title: Taliesin (studio)

text: Wright inherited the nearby Hillside Home School when it became insolvent in 1915 (the school had been run by his aunts, and the building was designed by him). In 1928, Wright conceived the idea of hosting a school there and issued a proposal to the University of Wisconsin that would have created the Hillside Home School for the Allied Arts; however, the plan was later abandoned. In 1932, the Wrights instead established the private Taliesin Fellowship, where fifty to sixty apprentices could come to Taliesin to study under the architect's mentorship. Apprentices helped him develop the estate at a time when Wright received few commissions for his work, including the Hillside Home School building, renovating the original school gymnasium into a theater. Apprentices under Wright's direction also constructed a drafting studio and dormitories. In 1937, Wright designed and the apprentices began construction on a winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona, which became known as Taliesin West. After this, Wright and the fellowship "migrated" between the two homes each year. Notable fellows include Arthur Dyson, "Fay" Jones, Shao Fang Sheng, Paolo Soleri, Edgar Tafel, and Paul Tuttle.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: Wright did not consider the fellowship a formal school, instead viewing it as a benevolent educational institution. He also worked to ensure G.I. Bill eligibility for returning World War II veterans. The town of Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Wright became embroiled in a legal dispute over his claim of tax exemption. A trial judge agreed with the town, stating that, since apprentices did much of Wright's work, it was not solely a benevolent institution. Wright fought the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. When Wright lost the case there in 1954, he threatened to abandon the estate. However, he was persuaded to stay after some friends raised $800,000 to cover the back taxes at a benefit dinner.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: In 1940, Frank Lloyd Wright, his third wife Olgivanna, and his son-in-law William Wesley Peters formed the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Upon Wright's death on April 9, 1959, ownership of the Taliesin estate in Spring Green, as well as Taliesin West, passed into the hands of the foundation. The Taliesin Fellowship continued to use the Hillside School as The School of Architecture at Taliesin. The fellowship allowed tours of the school, but initially did not permit visitation of the house or other grounds.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: When the group spent two summers in Switzerland, rumors started that they were planning on selling the house to S. C. Johnson, a former Wright client. Instead, the fellowship sold a surrounding piece of land to a developer associated with the company, intending to develop a tourist complex. The resort included an eighteen-hole golf course, restaurant, and a visitor's center.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: In 1973, Taliesin and the surrounding estate was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and on January 7, 1976, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) District by the National Park Service. A National Historic Landmark is a site deemed to have "exceptional value to the nation." The properties contributing to the district are the landscape, Taliesin III, the pool and gardens in the courtyard, Hillside Home School (which includes the Hillside drafting studio and the theater), the dam, Romeo and Juliet Windmill, Midway Barn, and Tan-Y-Deri.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: In the late 1980s, Taliesin and Taliesin West were together nominated as a World Heritage Site, a UNESCO designation for properties with special worldwide significance. The nomination was rejected because the organization wanted to see a larger nomination with more Wright properties. In 2008, the National Park Service submitted the Taliesin estate along with nine other Frank Lloyd Wright properties to a tentative list for World Heritage Status, which the National Park Service says is "a necessary first step in the process of nominating a site to the World Heritage List." After revised proposals, Taliesin and seven other properties were inscribed on the World Heritage List under the title "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" in July 2019.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: In 1987, the National Park Service evaluated the 1,811 NHLs nationwide for historical integrity and threat of damage. Taliesin was declared a "Priority 1" NHL, a site that is "seriously damaged or imminently with such damage." Furthermore, the site was listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America's Most Endangered Places in 1994, citing its "water damage, erosion, foundation settlement and wood decay." Taliesin Preservation, Inc. (TPI), a non-profit organization, was established in 1991 to restore Taliesin.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: On June 18, 1998, a severe storm damaged the estate. The large oak tree at the center of the tea circle in the courtyard fell down on top of the house. Ten days after this, heavy rains caused a mudslide north of the building. The next year, another storm collapsed a tunnel underneath the studio wing. A 1999 grant from Save America's Treasures helped defray costs to re-roof Taliesin III, to stabilize its foundation, and to connect it to a local sewage treatment plant.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: Over $11 million has been spent on the rehabilitation of Taliesin since 1998. Unfortunately, its preservation is "fraught with epic difficulties", because Wright never thought of it as a series of buildings with a long-term future. It was built by inexperienced students, without solid foundations. Financing renovations has been challenging because revenue from Taliesin visitation has been lower than projected.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: TPI provides tours from May 1 through October 31. Other visitation opportunities are available the rest of the year, but these are variable and visitors are encouraged to visit the organization's website. Roughly 25,000 people visit Taliesin each year.


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: Architectural historian James F. O'Gorman compares Taliesin to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, calling it "not a mere building but an entire environment in which man, architecture and nature form a harmonious whole." He continues that the building is an expression of Romanticism influence in architecture. William Barillas, in an essay of the Prairie School movement, agrees with O'Gorman's assessment and calls Taliesin "the ultimate prairie house." In "House Proud", an article in "Boston Globe Magazine", Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic Robert Campbell wrote that Taliesin is “my candidate for the title of the greatest single building in America.”


title: Taliesin (studio)

text: In "Taliesin 1911–1914", a collection of essays about the first house, the authors and editor conclude that Taliesin was "Wright's architectural self-portrait." In a 2009 publication for the Thoreau Society, Naomi Uechi notes thematic similarities between the architecture of Taliesin and the concept of simplicity advocated by philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Architectural historian Neil Levine highlighted the abstract nature of the complex, comparing it to the works of Pablo Picasso.


title: Melody Patterson

text: Melody Patricia Patterson (April 16, 1949 – August 20, 2015) was an American actress known for her role as Wrangler Jane in the 1960s television series "F Troop" and for her role as Ellie in the horror film "Blood and Lace" (1971).


title: Melody Patterson

text: Melody Patterson was born on April 16, 1949, in Inglewood, California. She was the daughter of machinist Pat Patterson and the former Rosemary Wilson, an official in the Miss Universe contest. Her mother had been a dancer with Warner Bros., who "doubled for Joan Crawford in several films."


title: Melody Patterson

text: She started performing at the age of four, appearing in "Mrs. McThing" at the Downey Community Theatre in Downey, California. Patterson wrote and directed a play at the age of five. Before turning 10, she had also been a photographer's model, an actress, and an ice skater. In the ninth grade, she enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School. She continued her education in the Warner Bros. school while she acted on "F Troop". She attended the Hollywood Professional School and later studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.


title: Melody Patterson

text: She apparently auditioned for "F Troop" (1965) on a lark. To her surprise, she was asked to read some lines from the script of the Doris Day "Calamity Jane" film which just happened to be Patterson's favorite movie, one she had seen several times on TV, and had often re-enacted while playing at home. Her reading impressed the producers that led to the role.


title: Melody Patterson

text: She was not quite 16, having obtained the role with the help of a forged birth certificate that indicated her age was 18 and kept her real age from the producers. When she had secured the part, she told them her real age. Their shock and consternation were ameliorated shortly thereafter by her maturity and professionalism. After the 1967 cancellation of "F Troop", Patterson worked in television, radio, and the theater. She also appeared on "Mr. Novak" and "Shindig!" In the 1970s, she appeared in three episodes of "Hawaii Five-O", and began modeling and appearing in television commercials.


title: Melody Patterson

text: Patterson's first screen appearance was an uncredited walk-on in "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963). Her first featured role was in the 1968 drama "The Angry Breed". She also appeared in a lead role in the action film "The Cycle Savages", with Bruce Dern, followed by a leading part in the slasher film "Blood and Lace" (1971). In 1973, she appeared in a small part in "The Harrad Experiment" (1973). Her final film credit was in "The Immortalizer" (1990), a direct-to-video sci-fi horror film.


title: Melody Patterson

text: While living in Hawaii, Patterson performed in the play "Butterflies Are Free", with Barbara Rush and Dirk Benedict. She appeared in other plays such as "House of Blue Leaves" for the University of Hawaii, and played the part of Peggy in "The Front Page" written by Charles MacArthur, and directed by her then-husband James MacArthur (Charles' son).


title: Melody Patterson

text: Patterson entertained troops in Vietnam with the "Johnny Grant and Friends" show. Her first tour was in December 1967, with Diane McBain, Sherry Jackson, and Sabrina Scharf. Her second tour was in June 1968 with Vicki Lawrence and Karen MacQuarrie (Miss Welcome to Long Beach 1968). Patterson was a disc jockey for the Armed Forces Radio Service. She later wrote a column called "Wrapping with Wrangler" for "Wildest Westerns" magazine.


title: Melody Patterson

text: In 1965, the Motion Picture and Television Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists group selected Patterson as one of 12 young actresses named Deb Stars of 1966. She was nominated by the Warner Bros. studio.


title: Melody Patterson

text: Patterson was married three times. She married actor James MacArthur in July 1970. MacArthur was known for playing Danny "Danno" Williams in the TV series "Hawaii Five-O". She put her career aside to move to Honolulu, where the show filmed. They parted in 1975. Her second marriage was to Robert Hill Crump Seaton, Jr., and ended in divorce April 29, 1998. Her last marriage was to musician Vern Miller on November 28, 1998, and ended with her death. Patterson had no children from those marriages.


title: Melody Patterson

text: Patterson died in a nursing home in Hollister, Missouri, on August 20, 2015, at age 66. Multiple organ failure was the reported cause. Her "F Troop" co-star Larry Storch (Corporal Agarn) announced her death on Facebook as follows: "It's with a heavy heart that we can let you know our beloved Wrangler Jane, Melody Patterson, passed away today. Our hearts are sad today. RIP Sweet Melody. We love you." Patterson was cremated and has no final resting place.


title: Lydia Wilson

text: Lydia Wilson (born 30 November 1984) is an English-American actress. Since graduating in 2009 from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she has performed in numerous television and theatre productions including the Olivier Award winning "Blasted" by Sarah Kane in 2010 at the Lyric Theatre.


title: Lydia Wilson

text: Wilson was born to an American mother and an English father and brought up in Queen's Park in London. She has said that her acting ambitions came from her grandparents, who were stage actors. After completing a foundation course at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, she studied English at Queens' College, Cambridge, then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).


title: Lydia Wilson

text: Wilson made her film debut in the alternative history romance drama "Never Let Me Go" (2010). In 2014, she was included in the London "Evening Standard" list of the 1,000 most influential Londoners.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), sometimes referred to as thermoplastic rubbers, are a class of copolymers or a physical mix of polymers (usually a plastic and a rubber) that consist of materials with both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties. While most elastomers are thermosets, thermoplastics are in contrast relatively easy to use in manufacturing, for example, by injection moulding. Thermoplastic elastomers show advantages typical of both rubbery materials and plastic materials. The benefit of using thermoplastic elastomers is the ability to stretch to moderate elongations and return to its near original shape creating a longer life and better physical range than other materials. The principal difference between thermoset elastomers and thermoplastic elastomers is the type of cross-linking bond in their structures. In fact, crosslinking is a critical structural factor which imparts high elastic properties.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Examples of TPE materials that come from block copolymers group are amongst others CAWITON, THERMOLAST K, THERMOLAST M, Arnitel, Hytrel, Dryflex, Mediprene, Kraton, Pibiflex, Sofprene, and Laprene. Out of these styrenic block copolymers (TPE-s) are CAWITON, THERMOLAST K, THERMOLAST M, Sofprene, Dryflex, Laprene and Tuftec. Laripur, Desmopan or Elastollan are examples of thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). Sarlink, Santoprene, Termoton, Solprene, THERMOLAST V, Vegaprene, or Forprene are examples of TPV materials. Examples of thermoplastic olefin elastomers (TPO) compound are For-Tec E or Engage. Ninjaflex used for 3D printing.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: In order to qualify as a thermoplastic elastomer, a material must have these three essential characteristics:


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: TPE became a commercial reality when thermoplastic polyurethane polymers became available in the 1950s. During the 1960s styrene block copolymer became available, and in the 1970s a wide range of TPEs came on the scene. The worldwide usage of TPEs (680,000 tons/year in 1990) is growing at about nine percent per year. The styrene-butadiene materials possess a two-phase microstructure due to incompatibility between the polystyrene and polybutadiene blocks, the former separating into spheres or rods depending on the exact composition. With low polystyrene content, the material is elastomeric with the properties of the polybutadiene predominating. Generally they offer a much wider range of properties than conventional cross-linked rubbers because the composition can vary to suit final construction goals.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Block copolymers are interesting because they can "microphase separate" to form periodic nanostructures, as in the styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) block copolymer shown at right. The polymer is known as Kraton and is used for shoe soles and adhesives. Owing to the microfine structure, a transmission electron microscope (TEM) was needed to examine the structure. The butadiene matrix was stained with osmium tetroxide to provide contrast in the image. The material was made by living polymerization so that the blocks are almost monodisperse, so helping to create a very regular microstructure. The molecular weight of the polystyrene blocks in the main picture is 102,000; the inset picture has a molecular weight of 91,000, producing slightly smaller domains. The spacing between domains has been confirmed by small-angle X-ray scattering, a technique which gives information about microstructure.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Since most polymers are incompatible with one another, forming a block polymer will usually result in phase separation, and the principle has been widely exploited since the introduction of the SBS block polymers, especially where one of the block is highly crystalline. One exception to the rule of incompatibility is the material Noryl, where polystyrene and polyphenylene oxide or PPO form a continuous blend with one another.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Other TPEs have crystalline domains where one kind of block co-crystallizes with other block in adjacent chains, such as in copolyester rubbers, achieving the same effect as in the SBS block polymers. Depending on the block length, the domains are generally more stable than the latter owing to the higher crystal melting point. That point determines the processing temperatures needed to shape the material, as well as the ultimate service use temperatures of the product. Such materials include Hytrel, a polyester-polyether copolymer and Pebax, a nylon or polyamide-polyether copolymer.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Depending on the environment, TPEs have outstanding thermal properties and material stability when exposed to a broad range of temperatures and non-polar materials. TPEs consume less energy to produce, can be colored easily by most dyes, and allow economical quality control. TPE requires little or no compounding, with no need to add reinforcing agents, stabilizers or cure systems. Hence, batch-to-batch variations in weighting and metering components are absent, leading to improved consistency in both raw materials and fabricated articles. TPE materials have the potential to be recyclable since they can be molded, extruded and reused like plastics, but they have typical elastic properties of rubbers which are not recyclable owing to their thermosetting characteristics. They can also be ground up and turned into 3D printing filament with a recyclebot.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: The two most important manufacturing methods with TPEs are extrusion and injection molding. TPEs can now be 3D printed and have been shown to be economically advantageous to make products using distributed manufacturing. Compression molding is seldom, if ever, used. Fabrication via injection molding is extremely rapid and highly economical. Both the equipment and methods normally used for the extrusion or injection molding of a conventional thermoplastic are generally suitable for TPEs. TPEs can also be processed by blow molding, melt calendaring, thermoforming, and heat welding.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: TPEs are used where conventional elastomers cannot provide the range of physical properties needed in the product. These materials find large application in the automotive sector and in household appliances sector. In 2014, the world market for TPEs reached a volume of ca. 16.7 billion US dollars. About 40% of all TPE products are used in the manufacturing of vehicles. For instance, copolyester TPEs are used in snowmobile tracks where stiffness and abrasion resistance are at a premium. Thermoplastic olefins (TPO) are increasingly used as a roofing material. TPEs are also widely used for catheters where nylon block copolymers offer a range of softness ideal for patients. Thermoplastic silicone and olefin blends are used for extrusion of glass run and dynamic weatherstripping car profiles. Styrene block copolymers are used in shoe soles for their ease of processing, and widely as adhesives.


title: Thermoplastic elastomer

text: Owing to their unrivaled abilities in two-component injection molding to various thermoplastic substrates, engineered TPS materials also cover a broad range of technical applications ranging from automotive market to consumer and medical products. Examples of those are soft grip surfaces, design elements, back-lit switches and surfaces, as well as sealings, gaskets, or damping elements. TPE is commonly used to make suspension bushings for automotive performance applications because of its greater resistance to deformation when compared to regular rubber bushings. Thermoplastics have experienced growth in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry due to the function, cost effectiveness and adaptability to modify plastic resins into a variety of covers, fans and housings. TPE may also be used in medical devices, electrical cable jacket and inner insulation, sex toys, and some headphone cables.


title: Claudine Auger

text: Claudine Auger (born Claudine Oger; 26 April 1941 – 18 December 2019) was a French actress best known for her role as a Bond girl, Dominique "Domino" Derval, in the James Bond film "Thunderball" (1965). She earned the title of Miss France Monde (the French representative to the Miss World beauty pageant) and was also the first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World contest.


title: Claudine Auger

text: Auger was born in Paris, France. She attended St. Joan of Arc College and later the Conservatoire de Paris, where she performed dramatic roles. She made her film debut when she was still in school.


title: Claudine Auger

text: Jean Cocteau cast Auger in an uncredited role as a tall ballerina in "Testament of Orpheus" (1960). When she was 18, she married the 43-year-old writer-director Pierre Gaspard-Huit, and he cast her in several films, including "Le Masque de fer" (1962) and "" (1963). In 1966 she co-starred in the World War II drama "Triple Cross" with Yul Brynner and Christopher Plummer.


title: Claudine Auger

text: When she was on holiday in Nassau, writer-producer Kevin McClory saw her and recommended that she audition for his film "Thunderball" (1965). The role of Domino was originally to be an Italian woman, Dominetta Petacchi. Auger impressed the producers so much that they rewrote the part to that of a French woman, to better suit Auger. Although she took lessons to perfect her English, her voice was eventually dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl. Auger would claim that she related to her character Domino, as she and Domino were both involved with older men. The most immediate byproduct of Claudine's stardom was a semi-nude "Playboy" spread.


title: Claudine Auger

text: "Thunderball" launched Auger into a successful European movie career, but did little for her otherwise in the United States. She did, however, star in a Danny Thomas special called "The Road to Lebanon" with Bing Crosby, which was shown on NBC on 20 April 1966.


title: Claudine Auger

text: Auger co-starred with another Bond girl, Ursula Andress, in the Italian comedy "Anyone Can Play" (1968). She starred with two future Bond girls, Barbara Bouchet and Barbara Bach, in "Black Belly of the Tarantula" (1971), a giallo mystery. She had some roles in European films such as "Triple Cross" (1966, reuniting her with her James Bond director Terence Young), and "The Killing Game" (1967).


title: Claudine Auger

text: Auger appeared in the British television series "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", in "The Three Gables" (1994), as Isadora Klein, in one of the last episodes of the series.


title: Claudine Auger

text: She married British businessman Peter Brent in the 1980s. The couple had one child, Jessica Claudine Brent (b. 1991). Peter Brent died in August 2008.


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Over the years, a variety of bands have made up the yearly lineups of Ozzfest, a yearly heavy metal music festival that usually tours the United States in summer.


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: "That whole tour was like the "Morbid Tour" – it was a funeral on wheels," quipped Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler. "Every band was wearing black." "I'd have liked to have done a long set, as opposed to fifty minutes or an hour," remarked guitarist Tony Iommi. "For me it didn't feel like we'd done enough."


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: The Columbus show was cancelled when Osbourne lost his voice. "They wanted me to go on and announce that Ozzy wasn't going to be there," Tony Iommi recalled. "I said, 'You've got no chance of that!' There was no way I'm walking out there saying we're not playing… Pantera were a particularly great bunch of guys and they went out and jammed away. Ozzy's band as well – they were nice people. When they "[the audience]" were told that we weren't going to be playing at the end and Ozzy wasn't going to be showing up, they just fucking wrecked the place… We had to reschedule it "[for July 1]"."


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: The concert on July 18, 1998 at Float Rite Park was merged with Warped Tour 1998. Some 39,000 fans were at the 12-hour, six-stage, 48-band event.


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: The lineup on the Main Stage and 2nd Stage change shortly after the tour began when Crazy Town was pulled from the tour by the band's manager. Where as Disturbed was moved to open the Main Stage.


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Cradle of Filth, Voivod, Hotwire, Shadows Fall, Grade 8 (through August 11), Twisted Method, Nothingface, Killswitch Engage, Ünloco, Depswa (through August 11), Motograter, Sworn Enemy, The Revolution Smile, Chimaira, Endo, Memento, E.Town Concrete (started August 14)


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Slipknot, Hatebreed, Lamb of God, Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Lacuna Coil, Every Time I Die, Unearth, God Forbid, Otep, Devildriver, Magna-Fi, Throwdown, Darkest Hour, Disown


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: The Saturday (11 June) of the Download Festival at Donington Park was dubbed "Ozzfest Day", featuring Black Sabbath, Velvet Revolver, HIM, Anthrax, Alter Bridge, A, Bowling for Soup, The Mad Capsule Markets, The Dwarves and Trivium.


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden (from July 15 – August 20), Mudvayne, Shadows Fall, Black Label Society, In Flames, Velvet Revolver (from August 23 – September 4), Slipknot (July 31 and August 20 only), Drowning Pool (August 25 only),


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Rob Zombie, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Mastodon, A Dozen Furies, The Haunted, Arch Enemy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Bury Your Dead, It Dies Today, Soilwork, Gizmachi, Wicked Wisdom, Trivium


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Ozzy Osbourne (on select dates), System of a Down, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold (cancelled August 13), Hatebreed (cancelled August 9 and 13), Lacuna Coil, DragonForce, Iron Maiden


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: A Life Once Lost, The Red Chord, Walls of Jericho, Strapping Young Lad, All That Remains, Full Blown Chaos, Between the Buried and Me, Bad Acid Trip, Killswitch Engage


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Hatebreed, Behemoth, Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Generator (July 12–22), DevilDriver (started August 2), Egypt Central (August 2–8)


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Serj Tankian, Hellyeah, Jonathan Davis, Cavalera Conspiracy, Shadows Fall, Apocalyptica, In This Moment, All Star Dimebag Darrell Tribute


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Black Label Society (cancelled August 22 and August 24), Drowning Pool (cancelled August 24), Kingdom of Sorrow (cancelled August 14)


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Goatwhore (cancelled August 21), Skeletonwitch, Saviours, Kataklysm (cancelled August 24), Exodus (August 14 only), California Wildebeest (August 14 only), and Immune (August 14 only)


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Slipknot, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Deftones, Maximum the Hormone, Man with a Mission, Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Treatment, Namba 69, crossfaith, Galneryus, Momoiro Clover Z, Knock Out Monkey, and Artema


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Black Sabbath, Tool, Stone Sour, Dir En Grey, Anthem, coldrain, Steel Panther, Mucc, AA=, Ningen Isu, Head Phones President, and fade


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Korn, Evanescence, Bullet for My Valentine, Noisemaker, VAMPS, ONE OK ROCK, Crossfaith, Corey Taylor,


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Ozzy and Friends, Jane's Addiction, Hatebreed, A Day to Remember, Black Label Society, Babymetal, Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, 9mm Parabellum Bullet, Her Name in Blood, Ningen Isu, and OLDCODEX


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Kreator, Baroness, High on Fire, Iron Reagan, 1349, Havok, Kyng, Tombs, Night Demon, Thrown Into Exile


title: Ozzfest lineups by year

text: Testament, Life of Agony, The Black Dahlia Murder, Upon a Burning Body, Goatwhore, Death Angel, Code Orange, Oni, Stitched Up Heart, Ded


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; ), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling from 590 to 628, with an interruption of one year.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow II was the son of Hormizd IV (reigned 579–590), and the grandson of Khosrow I (reigned 531–579). He was the last king of Iran to have a lengthy reign before the Muslim conquest of Iran, which began five years after his execution. He lost his throne, then recovered it with the help of the Byzantine emperor Maurice, and, a decade later, went on to emulate the feats of the Achaemenids, conquering the rich Roman provinces of the Middle East; much of his reign was spent in wars with the Byzantine Empire and struggling against usurpers such as Bahram Chobin and Vistahm.


title: Khosrow II

text: After the Byzantines killed Maurice, Khosrow II began a war in 602 against the Byzantines. Khosrow II's forces captured much of the Byzantine Empire's territories, earning the king the epithet "the Victorious". A siege of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 626 was unsuccessful, and Heraclius, now allied with Turks, started a risky but successful counterattack deep into Persia's heartland. Supported by the feudal families of the empire, Khosrow II's imprisoned son Sheroe (Kavad II) imprisoned and killed Khosrow II. This led to a civil war and interregnum in the empire and the reversal of all Sasanian gains in the war against the Byzantines.


title: Khosrow II

text: In works of Persian literature such as the Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh" and Nizami Ganjavi's (1141–1209) "Khosrow and Shirin", a famous tragic romance and a highly elaborated fictional version of Khosrow's life made him one of the greatest heroes of the culture, as much a lover as a king. "Khosrow and Shirin" tells the story of his love for the Aramean/Roman princess Shirin, who becomes his queen after a lengthy courtship strewn with mishaps and difficulties.


title: Khosrow II

text: "Khosrow" is the New Persian variant of his name used by scholars; his original name was Middle Persian, "Husraw", itself derived from Avestan "Haosrauuah" ("he who has good fame"). The name is transliterated in Greek as "Chosroes" (Χοσρόης) and in Arabic as "Kisra". His name in combination with the epithet "Parviz" is attested in Georgian as "K‛asre Ambarvez" (Pseudo-Juansher, writing around the year 800) and in Armenian as "Aprouēž Xosrov".


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow II was born in ; he was the son of Hormizd IV and an unnamed noblewoman from the House of Ispahbudhan, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran. Her brothers, Vinduyih and Vistahm, were to have a profound influence in Khosrow II's early life. Khosrow's paternal grandfather was the famed Sasanian shah Khosrow I Anushirvan (), whilst his paternal grandmother was the daughter of the khagan of the Khazars. Khosrow is first mentioned in the 580s, when he was at Partaw, the capital of Caucasian Albania. During his stay there, he served as the governor of the kingdom, and managed to put an end to the Kingdom of Iberia and make it into a Sasanian province. Furthermore, Khosrow II also served as the governor of Arbela in Mesopotamia sometime before his accession to the throne.


title: Khosrow II

text: In 590, Hormizd IV had his prominent general Bahram Chobin disgraced and dismissed. Bahram, infuriated by Hormizd's actions, responded by rebelling, and due to his noble status and great military knowledge, was joined by his soldiers and many others. He then appointed a new governor for Khorasan, and afterwards set for the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. The legitimacy of the House of Sasan was based on acceptance that the halo of kingship, the "xwarrah", was given to the first Sasanian shah, Ardashir I () and his family following the latter's conquest of the Parthian Empire. This was now, however, disputed by Bahram Chobin, thus marking the first time in Sasanian history that a Parthian dynast challenged the legitimacy of the Sasanian family by rebelling.


title: Khosrow II

text: Meanwhile, Hormizd tried to come to terms with his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih, who according to the Syriac writer Joshua the Stylite, both "equally hated Hormizd". The two brothers overthrew Hormizd in a seemingly bloodless palace revolution. They had Hormizd blinded with a red-hot needle, and put Khosrow II on the throne. Sometime in the summer of 590, the two brothers then had Hormizd killed, with at least the implicit approval of Khosrow II. Nevertheless, Bahram Chobin continued his march to Ctesiphon, now with the pretext of claiming to avenge Hormizd.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow then took a carrot and stick attitude, and wrote a message to Bahram Chobin, stressing his rightful claim to the Sasanian kingship: "Khosrow, kings of kings, ruler over the ruling, lord of the peoples, prince of peace, salvation of men, among gods the good and eternally living man, among men the most esteemed god, the highly illustrious, the victor, the one who rises with the sun and who lends the night his eyesight, the one famed through his ancestors, the king who hates, the benefactor who engaged the Sasanians and saved the Iranians their kingship—to Bahram, the general of the Iranians, our friend... We have also taken over the royal throne in a lawful manner and have upset no Iranian customs... We have so firmly decided not to take off the diadem that we even expected to rule over other worlds, if this were possible... If you wish your welfare, think about what is to be done."


title: Khosrow II

text: Bahram Chobin, however, ignored his warning—a few days later, he reached the Nahrawan Canal near Ctesiphon, where he fought Khosrow's men, who were heavily outnumbered, but managed to hold Bahram Chobin's men back in several clashes. However, Khosrow's men eventually began losing their morale, and were in the end defeated by Bahram Chobin's forces. Khosrow, together with his two uncles, his wives, and a retinue of 30 nobles, thereafter fled to Byzantine territory, while Ctesiphon fell to Bahram Chobin. Bahram Chobin declared himself king of kings in the summer of 590, asserting that the first Sasanian king Ardashir I () had usurped the throne of the Arsacids, and that he now was restoring their rule.


title: Khosrow II

text: Bahram Chobin tried to support his cause with the Zoroastrian apocalyptic belief that by the end of Zoroaster's millennium, chaos and destructive wars with the Hephthalites/Huns and the Romans occurs and then a savior would appear. Indeed, the Sasanians had misidentified Zoroaster's era with that of the Seleucids (312 BC), which put Bahram Chobin's life almost at the end of Zoroaster's millennium, he was therefore hailed by many as the promised savior Kay Bahram Varjavand. Bahram was to re-establish the Arsacid Empire and commenced a new millennium of dynastic rule. He started minting coins, where he is on the front imitated as an exalted figure, bearded and wearing a crenellation-shaped crown with two crescents of the moon, whilst the reverse shows the traditional fire altar flanked by two attendants. Regardless, many nobles and priests still chose to side with the inexperienced and less dominant Khosrow II.


title: Khosrow II

text: In order to get the attention of the Byzantine emperor Maurice (r. 582–602), Khosrow II went to Syria, and sent a message to the Sasanian occupied city of Martyropolis to stop their resistance against the Byzantines, but with no avail. He then sent a message to Maurice, and requested his help to regain the Sasanian throne, which the Byzantine emperor agreed with; in return, the Byzantines would re-gain sovereignty over the cities of Amida, Carrhae, Dara and Martyropolis. Furthermore, Iran was required to stop intervening in the affairs of Iberia and Armenia, effectively ceding control of Lazistan to the Byzantines.


title: Khosrow II

text: In 591, Khosrow moved to Constantia and prepared to invade Bahram Chobin's territories in Mesopotamia, while Vistahm and Vinduyih were raising an army in Adurbadagan under the observation of the Byzantine commander John Mystacon, who was also raising an army in Armenia. After some time, Khosrow, along with the Byzantine commander of the south, Comentiolus, invaded Mesopotamia. During this invasion, Nisibis and Martyropolis quickly defected to them, and Bahram Chobin's commander Zatsparham was defeated and killed. One of Bahram Chobin's other commanders, Bryzacius, was captured in Mosil and had his nose and ears cut off, and was thereafter sent to Khosrow, where he was killed. Khosrow II and the Byzantine general Narses then penetrated deeper into Bahram's territory, seizing Dara and then Mardin in February, where Khosrow was re-proclaimed king. Shortly after this, Khosrow sent one of his Iranian supporters, Mahbodh, to capture Ctesiphon, which he managed to accomplish.


title: Khosrow II

text: At the same time a force of 8,000 Iranians under Vistahm and Vinduyih and 12,000 Armenians under Mushegh II Mamikonian invaded Adurbadagan. Bahram Chobin tried to disrupt the force by writing a letter to Mushegh II, the letter said: "As for you Armenians who demonstrate an unseasonable loyalty, did not the house of Sasan destroy your land and sovereignty? Why otherwise did your fathers rebel and extricate themselves from their service, fighting up until today for your country?" Bahram Chobin in his letter promised that the Armenians would become partners of the new Iranian empire ruled by a Parthian dynastic family if he accepted his proposal to betray Khosrow II. Mushegh, however, rejected the offer.


title: Khosrow II

text: Bahram Chobin was then defeated at the Battle of Blarathon, forcing him to flee with 4,000 men eastwards. He marched towards Nishapur, where he defeated a pursuing army as well as an army led by a Karenid nobleman at Qumis. Constantly troubled, he crossed the Oxus river, where he was received honorably by the Khagan of the Turks, who was most likely Birmudha—the same Turkic prince that Bahram Chobin had defeated and captured a few years earlier during his wars against the Turks. Bahram Chobin entered his service, and was appointed as a commander in the army, achieving further military accomplishments there. Bahram Chobin became a highly popular figure after saving the Khagan from a conspiracy instigated by the latters brother Byghu (conceivably an incorrect translation of "yabghu"). Khosrow II, however, could not feel safe as long as Bahram Chobin lived, and succeeded in having him assassinated. The assassination was reportedly achieved through distribution of presents and bribes between the members of the Turkic royal family, notably the queen. What remained of Bahram Chobin's supporters went back to northern Iran and joined the rebellion of Vistahm (590/1–596 or 594/5–600).


title: Khosrow II

text: With Khosrow's rule now restored, his aim was to now consolidate his grip over his realm, which included showing tolerance and support to his Christian subjects. His wife Shirin—a Christian from Khuzestan—was the most influential of his wives, playing an important role in the royal favour that the Mesopotamian Christians enjoyed. She had a church and monastery constructed near the palace in Ctesiphon, which was used to receive a portion of the treasury for the wages of the clergy and their vestments. The Arab Lakhmids/Nasrids, a client state located at al-Hira and its surroundings, could now openly convert to Nestorian Christianity without angering the Sasanian court.


title: Khosrow II

text: The Iranians and the Byzantines enjoyed good relations with each other for the first eleven years. This was apparent in their management of the issues that had risen in Armenia. In the 590s, many Armenian nobles and their supporters sought asylum in Iran to avoid being conscripted for Maurice's Balkan campaigns. The open borders between the two empires meant that nobles could freely immigrate to Iran and get promoted. However, when they showed signs of aspiring to fight the Byzantines, the Iranians worked together with the Byzantines to deal with the issue.


title: Khosrow II

text: After his victory, Khosrow rewarded his uncles with high positions: Vinduyih became treasurer and first minister and Vistahm received the post of "spahbed" of the East, encompassing Tabaristan and Khorasan, which was the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudhan. Soon, however, Khosrow changed his intentions: trying to disassociate himself from his father's murder, he decided to execute his uncles. The Sasanian monarchs' traditional mistrust of over-powerful magnates and Khosrow's personal resentment of Vinduyih's patronising manner certainly contributed to this decision. Vinduyih was soon put to death, according to a Syriac source captured while trying to flee to his brother in the East.


title: Khosrow II

text: At the news of his brother's murder, Vistahm rose in open revolt. According to Dinawari, Vistahm sent a letter to Khosrow announcing his claim to the throne through his Parthian (Arsacid) heritage: "You are not worthier to rule than I am. Indeed, I am more deserving on account of my descent from Darius, son of Darius, who fought Alexander. You Sasanians deceitfully gained superiority over us [the Arsacids] and usurped our right, and treated us with injustice. Your ancestor Sasan was no more than a shepherd." Vistahm's revolt, like Bahrams's shortly before, found support and spread quickly. Local magnates as well as the remnants of Bahram Chobin's armies flocked to him, especially after he married Bahram's sister Gordiya. Vistahm repelled several loyalist efforts to subdue him, and he soon held sway in the entire eastern and northern quadrants of the Iranian realm, a domain stretching from the Oxus river to the region of Ardabil in the west. He even campaigned in the east, where he subdued two Hephthalite princes of Transoxiana, Shaug and Pariowk. The date of Vistahm's uprising is uncertain. From his coinage, it is known that his rebellion lasted for seven years. The commonly accepted dates are ca. 590–596, but some scholars like J.D. Howard–Johnston and Parvaneh Pourshariati push its outbreak later, in 594/5, to coincide with the Armenian Vahewuni rebellion.


title: Khosrow II

text: As Vistahm began to threaten Media, Khosrow sent several armies against his uncle, but failed to achieve a decisive result: Vistahm and his followers retreated to the mountainous region of Gilan, while several Armenian contingents of the royal army rebelled and defected to Vistahm. Finally, Khosrow called upon the services of the Armenian Smbat Bagratuni, who engaged Vistahm near Qumis. During the battle, Vistahm was murdered by Pariowk at Khosrow's urging (or, according to an alternative account, by his wife Gordiya). Nevertheless, Vistahm's troops managed to repel the royal army at Qumis, and it required another expedition by Smbat in the next year to finally end the rebellion.


title: Khosrow II

text: In 600, Khosrow II executed Al-Nu'man III, King of the Lakhmids of Al-Hira, presumably because of the Arab king's refusal to give him his daughter al-Ḥurqah in marriage and insulting Persian women. Afterwards the central government took over the defense of the western frontiers to the desert, and the buffer state of the Lakhmids vanished. This ultimately facilitated the Muslim Caliphs' invasion and conquest of Lower Iraq, less than a decade after Khosrow's death.


title: Khosrow II

text: Toward the beginning of his reign, Khosrow II had good relations with the Byzantines. However, when in 602 Emperor Maurice was murdered by his General Phocas (602–610), who usurped the Roman (Byzantine) throne, Khosrow launched an offensive against Constantinople: ostensibly to avenge Maurice's death, but his aim clearly included the annexation of as much Byzantine territory as was feasible. Khosrow II, along with Shahrbaraz and his other best generals, quickly captured Dara and Edessa in 604, and recaptured lost territory in the north, which made the Sasanian–Byzantine borders go back to the pre-591 frontier before Khosrow gave Maurice territory in return for military aid against Bahram Chobin. After having reclaimed lost territory, Khosrow withdrew from the battlefield and handed military operations to Shahrbaraz and Shahin Vahmanzadegan. The Sasanian armies then invaded and plundered Syria and Asia Minor, and in 608 advanced into Chalcedon.


title: Khosrow II

text: In 610, Heraclius revolted against Phocas and killed him, crowning himself as Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He then tried to negotiate peace with Khosrow II by sending diplomats to his court. Khosrow, however, rejected their offer and said: "That kingdom belongs to me, and I shall enthrone Maurice's son, Theodosius, as emperor. [As for Heraclius], he went and took the rule without our order and now offers us our own treasure as gifts. But I shall not stop until I have him in my hands." Khosrow then had the diplomats executed.


title: Khosrow II

text: In 613 and 614, General Shahrbaraz besieged and captured Damascus and Jerusalem, and the True Cross was carried away in triumph. Soon afterwards, Shahin marched through Anatolia, defeating the Byzantines numerous times; he conquered Egypt in 618. The Byzantines could offer but little resistance, as they were torn apart by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Avars and Slavs, who were invading the Empire from across the Danube River. In 622/3, Rhodes and several other islands in the eastern Aegean fell to the Sasanians, threatening a naval assault on Constantinople. Such was the despair in Constantinople that Heraclius considered moving the government to Carthage in Africa.


title: Khosrow II

text: In ca. 606/607, Khosrow recalled Smbat IV Bagratuni from Sasanian Armenia and sent him to repel the Turko-Hephthalites, who had raided as far as Spahan in central Iran. Smbat, with the aid of an Iranian prince named Datoyean, repelled the Turko-Hephthalites from Iran, and plundered their domains in eastern Khorasan, where Smbat is said to have killed their king in single combat. Khosrow then gave Smbat the honorific title "Khosrow Shun" ("the Joy or Satisfaction of Khosrow"), while his son Varaztirots II Bagratuni received the honorific name "Javitean Khosrow" ("Eternal Khosrow").


title: Khosrow II

text: In 622, despite the major progress the Sasanians were making in the area of the Aegean Sea, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius was able to take the field with a powerful force. In 624, he advanced into northern Adurbadagan, where he was welcomed by Farrukh Hormizd and his son Rostam Farrokhzad who had rebelled against Khosrow. Heraclius then began sacking several cities and temples, including the Adur Gushnasp temple.


title: Khosrow II

text: In 626 Heraclius captured Lazistan (Colchis). Later that same year, Shahrbaraz advanced on Chalcedon on the Bosphoros and attempted to capture Constantinople with the help of Avar and Slavic allies. In this siege of Constantinople in 626, the combined Sassanid, Slavic and Avar forces failed to capture the Byzantine capital city. The Avars did not have the patience or technology to conquer the city. On top of that, the Iranians, who were siege warfare experts, were unable to transport their troops and equipment to the other side of the Bosphorus where their Slavic and Avar allies were located, due to heavy guarding of the strait by the Byzantine navy. Furthermore, the walls of Constantinople were easily defended against the siege towers and engines. Another reason was that the Persians and Slavs did not have a strong enough navy to skirt the sea walls and establish a channel of communication. The lack of supplies for the Avars eventually caused them to abandon the siege. As this maneuver failed, Shahrbaraz' forces were defeated, and he withdrew his army from Anatolia later in 628.


title: Khosrow II

text: Following the Third Perso-Turkic War in 627, Heraclius defeated the Iranian army at the Battle of Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon. Khosrow II fled from his favorite residence, Dastagird (near Ctesiphon), without offering resistance. Heraclius then captured Dastagird and plundered it.


title: Khosrow II

text: After the capture of Dastagird, the son of Khosrow, Sheroe, was released by the feudal families of the Sasanian Empire, which included the Ispahbudhan "spahbed" Farrukh Hormizd and his two sons Rostam Farrokhzad and Farrukhzad. Shahrbaraz of the Mihran family, the Armenian faction represented by Varaztirots II Bagratuni, and finally Kanadbak of the Kanārangīyān family. On the night of 25 February, the night-watch of the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon, which would usually shout the name of the reigning shah, shouted the name of Sheroe instead, which indicated a "coup d'état" was taking place. Sheroe, with Aspad Gushnasp leading his army, captured Ctesiphon and imprisoned Khosrow II in the house of a certain Mehr-Sepand (also known as Maraspand). Sheroe, who had now assumed the dynastic name of Kavad II, then ordered Aspad Gushnasp to lead the charge of accusations against the deposed shah. Khosrow, however, dismissed all accusations one by one.


title: Khosrow II

text: Kavad shortly proceeded to have all his brothers and half-brothers executed, including the heir Mardanshah, who was Khosrow's favourite son. The murder of all his brothers, "all well-educated, valiant, and chivalrous men", stripped the Sasanian dynasty of a future competent ruler, and has been described as a "mad rampage" and "reckless". Three days later he ordered Mihr Hormozd to execute Khosrow. However, after the regicide of his father, Kavad also proceeded to have Mihr Hormozd killed. Khosrow's daughters Boran and Azarmidokht reportedly criticized and scolded Kavad for his barbaric actions, which made him filled with remorse. With the support of the Iranian nobles, Kavad then made peace with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, which made the Byzantines regain all their lost territories, their captured soldiers, a war indemnity, along with the True Cross and other relics that were lost in Jerusalem in 614.


title: Khosrow II

text: Due to Kavad's actions, his reign is seen as a turning point in Sasanian history, and has been argued by some scholars as playing a key role in the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The overthrow and death of Khosrow culminated in a chaotic civil war, with the most powerful members of the nobility gaining full autonomy and starting to create their own government. The hostilities between the Persian ("Parsig") and Parthian ("Pahlav") noble-families were also resumed, which split up the wealth of the nation. The civil war finally ended when Khosrow's eight year old grandson, Yazdegerd III, ascended the throne. The young king, however, inherited a disintegrating empire, which was dealt its last blow in 651 during the Arab conquest of Iran.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow II, like all other Sasanian rulers, was an adherent of Zoroastrianism. Since the 5th-century, the Sasanian monarchs had been made aware of the significance of the religious minorities in the realm, and as a result tried to homogenize them into a structure of administration where according to legal principles, all would be treated straightforwardly as "mard / zan ī šahr", i.e. "man/woman citizen (of the Empire)". Jews and (notably) Christians had accepted the concept of Iran and considered themselves part of the nation.


title: Khosrow II

text: During his reign there was constant conflict between Monophysite and Nestorian Christians. Khosrow favored the Monophysites, and ordered all his subjects to adhere to Monophysitism, perhaps under the influence of Shirin and the royal physician Gabriel of Sinjar, who both supported this faith. Khosrow also dispensed money or gifts to Christian shrines. Khosrow's great tolerance to Christianity and friendship with the Christian Byzantines even made some Armenian writers think that Khosrow was a Christian. His positive policy toward Christians (which, however, was probably politically motivated) made him unpopular with the Zoroastrian priests, and also made Christianity greatly spread around the Sasanian Empire. During Khosrow's war with the Byzantines, Christian elites and organizations were incorporated into the Sasanian system, as part of his attempt to absorb the Byzantine realm into his expanded empire. The condition of the Christian nobility reached its pinnacle under Khosrow. Mushegh II Mamikonian, a prominent Armenian "nakharar", is the first and only Christian nobleman that is praised by courtly historiographers, due to his rejection of the enticements of Bahram Chobin. His decision to choose Khosrow over his native Armenia, gained him a place in the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran. Smbat IV Bagratuni likewise led an illustrious career under Khosrow, rising to the office of frontier commander of Gorgan, possibly the most vital and contested area of the Sasanian realm. As a reward for his accomplishments in the east, Smbat was appointed the leader of the military jurisdiction in the Caucasus. Furthermore, his aristocratic house–the Bagratunids–was made the pillar of Sasanian authority in the area.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow also paid attention to the Zoroastrians, and had various fire temples constructed. However, this did not help the Zoroastrian church, which was in a heavy decline during his reign. According to Richard N. Frye, the Zoroastrian church under Khosrow "was noted for its devotion to luxury more than its devotion to thought."


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow II's reign was considered a golden age in music. Before Khosrow II there were many other Sasanian kings that showed particular interest in music, like Khosrow I, Bahram Gur, and even Ardashir I. Notable musicians during the reign of Khosrow II were Barbad (Khosrow's favorite court musician), Bamshad, Sarkash, and Nagisa.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow restored the practice of erecting rock reliefs, after an absence of nearly three centuries, the last one being erected under Shapur III (). At Taq-e Bostan, Khosrow mimicked and magnified the rock relief of Shapur III. His relief, known as the "Great Ayvan", is in a barrel vault carved in a cliff. The ayvan is split into an upper and lower section; the upper section depicts a divine investiture scene, with the Zoroastrian divinities Ahura Mazda and Anahita each giving Khosrow a diadem. The lower section depicts Khosrow II on horseback, wearing full body armor, whilst holding a lance and shield. His head is encircled by a halo, which according to Howard-Johnston, is most likely a representation of his xwarrah, i.e. kingly glory. On the left side panel, a boar hunt scene is depicted, portraying Khosrow on a boat whilst aiming a bow. On the right, there is a deer hunt scene. The relief, however, is unfinished, probably due to Khosrow's setback in the later stages of the war and his eventual downfall.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow, during his second reign, added the ideogram GDH, meaning xwarrah ("royal splendor") on his coins. He combined this together with the word "abzōt" ("he has increased"), making the full inscription thus read as: "Khosrow, he has increased the royal splendor" ("Khūsrōkhwarrah abzōt"). The title of King of Kings–missing since the reign of Peroz I ()–was also restored on his coins. According to Shayegan, Khosrow's adoption of the title was "undoubtedly a consequence of his Byzantine policy," and was signifying a resurrection of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. His two successors, Kavad II () and Ardashir III (), refrained from using the title, seemingly in order distance themselves from him.


title: Khosrow II

text: Islamic tradition tells a story in which Khosrow II (in Transliteration: Kisra) was a Persian king to whom Muhammad had sent a messenger, Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi, along with a letter in which Khosrow was asked to preach the religion of Islam. The account as transmitted by Muslim tradition reads:


title: Khosrow II

text: Islamic tradition further states that Khosrow II tore up Muhammad's letter saying, "A pitiful slave among my subjects dares write his name before mine" and commanded Badhan, his vassal ruler of Yemen, to dispatch two valiant men to identify, seize and bring this man from Hijaz (Muhammad) to him. When Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi told Muhammad how Khosrow had torn his letter to pieces, Muhammad promised the destruction of Khosrow II stating, "Even so, Allah shall destroy his kingdom." Later, Badhan's men arrived in Medina and talked to Muhammad, ordering him to accompany them back to Khosrow II. Muhammad reportedly changed the subject, made it obvious he did not like their appearance, and responded by asking why they shave their beards and leave their mustaches to grow and be that large. When they said that's what their god orders them to do, he said his god orders him to cut his mustache and grow his beard. After he took control of the conversation like that, he went back on-topic and asked them to come back to him the next day. When they did, he informed them that Khosrow II had been killed by his son. Badhan's men responded angrily, threatening Muhammad to tell Badhan what he is saying about Khosrow II. To that, he responded by encouraging them to write to Badhan and to also tell him that Islam and its power will reach all that Khosrow II has ever ruled over. A few days later, Badhan received confirmation from Persia that Khosrow II was dead. As a consequence, he is said to have accepted Islam, and Muhammad kept him as a ruler over his people.


title: Khosrow II

text: The battles between Heraclius and Khosrow are depicted in a famous early Renaissance fresco by Piero della Francesca, part of the "History of the True Cross" cycle in the church of San Francesco, Arezzo. Many Persian miniature paintings depict events in his life, like his battles or his assassination.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow was the son of Hormizd IV, and an unnamed Ispahbudhan noblewoman who was the sister of Vistahm and Vinduyih. Khosrow also had two cousins from the Ispahbudhan family whom were named Mah-Adhur Gushnasp and Narsi. He had a brother-in-law named Hormuzan, a Sasanian nobleman from one of the seven Parthian clans, who later fought against the Arabs during the Muslim invasion of Persia. However, this is most likely wrong since Kavad's mother was a Byzantine princess named Maria.


title: Khosrow II

text: Khosrow married three times: first to Maria, a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Maurice, who bore him Kavad II. Then to Gordiya, the sister of Bahram Chobin, who bore him Javanshir. Then to Shirin, who bore him Mardanshah. Khosrow also had other children whom were named: Borandukht, Azarmidokht, Shahriyar and Farrukhzad Khosrow V. All these persons except Shahriyar would later become the monarch of Iran during the Sasanian civil war of 628-632. Khosrow had a brother named Kavad and a sister named Mirhran, who was married to the Sasanian "spahbed" Shahrbaraz, and later bore him Shapur-i Shahrvaraz, while Kavad married an unnamed woman who bore him Khosrow III.


title: The Man Who Drew God

text: The Man Who Drew God () is a 2022 drama film directed by Franco Nero and starring Nero, Kevin Spacey, and Faye Dunaway. It marks Spacey's first role after sexual misconduct allegations against him surfaced in 2017. Based on a true story, the film depicts a blind man who could draw portraits of people by hearing their voice in 1950s Italy. Nero portrays the blind artist, Spacey a police detective, and Dunaway a braille teacher who is an old friend of the artist.


title: The Man Who Drew God

text: The film was released in Russia on video on demand on 21 November 2022. It had its Italian premiere at a screening in Turin in conjunction with the Torino Film Festival on 5 December 2022.


title: The Man Who Drew God

text: On 23 May 2021, ABC News reported that Spacey and Vanessa Redgrave, Nero's wife, would star in the film and that it would soon be shot in Italy. On casting Spacey, Nero told the outlet, "I'm very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film. I consider him a great actor and I can't wait to start the movie." Later that day, producer Louis Nero told "Variety" that Spacey and Redgrave's roles are small, while the main character is played by Franco Nero, and that Redgrave's appearance was not finalised but would depend on whether she could travel from England to Italy. On 26 May, Redgrave announced that she had turned down the role. On 7 July 2021, "Variety" reported that Redgrave had been replaced by Dunaway and that the film was being sold at the Cannes Marché du Film. It quoted Louis Nero as saying, "We have plenty of interest from buyers around the world. All the controversy around the film has generated plenty of interest ... It was good for the film, from my point of view." It was reported that the film involves the protagonist wrongly accused of sexually abusing a child, but Louis Nero told "Entertainment Weekly" that the film "does not involve pedophilia".


title: Albatross (metaphor)

text: The word albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse.


title: Albatross (metaphor)

text: In the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", an albatross follows a ship setting out to sea, which is considered a sign of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, an act that will curse the ship and cause it to suffer terrible mishaps. Unable to speak due to lack of water, the ship's crew let the mariner know through their glances that they blame him for their plight and they tie the bird around his neck as a sign of his guilt. From this arose the image of an albatross around the neck as metaphor for a burden that is difficult to escape.


title: Albatross (metaphor)

text: This sense is catalogued in the "Oxford English Dictionary" from 1883, but it seems only to have entered general usage in the 1960s.


title: Albatross (metaphor)

text: In Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", Robert Walton mentions the poem by name and says of an upcoming journey that "I shall kill no albatross", clearly a reference to the poem by Shelley's close acquaintance, Coleridge. "Frankenstein" was first published in 1818, long before the term was introduced into the Oxford Dictionary.


title: Albatross (metaphor)

text: Charles Baudelaire's collection of poems "Les Fleurs du mal" contains a poem entitled "L'Albatros" (1857) about men on ships who catch the albatrosses for sport. In the final stanza, he goes on to compare the poets to the birds — exiled from the skies and then weighed down by their giant wings, till death.


title: Albatross (metaphor)

text: In his poem "Snake", published in "Birds, Beasts and Flowers", D. H. Lawrence mentions the albatross in "Ancient Mariner".


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation, assisted ventilation or intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV), is the medical term for using a machine called a ventilator to fully or partially provide artificial ventilation. Mechanical ventilation helps move air into and out of the lungs, with the main goal of helping the delivery of oxygen and removal of carbon dioxide. Mechanical ventilation is used for many reasons, including to protect the airway due to mechanical or neurologic cause, to ensure adequate oxygenation, or to remove excess carbon dioxide from the lungs. Various healthcare providers are involved with the use of mechanical ventilation and people who require ventilators are typically monitored in an intensive care unit.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation is termed invasive if it involves an instrument to create an airway that is placed inside the trachea. This is done through an endotracheal tube or nasotracheal tube.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The two main types of mechanical ventilation include positive pressure ventilation where air is pushed into the lungs through the airways, and negative pressure ventilation where air is pulled into the lungs. There are many specific modes of mechanical ventilation, and their nomenclature has been revised over the decades as the technology has continually developed.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The Greek physician Galen may have been the first to describe mechanical ventilation: "If you take a dead animal and blow air through its larynx [through a reed], you will fill its bronchi and watch its lungs attain the greatest distention." In the 1600s, Robert Hooke conducted experiments on dogs to demonstrate this concept. Vesalius too describes ventilation by inserting a reed or cane into the trachea of animals. These experiments predate the discovery of oxygen and its role in respiration. In 1908, George Poe demonstrated his mechanical respirator by asphyxiating dogs and seemingly bringing them back to life. These experiments all demonstrate positive pressure ventilation.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: To achieve negative pressure ventilation, there must be a sub-atmospheric pressure to draw air into the lungs. This was first achieved in the late 19th century when John Dalziel and Alfred Jones independently developed tank ventilators, in which ventilation was achieved by placing a patient inside a box that enclosed the body in a box with sub-atmospheric pressures. This machine came to be known colloquially as the Iron lung, which went through many iterations of development. The use of the iron lung became widespread during the polio epidemic of the 1900s.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Early ventilators were control style with no support breaths integrated into them and were limited to an inspiration to expiration ration of 1:1. In the 1970s, intermittent mandatory ventilation was introduced as well as synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation. These styles of ventilation had control breaths that patients could breath between.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation is indicated when a patient's spontaneous breathing is inadequate to maintain life. It may be indicated in anticipation of imminent respiratory failure, acute respiratory failure, acute hypoxemia, or prophylactically. Because mechanical ventilation serves only to provide assistance for breathing and does not cure a disease, the patient's underlying condition should be identified and treated in order to liberate them from the ventilator.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation is typically used as a short-term measure. It may, however, be used at home or in a nursing or rehabilitation institution for patients that have chronic illnesses that require long-term ventilatory assistance.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation is often a life-saving intervention, but carries potential complications. A common complication of positive pressure ventilation stemming directly from the ventilator settings include volutrauma and barotrauma. Others include pneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema, pneumomediastinum, and pneumoperitoneum. Another well-documented complication is ventilator-associated lung injury which presents as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Other complications include diaphragm atrophy, decreased cardiac output, and oxygen toxicity. One of the primary complications that presents in patients mechanically ventilated is acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ALI/ARDS are recognized as significant contributors to patient morbidity and mortality.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: In many healthcare systems, prolonged ventilation as part of intensive care is a limited resource. For this reason, decisions to commence and remove ventilation may raise ethical debate and often involve legal orders such as do-not-resuscitate orders.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation is often associated with many painful procedures and the ventilation itself can be uncomfortable. For infants who require opioids for pain, the potential side effects of opioids include problems with feeding, gastric and intestinal mobility problems, the potential for opioid dependence, and opioid tolerance.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Timing of withdrawal from mechanical ventilation—also known as weaning—is an important consideration. People who require mechanical ventilation should have their ventilation considered for withdrawal if they are able to support their own ventilation and oxygenation, and this should be assessed continuously. There are several objective parameters to look for when considering withdrawal, but there are no specific criteria that generalizes to all patients.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The Rapid Shallow Breathing Index (RSBI, the ratio of respiratory frequency to tidal volume (f/VT), previously referred to as the "Yang Tobin Index" or "Tobin Index" after Dr. Karl Yang and Prof. Martin J. Tobin of Loyola University Medical Center) is one of the best studied and most commonly used weaning predictors, with no other predictor having been shown to be superior. It was described in a prospective cohort study of mechanically ventilated patients which found that a RSBI > 105 breaths/min/L was associated with weaning failure, while a RSBI < 105 breaths/min/L.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Spontaneous breathing trials are conducted to assess the likelihood of a patient being able to maintain stability and breath on their own without the ventilator. This is done by changing the mode to one where they have to trigger breaths and ventilatory support is only given to compensate for the added resistance of the endotracheal tube.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: A cuff leak test is done to detect if there is airway edema to show the chances of post-extubation stridor. This is done by deflating to the cuff to check if air begins leaking around the endotracheal tube.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The function of the lungs is to provide gas exchange via oxygenation and ventilation. This phenomenon of respiration involves the physiologic concepts of air flow, tidal volume, compliance, resistance, and dead space. Other relevant concepts include alveolar ventilation, arterial PaCO2, alveolar volume, and FiO2. Alveolar ventilation is the amount of gas per unit of time that reaches the alveoli and becomes involved in gas exchange. PaCO2 is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide of arterial blood, which determines how well carbon dioxide is able to move out of the body. Alveolar volume is the volume of air entering and leaving the alveoli per minute. Mechanical dead space is another important parameter in ventilator design and function, and is defined as the volume of gas breathed again as the result of use in a mechanical device.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Due to the anatomy of the human pharynx, larynx, and esophagus and the circumstances for which ventilation is needed, additional measures are required to secure the airway during positive-pressure ventilation in order to allow unimpeded passage of air into the trachea and avoid air passing into the esophagus and stomach. The common method is by insertion of a tube into the trachea. Intubation, which provides a clear route for the air can be either an endotracheal tube, inserted through the natural openings of mouth or nose, or a tracheostomy inserted through an artificial opening in the neck. In other circumstances simple airway maneuvers, an oropharyngeal airway or laryngeal mask airway may be employed. If non-invasive ventilation or negative-pressure ventilation is used, then an airway adjunct is not needed.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Pain medicine such as opioids are sometimes used in adults and infants who require mechanical ventilation. For preterm or full term infants who require mechanical ventilation, there is no strong evidence to prescribe opioids or sedation routinely for these procedures, however, some select infants requiring mechanical ventilation may require pain medicine such as opioids. It is not clear if clonidine is safe or effective to be used as a sedative for preterm and full term infants who require mechanical ventilation.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: When 100% oxygen (1.00 Fi) is used initially for an adult, it is easy to calculate the next Fi to be used, and easy to estimate the shunt fraction. The estimated shunt fraction refers to the amount of oxygen not being absorbed into the circulation. In normal physiology, gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide occurs at the level of the alveoli in the lungs. The existence of a shunt refers to any process that hinders this gas exchange, leading to wasted oxygen inspired and the flow of un-oxygenated blood back to the left heart, which ultimately supplies the rest of the body with de-oxygenated blood. When using 100% oxygen, the degree of shunting is estimated as 700 mmHg - measured Pa. For each difference of 100 mmHg, the shunt is 5%. A shunt of more than 25% should prompt a search for the cause of this hypoxemia, such as mainstem intubation or pneumothorax, and should be treated accordingly. If such complications are not present, other causes must be sought after, and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) should be used to treat this intrapulmonary shunt. Other such causes of a shunt include:


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Mechanical ventilation utilizes several separate systems for ventilation referred to as the mode. Modes come in many different delivery concepts but all positive pressure ventilators modes fall into one of two categories; volume-cycled or pressure-cycled. In general, the selection of which mode of mechanical ventilation to use for a given patient is based on the familiarity of clinicians with modes and the equipment availability at a particular institution.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The design of the modern positive-pressure ventilators were based mainly on technical developments by the military during World War II to supply oxygen to fighter pilots in high altitude. Such ventilators replaced the iron lungs as safe endotracheal tubes with high-volume/low-pressure cuffs were developed. The popularity of positive-pressure ventilators rose during the polio epidemic in the 1950s in Scandinavia and the United States and was the beginning of modern ventilation therapy. Positive pressure through manual supply of 50% oxygen through a tracheostomy tube led to a reduced mortality rate among patients with polio and respiratory paralysis. However, because of the sheer amount of man-power required for such manual intervention, mechanical positive-pressure ventilators became increasingly popular.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Positive-pressure ventilators work by increasing the patient's airway pressure through an endotracheal or tracheostomy tube. The positive pressure allows air to flow into the airway until the ventilator breath is terminated. Then, the airway pressure drops to zero, and the elastic recoil of the chest wall and lungs push the tidal volume — the breath-out through passive exhalation.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Negative pressure mechanical ventilators are produced in small, field-type and larger formats. The prominent design of the smaller devices is known as the cuirass, a shell-like unit used to create negative pressure only to the chest using a combination of a fitting shell and a soft bladder. In recent years this device has been manufactured using various-sized polycarbonate shells with multiple seals, and a high-pressure oscillation pump in order to carry out biphasic cuirass ventilation. Its main use has been in patients with neuromuscular disorders that have some residual muscular function. The latter, larger formats are in use, notably with the polio wing hospitals in England such as St Thomas' Hospital in London and the John Radcliffe in Oxford.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The larger units have their origin in the iron lung, also known as the Drinker and Shaw tank, which was developed in 1928 by J.H Emerson Company and was one of the first negative-pressure machines used for long-term ventilation. It was refined and used in the 20th century largely as a result of the polio epidemic that struck the world in the 1940s. The machine is, in effect, a large elongated tank, which encases the patient up to the neck. The neck is sealed with a rubber gasket so that the patient's face (and airway) are exposed to the room air. While the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the bloodstream and the pulmonary airspace works by diffusion and requires no external work, air must be moved into and out of the lungs to make it available to the gas exchange process. In spontaneous breathing, a negative pressure is created in the pleural cavity by the muscles of respiration, and the resulting gradient between the atmospheric pressure and the pressure inside the thorax generates a flow of air. In the iron lung by means of a pump, the air is withdrawn mechanically to produce a vacuum inside the tank, thus creating negative pressure. This negative pressure leads to expansion of the chest, which causes a decrease in intrapulmonary pressure, and increases flow of ambient air into the lungs. As the vacuum is released, the pressure inside the tank equalizes to that of the ambient pressure, and the elastic recoil of the chest and lungs leads to passive exhalation. However, when the vacuum is created, the abdomen also expands along with the lung, cutting off venous flow back to the heart, leading to pooling of venous blood in the lower extremities. The patients can talk and eat normally, and can see the world through a well-placed series of mirrors. Some could remain in these iron lungs for years at a time quite successfully.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Some of the problems with the full body design were such as being unable to control the inspiratory to expiratory ratio and the flow rate. This design also caused blood pooling in the legs.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Another type is the "intermittent abdominal pressure ventilator" that applies pressure externally via an inflated bladder, forcing exhalation, sometimes termed exsufflation. The first such apparatus was the Bragg-Paul Pulsator. The name of one such device, the Pneumobelt made by Puritan Bennett has to a degree become a generic name for the type.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The most commonly used high frequency ventilator and only one approved in the United States is the 3100A from Vyaire Medical. It works by using very small tidal volumes by setting amplitude and a high rate set in hertz. This type of ventilation is primarily used in neonates and pediatric patients who are failing conventional ventilation.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The first type of high frequency ventilator made for neonates and the only jet type is made by Bunnell Incorporated. It works in conjunction with a separate CMV ventilator to add pulses of air to the control breaths and PEEP.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: One of the main reasons why a patient is admitted to an ICU is for delivery of mechanical ventilation. Monitoring a patient in mechanical ventilation has many clinical applications: Enhance understanding of pathophysiology, aid with diagnosis, guide patient management, avoid complications, and assess trends.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: In ventilated patients, pulse oximetry is commonly used when titrating FIO2. A reliable target of Spo2 is greater than 95%.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The total PEEP in the patient can be determined by doing an expiratory hold on the ventilator. If this is higher than the set PEEP, this indicates air trapping.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The plateau pressure can be found by doing an inspiratory hold. This shows the actual pressure the patient's lungs are experiencing.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Loops can be used to see what is occurring in the patient's lungs. These include flow-volume and pressure-volume loops. They can show changes in compliance and resistance.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Modern ventilators have advanced monitoring tools. There are also monitors that work independently of the ventilator which allow for measuring patients after the ventilator has been removed, such as a Tracheal tube test.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Ventilators come in many different styles and method of giving a breath to sustain life. There are manual ventilators such as bag valve masks and anesthesia bags that require the users to hold the ventilator to the face or to an artificial airway and maintain breaths with their hands. Mechanical ventilators are ventilators not requiring operator effort and are typically computer-controlled or pneumatic-controlled. Mechanical ventilators typically require power by a battery or a wall outlet (DC or AC) though some ventilators work on a pneumatic system not requiring power. There are a variety of technologies available for ventilation, falling into two main (and then lesser categories), the two being the older technology of negative-pressure mechanisms, and the more common positive-pressure types.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The trigger, either flow or pressure, is what causes a breath to be delivered by a mechanical ventilator. Breaths may be triggered by a patient taking their own breath, a ventilator operator pressing a manual breath button, or based on the set respiratory rate.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: The cycle is what causes the breath to transition from the inspiratory phase to the exhalation phase. Breaths may be cycled by a mechanical ventilator when a set time has been reached, or when a preset flow or percentage of the maximum flow delivered during a breath is reached depending on the breath type and the settings. Breaths can also be cycled when an alarm condition such as a high pressure limit has been reached.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: Exhalation in mechanical ventilation is almost always completely passive. The ventilator's expiratory valve is opened, and expiratory flow is allowed until the baseline pressure (PEEP) is reached. Expiratory flow is determined by patient factors such as compliance and resistance.


title: Mechanical ventilation

text: There are various procedures and mechanical devices that provide protection against airway collapse, air leakage, and aspiration:


title: Missile launch facility

text: A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs). Similar facilities can be used for anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs).


title: Missile launch facility

text: The structures typically have the missile some distance below ground, protected by a large "blast door" on top. They are usually connected, physically and/or electronically, to a missile launch control center.


title: Missile launch facility

text: With the introduction of the Soviet UR-100 and the U.S. Titan II missile series, underground silos changed in the 1960s. Both missile series introduced the use of hypergolic propellant, which could be stored in the missiles, allowing for rapid launches. Both countries' liquid-fueled missile systems were moved into underground silos. The introduction of solid fuel systems, in the later 1960s, made the silo moving and launching even easier.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The underground missile silo has remained the primary missile basing system and launch facility for land-based missiles since the 1960s. The increased accuracy of inertial guidance systems has rendered them somewhat more vulnerable than they were in the 1960s.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Other than underground facilities, ballistic missiles can be launched from above-ground facilities, or can be launched from mobile platforms, e.g. transporter erector launchers, railcars, ballistic missile submarines or airplanes.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The La Coupole facility is the earliest known precursor to modern underground missile silos still in existence. It was built by the forces of Nazi Germany in northern Occupied France, between 1943 and 1944, to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets. The facility was designed with an immense concrete dome to store a large stockpile of V-2s, warheads and fuel, and was intended to launch V-2s on an industrial scale. Dozens of missiles a day were to be fuelled, prepared and rolled just outdoors of the facility's concrete casing, launched from either of two outdoor launch pads in rapid sequence against London and southern England. A similar-purpose but less-developed facility, the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques, had also been built, some 14.4 kilometers (8.9 miles) north-northwest of La Coupole, and closer to intended targets in southeastern England.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Following repeated heavy bombing by Allied forces during Operation Crossbow, the Germans were unable to complete construction of the works and the complex never entered service. The United Kingdom conducted post-war investigations, determining that it was "an assembly site for long projectiles most conveniently handled and prepared in a vertical position".


title: Missile launch facility

text: The German idea of an underground missile silo was adopted and developed by the United States for missile launch facilities for its intercontinental ballistic missiles. Most silos were based in Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Wyoming and other western states. The first missile launch facility was located in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, however, there was a high school built on top of it in 1985. There were three main reasons behind this siting: reducing the flight trajectory between the United States and the Soviet Union, since the missiles would travel north over Canada and the North Pole; increasing the flight trajectory from SLBMs on either seaboard, giving the silos more warning time in the event of a nuclear war; and locating obvious targets as far away as possible from major population centres. They had many defense systems to keep out intruders and other defense systems to prevent destruction (see Safeguard Program). In addition to the three previously mentioned siting reasons, the US Air Force had other site requirements that were also taken into account such as, having the sites be close enough to a populace of roughly 50,000 people for community support along with making sure launch locations were far enough apart that a 10 MT detonation on or near strategic locations would not knock out other launch facilities in the area. "In 1960 the US Army established the Corps of Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office (CEBMCO), an independent organization under the Chief of Engineers, to supervise construction". This newly established organization was able to produce Minutemen Launch silos at an extremely fast rate of ~1.8 per day from 1961 to 1966 where they built a total of 1,000 Minuteman missile silos.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The United States built many missile silos in the Midwest, away from populated areas. Many were built in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The U.S. spent considerable effort and funds in the 1970s and 1980s designing a replacement, but none of the new and complex system designs were ever produced.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The United States has many silo-based warheads in service, however, they have lowered their number to around 1800 and have transferred most of their missiles to nuclear submarines and are focusing on more advanced conventional weapons.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Today they are still used, although many have been decommissioned and hazardous materials removed. The increase of decommissioned missile silos has led governments to sell some of them to private individuals. Some buyers convert them into unique homes, advanced safe rooms, or use them for other purposes. They are popular sites of urban exploration.


title: Missile launch facility

text: In 2000 William Leonard Pickard and a partner were convicted, in the largest lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) manufacturing case in history, of conspiracy to manufacture large quantities of LSD in a decommissioned SM-65 Atlas missile silo (548-7) near Wamego, Kansas.


title: Missile launch facility

text: LGM-25C Titan II (deactivated) ICBMs were in a one ICBM launch control center (LCC) with one LF configuration (1 × 1). Titan missiles (both I and II) were located near their command and control operations personnel. Access to the missile was through tunnels connecting the launch control center and launch facility. An example of this can be seen at the Titan Missile Museum, located south of Tucson, Arizona.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The solid fueled LGM-30 series Minuteman I, II, III, and Peacekeeper ICBM configurations consist of one LCC that controls ten LFs (1 × 10). Five LCCs and their fifty associated LFs make up a squadron. Three squadrons make up a wing. Measures were taken such that if any one LCC was disabled, a separate LCC within the squadron would take control of its ten ICBMs.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The LGM-30 LFs and LCCs are separated by several miles, connected only electronically. This distance ensures that a nuclear attack could only disable a very small number of ICBMs, leaving the rest capable of being launched immediately.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Dense Pack was a proposed configuration strategy for basing LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBMs, developed under the Reagan administration, for the purpose of maximizing their survivability in case of a surprise nuclear first-strike on their silos conducted by a hostile foreign power. According to the Dense Pack strategy, a series of ten to twelve hardened silos would be grouped closely together in a line. The idea was that to disable the Dense Pack, the enemy would have to launch many missiles, and the missiles would arrive at different times. The missiles arriving later would have to pass through the debris cloud of the first missile's explosion, damaging the follow-up missiles and limiting their effectiveness. The proposed Dense Pack initiative met with strong criticism in the media and in the government, and the idea was never implemented.


title: Missile launch facility

text: The former Soviet Union had missile silos in Russia and adjacent Soviet states during the Cold War, such as the Plokštinė missile base in Lithuania. The Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning, near Solnechnogorsk outside Moscow, was completed by the Soviet Union in 1971, and remains in use by the Russian Federation.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Great Britain did not have any silo ICBMS. During the 1960's several surface based erector launcher pads for Thor ICBMS were installed but were removed just a few years later when Blue Steel carrying V bombers came into service.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Russia has silo-based weapons. The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF) (Strategic Missile Troops) controls Russia's land-based inter-continental ballistic missiles.


title: Missile launch facility

text: China has silo-based weapons, but is now concentrating development on expanding its submarine and road-capable mobile weapons, especially for tunnel networks. Two silos fields appear to be under construction.


title: Missile launch facility

text: India uses silos for a few of its long-range ballistic missile arsenal and storage, but most of its systems are road mobile capable.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Pakistan has built hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities to retain a second strike capability in a nuclear war.


title: Missile launch facility

text: North Korea built missile silo complex south of Paektu Mountain. The silos are reportedly designed for mid- to long-range missiles, but it is not clear if all of them are operational.


title: Missile launch facility

text: Iran has silo-based weapons, having built a system of underground missile silos to protect missiles from detection and (above-ground) launch facilities from aerial destruction.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Hypercholesterolemia, also called high cholesterol, is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is a form of hyperlipidemia (high levels of lipids in the blood), hyperlipoproteinemia (high levels of lipoproteins in the blood), and dyslipidemia (any abnormalities of lipid and lipoprotein levels in the blood).


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Elevated levels of non-HDL cholesterol and LDL in the blood may be a consequence of diet, obesity, inherited (genetic) diseases (such as LDL receptor mutations in familial hypercholesterolemia), or the presence of other diseases such as type 2 diabetes and an underactive thyroid.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Cholesterol is one of three major classes of lipids produced and used by all animal cells to form membranes. Plant cells manufacture phytosterols (similar to cholesterol), but in rather small quantities. Cholesterol is the precursor of the steroid hormones and bile acids. Since cholesterol is insoluble in water, it is transported in the blood plasma within protein particles (lipoproteins). Lipoproteins are classified by their density: very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL). All the lipoproteins carry cholesterol, but elevated levels of the lipoproteins other than HDL (termed non-HDL cholesterol), particularly LDL-cholesterol, are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. In contrast, higher levels of HDL cholesterol are protective.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Avoiding trans fats and replacing saturated fats in adult diets with polyunsaturated fats are recommended dietary measures to reduce total blood cholesterol and LDL in adults. In people with very high cholesterol (e.g., familial hypercholesterolemia), diet is often not sufficient to achieve the desired lowering of LDL, and lipid-lowering medications are usually required. If necessary, other treatments such as LDL apheresis or even surgery (for particularly severe subtypes of familial hypercholesterolemia) are performed. About 34 million adults in the United States have high blood cholesterol.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Although hypercholesterolemia itself is asymptomatic, longstanding elevation of serum cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries). Over a period of decades, elevated serum cholesterol contributes to formation of atheromatous plaques in the arteries. This can lead to progressive narrowing of the involved arteries. Alternatively smaller plaques may rupture and cause a clot to form and obstruct blood flow. A sudden blockage of a coronary artery may result in a heart attack. A blockage of an artery supplying the brain can cause a stroke. If the development of the stenosis or occlusion is gradual, blood supply to the tissues and organs slowly diminishes until organ function becomes impaired. At this point tissue ischemia (restriction in blood supply) may manifest as specific symptoms. For example, temporary ischemia of the brain (commonly referred to as a transient ischemic attack) may manifest as temporary loss of vision, dizziness and impairment of balance, difficulty speaking, weakness or numbness or tingling, usually on one side of the body. Insufficient blood supply to the heart may cause chest pain, and ischemia of the eye may manifest as transient visual loss in one eye. Insufficient blood supply to the legs may manifest as calf pain when walking, while in the intestines it may present as abdominal pain after eating a meal.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Some types of hypercholesterolemia lead to specific physical findings. For example, familial hypercholesterolemia (Type IIa hyperlipoproteinemia) may be associated with xanthelasma palpebrarum (yellowish patches underneath the skin around the eyelids), arcus senilis (white or gray discoloration of the peripheral cornea), and xanthomata (deposition of yellowish cholesterol-rich material) of the tendons, especially of the fingers. Type III hyperlipidemia may be associated with xanthomata of the palms, knees and elbows.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: Hypercholesterolemia is typically due to a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Environmental factors include weight, diet, and stress. Loneliness is also a risk factor.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: A diet high in sugar or saturated fats increases total cholesterol and LDL. Trans fats have been shown to reduce levels of HDL while increasing levels of LDL.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: A 2016 review found tentative evidence that dietary cholesterol is associated with higher blood cholesterol. As of 2018 there appears to be a modest positive, dose-related relationship between cholesterol intake and LDL cholesterol.


title: Hypercholesterolemia

text: A number of other conditions can also increase cholesterol levels including diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity, alcohol use, monoclonal gammopathy, dialysis therapy, nephrotic syndrome, hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome and anorexia nervosa. Several medications and classes of medications may interfere with lipid metabolism: thiazide diuretics, ciclosporin, glucocorticoids, beta blockers, retinoic acid, antipsychotics), certain anticonvulsants and medications for HIV as well as interferons.