first flight of the MQ-8B took place on 18 December 2006 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. The Army interest revived Navy interest in the program, with the Navy ordering eight "Sea Scout" MQ-8B derivatives for evaluation. In January 2010, the Army terminated its involvement with the Fire Scout, contending that the RQ-7 Shadow UAV could meet the Army's needs. In 2009, the Navy approved low-rate initial production.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The MQ-8B complements the manned aviation detachments onboard Air Capable ships and is deployed along with a MH-60R HSM detachment or a MH-60S HSC detachment. With the planned addition of radar, AIS, and weapons, the MQ-8B shall have many capabilities of the manned MH-60R. It will give air detachments greater flexibility in meeting mission demands, and will free manned aircraft.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 23 September 2011, Naval Air Systems Command awarded Northrop Grumman a $17 million contract to outfit the MQ-8B with the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System laser-guided 70 mm rocket. By August 2013, the MQ-8B had completed 11 of 12 APKWS launches, with testing to be completed "shortly." By February 2016, the APKWS had been fielded on the MQ-8B. Due to its limited payload, the MQ-8B carries three tube rocket launchers.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 30 December 2012, the Navy issued an urgent order to install RDR-1700 maritime surveillance radars on nine MQ-8Bs. The RDR-1700 is an X-band synthetic aperture radar housed in a modified radome mounted on the helicopter's underside for 360-degree coverage, interfaced with the UAV and its control station. Detailed range is out to , with a max range of . The RDR-1700 can see through clouds and sandstorms and can perform terrain mapping or weather detection, and track 20 air or surface targets, determining a target's range, bearing, and velocity. In January 2013, the Navy awarded a $33 million contract to Telephonics for the RDR-1700B+ radar, designated "AN/ZPY-4(V)1".<ref name="an/zpy-4">Surveillance Radar Selected for Unmanned MQ-8B Fire Scouts - Ainonline.com, 25 January 2013</ref> The radar gives a beyond the horizon broad area search and track capability to track up to 200 targets and operates in surface search, terrain mapping, emergency beacon detection, and weather avoidance modes, supplementing the FLIR Systems Brite Star II electro-optical/infrared payload. It was first demonstrated on an MQ-8B on 7 May 2014.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: In 2017, the MQ-8B will receive a mine-detection sensor for use in littoral waters called the Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA). The COBRA is designed to detect naval mines at a safe distance from a Littoral Combat Ship operating in coastal waters, and also has the capability to locate submarines through acoustic detection if they are on or near the surface. COBRA takes the place of the Fire Scout's usual EO/IR sensor.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: In January 2006, an RQ-8A Fire Scout landed aboard the amphibious transport ship while it was steaming off the coast of Maryland near the Patuxent River. This marked the first time an unmanned helicopter has landed autonomously aboard a moving U.S. Navy ship without a pilot controlling the aircraft. "Nashville" was maneuvering as fast as in the tests.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: A total of 24 MQ-8Bs are to be deployed on the Navy's littoral combat ships (LCS) from 2014 onwards. The Fire Scout significantly contributes to the LCS's primary mission roles of anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and mine warfare. The ship's modular nature is complemented by the Fire Scout's own modular mission payloads. Due to changes in the LCS development schedule, the Navy conducted the Fire Scout Operational Evaluation (OpEval) aboard the frigate . On 10 December 2008, the Fire Scout first embarked aboard "McInerney" while in port for operational fit checks and ship integration testing. The Navy conducted Technical Evaluation on the Fire Scout on "McInerney" in late 2008 and Operational Evaluation in mid 2009. The Fire Scout was to reach Initial Operating Capability soon after the evaluation.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: Flight tests of the Fire Scout took place in May 2009, these tests in areas of shipboard deck motion and wind envelope expansion and landings, including the use of the grid and harpoon system. During five days of testing, the ship/aircraft team compiled 19 flight hours during 12 flights, which included 54 landings, 37 of which were into the NATO standard grid. In September 2009, the Navy announced the first deployment of the MQ-8B aboard "McInerney". On 3 April 2010, an MQ-8 from "McInerney" detected a speedboat and a support vessel engaged in smuggling cocaine in the Eastern Pacific, allowing the ship to confiscate 60 kg of cocaine and detain multiple suspects.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 2 August 2010, an MQ-8 became unresponsive to commands during testing and entered restricted airspace around Washington, D.C. They were able to re-establish communications and regain control of the aircraft.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: In May 2011, three MQ-8s were deployed to northern Afghanistan for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes. During the 2011 military intervention in Libya, several Fire Scouts were operated on board the by HSL-42 Squadron as part of Operation Unified Protector. On 21 June 2011, a MQ-8 from "Halyburton"was shot down by pro-Gaddaffi forces during a reconnaissance mission.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: The U.S. Navy briefly grounded the MQ-8B after two aircraft crashed within a week. In the first incident, a Fire Scout reportedly crashed off the coast of Africa on 30 March after it was unable to land on the frigate following a surveillance mission. On 6 April 2012, another Fire Scout crashed in Afghanistan. An investigation into the crash in Afghanistan determined the cause was a faulty navigation system. The cause of the crash near "Simpson" remained less clear, tougher maintenance procedures were put in place to prevent faulty aircraft from going on-mission. The Fire Scout was back flying over Afghanistan by May, and returned to sea-based ISR "anti-piracy" operations by August.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 1 December 2012, returned from a five-month deployment supporting anti-piracy operations for the U.S. Africa Command. The Navy's fourth Fire Scout detachment logged over 500 flight hours and regularly maintained 12-hour days on station, switching to provide continuous support. One Fire Scout set a single-day record, providing ISR coverage for a 24-hour period in September 2012 over the course of 10 flights. On 31 March 2013, an MQ-8B deployed on completed its 600th deployed flight hour, during the Fire Scout's fifth sea-based deployment. It was the first time a Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC-22) deployed with a Fire Scout; previous deployments were conducted by the Helicopter Maritime Strike community. Between 2006 and 2013, the Fire Scout flew over 8,000 hours, over half in real-world operations. In June 2013, Helicopter Strike Maritime Squadron (HSM) 46, Det. 9 surpassed the MQ-8B's monthly flight record at sea aboard , flying for 333 flight hours during the helicopter's sixth deployment.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: In August 2013, the MQ-8B surpassed 5,000 flight hours in Afghanistan. In 28 months, Fire Scouts had accumulated 5,084 hours providing critical surveillance for U.S. and allied forces. Combined with testing and six at-sea deployments, the helicopter has over 10,000 flight hours supporting naval and ground forces. In late 2013, the Fire Scout ended its Afghanistan deployment mission and were shipped back to the US. MQ-8Bs will still be deployed on Naval frigates, and be integrated onto LCS. The Navy also ordered the Telephonics AN/ZPY-4 radar to expand surveillance capabilities. Twelve radars, including three spares, will be delivered by December 2014. The Navy will buy a total of 96 MQ-8B/C Fire Scouts.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: From 25 April to 16 May 2014, the LCS conducted the future concept of operations (CONOPS) for manned and unmanned helicopters aboard littoral combat ships. Operations had the manned MH-60R working together with the unmanned MQ-8B. The demonstration included one MH-60R and one MQ-8B flying with the surface warfare (SUW) mission package installed, intended to provide fleet protection against small boats and asymmetric threats. The tests were to demonstrate manned and unmanned helicopter capabilities before their initial deployment together, which set sail on 14 November 2014.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 5 December 2014, a Navy MQ-8B successfully flew off of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter , for the first time. The Fire Scout was controlled from a control station located on "Bertholf". The Coast Guard intends to use the results of the demonstration to inform decisions on acquiring a UAS to enhance persistent maritime surveillance capabilities while lowering operational costs.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 16 October 2016, the LCS deployed to Singapore with two MQ-8B Fire Scouts, which for the first time had the Telephonics AN/ZPY-4(V)1 radar, giving them a beyond the horizon broad area search and track capability to track up to 200 targets with surface search, terrain mapping, emergency beacon detection, and weather avoidance modes.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: On 13 October 2018, Taiwan was reportedly cleared to purchase the MQ-8B variant, potentially making it the first export country.


title: Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

text: "This article contains material that originally came from the web article "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain."


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The General Dynamics F-111C (nicknamed "Pig") is a variant of the F-111 Aardvark medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft, developed by General Dynamics to meet Australian requirements. The design was based on the F-111A model but included longer wings and strengthened undercarriage. The Australian government ordered 24 F-111Cs to equip the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1963, but the aircraft were not delivered until 1973 because of long-running technical problems. During 1979 and 1980 four of these aircraft were converted to the RF-111C reconnaissance variant. Four ex–United States Air Force (USAF) F-111As were purchased by Australia and converted to F-111C standard in 1982 to replace F-111Cs destroyed during accidents. Australia also operated 15 F-111Gs between 1993 and 2007, mainly for conversion training. The RAAF retired its remaining F-111Cs in December 2010. In Australian military and aviation circles, the F-111 Aardvark was affectionately known as the "Pig", due to its long snout and terrain-following ability.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The F-111Cs gave the RAAF a powerful strike capability but were never used in combat. The aircraft went through modernisation programs in the 1980s and 1990s, and the RAAF acquired improved weapons to maintain their ability to penetrate hostile airspace. Despite this, by the 2000s the F-111Cs were becoming outdated and expensive to maintain, leading to a decision to retire them in 2010 rather than 2020 as originally planned. The F-111s were replaced by 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets pending delivery of F-35 Lightning IIs in development.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: In June 1960, the United States Air Force (USAF) issued a requirement for an F-105 Thunderchief replacement. The U.S. Navy began a program to develop a new air defence fighter for use on its large aircraft carriers. On 14 February 1961, newly appointed United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara formally directed that the services study the development of a single aircraft that would satisfy both requirements. The Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) requirements were based largely on the Air Force's needs. A request for proposals (RFP) for the TFX was provided to industry in October 1961. After four rounds of proposals, General Dynamics (GD) was selected over Boeing; GD signed the TFX contract in December 1962.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The USAF F-111A and Navy F-111B variants used the same airframe structural components and TF30-P-1 turbofan engines. They featured side-by-side crew seating in an escape capsule, as required by the Navy. Because of conflict between the Air Force and Navy over whose requirements had precedence, McNamara intervened in 1961, declaring that the Air Force desires would override suggestions by the Navy. The F-111A variant first flew on 21 December 1964 from Carswell AFB, Texas. It was followed by the F-111B, which first flew on 18 May 1965.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: As F-111 development continued, stall issues arose in certain parts of the flight regime; these were addressed by modifying the engine inlet in 1965–66, ending with the "Triple Plow I" and "Triple Plow II" designs. The F-111B was cancelled by the Navy in 1968 due to weight and performance deficiencies. The improved F-111E, F-111D, F-111F models were subsequently developed for the USAF. The FB-111A strategic bomber and the EF-111 electronic warfare versions were also later developed for the USAF. Production ended in 1976, with a total of 563 F-111s of all variants built, well below the prediction of 1,500.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The Menzies government first publicly discussed the need for replacing the English Electric Canberra in 1954, only a year after the RAAF began receiving the bomber. The non-supersonic Canberra lacked radar and electronic countermeasures, all disadvantages based on Korean War experience. The RAAF believed that it needed a new strategic bomber to fulfill the nation's obligations to the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve in Malaysia, ANZUS, and SEATO. Air Staff Requirement 36 that year mandated an all-weather attack aircraft by 1959 capable of delivering a variety of bombs and missiles. A study recommended one of the British V bombers, but Prime Minister Robert Menzies' Minister of Defence Frederick Shedden decided in 1956 that at £1 million each they were too expensive.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Air Marshal Valston Hancock, Chief of the Air Staff, stated in April 1960 that Australia needed a replacement for the Canberra. Although in mid-1962 the Menzies government again decided to not replace the Canberra, Indonesia's increasingly aggressive statements regarding Malaysia soon caused Australia to reevaluate the decision. "The Sydney Morning Herald" reported in October 1962 that the Indonesian Air Force's Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 bombers could reach Sydney or any other Australian city with a light bomb load, while the Canberras could not fly in all weather and had a range of , insufficient to reach Jakarta. The opposition Labor Party, led by Arthur Calwell, used the report to criticize Menzies. The government denied that the Tu-16 could reach Sydney, but Minister for Air Frederick Osborne acknowledged that the Canberras were "the weakest link in our armoury at the present moment". He stated, however, that the available foreign bombers were unsuitable for the RAAF. The American Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and Convair B-58 Hustler, for example, were too large for existing Australian runways. More suitable aircraft such as the British BAC TSR-2 and the American TFX (later the F-111) would soon be available, Osborne said.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: In May 1963 Menzies announced an A£200 million increase in defence spending over the next five years, and proposed to send a team led by Hancock overseas to evaluate Canberra replacements. Early candidates were the French Dassault Mirage IV, the TSR-2, and the U.S. North American A-5 Vigilante, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the TFX. From June to August, Hancock's team visited France, Britain and the United States to evaluate the competitors, and determined that the TFX would be the aircraft best suited for the role. The Mirage IV had insufficient range and the A£108 million price was too expensive. The F-4 and the A-5 were immediately available, but the less expensive F-4 would need air-to-air refueling to reach Indonesia from Australia. The TSR-2 was behind schedule and over budget, was the most expensive at A£122 million for 24 aircraft, and British government support for the program was uncertain. While the TFX was also controversial in the United States, its promised performance specifications and per-aircraft cost were superior to that of the TSR-2. As he did not expect TFX to be available before 1970, however, Hancock recommended buying 36 A-5 aircraft for A£88 million to counteract the perceived imminent threat from Indonesia.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The Menzies government was reluctant to choose as interim replacement the A-5 or the F-4, which could not be deployed until 1966 and would cost A$120–180 million. Waiting for the TSR-2 or TFX in 1969 or 1970 seemed to pose great risk, but when considering Hancock's findings in September 1963 it wanted to be able to offer a substantial response to the Labor party's criticism of its defence strategy. The British and American governments competed on behalf of their nations' unbuilt bombers, as both believed that export sales would increase domestic support for the aircraft. The Menzies government viewed the British promise to deploy a squadron of V bombers in Australia for interim defense until the TSR-2 was ready as unacceptable for both technical and political reasons. Beyond its cost, the Royal Air Force had not ordered the TSR-2; the Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Louis Mountbatten, who opposed it, advised the Australians against buying the aircraft and the RAAF feared being the only customer.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The government determined that it did not need to go ahead with an immediate replacement for the Canberra and preferred Hancock's original choice of the TFX as a long-term solution, leading to the Menzies government's announcement on 24 October that it was ordering 24 F-111s for US$125 million, enough for two squadrons. The announcement came during the campaigning for the 1963 general election. Calwell's Labor party had on 22 October reiterated its pre-campaign promise that it would replace the Canberras as soon as it formed a government. The government's announcement, and the consequent improvement of its chances against Labor, likely also benefited the United States; the purchase helped rebut American critics of the TFX, and the Kennedy administration preferred Menzies' defence policies to the opposition's. The contract was signed the following year through the U.S. Department of Defense. The British government's cancellation of the TSR-2 in April 1965 showed that Australia's decision to not order it was correct.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The U.S. offered two squadrons of Boeing B-47 Stratojets for free lease pending the delivery of the F-111; Australia declined the offer in June 1964—despite the aircraft having been demonstrated around the country just before the 1963 election as an interim Canberra replacement, likely another sign of the American preference for Menzies— because the B-47 did not offer significant improvements over the Canberra and, like the V bombers, would require longer runways.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The immensely complex and ambitious F-111 design and construction process forced the Australian government to quickly adopt sophisticated American procurement and project management methods. Although Australia originally planned to buy the American F-111A design, RAAF liaison officers requested country-specific changes such as a long-distance radio, Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne participated in an intake redesign and provided metal fatigue expertise, and an Australian test pilot evaluated the Australian version's longer wings and performance in tropical conditions. The differences from the F-111A caused it to be designated the F-111C in 1966.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The first F-111C was officially delivered in 1968, finally giving Australia an aircraft that could fly to Jakarta, drop bombs, and return without refueling. (The RAAF only acquired air-to-air refueling for the F/A-18, possibly to avoid causing difficulties with other Asian countries by increasing the F-111C's already great range.) Training began in 1967, with RAAF personnel seeing terrain-following radar and other sophisticated equipment for the first time. However, development delays and structural problems delayed acceptance of aircraft by the RAAF until 1973. These issues were mainly to do with the wing attach points, and the redesign of the F-111 engine intakes. Completion of contractual requirements to the satisfaction of Australia also took time, damaging the morale of the hundreds of trained RAAF personnel who had little to do. The program costs, during 1963–1967, grew at an alarming rate; estimates by the USAF at the start of the program was placed at US$124.5 million, but by April 1967 had risen to $237.75 million. While the initial price of US$5.21 million per aircraft was capped at US$5.95 million, R&D, labor, and other costs were not. The rising price, three unexplained losses of USAF F-111As in Vietnam during their first month of deployment, and the British and U.S. Navy's orders' cancellations caused further controversy in Australia during 1968. By 1973, however, when the F-111A had accumulated 250,000 flight hours, it had the best safety record among contemporary aircraft, which presaged the F-111C's own excellent record.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Four aircraft were modified to RF-111C reconnaissance configuration during 1979–80, retaining their strike capability. The RF-111C carried a reconnaissance pack with four cameras and an infrared linescanner unit. Four ex-USAF F-111As were refitted to F-111C standard and delivered to Australia as attrition replacements in 1982. There F-111Cs were equipped to carry Pave Tack FLIR/laser pods in the mid-1980s. They underwent an extensive Avionics Upgrade Program through 1998. Under this program, the F-111C was upgraded to digital avionics. This included twin mission computers, modern digital databus, digital weapon management system, new AN/APQ-171 terrain-following radar, new AN/APQ-169 attack radar, and twin ring-laser gyro INS.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: In late 2001, wing fatigue problems were discovered in one of the F-111C fleet. As a result, a decision was made in May 2002 to replace the wings with spares taken from ex-USAF F-111Fs stored at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC). The short span wings underwent a refurbishment in Australia, which included extending the span, in effect making the wings the same as the F-111C and F-111G models. Following the Avionics Upgrade Program, Australian F-111s received weapons system and various other upgrades.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The F-111 was an all-weather attack aircraft capable of low-level penetration of enemy defences to deliver ordnance on the target. It featured variable geometry wings, an internal weapons bay and a cockpit with side-by-side seating. The cockpit formed part of an escape crew capsule. The F-111 had a three-point undercarriage arrangement with a two-wheel nose gear and two single-wheel main undercarriage. Most F-111 variants included a terrain-following radar system connected to the autopilot. The aircraft were powered by two Pratt & Whitney TF30 afterburning turbofan engines.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The F-111's internal weapons bay could also carry bombs, a removable 20 mm M61 cannon, or auxiliary fuel tanks. The F-111C was equipped to carry the AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack targeting system on a rotating carriage that kept the pod protected within the weapons bay when not in use. Pave Tack is a FLIR and laser rangefinder/designator that allowed the F-111 to designate targets and drop laser-guided bombs on them. RF-111Cs carried a pallet of sensors and cameras for reconnaissance use. F-111Cs were also equipped to launch the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile and the AGM-142 Popeye stand-off missile.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The Australian government ordered 24 F-111C aircraft to replace the RAAF's Canberras in the bombing and tactical strike role. While the first aircraft was officially handed over on 4 September 1968, structural issues delayed the entry into service of the F-111C. Twenty-four USAF F-4 Phantom IIs were leased as an interim measure. The Phantoms were delivered in September and October 1970 to No. 82 Wing at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland. During its next three years in RAAF service, one F-4 was lost. By June 1973, the remaining 23 Phantoms were returned to the U.S. Like the F-111, the F-4 was a two-seat, multi-role, supersonic aircraft. Much more sophisticated than the Canberra, capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground attack roles; it had inertial navigation, a gun and radar. Experience with the F-4 likely contributed to the RAAF's success with the F-111. The RAAF proposed keeping the F-4 and using it with the F-111, but the government decided that the cost was too great.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The F-111C entered Australian service after the technical problems were resolved, and the first F-111C was accepted at Nellis Air Force Base on 15 March 1973. On 31 March, the RAAF Washington Flying Unit was formed at McClellan Air Force Base in California with the mission of ferrying the first 12 F-111Cs to Australia. This unit was commanded by Group Captain John Newham, who later served as Chief of the Air Staff between 1985 and 1988. The RAAF's first six F-111Cs arrived at Amberley on 1 July 1973, and three subsequent groups of six F-111s arrived on 27 July, 28 September and 4 December. F-111Cs were allocated to No. 1 Squadron and No. 6 Squadron, under the control of No. 82 Wing. No. 1 Squadron was the RAAF's strike squadron, and maintained a nominal strength of 12 F-111s. No. 6 Squadron mainly served as the F-111 operational conversion unit, though it also operated the RF-111 aircraft at times and could serve in the strike role if required. Once in RAAF service, all F-111 maintenance was undertaken at Amberley. From 1973 to 2001 No. 482 Squadron conducted intermediate maintenance of the aircraft, while heavy maintenance was the responsibility of No. 3 Aircraft Depot. No. 482 Squadron also operated the RAAF's F-111 flight simulator. From 2001 onwards, Boeing Australia performed all F-111 maintenance under a contract with the Australian government.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: After entering service the F-111 proved highly successful. Although it never saw combat, the F-111C was the fastest, longest range combat aircraft in Southeast Asia. Aviation historian Alan Stephens has written that they were "the preeminent weapons system in the Asia-Pacific region" throughout their service and provided Australia with "a genuine, independent strike capability". Stewart Wilson, in his book "Lincoln, Canberra and F-111 in Australian Service", described the F-111C as "an unqualified success..., providing Australia with a potent strike capability in an aircraft which, a quarter of century after its first flight remains second to none." Former Indonesian defense minister Benny Murdani told his counterpart Kim Beazley that when others became upset with Australia during cabinet meetings, Murdani told them "Do you realise the Australians have a bomber that can put a bomb through that window on to the table here in front of us?"


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: During late 1990 and early 1991 the Australian government considered deploying F-111Cs to expand the Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War, which mainly comprised a Royal Australian Navy task group. The Department of Defence and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) preferred option if the government decided to expand Australia's commitment was to deploy at least two RF-111s, though these aircraft would need to have their electronic warfare equipment upgraded to operate in this war zone. Due to the small size of the RF-111 force, the loss of any of these aircraft in combat would have inflicted a heavy blow on Australia's reconnaissance capability. The second preference in the advice put to the government was to deploy a squadron of four to eight F-111Cs, though Defence did not support this. In the event, the government decided to not expand the Australian force. As a result, the F-111Cs' contribution to the war was limited to conducting intensive exercises with the Naval ships as they sailed through Australian waters en route to the Persian Gulf.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The Australian-led INTERFET intervention into East Timor in September 1999 marked the closest Australia's F-111s ever came to combat. F-111s from both No. 1 and No. 6 Squadrons were deployed to RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory, on 28 August to support the international forces, and remained there until 17 December 1999. This was a maximum effort for No. 82 Wing, and up to 10 F-111Cs were available at Tindal; No. 1 Squadron's commitment peaked at six aircraft and about 100 personnel. No. 75 Squadron also maintained 12 F/A-18s at its home base of Tindal to support INTERFET if needed. From 20 September, when INTERFET began to arrive in East Timor, the F-111s were maintained at a high level of readiness to conduct reconnaissance flights or air strikes if the situation deteriorated. For the latter role two F-111s armed with concrete-filled bombs fitted with precision guidance kits were kept available at all times. INTERFET did not encounter significant resistance, however, and F-111 operations were limited to reconnaissance missions conducted by RF-111Cs from 5 November. Each of these sorties were made after gaining approval from the Indonesian government and normally focused on bridges and communications installations. The last RF-111C flight over East Timor took place on 9 December. War games had the F-111s achieving complete success if a strike was necessary against Indonesian military headquarters near the capital.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The Royal Australian Air Force's F-111 fleet was at times controversial. The long delay to the delivery of the aircraft was a significant political issue in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This occurred around the same time that massive delays and cost blowouts to the Sydney Opera House were making headlines, prompting some commentators to dub the F-111 the "Flying Opera House". In 1983 the Hawke government tasked an RF-111 to take surveillance photos of the Franklin Dam project in Tasmania. The use of an RAAF aircraft to "spy" on its own territory led to the minister responsible, Senator Gareth Evans, earning the nickname "Biggles" (after the famous hero pilot of a number of books by Captain W. E. Johns). Another aspect of the F-111 which drew criticism was the poor work conditions for F-111 ground crew involved in sealing/de-sealing F-111 fuel tanks resulted in a class action lawsuit and the Australian government paying out more than A$20 million in damages. The health issues with chemical exposure included permanent brain damage to a number of ground crew before conditions were improved.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: A number of ex-USAF aircraft were delivered to Australia as attrition replacements and to enlarge the fleet. Four aircraft modified to the F-111C standard were delivered in 1982. The government bought 15 F-111Gs to supplement its F-111Cs in 1992 and delivered in 1994. Additional stored ex-USAF F-111s were reserved as a spare parts sources.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Seven of the 28 F-111Cs and one of the 15 F-111Gs were destroyed in accidents during their service with the RAAF. These accidents took the lives of 10 air crew. The accidents occurred from 1977 to 1999.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The F-111's fuel dump was located right between its turbofan engines, so engaging afterburners during a fuel dump would cause an ignition five feet behind the aircraft. Although strongly discouraged by the USAF, the RAAF F-111Cs frequently did these "Dump & Burn" maneuvers (also known as the "Zippo" and the "Torch") starting at Maple Flag in the 1980s.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: In 2000, two women graduated from the No. 6 Squadron conversion course becoming the first female F-111 Navigators.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: In mid-2006, an RAAF F-111 was chosen to scuttle the North Korean ship "Pong Su" which had been involved in one of Australia's largest drug hauls in recorded history. The ship had been sitting in Snails Bay, off Birchgrove, while the government considered its fate, and it was decided in March 2006 it would be scuttled by air attack. The "Pong Su" was sunk on 23 March 2006 by two GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bombs.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Due to the airframe components of the F-111 containing asbestos, the remaining airframes were buried underground. Only 6 of the last airframes were spared off for museum display.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: In 2007, Australia decided to retire all of its RAAF F-111s. The drawdown of the RAAF's F-111 fleet began with the retirement of the F-111G models operated by No. 6 Squadron in late 2007. The United States had retired the F-111 (it "was nine percent of Tactical Air Command's fleet but ate up a whopping 25 percent of the maintenance budget", USAF pilot Richard Crandall said) so Australia was the only operator. By 2009 the remaining 18 aircraft reportedly required the most maintenance of any warplane in the world, an average of 180 hours for every flight hour compared to 30 hours for the F-22 Raptor. In March 2008, after a review, the new Labor government confirmed the previous Howard Government's decision to the purchase of 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets until the delivery of the F-35; in 2010, the government signed the acquisition contract. The final RAAF F-111 aircrew conversion took place in 2009, with four pilots and two Air Combat Officers (ACOs) qualifying. The RAAF retired its last F-111s on 3 December 2010, after the final flight by aircraft from No. 6 Squadron over southern Queensland.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Australia is currently a partner in the development of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, with plans for the country to procure up to 100 examples to replace the F-111 as well as the F/A-18 Hornet.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Between 21 and 24 November 2011, 23 of the RAAF's F-111C and F-111Gs which had not been selected for preservation were buried at the Swanbank landfill site outside of Ipswich, Queensland. The RAAF had considered scrapping these aircraft, but concluded that it would be cheaper to bury them as they also contained asbestos in the airframes. The remaining ex-RAAF F-111s will be placed on display.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The F-111C was the export version for Australia, combining the F-111A design with the longer F-111B wings and the strengthened FB-111A undercarriage.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: Four F-111C aircraft were modified to RF-111C reconnaissance configuration. These aircraft met the RAAF's requirement for aircraft to reinstate its photographic reconnaissance capacity. While the original order for F-111s specified that 18 would be strike variants and six reconnaissance variants, the RAAF later agreed to accept all 24 as strike aircraft and later retrofit six with reconnaissance pallets. In 1971 the USAF dropped plans to fit some of its F-111s as reconnaissance aircraft, but sold the design of the reconnaissance pallet to Australia for $3 million. At this time the RAAF decided to fit the pallet to four rather than six aircraft. The reconnaissance pallet contains four cameras and an infrared linescanner unit and is fitted in the F-111's weapons bay. The RF-111Cs retained their strike capability.


title: General Dynamics F-111C

text: The first F-111C, A8-126 selected for conversion to the RF-111C variant was modified at General Dynamics plant at Fort Worth, Texas between October 1978 and 18 April 1979. After four months of test flights, the aircraft returned to Australia in August 1979 where it conducted further tropical weather trials at Darwin. The other three aircraft were modified by the RAAF's No. 3 Aircraft Depot at RAAF Base Amberley in 1980, using kits purchased from General Dynamics. The RF-111C variant proved to be highly successful, and was considered to be among the best tactical reconnaissance aircraft in the world. Three of the four RF-111Cs remained in RAAF service until 2010. The other aircraft was retired in 2006 after suffering damage from landing on its belly after one of its main wheels separated during takeoff; although the aircraft was repairable it was judged not worthwhile doing so due to the impending retirement of the entire F-111 fleet. The RAAF does not have an aircraft with the RF-111C's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities since they were retired.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: Survivor: Palau is the tenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series "Survivor". The season filmed from November 1, 2004, through December 9, 2004, and premiered on February 17, 2005. Filming took place in Koror, Palau. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of the usual 39 days of gameplay with 20 competitors, the most the series had ever begun with up to that point.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: For the second time since the series' premiere, the contestants selected the tribes instead of the producers. The self-selection into two tribes of nine left two contestants not chosen and immediately eliminated from the game. In the game, Koror dominated from the very beginning, winning every immunity challenge and all but three reward challenges. Mid-game, having survived alone at Ulong after the entirety of her tribe had been voted out or eliminated at tribal councils, its last remaining player, Stephenie LaGrossa received a map to Koror. While the players at the finale spoke of this as a merger, the producers have described Palau as the only season without a merge. In the end, fire lieutenant Tom Westman defeated advertising executive Katie Gallagher in a 6–1 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: In addition to host Probst naming this as one of his favorite seasons, he stated that the final immunity challenge was his favorite immunity challenge from any season. He also said Palau was his favorite filming location. "Survivor" earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2005.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: The two tribes were named Ulong (named after Ulong Island, one of Palau's tourist spots) and Koror (named after the capital city of Palau at the time). This was the first (and only) season in "Survivor" history not to have a merged tribe.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephenie LaGrossa competed again in "". LaGrossa later competed in "" alongside Tom Westman on the Heroes tribe. Outside of "Survivor", LaGrossa was a contestant on the USA Network reality competition series, "Snake in the Grass".


title: Survivor: Palau

text: The twenty players began the game by rowing a boat to shore, with the first player of each gender to reach shore to win immunity. The next day, Jeff Probst announced that they would now pick tribes via a schoolyard pick, with those who had won immunity getting first pick. In addition, the last male and female remaining would immediately leave the game. The two tribes, Koror and Ulong, then participated in the first reward/immunity challenge, with the winner, Koror, deciding to leave their present beach to another one they had not seen.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: As the challenges continued, it quickly became apparent that Ulong was the weaker tribe, while strong leadership by Tom and Ian at Koror kept the tribe intact. Ulong would win no immunity challenges and few reward challenges, and Koror's only visit to tribal council was the result of a double-elimination twist. Stephenie and Bobby Jon, the last two members of Ulong, lost the final tribal immunity challenge. Since they were unable to vote, the two faced off in a fire-making challenge with Stephenie emerging victorious. After spending the night alone, she was instructed to travel to Koror, and was absorbed into their tribe.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: Koror developed a core group of five – Tom, Ian, Gregg, Jenn, and Katie – and those on the outside saw them as a threat but were unable to break them. Despite making an immediate strong impression on her new tribe, Stephenie was quickly identified as a target due to her strength and for being the outsider. In a twist that would eventually lead to its use in later seasons, one individual immunity challenge required the first player to drop out to spend a night alone on an isolated island. Janu was exiled and found the experience liberating, choosing to quit the game at the next tribal council, effectively sparing Stephenie from being voted out. However, her safety would not last and Stephenie was subsequently voted out.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: With six players remaining, Tom and Ian decided to spare Caryn, the last remaining outsider, instead plotting with her to eliminate Gregg for potentially strengthening a bond with Katie after going on a reward together. Despite voting Gregg out, Katie felt betrayed by Ian, and her feelings worsened when Ian took Tom with him on a reward instead of her as he had promised. Ian attempted to make amends but Katie still held harsh feelings towards him. After disposing of Caryn, the final four players opted to allow the next vote to end in a tie between Jenn and Ian, and Ian won the subsequent fire-making challenge.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: The final immunity challenge required players to stand on buoys for as long as possible; Katie dropped out early, but both Tom and Ian remained for nearly 12 hours. Ian opted to quit the challenge, conceding immunity to Tom, after Tom played on his remorse for hurting Katie's feelings and breaking his promises to her. Forgoing the usual tribal council, Tom voted Ian out of the game on the spot. At the final tribal council, Tom's leadership and physical ability against Katie's less dominant gameplay led the jury to award Tom the title of Sole Survivor by a vote of 6–1.


title: Survivor: Palau

text: "Survivor: Palau" has generally received praise from fans and critics alike, particularly for the gameplay of winner Tom Westman, and such memorable moments as the "bah-bah-buoy" challenge that lasted almost 12 hours (the longest challenge in American "Survivor" history), as well as the first-ever "tribe of one" in "Survivor" history. Host Jeff Probst ranked it as his 4th-favorite in 2010, citing the memorability of the buoy challenge and also calling Westman "one of our greatest winners." Andrea Deiher of Zap2it similarly ranked "Palau" as #4, saying that LaGrossa "became maybe the toughest woman ever to play the game," and called the buoy challenge "the most epic immunity challenge ever." Tom Santilli of Examiner.com ranked it 7th, saying that it "was one of the strongest [seasons], and featured a very memorable overall cast," adding that the "tribe of one" incident "may be one of the saddest moments in history, and cemented Stephanie in the hearts of many fans." "Entertainment Weekly"'s Dalton Ross ranked it as the ninth-best season of the series, saying that he "loved watching one tribe decimate the other...the challenges may have been "Survivor"s best ever," and although he claimed that everyone "knew Tom would win from episode 1, it was still gripping nonetheless." In 2014, Joe Reid of "The Wire" ranked it 10th, stating that Westman "went pretty much wire-to-wire in barnstorming this season," and played "Perhaps a perfect game," while also noting that "Stephanie and Bobby Jon won our hearts by surviving the longest on the decimated Ulong tribe, the losingest tribe of all time." In 2015, a poll by "Rob Has a Podcast" ranked "Palau" 13th out of 30 with Rob Cesternino ranking this season 9th. This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, "Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings", ranking 18th out of 40. "Palau" was also ranked 13th on "The Purple Rock Podcast," with the summary stating: "Palau has a lot of things going for it: great challenges, a good cast, an interesting way to start the game, and several great story arcs. All of those factors work into an interesting final episode that make the season memorable and result in an excellent winner." In 2020, "Inside Survivor" ranked this season 17th out of 40 citing "its wholly unique story—a story unlike any other season that came before or after" with the decimation of the Ulong tribe.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: The Giver Quartet is a series of four books about a dystopian world by Lois Lowry. The quartet consists of "The Giver" (1993), "Gathering Blue" (2000), "Messenger" (2004), and "Son" (2012). The first book won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies. The story takes place in the world of The Giver. Each book has a different protagonist, but is set in the same futuristic era.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: "The Giver" is a 1993 American children's novel, generally for young adults or older, which is set in a society that is at first presented as a utopian society but gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel follows a boy, Jonas, in his twelfth and thirteenth years. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting itself to "Sameness," a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, who stores all of the past memories of the time before Sameness in case the memories that the others lack are ever needed to aid decisions. Jonas learns the truth about his Utopian society and struggles with its weight. The Community lacks any color, memory, climate, and terrain. Sameness emphasizes the utopian qualities of the Community.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: "The Giver" won the 1999 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies. In Australia, Canada, and the United States, it is a part of many middle schools' reading lists, but it also appeared in many challenging book lists, such as the American Library Association's list of most challenged books of the 1990s.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: The novel forms a loose quartet with three other books set in the same future era: "Gathering Blue" (2001), "Messenger" (2004), and "Son" (2012).


title: The Giver Quartet

text: "Gathering Blue" is a 2000 children's dystopian novella that is set in the same future time period and displays some of the same themes as the Giver.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: The central character, Kira, who has a deformed leg, is orphaned and must learn to survive in a society that normally leaves the weak or disabled exposed to die in the fields. Kira's father was thought to have been taken by the Beasts while he was on a hunt before she was born. Kira's mother had died recently from a mysterious illness.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: Since she is an orphan, Kira needs a reason for the Council of Edifice to keep her in the village, rather than to send her to the Field, which is certain death at the hands of the Beasts. Kira's mother did embroidery for the Council and taught Kira some of her talents. Kira's gift for embroidery convinces the Council to keep her around to mend and update a beautiful robe, which shows the society's history. She begins to learn the art of dyeing threads different colors except for blue, which nobody in her community knows how to make except Annabella, Kira's mentor.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: Kira also learns more about the truth of her village and the terrible secrets that it holds. She then finds her father, who tells the truth of what happened to him and about the Village he now lives on.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: "Messenger" takes place about eight years after "The Giver" and about six years after "Gathering Blue".


title: The Giver Quartet

text: Set in an isolated community, known simply as Village, it focuses on a boy, Matty, who serves as a message bearer through the ominous and lethal Forest that surrounds the community. This book also tells the fate of Jonas and baby Gabe from "The Giver".


title: The Giver Quartet

text: "Son" follows Claire, Gabriel's birth mother, who embarks on a harrowing and dangerous journey to eventually locate Gabriel. Claire is fourteen when she has Gabriel.


title: The Giver Quartet

text: A film adaptation of the first book was produced by The Weinstein Company and Walden Media. It was released on August 15, 2014, and starred Jeff Bridges as The Giver, Brenton Thwaites as Jonas and Meryl Streep as the Chief Elder.


title: Daniel Ings

text: Daniel Ings (born 1985) is an actor from England. He starred as Luke Curran in the Channel 4/Netflix comedy series "Lovesick".


title: Daniel Ings

text: Ings attended Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire, followed by Lancaster University where he studied theatre studies, graduating in 2008. Ings later trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the National Youth Theatre.


title: Daniel Ings

text: Ings has appeared in a number of stage, short films and television programmes. His most notable role to date is that of the playboy best friend Luke in Netflix romantic comedy Lovesick. Also notable are the roles of Jake in the Channel 4 comedy "Pete versus Life", Kelvin in the BBC comedy-drama "Psychoville" and John in Sky 1's comedy "The Café" in November 2011.


title: Daniel Ings

text: He has also appeared as the unscrupulous "Director of Output" Matt Taverner in the BBC2 mockumentary "W1A" (2014–2015) and as Commander Mike Parker in the Netflix series "The Crown" (2016–2017). In 2018, he began playing the husband of Alan Cumming's lead character on the CBS drama television series "Instinct".


title: Daniel Ings

text: Most recently he appeared as Francis Marindin in Julian Fellowes' series "The English Game" for Netflix and as Cob, the embittered husband to Billie Piper's Suzie in acclaimed Sky Atlantic series "I Hate Suzie".


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith Kermit Roosevelt (née Carow; August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the First Lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She also was the Second Lady of the United States in 1901. Roosevelt was the first First Lady to employ a full-time, salaried social secretary. Her tenure resulted in the creation of an official staff and her formal dinners and ceremonial processions served to elevate the position of First Lady.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith was born on August 6, 1861, in Norwich, Connecticut, to merchant Charles Carow (1825–1883) and Gertrude Elizabeth Tyler (1836–1895). Gertrude's father Daniel Tyler (1799–1882) was a Union general in the American Civil War.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith's younger sister was Emily Tyler Carow (1865–1939). Edith also had an older brother, Kermit (February 1860 – August 1860), who died one year before her birth. "Kermit," her brother's first name and her middle name, was the surname of a paternal great-uncle, Robert Kermit. During her childhood, Edith was known as "Edie."


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: The girl grew up in a brownstone on Union Square in New York City. Next door lived Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). Edith was best friends with his younger sister Corinne (1861–1933).


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith, Corinne, Theodore, and Elliott had their earliest schooling together at the Roosevelt family home at 28 East 20th Street. Edith later attended Miss Comstock's finishing school.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Although the two may have had a teenage romance, the relationship faded when Roosevelt went to Harvard University. While at Harvard, he met Alice Lee and they married in 1880. Edith attended the wedding.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Theodore Roosevelt's first wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, died on February 14, 1884, aged 22, leaving behind their baby daughter also named Alice. Theodore and Edith rekindled their relationship in 1885. They married in St George's, Hanover Square, London on December 2, 1886, when he was 28 and she was 25. His best man was Cecil Spring Rice, later the British ambassador to the United States during World War I. Rice also maintained a close friendship with the couple for the rest of his life.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Theodore and Edith's engagement was announced in the "New York Times". After their honeymoon, the couple lived at Sagamore Hill on Long Island, New York. Roosevelt called his first daughter “Baby Lee” instead of “Alice” so as not to remind himself of the death of his first wife.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Together, the couple raised Alice (Theodore's daughter from his previous marriage) and their own children: Theodore (1887), Kermit (1889), Ethel (1891), Archibald (1894), and Quentin (1897).


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: In 1888, Theodore was appointed to the United States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895. While Edith supported her husband's decision to accept the position, she lamented that her third pregnancy would detain her at Sagamore Hill. Kermit Roosevelt was born on October 10, 1889, and Edith moved to Washington with their children three months later. During this period, Edith and Henry Adams became close friends.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: At Edith's insistence, Theodore did not run for mayor of New York in 1894, because she preferred their life in Washington, D.C., and his job as a U.S. Civil Service Commissioner.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: When Theodore became New York City police commissioner in 1895, they moved to New York City. In 1897, Theodore was chosen as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and the family moved back to Washington.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: In 1898, Edith traveled by train to Tampa, Florida, to send her husband off to fight in the Spanish–American War.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Upon his return from Cuba, Edith defied a quarantine to meet him in Montauk, New York, where she assisted veterans at the hospital. In October 1898, when Roosevelt was nominated for the governorship, she helped answer his mail, but stayed off the campaign trail.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith Roosevelt enjoyed being First Lady of New York. During this time, she modernized the governor's mansion, joined a local woman's club, and continued to assist with her husband's correspondence. While First Lady of the state, Edith began a custom that would continue in the White House—she held a bouquet of flowers in each hand. Edith found shaking a stranger's hand overly familiar and preferred to bow her head in greeting.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: After President William McKinley’s assassination, Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency, and his wife became the nation’s First Lady.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: With the country in mourning, the new First Lady could not do any entertaining. Instead, she focused on how to fit her large family into the White House. Edith eliminated the office of the housekeeper, performing the supervisory work herself.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith Roosevelt also made a major institutional change when she hired Isabelle "Belle" Hagner as the first social secretary to serve a First Lady. Hagner's initial assignment was to plan Alice Roosevelt's debut in 1902. Soon, Edith began to rely on Hagner and authorized her to release photos of the First Family in hopes of avoiding unauthorized candids.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith built on the First Lady's long history of entertaining visitors and made the titular office into that of the nation's hostess. She expanded the number of social events held at the White House, ensured the parties of Cabinet wives would not outshine hers, and worked to make Washington the nation's cultural center. The two most significant social events during Edith's tenure as first lady were the wedding of her stepdaughter and the society debut of her daughter, Ethel.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith also organized the wives of the cabinet officers and tried to govern the moral conduct of Washington society through their guest lists.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith is believed to have exerted subtle influence over her husband. They met privately every day from 8 to 9 am. The President's assistant, William Loeb, often helped sway the Chief Executive to Edith Roosevelt's way of thinking. She read several newspapers per day and forwarded clippings she considered important to her husband. In a 1933 article in the "Boston Transcript", Isabelle Hagner reported that the legislation which created the National Portrait Gallery was passed because of Edith's influence. Historians believe her most important historical contribution was acting as an informal liaison between Theodore Roosevelt and British diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, a link which gave the President unofficial information about the Russo-Japanese War. As a result of negotiating the treaty which ended that conflict, President Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: The President and his wife became the first president and First Lady to travel abroad while in office when they made a trip to Panama.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: A perceptive aide described Edith Roosevelt as "always the gentle, high-bred hostess; smiling often at what went on about her, yet never critical of the ignorant and tolerant always of the little insincerities of political life."


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: In 1905, Edith purchased Pine Knot, a cabin in rural Virginia, as a refuge for her husband. At Pine Knot, the Secret Service guarded him without his knowledge.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: In 1902, Edith hired McKim, Mead & White to separate the living quarters from the offices, enlarge and modernize the public rooms, re-do the landscaping, and redecorate the interior. Congress approved over half a million dollars for the renovation. The new West Wing housed offices while the East Wing housed the president's family and guests. The plumbing, lighting, and heating were upgraded. Edith placed her office next door to her husband's so they could confer frequently.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith took a historical view of the White House and saw that the Green Room, Blue Room, and East Room were redecorated with period antiques. McKim would have removed most of the existing furniture had Edith not intervened. Edith's intervention ensured that the Victorian furniture seen in the Lincoln Bedroom today was retained.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: A larger dining room created a need for more china, so Edith ordered a Wedgwood service with the Great Seal of the United States for 120 people. Interest in her own china fostered a curiosity about the services of previous First Ladies. Edith completed the catalog of White House china that Caroline Scott Harrison commenced. She added to the collection by purchasing missing items from antique shops. When she left the White House, there were pieces from twenty-five administrations. She created a display of the china on the ground floor of the White House. The White House china collection that Edith Roosevelt first exhibited is still on view today.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Across from the White House china, Edith displayed portraits of former First Ladies. The once-scattered portraits were a hit with the public and guests to the White House could view the historical china and portraits as they waited to enter receptions.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith called on former White House gardener Henry Pfister to help her design a colonial garden on the west side of the White House. A similar garden was eventually placed on the east side of the White House.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: The public would first see the renovations to the White House during the 1903 New Year's Day reception.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: It was during Edith's tenure as First Lady that the White House became known as the White House. Previously, it had been known as the Executive Mansion.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was a devoted mother who spent several hours a day with her children and read to them daily. She and her husband took an active role in their children's education and often corresponded with their children's teachers.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt longed for more children even after the birth of her fifth child, Quentin. She suffered two miscarriages as First Lady. She had a complicated relationship with her stepdaughter, Alice. In later years, Alice expressed admiration for her stepmother's sense of humor and stated that they had similar literary tastes. In her autobiography "Crowded Hours", Alice wrote of Edith, "That I was the child of another marriage was a simple fact and made a situation that had to be coped with, and Mother coped with it with a fairness and charm and intelligence which she has to a greater degree than almost any one else I know."


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: On October 16, 1901, President Roosevelt invited African-American educator Booker T. Washington to dine with his family at the White House. Several other presidents had invited African-Americans to meetings at the White House, but never to a meal. News of the dinner between a former slave and the president of the United States became a national sensation. The subject of inflammatory articles and cartoons, it shifted the national conversation around race at the time. Some Republicans tried to spin the dinner into a lunch. As Deborah Davis explained on NPR, "they got hungry and they ordered a tray, and by the time they were finished, there was barely a sandwich on it. And that seemed to make the meal a little more palatable in the South." The lunch story persisted for decades, until finally in the 1930s, a journalist from Baltimore's "Afro-American" newspaper asked Edith Roosevelt if it was lunch or dinner. Edith checked her calendar, and she said it was most definitely dinner.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Among the responses to the dinner was a cartoon created by Maryland Democrats in which Edith sat between her husband and Booker. The cartoon was widely reprinted. According to Deborah Davis, this was the first time that a First Lady was lampooned in print.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: The dinner secured Washington's position as the leading black figure and spokesman in the United States. Deborah Davis believes that Edith admired Booker T. Washington. In a March 1901 letter, Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Booker, "Mrs. Roosevelt is as pleased as I am with your book."


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: According to biographer Lewis Gould, careful reading of Edith's private correspondence reveals racial views that go beyond what he calls the genteel bigotry" of her time. In 1902 and 1903 "Misses Turner and Miss Leech" performed at the Roosevelt White House. The women specialized in "Negro Songs" and Lewis Gould argued that by showcasing these performers, Edith entertained "guests with crude melodic stereotypes depicting an oppressed racial minority."


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith's last decades included extensive travel to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. After leaving the White House, Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit went on a safari while Edith took Ethel, Archie, and Quentin on an extended tour of Europe.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: The Smithsonian’s First Lady collection was created soon after the Roosevelts left the White House. When the museum's advocates asked her for a contribution, Edith said that she wasn't sure she could help: she often cut up dresses for the material after she wore them, and her inaugural gown was no exception. Her daughter later donated the remaining bottom half, and the Smithsonian refashioned the bodice using photographs.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith did not advocate for her husband's 1912 third-party presidential race but supported him fully when it was underway formally. She tended him after the assassination attempt, consoled him when he lost the election, and accompanied him to Brazil to see him off as he explored the River of Doubt. Both Roosevelts contributed to home-front activities during World War I. For example, Edith Roosevelt was the honorary president of The Needlework Guild of America, one of the oldest nonprofits in the United States which provided new clothes to the poor, from 1917 to 1921.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: During the Great Depression, Edith campaigned briefly for Herbert Hoover to emphasize that the Democratic nominee, Franklin Roosevelt, was not her son. Edith had disliked Eleanor since Eleanor's childhood and animosity had existed between the two women since the 1920s when Eleanor campaigned against Theodore Roosevelt Jr. during his run for governor of New York.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Before her death, Edith destroyed almost all of her correspondence with her husband. However, Edith was a prodigious letter writer and her letters survive in archives such as the Houghton Library.


title: Edith Roosevelt

text: Edith died at Sagamore Hill on September 30, 1948, at the age of 87. She is buried next to her husband at Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay.


title: Anti-humor

text: Anti-humor is a type of indirect and alternative humor that involves the joke-teller's delivering something that is intentionally not funny, or lacking in intrinsic meaning. The practice relies on the expectation on the part of the audience of something humorous, and when this does not happen, the irony itself is of comedic value. Anti-humor is also the basis of various types of pranks and hoaxes.


title: Anti-humor

text: The humor of such jokes is based on the surprise factor of absence of an expected joke or of a punch line in a narration that is set up as a joke. This kind of anticlimax is similar to that of the shaggy dog story. In fact, some researchers see the "shaggy dog story" as a type of anti-joke. Anti-humor is described as a form of irony or reversal of expectations that may provoke an emotion opposite to humor, such as fear, pain, disgust, awkwardness, or discomfort.


title: Anti-humor

text: The yarn, also called a shaggy dog story, is a type of anti-humor that involves telling an extremely long joke with an intricate (and sometimes grisly) back story and surreal or repetitive plotline, before ending the story with either a weak spoonerism, or abruptly stopping with no real punchline at all, or no soap, radio.


title: Anti-humor

text: The obvious punchline involves narratives that are structured like a traditional joke including a set-up and punchline, but whose punchline is the most obvious to the narrative; an example of this is Why did the chicken cross the road? Another example are the "What did the farmer say/do" set of jokes, which include various situations where the joke teller asks the listener what the farmer did in any given situation:


title: Anti-humor

text: The unobvious punchline involves narratives that are structured traditionally to include a set-up and punchline and whose set-up typically suggests a risqué punchline, but whose actual punchline is the opposite of what the listener is anticipating:


title: Anti-humor

text: The no-punchline involves a narrative that begins with a traditional structure (set-up and punchline) but which has no punchline or an incomplete punchline. This type of joke tends to have two targets, the main listener and an audience, and is meant to confuse the listener who does not know that there is not supposed to be a punchline while entertaining the audience which does.


title: Anti-humor

text: Alternative comedy, among its other aspects, parodies the traditional idea of the joke as a form of humor. Anti-humor jokes are also often associated with deliberately bad stand-up comedians. Stand-up comedian Andy Kaufman had his own unique brand of anti-humor, quasi-surrealist acts coupled with performance art; one of his best-known manifestations of this was his act as the fictional persona of Tony Clifton, an untalented lounge lizard entertainer. Norm Macdonald was another comedian sometimes associated with performing anti-humor, although he objected to the characterization.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: The 2022 US Open was the 142nd edition of tennis' US Open and the fourth and final tennis major (Grand Slam event) of the year. It was held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: Daniil Medvedev and Emma Raducanu were the men's and women's singles defending tournament champions. Raducanu lost to Alizé Cornet in the first round, while Medvedev lost to Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Świątek won the men's and women's singles titles, respectively. They became the first players, both born in the 2000s, to win the tournament's singles titles.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: The 2022 US Open was the 142nd consecutive edition of the tournament and took place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. The tournament was played on hard courts and took place over a series of 15 courts with Laykold surface, including the three existing main showcourts – Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium and Grandstand.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: The tournament was run by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and part of the 2022 ATP Tour (male tennis professionals) and the 2022 WTA Tour (female professional players) calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of both men's and women's singles and doubles draws, as singles draws remained in standard 128 person format in each category, as both doubles draws returned to standard 64 players. There were also singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which were part of the Grade A category of tournaments.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: In the United States, the 2022 US Open was the eighth year in a row under an 11-year, $825 million contract with ESPN, in which the broadcaster held exclusive rights to the entire tournament and the US Open Series. This meant that the tournament was not available on broadcast television.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: All tournament matches not cablecasted by ESPN, which focuses almost exclusively on the singles competitions, were available online on ESPN+.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: The total prize money for the 2022 US Open topped $60 million ($60,102,000) for the first time, 4.59% more than the 2021 edition and maintained the tournament's status as having the richest prize purse of all Grand Slams.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: On August 10, the tournament announced it would host an exhibition to support Ukraine during the Russian invasion. The exhibition matches took place on August 24, with all proceeds going to GlobalGiving, the international non-profit identified by Tennis Plays for Peace. Brothers John and Patrick McEnroe hosted and served as chair umpires, with John playing one match. The exhibition raised US$1.2 million in proceeds.


title: 2022 US Open (tennis)

text: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus was also scheduled to attend, but the tournament later disinvited her for her country's support of Russia, in addition to having received objections from Ukrainian players.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), also known as congenital analgesia, is one or more extraordinarily rare conditions in which a person cannot feel (and has never felt) physical pain. The conditions described here are separate from the HSAN group of disorders, which have more specific signs and cause. Because feeling physical pain is vital for survival, CIP is an extremely dangerous condition. It is common for people with the condition to die in childhood due to injuries or illnesses going unnoticed. Burn injuries are among the more common injuries.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: For people with this disorder, cognition and sensation are otherwise normal; for instance, patients can still feel discriminative touch (though not always temperature), and there are generally no detectable physical abnormalities.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: Because children and adults with the disorder cannot feel pain, they may not respond to problems, thus being at a higher risk of more severe diseases. Children with this condition often sustain oral cavity damage both in and around the oral cavity (such as having bitten off the tip of their tongue) or fractures to bones. Unnoticed infections and corneal damage due to foreign objects in the eye are also seen.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: It may be that the condition is caused by increased production of endorphins in the brain. In this case, naloxone may be a treatment, but it does not always work.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: In all cases, this disorder can be in the voltage-gated sodium channel SCN9A (Na1.7). Patients with such mutations are congenitally insensitive to pain and lack other neuropathies. There are three mutations in SCN9A: W897X, located in the P-loop of domain 2; I767X, located in the S2 segment of domain 2; and S459X, located in the linker region between domains 1 and 2. This results in a truncated non-functional protein. Na1.7 channels are expressed at high levels in nociceptive neurons of the dorsal root ganglia. As these channels are likely involved in the formation and propagation of action potentials in such neurons, it is expected that a loss of function mutation in SCN9A leads to abolished nociceptive pain propagation.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: PRDM12 gene is normally switched on during the development of pain-sensing nerve cells. People with homozygous mutations of the PRDM12 gene experience congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP).


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: Homozygous microdeletion in the FAAH-OUT pseudogene of the fatty acid amide hydrolase chromosomal region that is expressed in the brain and dorsal root ganglia was identified as the cause of congenital analgesia in a single individual (). The individual experienced lifelong insensitivity to pain and was oblivious to cuts and burns, did not experience pain during childbirth, did not experience pain from degeneration of a hip that required hip replacement surgery, and did not require analgesics for postoperative pain. Furthermore, the individual exhibited expedited wound healing and reduced scarring, could not sense heat from chili peppers, did not experience depression, fear, and anxiety and lacked a normal fear response to erratic and aggressive behaviour. However, the individual also experienced slight memory impairment (was prone to losing the trail of thought while speaking, and experienced some forgetfulness), and could not experience thrill ("adrenaline rush").


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: Another gene implicated in human pain insensitivity is ZFHX2, which encodes zinc finger homeobox 2. A 2018 study analysed six members of a family with inherited pain insensitivity and identified a "novel point mutation in ZFHX2, encoding a putative transcription factor expressed in small diameter sensory neurons", as the cause. As a therapeutic application, the study further discuses how "the ZFHX2 variant and downstream regulated genes associated with a human pain-insensitive phenotype are ... potential novel targets for the development of new analgesic drugs".


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: Developmental disabilities such as autism can include varying degrees of pain insensitivity as a sign. However, since these disorders are characterized by dysfunction of the sensory system in general, autism is not in itself an indicator of congenital insensitivity to pain.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: The opioid antagonist naloxone allowed a woman with congenital insensitivity to pain to experience it for the first time. Similar effects were observed in Na1.7 null mice treated with naloxone. As such, opioid antagonists like naloxone and naltrexone may be effective in treating the condition.


title: Congenital insensitivity to pain

text: Congenital insensitivity to pain is found at an abnormally high frequency in Vittangi, a village in Kiruna Municipality in northern Sweden, where nearly 40 cases have been reported.


title: Rolling stock

text: The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can be un-powered, or self-propelled, single or multiple units. A connected series of railway vehicles is a train (this term applied to a locomotive is a common misnomer).


title: Rolling stock

text: In North America, Australia and other countries, the term consist ( ) is used to refer to the rolling stock in a train.


title: Rolling stock

text: In the United States, the term "rolling stock" has been expanded from the older broadly defined "trains" to include wheeled vehicles used by businesses on roadways.


title: Rolling stock

text: The word "stock" in the term is used in a sense of inventory. Rolling stock is considered to be a liquid asset, or close to it, since the value of the vehicle can be readily estimated and then shipped to the buyer without much cost or delay. The term contrasts with fixed stock (infrastructure), which is a collective term for the track, signals, stations, other buildings, electric wires, etc., necessary to operate a railway.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: The eighth season of "Chicago Fire", an American drama television series with executive producer Dick Wolf, and producers Derek Haas and Matt Olmstead, was ordered on February 26, 2019, by NBC. The season premiered on September 25, 2019. The season concluded on April 15, 2020.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: On March 13, 2020, the production of the eighth season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty episodes, of a planned 23, were completed.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: The season premiere featured the departure of original character Brian "Otis" Zvonecek, played by Yuri Sardarov. Executive producer Derek Haas explained that after the seventh season, they were not sure how they would handle the conclusion to the mattress factory fire. They realised that they had placed characters in danger before having them saved too many times. Haas continued, "The audience has to be reminded that these calls are dangerous and sometimes people don't make it. We thought, what if we killed off Otis and he dies heroically? We realized there was so much emotional landscape we could cover." Haas spoke with "Chicago" creator Dick Wolf about the decision first, before informing Sardarov that he was being written out. Sardarov agreed to return for the eighth-season premiere. Haas confirmed that he considered killing off Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri), but as he was only introduced in the seventh season, his death would not have the same impact as an original cast member. Otis' death also gave the writers the chance to script a memorial at the firehouse which had not been done in the series before. Haas hoped that Sardarov would agree to reprise the role for future appearances.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: Another ongoing storyline follows Paramedic Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer), who has left Chicago with her fiancé Kyle Sheffield (Teddy Sears) for a small town in Indiana. Haas wanted "to follow through with her agreeing to marry Kyle." He also wanted to bring back her former friend Hope Jacquinot (Eloise Mumford) for the storyline.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: Actor Alberto Rosende joins the cast in the recurring role of firefighter Blake Gallo. Haas said the show needed "fresh energy" and called the character a "junior Casey/junior Severide". He added that not everyone in the house is keen on bringing Blake in. On December 13, 2019 it was announced that Rosende was upped to a series regular.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: On October 30, 2019, it was announced that former main cast member Monica Raymund would be returning as Gabriela Dawson for the mid-season finale in episode 9, “Best Friend Magic,” on November 20, 2019.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: On April 16, 2020, it was announced that Annie Ilonzeh, who plays Emily Foster has left the series after two seasons.


title: Chicago Fire (season 8)

text: The fourth episode of the season begins a crossover event with "Chicago Med" and "Chicago P.D.". Derek Haas and Dick Wolf wrote the story for all three parts and Haas wrote the teleplay for part one. The plot revolves around "a mysterious illness". Another crossover with "P.D." aired on February 26 and included the return of Brian Geraghty as Sean Roman.


title: Battle of Melitopol

text: The battle of Melitopol was a military engagement between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Russia in the city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It was part of the southern Ukraine offensive of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces attacked the city on 25 February, and captured it after heavy fighting by 1 March. After the battle ended, citizens held street protests against the military occupation. On 11 March, the city mayor was arrested by Russian troops for refusing to cooperate, but later released on 16 March in exchange for nine Russian prisoners of war.


title: Battle of Melitopol

text: Melitopol is the second largest city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast (region) after its capital, Zaporizhzhia. It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the eastern edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Lyman, which eventually joins the Sea of Azov. Its population is approximately .