text: On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom and next day the British Commonwealth declared war on Italy. The fleets of Italy, France and the United Kingdom began the hostilities of the Battle of the Mediterranean. The siege of Malta soon began, with first Italian air attack on 11 June. In the Western Desert, Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft attacked Italian positions inside Libya. On 11 June, the Western Desert Campaign began, as the British launched minor raids and conducted patrols along the Libyan–Egyptian border and on 17 June, Fort Capuzzo was captured. On 20 June, Mussolini began the Italian invasion of France, just before the end of the Battle of France. During June, the East African Campaign began with Italian attacks in East Africa, although ground combat did not start until July.


title: Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II

text: On 22 June, France signed an armistice at Compiegne with Germany and on 24 June, the Franco-Italian Armistice was signed. Italy gained a demilitarised zone inside France (as well as similar zones where Italian and French colonies met). Italian occupation forces took over an area of France, which included 28,500 people and the town of Menton. The Royal Navy attacked the French fleet in the North African port of Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, after it refused to sail to Britain or the French West Indies and demobilise, as part of a larger plan to stop the French fleet from falling into German or Italian hands.


text: When Italy entered the war, there were no plans for an invasion of Egypt while France was still able to resist. When France surrendered, Mussolini gave instructions for his generals to prepare an offensive. On 10 August, he instructed his forces to be prepared to attack in conjunction with the German invasion of the United Kingdom. While his generals did not believe they were prepared, they were ordered to push forward without any solid objectives.


text: On 9 September, Italian aircraft start preparation bombardments for the invasion of Egypt. Four days later, Italian infantry attacked and advanced as far as Sidi Barrani before digging in, west of the main British position at Mersa Matruh. In East Africa, after some initial offensive actions, the Italian conquest of British Somaliland began in August and annexed the colony. After crossing the Albanian border, Italian forces began the Greco-Italian War by invading Greece on 28 October. The Greek army repulsed the Italian attack and commenced a counter-offensive on 14 November, which pushed Italian forces back into Albania.


text: The Royal Navy inflicted a major setback upon the Italian Royal Navy during the Battle of Taranto on the night of 12/13 November. After assembling enough forces the British launched a counter-attack upon the Italians in Egypt. Operation Compass drove the Italians out of Egypt and resulted in the destruction of the Italian 10th Army in February 1941. Following this success, British forces adopted a defensive position in North Africa and redeployed most troops to Greece in Operation Lustre, leaving a weak force garrisoning the gains made from Operation Compass. In March, the Battle of Kufra ended with the Italians losing the desert oasis of Kufra—a vital link between Italian east and north Africa—which was located in south-eastern Libya.


text: In North Africa, the Italians responded to the defeat of their Tenth Army by dispatching armour and motorised divisions. Germany dispatched the "Afrika Korps" in Operation Sonnenblume, to bolster the Italians with a mission to block further Allied attempts to drive the Italians out of the region. Its commanding officer—Erwin Rommel—seized on the weakness of his opponents and without waiting for his forces to fully assemble, rapidly went on the offensive. In March–April 1941, Rommel defeated the British forces facing him and forced the British and Commonwealth forces into retreat.


text: The Australian 9th Infantry Division fell back to the fortress port of Tobruk and the remaining British and Commonwealth forces withdrew a further east to Sollum on the Libyan–Egyptian border. The Siege of Tobruk began by the main Axis force and a small German force pressed eastwards, retaking all territory lost to Operation Compass, and advanced into Egypt. By the end of April, Sollum had fallen and the important Halfaya Pass captured.


text: In the Balkans, the Greeks had been reluctant to allow British troops into the country, because Britain could not spare enough forces to guarantee victory. They had, however, accepted aid from the RAF in their war with the Italians in Albania. As it became likely Germany would attack Greece, four British divisions were switched from North Africa to reinforce Greek Army. The advanced guards of these troops began arriving in March 1941, triggering the entry of German forces into Bulgaria, which made clear the German intent to invade Greece.


text: In April 1941, Germans, Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians made quick work of the Royal Yugoslav army. They captured Yugoslavia in 11 days and partitioned it among themselves and newly formed client states: The Independent State of Croatia and Nedić's Serbia. In spring 1941, Italy created a Montenegrin client state and annexed most of the Dalmatian coast as the Governorship of Dalmatia ("Governatorato di Dalmazia"). A complex guerrilla uprising of communist-led Partisans, commanded by Josip Broz Tito, soon broke out. A more ambivalent, predominantly Serb paramilitary movement of royalist Chetniks both fought the occupying forces and collaborated with them against the communists. The Partisans eventually gained recognition from the Allies as the sole resistance movement. With help from both the Soviets and the Western Allies, they turned into a formidable fighting force and successfully liberated the country.


text: Beginning on 6 April, in the ensuing Battle of Greece the Germans had been temporarily held at the border by the Greeks. After moving through south-eastern Yugoslavia, the Germans had been able to turn the Allied flank, cutting off Greek units in the east of the country. Greek forces in central Macedonia were isolated from the Commonwealth forces moving up in an attempt stabilise the front, with the Germans then falling on the rear of the main Greek army facing the Italians in Macedonia. The German advance into Greece was made easier because the bulk of the Greek Army was engaged fighting the Italians on the Albanian front in the north of the country.


text: The Greeks were forced to capitulate, ending resistance on the mainland by the end of the month. Abandoning most of its equipment, the Commonwealth force retreated to the island of Crete. From 20 May, the Germans attacked the island by using paratroops to secure an air bridgehead despite suffering heavy casualties. They then flew in more troops and were able to capture the rest of the island by 1 June. With their victory in the Battle of Crete the Germans had secured their southern flank and turned their attention towards the Soviet Union.


text: In East Africa, the British launched a counter-attack against the Italians from Kenya Colony in February 1941. Landings were subsequently conducted in British Somaliland and Italian Ethiopia, while an expedition from the Sudan moved on Addis Ababa. The Italian Viceroy, Duke Amedeo d'Aosta, was forced to surrender by 18 May which effectively ended the campaign, allowing the Empire of Ethiopia to be re-established under Haile Selassie. A number of Italian garrisons continued to hold out, but the last of these, at Gondar, surrendered in November. Small groups of Italian troops carried out the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia until October 1943.


text: When Italy entered the war the Iraqi government did not break off diplomatic relations, as they had done with Germany. The Italian Legation in Baghdad became the centre for Axis propaganda and for fomenting anti-British feeling. In this they were aided by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the British appointee as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who had fled from the British Mandate of Palestine shortly before the outbreak of war and later received asylum in Baghdad. In January 1941, there was a political crisis within Iraq as Rashid Ali resigned as Prime Minister of Iraq and was replaced by Taha al-Hashimi; civil war loomed. On 31 March, the Regent of Iraq, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, learnt of a plot to arrest him and fled Baghdad for RAF Habbaniya, from whence he was flown to Basra and given refuge on the .


text: On 1 April, Rashid Ali, along with four senior Army and Air Force officers known as the "Golden Square", seized power via a "coup d'état" and Rashid Ali proclaimed himself Chief of the "National Defence Government." The Golden Square deposed al-Hashimi and restored Rashid Ali. Ali did not overthrow the monarchy and named a new Regent to King Faisal II, Sherif Sharaf. The leaders of the "National Defence Government" proceeded to arrest many pro-British citizens and politicians but many escaped through Amman in Transjordan. The new regime planned to refuse further concessions to the United Kingdom, to retain diplomatic links with Fascist Italy and to expel the most prominent pro-British politicians. The plotters considered the United Kingdom to be weak and believed that its government would negotiate with their new government regardless of its legality. On 17 April, Rashid Ali, on behalf of the "National Defence Government" asked Germany for military assistance in the event of war with the British. Ali attempted to restrict British rights guaranteed under Article 5 of the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, when he insisted that newly arrived British troops quickly be transported through Iraq and to Palestine.


text: Before the coup, Rashid Ali's supporters had been informed that Germany would recognise the independence of Iraq from the British Empire. There had also been discussions on war material being sent to support the Iraqis and other Arab factions in fighting the British. On 3 May, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop persuaded Adolf Hitler to secretly return Dr. Fritz Grobba to Iraq to lead a diplomatic mission to channel support to the Rashid Ali regime but the British quickly learned of the German arrangements through intercepted Italian diplomatic transmissions. On 6 May, in accordance with the Paris Protocols, Germany concluded a deal with the Vichy French government to release war materials, including aircraft, from sealed stockpiles in the French Mandate of Syria and transport them to Iraq. The French also agreed to allow passage of other weapons and material and loaned several airbases in northern Syria to Germany, for the transport of German aircraft to Iraq. Between 9 May and the end of the month, about 100 German and about 20 Italian aircraft landed on Syrian airfields.


text: On 30 April, the Iraqi Army surrounded and besieged RAF Habbaniya; the base had no operational aircraft but the RAF converted trainers to carry weapons and a battalion of infantry reinforcements was flown in. German and Italian aircraft supported the Iraqi army and British reinforcements were dispatched to Iraq from Transjordan and India. The larger but poorly trained Iraqi force was defeated and Baghdad and Mosul were captured. Ali and his supporters fled the country and an armistice was signed, restoring the monarchy of Faisal II, the Kingdom of Iraq and a pro-British government. The defeat of the rebellion saw the defeat of the German-Italian attempt to entrench an Axis state in Iraq and worsened relations between the UK and Vichy France, culminating in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign.


text: In Operation Exporter, Australian, Free French, British and Indian units invaded Syria and Lebanon from Palestine in the south on 8 June 1941. Vigorous resistance was met from the Vichy French but superior Allied infantry equipment and numbers overwhelmed the defenders. More attacks were launched at the end of June and early July from Iraq into northern and central Syria, by Iraqforce. By 8 July, north-east Syria had been captured and elements of Iraqforce had advanced up the river Euphrates towards Aleppo, the rear of the Vichy forces defending Beirut from the advance from the south. Negotiations for an armistice were started on 11 July and surrender terms signed on 14 July.


text: Supplies to the Soviet Union had been sent via the North Cape to Murmansk and Archangel soon after the German invasion but the number of ships available was limited and convoys were vulnerable to German air and submarine attack. Supplies were also sent from American pacific ports to Vladivostok in Soviet-flagged ships but Allied planners wished to open another supply route through Iran. Though officially neutral, the Shah was widely viewed as pro-German by the allies. Following the Shah's refusal to open Iran up as a supply route for war materiel to the USSR; the allies invaded and occupied Iran in August 1941. The Shah, who urged his military not to resist the invasion, was deposed and his young son placed on the throne as titular head of an allied controlled puppet government. Iranian oil fields were secured and the line of supply to Russia established and maintained for the remainder of the war.


text: Gibraltar commanded the entrance to the Mediterranean and had been a British fortress since the early 18th century. The territory provided a strongly defended harbour, from which ships could operate in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Force H (Vice-Admiral James Somerville) was based in Gibraltar and had the task of maintaining naval superiority and providing a strong escort for convoys to and from the Malta. Malta was from Sicily and one of the first targets of the Italian army and the Regia Aeronautica; the air defence of Malta comprised six obsolescent Gloster Gladiator biplanes. After the first Italian air attacks it became clear that Malta could be defended and in early July, the Gladiators were reinforced by twelve Hawker Hurricane fighters.


text: The "Kriegsmarine" began operations in the Mediterranean with establishment of the 23rd U-boat Flotilla at a base on Salamis Island in Greece in September 1941. The flotilla was to operate against British supply convoys to Allied forces on Malta and in Tobruk. On 7 December, control of the 23rd Flotilla was transferred from Kernével to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Commander in Chief South ("OB Süd") in Italy. Additional bases were established in Pola and La Spezia in northern Italy, as more U-boats were sent to the Mediterranean.


text: Bombing and the naval blockade led to food and commodity shortages and rationing was imposed on the inhabitants. Luftwaffe reinforcements in the Mediterranean joined in the bombing but during a lull in early 1942, 61 Supermarine Spitfires were delivered, which very much improved the defensive situation, although food, ammunition, and fuel were still short. Supply runs during lulls in the bombing kept Malta in being but many ships like were damaged too severely to leave. The defence of the island ensured that the Allies had an advantage in the fight to control the Mediterranean and as the garrison recovered from periods of intense bombing, aircraft, submarines and light surface ships resumed attacks on Axis supply ships, leading to fuel and supply shortages for the Axis forces in Libya.


text: During 1941, the British launched several offensives to push back the Axis forces in North Africa. Operation Brevity failed as did Operation Battleaxe but Operation Crusader, the third and larger offensive was launched at the end of the year. Over December 1941 into early 1942, Allied forces pushed the Italian-German forces back through Libya to roughly the limit of the previous Operation Compass advance. Taking advantage of the Allied position, German forces counter-attacked and pushed back the Allies to Gazala, west of Tobruk. As both sides prepared offensives, the Axis forces struck first and inflicted a big defeat upon the Allied forces during the Battle of Gazala. The routed Allied forces retreated to Egypt where they made a stand at El Alamein.


text: Following the First Battle of El Alamein, which had stalled the Axis advance into Egypt, British forces went onto the offensive in October. The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a watershed in the Western Desert Campaign and turned the tide in the North African Campaign. It ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and of gaining access to the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields via North Africa. As the Eighth Army pushed west across the desert, capturing Libya, German forces occupied southern France and landed in Tunisia. On 8 November, Allied forces launched Operation Torch landing in various places across French North Africa. In December 1942, after a 101-day British blockade, French Somaliland fell to the Allies.


text: Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States joined the war. On 8 November 1942, American forces entered combat in the Mediterranean and Middle East, which "transformed the Mediterranean from a British to an Allied theater of war", "succeeding operations in the Mediterranean area proved far more extensive than intended. One undertaking was to lead to the next".


text: After liberating French North Africa and clearing the enemy from the Italian colonies, the Allies sought to bring the entire French empire effectively into the war against the Axis powers. They reopened the Mediterranean route to the Middle East. They went on from Africa to liberate Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. They caused Mussolini to topple from power, and they brought his successors to surrender. They drew more and more German military resources into a stubborn defence of the Italian peninsula, and helped the Yugoslavs to pin down within their spirited country thousands of Axis troops. Eventually, the Allies delivered a solid blow from southern France against the German forces which were opposing the Allied drive from the beaches of Normandy! They made Marseilles available for Allied use and they occupied northern Italy and Greece." Howe further notes that "Hitler had always accepted the principle that the Mediterranean was an area of paramount Italian interest just as, farther north, German interests were exclusive.


text: Allied forces were placed under the command of a Supreme Allied Commander AFHQ Mediterranean, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Axis forces were caught between the Allied armies during the Tunisia Campaign but managed to delay the Allied advance by defensive operations, most notably with the Battle of the Kasserine Pass and a temporary defensive success at the Battle of the Mareth Line. After shattering the Axis defence on the Mareth Line, the Allies squeezed Axis forces into a pocket around Tunis. Axis resistance in Africa ended on 13 May 1943, with the unconditional surrender of nearly 240,000 men, who became prisoners of war.


text: Following the Allied victory in North Africa the Allies invaded Sicily in Operation Husky on 10 July 1943, with amphibious and airborne landings. The Germans were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island but evacuated most of their troops and equipment to the mainland before the Allies entered Messina on 17 August. On 25 July, the Italian government deposed Mussolini, the Italian leader, who was subsequently arrested. The new government announced that it would continue the war but secretly commenced negotiations with the Allies.


text: The Allied invasion of Italy started when the British Eighth Army landed in the toe of Italy on 3 September 1943, in Operation Baytown. The Italian government signed the surrender the same day, believing they would be given time to make preparations against the anticipated German intervention. The Allies announced the Armistice of Cassibile on 8 September and German forces implemented plans to occupy the Italian peninsula. On 9 September, American and British forces of the US Fifth Army landed at Salerno in Operation Avalanche and more British airborne troops landed at Taranto in Operation Slapstick. German forces which had escaped from Sicily were concentrated against Avalanche, while additional forces were brought in to occupy Rome and disarm the Italian Army in central and northern Italy.


text: The Germans were unable to prevent the Italian fleet sailing to Malta, although the battleship "Roma" was sunk by the Luftwaffe on 9 September. In the occupied areas of southern Europe and the Mediterranean, German forces rapidly disarmed and captured Italian troops, putting down any resistance they offered in Yugoslavia, southern France and Greece. Meanwhile, on 16 September, a German airborne force led by Otto Skorzeny rescued Mussolini from the mountain resort in the Gran Sasso where he was being held. A puppet government headed by Mussolini was subsequently set up in northern Italy as the successor state to the former fascist government.


text: As the campaign in Italy continued, the rough terrain prevented fast movement and proved ideal for defence, the Allies continued to push the Germans northwards through the rest of the year. The German prepared defensive line called the Winter Line (parts of which were called the Gustav Line) proved a major obstacle to the Allies at the end of 1943, halting the advance. Operation Shingle, an amphibious assault at Anzio behind the line was intended to break it, but did not have the desired effect. The line was eventually broken by frontal assault at the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino in the Spring of 1944 and Rome was captured in June.


text: Following the fall of Rome, the Normandy landings (6 June 1944) that began Operation Overlord and the Red Army victories on the Eastern Front, the Italian campaign became of secondary importance to both sides. The Gothic Line north of Rome was not broken until the Spring offensive of 1945. From 1944 to the end of war, the Italian Front was made up of a multi-national Allied force of Americans (including segregated African and Japanese-Americans), Brazilians, British, Canadians, Czechs, French, Greeks, anti-fascist Italians, the 2nd New Zealand Division, Poles, South Africans and Rhodesians as well as members of the British and French empires, including the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division, Gurkhas, Indians, Moroccans and forces raised in Mandatory Palestine. On 1 May, SS General Karl Wolff and the Commander-in-Chief of the German 10th Army, General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, after Operation Sunrise (protracted, clandestine, negotiations with the Allies), ordered German armed forces in Italy to make an unconditional surrender to the Allies on 2 May 1945.


text: The brief campaign in the Italian-held Dodecanese Islands resulted as both Germany and the Allies scrambled to occupy them after the surrender of Italy in early September 1943. The main island of Rhodes was swiftly secured by German forces, but British garrisons were established on most islands by mid-September. German air superiority, tactical prowess, and the absence of Allied reinforcements doomed the Allied effort, however. German forces, including paratroopers and Brandenburger commandos, launched a counter-offensive, capturing the island of Kos within two days in early October. A massive 50-day-long aerial campaign was launched against the island of Leros defended by Italian troops commanded by Admiral Mascherpa, who resisted the German air offensive before the landing of British support troops, which was invaded by the Germans who landed by sea and air on 12 November and surrendered four days later. The remaining British garrisons were then evacuated to the Middle East.


text: On 15 August 1944, in an effort to aid their operations in Normandy, the Allies launched Operation Dragoon – the invasion of Southern France between Toulon and Cannes. The Allies rapidly broke out of their beachheads and fanned out north and east to join up with the American 12th Army Group which was breaking out of the Normandy beachhead. In early September supreme command of the 6th Army Group moved from AFHQ to SHAEF and the 6th Army Group moved out of the Mediterranean Theatre and into the European Theatre fighting as one of three Allied army groups on the Western Front.


text: At the end of the war in Europe, on 1 May 1945, troops of the 4th Army of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Slovene 9th Corpus NLA occupied the town of Trieste. The Germans surrendered to the Allies which entered the town the following day. The Yugoslavs had to leave the town some days after.


text: Allied forces, which had been sent to Greece in October 1944 after the German withdrawal, opened fire on the public during the demonstration on the 3rd of December of that year, which began the Greek Civil War.


text: In Syria, nationalist protests were on the rise at the continued occupation of the Levant by France in May 1945. French forces then tried to quell the protests but concern with heavy Syrian casualties forced Winston Churchill to oppose French action there. After being rebuffed by Charles De Gaulle he ordered British forces under general Bernard Paget into Syria from Jordan with orders to fire on the French if necessary. A crisis began as British armoured cars and troops then reached the Syrian capital Damascus following which the French were escorted and confined to their barracks. With political pressure added the French ordered a ceasefire; following which the French withdrew from Syria the following year.


text: Prior to the war the British Mandate in Palestine was faced with ethnic violence between the Muslim population and The Jewish population in Mandatory Palestine, that carried over into the war. After the war the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine began between Arab forces, Zionist forces and the British administration that lasted until 1948 and later drew in neighbouring nations into the conflict causing the start of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.


title: Colin Furze

text: Colin Peter Furze (born 14 October 1979) is a British YouTube personality, stuntman, inventor, and filmmaker from Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. Furze left school to become a plumber, a trade which he pursued until joining the Sky1 programme "Gadget Geeks." Furze has used his plumbing and engineering experience to build many unconventional contraptions, including a hoverbike, a wall of death, a jet-powered motorcycle made with pulsejet engines, and the world's fastest mobility scooter, pram, and dodgem.


title: Colin Furze

text: Certain projects he has undertaken have been funded by television and video game franchises for promotion, including a spring-loaded hidden blade and grappling hook from the "Assassin's Creed" franchise, an artificial-turf-covered BMW E30 containing a hot tub and barbecue grill, and a bunker underneath his back garden to promote Sky1's television series "You, Me and the Apocalypse." He celebrates reaching YouTube subscriber milestones by staging ever more extravagant firework stunts.


title: Colin Furze

text: Furze has said that he attended Malcolm Sargent Primary School as a child until he entered secondary school. By then he had already begun making underground dens and a few tree houses. He became a plumber after leaving school at 16, which allowed him to focus working on tools, gadgets and engineering. Shortly after the death of his father, he discovered the video-sharing website YouTube on which he shared his inventions beginning with his wall of death ramp in 2007.


title: Colin Furze

text: He and his girlfriend, Charlotte, have a daughter named Erin and a son (born in 2012) named Jake, who is often featured in his videos.


title: Colin Furze

text: Furze's many contraptions are publicised on his YouTube channel. On 13 March 2010, he uploaded a video of his converted scooter, incorporating a flame thrower that could shoot flames up to in the air. On 25 March 2010, Furze was arrested by Lincolnshire Police, for possessing an object converted into a firearm (in UK law a flame thrower is a type of firearm). He was released on bail without charge the next day. This was Furze's third attempt at producing such a device, as the first did not ignite and the second burst into flames.


title: Colin Furze

text: On 5 May 2014, Furze posted a video to kick off his 3-week long "X-Men" characters special by designing a set of realistic Wolverine claws based on a pneumatic system. Within its first week it had received over three million views.


title: Colin Furze

text: On 23 October 2015, Furze released a video showing off the start of a new multi-part build, in which he would construct a Hidden Blade to promote the new Ubisoft game, "." Furze went on to make the Hidden Blade, a spring-loaded concealed blade that activates at the flick of the wrist with the help of a ring-triggered wheel mechanism, a rope launcher and a winch device, all built onto a frame that fit his wrist.


title: Colin Furze

text: In November 2015, Furze constructed an underground bomb shelter beneath his garden, as part of a request by Sky1 to promote the series "You, Me and the Apocalypse." The bunker contains a corridor and a large main room, as well as a fully functional air filtration system and has an entrance shaft concealed by a garden shed.


title: Colin Furze

text: Furze has completed three "Star Wars" themed challenges in partnership with eBay. In 2016, he completed a giant AT-AT garden playhouse, followed by a full size Kylo Ren Tie Silencer in 2017. In 2019, he completed a moving Landspeeder from "Star Wars A New Hope". The vehicle was auctioned off on eBay, with all of the funds going to "BBC Children in Need".


title: Colin Furze

text: In March, 2022, he announced the completion of a tunnel that links his house, the bunker and his workshop. Lined with metal sheets and concrete, it took him three years to construct. Extensions towards the bunker and the driveway are planned next.


title: Colin Furze

text: On 24 October 2008, Furze revealed a motorbike that he had built to break the world record of the longest motorcycle. This was done by attaching beams in place of the back. He completed the record by riding it a minimum of .


title: Colin Furze

text: On 14 October 2010, it was announced that Furze had modified a mobility scooter to give it the ability to reach in an attempt to enter the "Guinness Book of Records". It took him nearly three months to build and has a motocross engine.


title: Colin Furze

text: On 10 October 2012, Furze posted a video showing a pram fitted with an engine which, if it travelled over , would make it the world's fastest pram. The pram was featured in the October 2013 copy of "Popular Science Magazine", in which Furze was interviewed about his reasons for having modified the pram.


title: Colin Furze

text: On 30 March 2017, Furze posted a video showing a restored 1960s dodgem fitted with a motor cycle engine producing around . The dodgem achieved a top speed of , with an average speed of from a run in each direction – making it the world's fastest bumper car, as approved by Guinness World Records. BBC Worldwide asked Furze to complete the project for The Stig to drive.


title: Colin Furze

text: Furze made his television debut by appearing as the 'Mystery Guest' in Episode 1, Series 3 of "Russell Howard's Good News", where he showed off his mobility scooter project. The scooter was damaged in transit and was unable to work properly on stage, but Russell got on the scooter regardless and Furze pushed him around on it.


title: Colin Furze

text: Furze appeared as one of the experts on "Gadget Geeks," the short-lived Sky1 series, in which the trio of experts would consult a member of the British public to test an invention idea in the workplace, along with the entertainer Tom Scott and Charles Yarnold. Furze has been 'number one' multiple times on the Science Channel show "Outrageous Acts of Science" and has appeared on the E4 show "Virtually Famous" twice, demonstrating his wolverine claws on 28 July 2014 and again, the following year, showcasing the "toaster knife".


title: Colin Furze

text: He appeared as a guest and "challenge" in the third season of the German tv game show Joko gegen Klaas - Das Duell um die Welt. One of the contestants had to be Furze's assistant for a day and had to test any invention he presented.


title: Colin Furze

text: Furze's inventions were featured on the 11 February 2020 episode of "Great British Inventions" hosted by David Jason.


title: Colin Furze

text: Colin Furze authored "This Book Isn't Safe", a collection of projects intended for children and adults to recreate at home and spur an interest in engineering.


title: Theta wave

text: Theta waves generate the theta rhythm, a neural oscillation in the brain that underlies various aspects of cognition and behavior, including learning, memory, and spatial navigation in many animals. It can be recorded using various electrophysiological methods, such as electroencephalogram (EEG), recorded either from inside the brain or from electrodes attached to the scalp.


title: Theta wave

text: At least two types of theta rhythm have been described. The hippocampal theta rhythm is a strong oscillation that can be observed in the hippocampus and other brain structures in numerous species of mammals including rodents, rabbits, dogs, cats, and marsupials. ""Cortical theta rhythms"" are low-frequency components of scalp EEG, usually recorded from humans. Theta rhythms can be quantified using quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) using freely available toolboxes, such as, EEGLAB or the Neurophysiological Biomarker Toolbox (NBT).


title: Theta wave

text: In rats, theta wave rhythmicity is easily observed in the hippocampus, but can also be detected in numerous other cortical and subcortical brain structures. Hippocampal theta waves, with a frequency range of 6–10 Hz, appear when a rat is engaged in active motor behavior such as walking or exploratory sniffing, and also during REM sleep. Theta waves with a lower frequency range, usually around 6–7 Hz, are sometimes observed when a rat is motionless but alert. When a rat is eating, grooming, or sleeping, the hippocampal EEG usually shows a non-rhythmic pattern known as large irregular activity or "LIA". The hippocampal theta rhythm depends critically on projections from the medial septal area, which in turn receives input from the hypothalamus and several brainstem areas. Hippocampal theta rhythms in other species differ in some respects from those in rats. In cats and rabbits, the frequency range is lower (around 4–6 Hz), and theta is less strongly associated with movement than in rats. In bats, theta appears in short bursts associated with echolocation.


title: Theta wave

text: In humans, hippocampal theta rhythm has been observed and linked to memory formation and navigation. As with rats, humans exhibit hippocampal theta wave activity during REM sleep. Humans also exhibit predominantly cortical theta wave activity during REM sleep. Increased sleepiness is associated with decreased alpha wave power and increased theta wave power. Meditation has been shown to increase theta power.


title: Theta wave

text: The function of the hippocampal theta rhythm is not clearly understood. Green and Arduini, in the first major study of this phenomenon, noted that hippocampal theta usually occurs together with desynchronized EEG in the neocortex, and proposed that it is related to arousal. Vanderwolf and his colleagues, noting the strong relationship between theta and motor behavior, have argued that it is related to sensorimotor processing. Another school, led by John O'Keefe, have suggested that theta is part of the mechanism animals use to keep track of their location within the environment. Another theory links the theta rhythm to mechanisms of learning and memory (Hasselmo, 2005). These different theories have since been combined, as it has been shown that the firing patterns can support both navigation and memory.


title: Theta wave

text: In human EEG studies, the term "theta" refers to frequency components in the 4–7 Hz range, regardless of their source. Cortical theta is observed frequently in young children. In older children and adults, it tends to appear during meditative, drowsy, hypnotic or sleeping states, but not during the deepest stages of sleep. Theta from the midfrontal cortex is specifically related to cognitive control and alterations in these theta signals are found in multiple psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.


title: Theta wave

text: Although there were a few earlier hints, the first clear description of regular slow oscillations in the hippocampal EEG came from a paper written in German by Jung and Kornmüller (1938). They were not able to follow up on these initial observations, and it was not until 1954 that further information became available, in a very thorough study by John D. Green and Arnaldo Arduini that mapped out the basic properties of hippocampal oscillations in cats, rabbits, and monkeys (Green and Arduini, 1954). Their findings provoked widespread interest, in part because they related hippocampal activity to arousal, which was at that time the hottest topic in neuroscience. Green and Arduini described an inverse relationship between hippocampal and cortical activity patterns, with hippocampal rhythmicity occurring alongside desynchronized activity in the cortex, whereas an irregular hippocampal activity pattern was correlated with the appearance of large slow waves in the cortical EEG.


title: Theta wave

text: Over the following decade came an outpouring of experiments examining the pharmacology and physiology of theta. By 1965, Charles Stumpf was able to write a lengthy review of "Drug action on the electrical activity of the hippocampus" citing hundreds of publications (Stumpf, 1965), and in 1964 John Green, who served as the leader of the field during this period, was able to write an extensive and detailed review of hippocampal electrophysiology (Green, 1964). A major contribution came from a group of investigators working in Vienna, including Stumpf and Wolfgang Petsche, who established the critical role of the medial septum in controlling hippocampal electrical activity, and worked out some of the pathways by which it exerts its influence.


title: Theta wave

text: Because of a historical accident, the term "theta rhythm" is used to refer to two different phenomena, ""hippocampal theta"" and ""human cortical theta"". Both of these are oscillatory EEG patterns, but they may have little in common beyond the name "theta".


title: Theta wave

text: In the oldest EEG literature dating back to the 1920s, Greek letters such as alpha, beta, theta, and gamma were used to classify EEG waves falling into specific frequency ranges, with "theta" generally meaning a range of about 4–7 cycles per second (Hz). In the 1930s–1950s, a very strong rhythmic oscillation pattern was discovered in the hippocampus of cats and rabbits (Green & Arduini, 1954). In these species, the hippocampal oscillations fell mostly into the 4–6 Hz frequency range, so they were referred to as "theta" oscillations. Later, hippocampal oscillations of the same type were observed in rats; however, the frequency of rat hippocampal EEG oscillations averaged about 8 Hz and rarely fell below 6 Hz. Thus the rat hippocampal EEG oscillation should not, strictly speaking, have been called a "theta rhythm". However the term "theta" had already become so strongly associated with hippocampal oscillations that it continued to be used even for rats. Over the years this association has come to be stronger than the original association with a specific frequency range, but the original meaning also persists.


title: Theta wave

text: The first meaning is usually intended in literature that deals with rats or mice, while the second meaning is usually intended in studies of human EEG recorded using electrodes glued to the scalp. In general, it is not safe to assume that observations of "theta" in the human EEG have any relationship to the "hippocampal theta rhythm". Scalp EEG is generated almost entirely by the cerebral cortex, and even if it falls into a certain frequency range, this cannot be taken to indicate that it has any functional dependence on the hippocampus.


title: Theta wave

text: Due to the density of its neural layers, the hippocampus generates some of the largest EEG signals of any brain structure. In some situations the EEG is dominated by regular waves at 4–10 Hz, often continuing for many seconds. This EEG pattern is known as the hippocampal theta rhythm. It has also been called "Rhythmic Slow Activity" (RSA), to contrast it with the large irregular activity (LIA) that usually dominates the hippocampal EEG when theta is not present.


title: Theta wave

text: In rats, hippocampal theta is seen mainly in two conditions: first, when an animal is running, walking, or in some other way actively interacting with its surroundings; second, during REM sleep. The frequency of the theta waves increases as a function of running speed, starting at about 6.5 Hz on the low end, and increasing to about 9 Hz at the fastest running speeds, although higher frequencies are sometimes seen for brief high-velocity movements such as jumps across wide gaps. In larger species of animals, theta frequencies are generally lower. The behavioral dependency also seems to vary by species: in cats and rabbits, theta is often observed during states of motionless alertness. This has been reported for rats as well, but only when they are fearful (Sainsbury et al., 1987).


title: Theta wave

text: Theta is not just confined to the hippocampus. In rats, it can be observed in many parts of the brain, including nearly all that interact strongly with the hippocampus. The generation of the rhythm is dependent on the medial septal area: this area projects to all of the regions that show theta rhythmicity, and destruction of it eliminates theta throughout the brain (Stewart & Fox, 1990).


title: Theta wave

text: In 1975 Kramis, Bland, and Vanderwolf proposed that in rats there are two distinct types of hippocampal theta rhythm, with different behavioral and pharmacological properties (Kramis et al., 1975). Type 1 ("atropine resistant") theta, according to them, appears during locomotion and other types of "voluntary" behavior and during REM sleep, has a frequency usually around 8 Hz, and is unaffected by the anticholinergic drug atropine. Type 2 ("atropine sensitive") theta appears during immobility and during anesthesia induced by urethane, has a frequency in the 4–7 Hz range, and is eliminated by administration of atropine. Many later investigations have supported the general concept that hippocampal theta can be divided into two types, although there has been dispute about the precise properties of each type. Type 2 theta is comparatively rare in unanesthetized rats: it may be seen briefly when an animal is preparing to make a movement but hasn't yet executed it, but has only been reported for extended periods in animals that are in a state of frozen immobility because of the nearby presence of a predator such as a cat or ferret (Sainsbury et al., 1987).


title: Theta wave

text: Vanderwolf (1969) made a strong argument that the presence of theta in the hippocampal EEG can be predicted on the basis of what an animal is doing, rather than why the animal is doing it. Active movements such as running, jumping, bar-pressing, or exploratory sniffing are reliably associated with theta; inactive states such as eating or grooming are associated with LIA. Later studies showed that theta frequently begins several hundred milliseconds before the onset of movement, and that it is associated with the intention to move rather than with feedback produced by movement (Whishaw & Vanderwolf, 1973). The faster an animal runs, the higher the theta frequency. In rats, the slowest movements give rise to frequencies around 6.5 Hz, the fastest to frequencies around 9 Hz, although faster oscillations can be observed briefly during very vigorous movements such as large jumps.


title: Theta wave

text: Numerous studies have shown that the medial septal area plays a central role in generating hippocampal theta (Stewart & Fox, 1990). Lesioning the medial septal area, or inactivating it with drugs, eliminates both type 1 and type 2 theta. Under certain conditions, theta-like oscillations can be induced in hippocampal or entorhinal cells in the absence of septal input, but this does not occur in intact, undrugged adult rats. The critical septal region includes the medial septal nucleus and the vertical limb of the diagonal band of Broca. The lateral septal nucleus, a major recipient of hippocampal output, probably does not play an essential role in generating theta.


title: Theta wave

text: The medial septal area projects to a large number of brain regions that show theta modulation, including all parts of the hippocampus as well as the entorhinal cortex, perirhinal cortex, retrosplenial cortex, medial mamillary and supramammillary nuclei of the hypothalamus, anterior nuclei of the thalamus, amygdala, inferior colliculus, and several brainstem nuclei (Buzsáki, 2002). Some of the projections from the medial septal area are cholinergic; the rest are GABAergic or glutamatergic. It is commonly argued that cholinergic receptors do not respond rapidly enough to be involved in generating theta waves, and therefore that GABAergic and/or glutamatergic signals (Ujfalussy and Kiss, 2006) must play the central role.


title: Theta wave

text: A major research problem has been to discover the "pacemaker" for the theta rhythm, that is, the mechanism that determines the oscillation frequency. The answer is not yet entirely clear, but there is some evidence that type 1 and type 2 theta depend on different pacemakers. For type 2 theta, the supramammillary nucleus of the hypothalamus appears to exert control (Kirk, 1998). For type 1 theta, the picture is still unclear, but the most widely accepted hypothesis proposes that the frequency is determined by a feedback loop involving the medial septal area and hippocampus (Wang, 2002).


title: Theta wave

text: Several types of hippocampal and entorhinal neurons are capable of generating theta-frequency membrane potential oscillations when stimulated. Typically these are sodium-dependent voltage-sensitive oscillations in membrane potential at near-action potential voltages (Alonso & Llinás, 1989). Specifically, it appears that in neurons of the CA1 and dentate gyrus, these oscillations result from an interplay of dendritic excitation via a persistent sodium current ("I") with perisomatic inhibition (Buzsáki, 2002).


title: Theta wave

text: As a rule, EEG signals are generated by synchronized synaptic input to the dendrites of neurons arranged in a layer. The hippocampus contains multiple layers of very densely packed neurons—the dentate gyrus and the CA3/CA1/subicular layer—and therefore has the potential to generate strong EEG signals. Basic EEG theory says that when a layer of neurons generates an EEG signal, the signal always phase-reverses at some level. Thus, theta waves recorded from sites above and below a generating layer have opposite signs. There are other complications as well: the hippocampal layers are strongly curved, and theta-modulated inputs impinge on them from multiple pathways, with varying phase relationships. The outcome of all these factors is that the phase and amplitude of theta oscillations change in a very complex way as a function of position within the hippocampus. The largest theta waves, however, are generally recorded from the vicinity of the fissure that separates the CA1 molecular layer from the dentate gyrus molecular layer. In rats, these signals frequently exceed 1 millivolt in amplitude. Theta waves recorded from above the hippocampus are smaller, and polarity-reversed with respect to the fissure signals.


title: Theta wave

text: The strongest theta waves are generated by the CA1 layer, and the most significant input driving them comes from the entorhinal cortex, via the direct EC→CA1 pathway. Another important driving force comes from the CA3→CA1 projection, which is out of phase with the entorhinal input, leading to a gradual phase shift as a function of depth within CA1 (Brankack, et al. 1993). The dentate gyrus also generates theta waves, which are difficult to separate from the CA1 waves because they are considerably smaller in amplitude, but there is some evidence that dentate gyrus theta is usually about 90 degrees out of phase from CA1 theta. Direct projections from the septal area to hippocampal interneurons also play a role in generating theta waves, but their influence is much smaller than that of the entorhinal inputs (which are, however, themselves controlled by the septum).


title: Theta wave

text: Theta-frequency activity arising from the hippocampus is manifested during some short-term memory tasks (Vertes, 2005). Studies suggest that these rhythms reflect the "on-line" state of the hippocampus; one of readiness to process incoming signals (Buzsáki, 2002). Conversely, theta oscillations have been correlated to various voluntary behaviors (exploration, spatial navigation, etc.) and alert states (goose bumps, etc.) in rats (Vanderwolf, 1969), suggesting that it may reflect the integration of sensory information with motor output (for review, see Bland & Oddie, 2001). A large body of evidence indicates that theta rhythm is likely involved in spatial learning and navigation (Buzsáki, 2005).


title: Theta wave

text: Theta rhythms are very strong in rodent hippocampi and entorhinal cortex during learning and memory retrieval, and are believed to be vital to the induction of long-term potentiation, a potential cellular mechanism of learning and memory. Phase precession along the theta wave in the hippocampus permits neural signals representing events that are only expected or those from the recent past to be placed next to the actually ongoing ones along a single theta cycle, and to be repeated over several theta cycles. This mechanism is supposed to allow long term potentiation (LTP) to reinforce the connections between neurons of the hippocampus representing subsequent elements of a memory sequence. Indeed, it has been suggested that stimulation at the theta frequency is optimal for the induction of hippocampal LTP. Based on evidence from electrophysiological studies showing that both synaptic plasticity and strength of inputs to hippocampal region CA1 vary systematically with ongoing theta oscillations (Hyman et al., 2003; Brankack et al., 1993), it has been suggested that the theta rhythm functions to separate periods of encoding of current sensory stimuli and retrieval of episodic memory cued by current stimuli so as to avoid interference that would occur if encoding and retrieval were simultaneous.


title: Theta wave

text: In non-human animals, EEG signals are usually recorded using electrodes implanted in the brain; the majority of theta studies have involved electrodes implanted in the hippocampus. In humans, because invasive studies are not ethically permissible except in some neurological patients, the largest number of EEG studies have been conducted using electrodes glued to the scalp. The signals picked up by scalp electrodes are comparatively small and diffuse and arise almost entirely from the cerebral cortex for the hippocampus is too small and too deeply buried to generate recognizable scalp EEG signals. Human EEG recordings show clear theta rhythmicity in some situations, but because of the technical difficulties, it has been difficult to tell whether these signals have any relationship with the hippocampal theta signals recorded from other species.


title: Theta wave

text: In contrast to the situation in rats, where long periods of theta oscillations are easily observed using electrodes implanted at many sites, theta has been difficult to pin down in primates, even when intracortical electrodes have been available. Green and Arduini (1954), in their pioneering study of theta rhythms, reported only brief bursts of irregular theta in monkeys. Other investigators have reported similar results, although Stewart and Fox (1991) described a clear 7–9 Hz theta rhythm in the hippocampus of urethane-anesthetized macaques and squirrel monkeys, resembling the type 2 theta observed in urethane-anesthetized rats.


title: Theta wave

text: Most of the available information on human hippocampal theta comes from a few small studies of epileptic patients with intracranially implanted electrodes used as part of a treatment plan. In the largest and most systematic of these studies, Cantero "et al." (2003) found that oscillations in the 4–7 Hz frequency range could be recorded from both the hippocampus and neocortex. The hippocampal oscillations were associated with REM sleep and the transition from sleep to waking, and came in brief bursts, usually less than a second long. Cortical theta oscillations were observed during the transition from sleep and during quiet wakefulness; however, the authors were unable to find any correlation between hippocampal and cortical theta waves, and concluded that the two processes are probably controlled by independent mechanisms.


title: Theta wave

text: Studies have shown an association of hypnosis with stronger theta-frequency activity as well as with changes to the gamma-frequency activity (Jensen et al., 2015). Also, increased theta waves have been seen in humans in 'no thought' meditation.


title: Fairfield, California

text: Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately from the city center of each city, approximately from the city center of Oakland, less than from Napa Valley, from the Carquinez Bridge, and from the Benicia Bridge. Fairfield was founded in 1856 by clippership captain Robert H. Waterman, and named after his former hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut.


title: Fairfield, California

text: It is the home of Travis Air Force Base and the headquarters of Jelly Belly. With a population of 119,881 at the 2020 census, it is slightly smaller in population than Vallejo. Other nearby cities include Suisun City, Vacaville, Rio Vista, Benicia, and Napa.


title: Fairfield, California

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water. The total area is 5.65% water.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The city is located within the California Coastal Ranges. The city is centered directly north of the Suisun Bay and northeast of the San Pablo Bay. Much of the Suisun Bay contains the Suisun Marsh, the largest saltwater marsh on the west coast of the United States.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The city includes one hospital, NorthBay Medical Center, a 154-bed advanced medical facility that also features a level II Trauma Center.


title: Fairfield, California

text: According to the City of Fairfield website, Native Americans, such as those from the Ion culture, settled in the Rockville and Green Valley areas. Artifacts that have been found from some of the earliest human inhabitants of the Fairfield area are dated to be around five to six thousand years old, making them some of the oldest Native American settlements in Northern California.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The first European contact came in 1810 when the Spanish army was ordered to attack the Suisun Indians. In 1835 the Mexican General Vallejo was so magnanimous in victory over the Indian Chief Sem Yeto that the chief later became his ally in conflicts against other tribes. In 1837 the Indian Chief Solano received the Rancho Suisun Mexican land grant. This grant eventually came into the hands of a clipper ship captain from Fairfield, Connecticut named Robert H. Waterman. He not only parceled out the town in 1856, but also, in a commercially shrewd move, entered Fairfield in the race for Solano County seat in 1858, and won it from Benicia. As an inducement he granted of land for the construction of county buildings. In 1903 Fairfield was incorporated as a city.


title: Fairfield, California

text: In August 2020, parts of Fairfield were evacuated due to the Hennessey Fire, which resulted in the burning of over in five counties, including in nearby Vacaville.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Fairfield had a population of 105,322. The population density was . The racial makeup of Fairfield was 48,407 (46.0%) White, 16,586 (15.7%) African American, 869 (0.8%) Native American, 15,700 (14.9%) Asian (9.1% Filipino, 1.8% Indian, 1.0% Chinese, 0.6% Vietnamese, 0.6% Japanese, 0.4% Korean, 0.3% Laotian, 0.2% Thai, 0.1% Pakistani), 1,149 (1.1%) Pacific Islander, 13,301 (12.6%) from other races, and 9,309 (8.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28,789 persons (27.3%); 21.2% of Fairfield was Mexican, 1.1% Puerto Rican, 1.0% Salvadoran, 0.5% Nicaraguan, 0.3% Guatemalan, 0.2% Cuban, and 0.2% Peruvian.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The Census reported that 102,832 people (97.6% of the population) lived in households, 1,221 (1.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1,268 (1.2%) were institutionalized.


title: Fairfield, California

text: There were 34,484 households, out of which 14,725 (42.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 18,461 (53.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 5,203 (15.1%) had a female householder with no husband present, 2,179 (6.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 2,052 (6.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 237 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 6,802 households (19.7%) were made up of individuals, and 2,500 (7.2%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98. There were 25,843 families (74.9% of all households); the average family size was 3.42.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The population was spread out, with 28,499 people (27.1%) under the age of 18, 11,246 people (10.7%) aged 18 to 24, 28,917 people (27.5%) aged 25 to 44, 25,884 people (24.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 10,775 people (10.2%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.


title: Fairfield, California

text: There were 37,184 housing units at an average density of , of which 20,835 (60.4%) were owner-occupied, and 13,649 (39.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 7.1%. 61,652 people (58.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 41,180 people (39.1%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Fairfield, California

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 96,178 people, 30,870 households, and 24,016 families residing in the city. The population density was 986.3/km (2,554.2/mi). There were 31,792 housing units at an average density of 326.0/km (844.3/mi). The racial makeup of the city was 56.21% White, 15.02% Black or African American, 0.77% Native American, 10.89% Asian, 0.93% Pacific Islander, 8.77% from other races, and 7.41% from two or more races. 18.77% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Fairfield, California

text: There were 30,870 households, out of which 43.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.4% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.2% were non-families. 17.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.33.


title: Fairfield, California

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The median income for a household in the city was $51,151, and the median income for a family was $55,503. Males had a median income of $38,544 versus $30,616 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,617. 9.3% of the population and 7.1% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 12.1% of those under the age of 18 and 5.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


title: Fairfield, California

text: Fairfield has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa). Summers have hot afternoons with cool nights with a lengthy dry period, whereas winters see frequent rainfall with mild to cool temperatures.


title: Fairfield, California

text: Fairfield has a diversified economy, with government, manufacturing, health care, retail, professional and commercial construction sectors. Anheuser-Busch operates a large regional Budweiser brewery, Clorox produces bleach products, and the Jelly Belly Candy Company confects its specialty jelly beans in Fairfield. Partnership HealthPlan of California, an insurer, is based in Fairfield.


title: Fairfield, California

text: According to the city's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Fairfield, California

text: There are five city councilmembers, which include the vice-Mayor, and Mayor. Councilmembers are elected at large for four-year, staggered terms. Elections are held in November of even-numbered years. Beginning in November 2020, city council elections in Fairfield will be conducted by district, with six district seats and an at-large mayoral seat for a total of seven council seats.


title: Fairfield, California

text: Vanden High School, Golden West Middle School, Travis Education Center, Travis Community Day School, Center Elementary School, Scandia Elementary School, and Travis Elementary School are part of the Travis Unified School District (TUSD), and serve Travis Air Force Base (TAFB) as well as parts of Fairfield and Vacaville. Golden Hills Community School is part of the Solano County Office of Education (SCOE). All others are part of the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD).


title: Fairfield, California

text: Universities and colleges nearby: the California Maritime Academy (CSU), UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Sacramento State, CSU East Bay, Sonoma State, St. Mary's College, University of Phoenix and Brandman University. The main campus of Solano Community College is located in Fairfield—as well as satellite campuses of University of Phoenix, Brandman University, InterCoast Colleges, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (at Travis AFB).


title: Fairfield, California

text: Fairfield is home to three golf courses, two public and one private (located in unincorporated area East of Fairfield, North of TAFB for use by military personnel). Paradise Valley and Rancho Solano Golf Courses, both public, are rated in the Zagat Survey of "America's Best Golf Courses," rated stars by "Golf Digest Magazine" in 2010 and voted #1 and #2 golf courses in Solano County for consecutive years.


title: Fairfield, California

text: Interstate 80 passes through Fairfield, connecting San Francisco to the southwest and Sacramento to the northeast. Interstate 680 begins its journey south through the eastern cities of the Bay Area to San Jose. State Route 12 connects Fairfield with Napa to the west, and Rio Vista to the east.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The Fairfield-Vacaville railroad station on Peabody Rd serves the communities of Fairfield/Suisun and Vacaville. The station opened in November 2017. The station is served by "Capitol Corridor" trains operated by Amtrak California. Additionally, the Suisun-Fairfield station in Suisun City serves the central Solano area. Greyhound utilizes this station for service to the Fairfield-Suisun area as well.


title: Fairfield, California

text: The Fairfield Transportation Center is the main hub for commuters via bus as well as vanpools and park-and-ride to the Sacramento area and the San Francisco Bay Area. There is connecting bus service to Sacramento and to BART stations in El Cerrito and Concord/Walnut Creek, as well as intercity to Vacaville, Vallejo, Davis, Napa, and Rio Vista.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Viviane Katrina Louise Albertine (born 1 December 1954) is an Australian-born British musician, singer, songwriter and writer. She is best known as the guitarist for the punk band the Slits from 1977 until 1982, with whom she recorded two studio albums. Prior to joining the Slits, Albertine was a member of the Flowers of Romance.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Following the Slits' break-up in 1982, Albertine studied filmmaking and subsequently worked as a freelance director for the BBC and British Film Institute. After a lengthy break from performing and recording music, Albertine released her sole solo studio album, "The Vermilion Border", in 2012.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Albertine's first autobiography, "Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys", was released in 2014 to widespread critical acclaim. A follow-up focusing on her family, "To Throw Away Unopened", was released in 2018.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Albertine was born in Sydney to an English mother of partial Swiss ancestry and a Corsican father. She was brought up in north London, attended comprehensive school in Muswell Hill, and at the age of 17 enrolled in Hornsey School of Art. After completing a foundation course at Hornsey, she went to Chelsea School of Art to study fashion and textile design. In 1976, while still studying at Chelsea, she helped form the early punk band the Flowers of Romance. In 1976, her Swiss maternal grandmother gave her money to purchase an electric guitar.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Albertine was a key figure in the 1970s punk scene, and was the on/off girlfriend of Mick Jones of the Clash. In 1976, she formed the Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious. She joined the Slits as the band's guitarist after founding member Kate Korus left. Hesitant to join an all female band she changed her mind after her friend Chrissie Hynde told her to "Shut up and get on with it."


title: Viv Albertine

text: The Clash's 1979 song "Train in Vain" has been interpreted by some as a response to "Typical Girls" by the Slits, which mentions girls standing by their men. Albertine split up with songwriter Mick Jones shortly before he wrote the song.


title: Viv Albertine

text: While continuing as a key member of the Slits, Albertine contributed guitar and vocal work to the 49 Americans' 1980 album "E Pluribus Unum".


title: Viv Albertine

text: She became part of Adrian Sherwood's dub-influenced collective New Age Steppers, and played on their self-titled 1981 debut album. She appeared as a guest guitarist on the Flying Lizards' debut album, as well as Singers & Players' 1982 album, "Revenge of the Underdog".


title: Viv Albertine

text: In 2009, Albertine began performing as a solo artist. Her debut gig was at the Windmill in Brixton on 20 September 2009. She went on to tour the US, opening for the Raincoats. In March 2010, she released a four-song debut solo EP entitled, "Flesh", on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Albertine recorded a cover version of David Bowie's "Letter to Hermione" for the Bowie tribute album, "", which was released on 6 September 2010. Her debut solo album, "The Vermilion Border", was released on 5 November 2012 through the Cadiz Music label. The album was a featured project on Pledgemusic. On 17 June 2013, she opened for Siouxsie Sioux at the Royal Festival Hall in London.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Following the death of her mother in 2014, Albertine stepped away from music: "I’m just not interested in playing any more. I came to that decision the night my mum died. I don’t worship musicians. I don’t worship rock’n’roll. I don’t miss it. I see music as a vehicle like writing or film-making, but I don’t think it’s a very relevant medium for me at the moment."


title: Viv Albertine

text: After the Slits disbanded in 1982, Albertine studied filmmaking in London. She worked as a director, mostly for television and making promos and videos for bands, many of which were used on UK MTV throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s. "Ghosts Of American Astronauts" by the Mekons, for example.


title: Viv Albertine

text: In 1991, Albertine wrote and directed the short film "Coping with Cupid", a film about three aliens as blondes that come to earth to research romantic love. In 2010, she worked with Joanna Hogg on the soundtrack to Hogg's 2010 film "Archipelago".


title: Viv Albertine

text: In 2013, Albertine starred in Hogg's 2013 film "Exhibition", alongside Tom Hiddleston and Liam Gillick. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2013, and was released on DVD in 2014.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Albertine's memoir, "Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys", was published in 2014 in the UK by Faber and Faber and in the US by Thomas Dunne Books. It was a "Sunday Times", "Mojo", "Rough Trade" and "NME" Book of the Year in 2014, as well as being shortlisted for the National Book Awards. In 2019, "The New York Times" named the memoir in its "The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years" article.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Her second memoir "To Throw Away Unopened" was published by Faber and Faber in May 2018. The book describes the complex relationship between Albertine and her mother. The title is taken from a note pinned to a bag left behind by her mother after her death. Albertine admits she viewed this as "a provocation", and felt that her mother expected her to look inside: The contents turned out to be personal diaries, which Albertine read in full, and ultimately incorporated into her own memoir.


title: Viv Albertine

text: Albertine married in 1995,<ref name="NPR Interview, updated 11/2019"></ref> and gave birth to a daughter, Vida, in 1999. After seventeen years of marriage, the pair divorced. Albertine currently lives in Hackney, London.


title: Spermatic cord

text: The spermatic cord is the cord-like structure in males formed by the vas deferens ("ductus deferens") and surrounding tissue that runs from the deep inguinal ring down to each testicle. Its serosal covering, the tunica vaginalis, is an extension of the peritoneum that passes through the transversalis fascia. Each testicle develops in the lower thoracic and upper lumbar region and migrates into the scrotum. During its descent it carries along with it the vas deferens, its vessels, nerves etc. There is one on each side.


title: Spermatic cord

text: The normal diameter of the spermatic cord is about 16 mm (range 11 to 22 mm). It is located behind the tunica vaginalis.


title: Spermatic cord

text: The ilioinguinal nerve is not actually located inside the spermatic cord, but runs outside it in the inguinal canal.


title: Spermatic cord

text: The spermatic cord is sensitive to torsion, in which the testicle rotates within its sac and blocks its own blood supply. Testicular torsion may result in irreversible damage to the testicle within hours. A collection of serous fluid in the spermatic cord is named 'funiculocele'.


title: Spermatic cord

text: The contents of the abdominal cavity may protrude into the inguinal canal, producing an indirect inguinal hernia


title: Spermatic cord

text: Varicose veins of the spermatic cord are referred to as varicocele. Though often asymptomatic, about one in four people with varicocele have negatively affected fertility.


title: Mohsin Khan (cricketer)

text: Mohsin Hasan Khan (Urdu: محسن حسن خان; born 15 March 1955) is a Pakistani cricket coach, actor and former cricketer who played in 48 Test matches and 75 One Day Internationals between 1977 and 1986 mainly as an opening batsman.


title: Mohsin Khan (cricketer)

text: Born in Karachi to a father who was an officer in the Pakistan Navy and a United States-educated mother who was a teacher and vice-principal, Mohsin excelled at sports early on, in tennis, swimming and cricket, and even went on to become junior badminton champion of Pakistan.


title: Mohsin Khan (cricketer)

text: Playing as the opener for Pakistan against India at Lahore in 1982–83, he scored 101 not out of Pakistan's second-innings total of 135/1. This is the lowest team score in Test cricket to have included a century.


title: Mohsin Khan (cricketer)

text: Mohsin was one of a minority of South Asian players to come to terms with conditions in Australia and England, scoring two consecutive centuries in Australia in 1983/84 and becoming the first Pakistani batsman to score a Test double century at Lord's, which he did earlier in 1982.


title: Mohsin Khan (cricketer)

text: On 2 March 2010, Mohsin Khan was named Iqbal Qasim's successor as chief selector of the Pakistan national cricket team. He accepted the role turned down by former Captain Saeed Anwar. Mohsin was Pakistan's fourth chief of selectors in the 12 months of 2009–10. He was appointed as interim coach of the Pakistan team on 3 October 2011 while the PCB formed a committee to search for a certified coach. Mohsin Khan was removed as interim coach once Dav Whatmore was selected as Pakistan's permanent coach in early 2012. Since being removed as interim coach, Mohsin Khan has applied for the coaching position on several occasions without any success. He is currently based in Karachi and can be seen on various private TV channels, continuously looking for a role with the PCB.


title: Mohsin Khan (cricketer)

text: Mohsin married Bollywood movie star Reena Roy in 1983, and had a short career as an actor in the Indian film industry starting with J P Dutta's 1989 film Batwara. His biggest success in Bollywood was Mahesh Bhatt's crime thriller "Saathi" (1991), co-starring Aditya Pancholi and Varsha Usgaonkar. He also acted in several films in Pakistan in the 90s. He divorced Roy in the 1990s and got the custody of their daughter, Sanam. He later remarried and lost the custody of the daughter. He currently lives in Karachi, Pakistan and his daughter, Sanam, now lives with her mother in India. He had named his daughter Jannat, but she is now called Sanam.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: Zinc sulfate is an inorganic compound. It is used as a dietary supplement to treat zinc deficiency and to prevent the condition in those at high risk. Side effects of excess supplementation may include abdominal pain, vomiting, headache, and tiredness.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: The most common form includes water of crystallization as the heptahydrate, with the formula . It was historically known as "white vitriol". Zinc sulfate and its hydrates are colourless solids.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: The hydrates, especially the heptahydrate, are the primary forms used commercially. The main application is as a coagulant in the production of rayon. It is also a precursor to the pigment lithopone.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: It is also used as an electrolyte for zinc electroplating, as a mordant in dyeing, and as a preservative for skins and leather.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: Zinc sulfate is used to supply zinc in animal feeds, fertilizers, toothpaste, and agricultural sprays. Zinc sulfate, like many zinc compounds, can be used to control moss growth on roofs.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: Zinc sulfate can be used to supplement zinc in the brewing process. Zinc is a necessary nutrient for optimal yeast health and performance, although it is not a necessary supplement for low-gravity beers, as the grains commonly used in brewing already provide adequate zinc. It is a more common practice when pushing yeast to their limit by increasing alcohol content beyond their comfort zone. Before modern stainless steel, brew Kettles, fermenting vessels and after wood, zinc was slowly leached by the use of copper kettles. A modern copper immersion chiller is speculated to provide trace elements of zinc; thus care must be taken when adding supplemental zinc so as not to cause excess. Side effects include "...increased acetaldehyde and fusel alcohol production due to high yeast growth when zinc concentrations exceed 5 ppm. Excess zinc can also cause soapy or goaty flavors."


title: Zinc sulfate

text: Zinc sulfate powder is an eye irritant. Ingestion of trace amounts is considered safe, and zinc sulfate is added to animal feed as a source of essential zinc, at rates of up to several hundred milligrams per kilogram of feed. Excess ingestion results in acute stomach distress, with nausea and vomiting appearing at 2–8 mg/kg of body weight.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: Zinc sulfate is produced by treating virtually any zinc-containing material (metal, minerals, oxides) with sulfuric acid.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: In aqueous solution, all forms of zinc sulfate behave identically. These aqueous solutions consist of the metal aquo complex and ions. Barium sulfate forms when these solutions are treated with solutions of barium ions:


title: Zinc sulfate

text: When heated above 680 °C, zinc sulfate decomposes into sulfur dioxide gas and zinc oxide fume, both of which are hazardous.


title: Zinc sulfate

text: As a mineral, ZnSO•7HO is known as goslarite. Zinc sulfate occurs as several other minor minerals, such as zincmelanterite, (structurally different from goslarite). Lower hydrates of zinc sulfate are rarely found in nature: (bianchite), (boyleite), and (gunningite).


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Summer School is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Mark Harmon as a high school gym teacher who is forced to teach a remedial English class during the summer. The film co-stars Kirstie Alley and Courtney Thorne-Smith. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by George Shapiro and Howard West. The original music score was composed by Danny Elfman.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: On the last day of school before summer vacation, physical education teacher Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon) is preparing for a vacation to Hawaii with his girlfriend, Kim. Vice principal Phil Gills (Robin Thomas) hands out paper slips informing several underachievers that they must attend summer school for remedial English. This includes: easily distracted Pam House (Courtney Thorne-Smith); "nocturnal" Larry Kazamias, a male stripper (Ken Olandt); football jock Kevin Winchester (Patrick Labyorteaux); pregnant Rhonda Altobello (Shawnee Smith); geeky Alan Eakian (Richard Steven Horvitz); dyslexic Denise Green (Kelly Jo Minter); intimidating Jerome Watkins (Duane Davis), and two horror-film-obsessed underachievers, Dave Frazier (Gary Riley) and Francis Gremp, a.k.a. "Chainsaw" (Dean Cameron).


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: The teacher scheduled to teach the class, Mr. Dearadorian (Carl Reiner), wins the lottery and immediately quits, so Gills seeks an emergency replacement among the teachers still on school grounds, but each manages to evade him, guessing what he wants them to do. He finally corners Shoop, blackmailing him into taking the job or lose tenure.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: On his first day, Shoop meets Robin Bishop (Kirstie Alley), who is teaching American History next door. He falls for her, but she is already dating Gills. His first day is a disaster. Most of the students slack around, and Jerome goes to the bathroom and doesn't return. A beautiful Italian transfer student, Anna-Maria Mazarelli (Fabiana Udenio), is transferred to the class in order for her to work on her English, much to the delight of Dave and Chainsaw. After some students inexplicably leave and the remaining ones attempt to leave class as well, Shoop admits he has no idea how to teach them. Rather than studying, he and the students spend their first few days having fun going on "Field Trips" to the beach, a theme park, and a petting zoo until Alan's grandmother finds out and tells Gills.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Gills threatens to fire Shoop unless his students pass the end-of-term test. Shoop negotiates with each teen to grant them a favor if they study. The kids agree, so he gives Denise driving lessons, accompanies Rhonda to Lamaze classes, gives Kevin football lessons, allows Dave and Chainsaw to throw a party in his house and gives them rides to school, gives Larry a bed in the classroom, lets Chainsaw arrange a screening of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" in class and allows Pam to move in with him. Seeing he is still floundering as a teacher, Robin tells Shoop to make learning fun. He begins to grow closer to the kids. They study to pass their English basic skills exam, worried that Gills will fire him unless all his students pass.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Shoop is arrested, covering for Chainsaw and Dave after they are found in possession of alcohol. He calls Robin and she and Gills to bail him out of jail. Gills then inadvertently exposes his true self to Robin when he states he cares nothing for Shoop or his students and she overhears, causing her to storm off. Larry loses his stripper job when he is found out by his aunt and his mother, who go to the club where he works. The students make more demands on Shoop. He throws an English book against the chalkboard and, after listing his sacrifices to grant their favors, quits his job in anger. His students start feeling guilty, and scare off Shoop's dull replacement with a series of gory stunts reminiscent of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". Finding Shoop moping on the beach whilst eating ice cream, they ask him to return, and he accepts.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Shoop and his students then begin preparing for the test in earnest, and even Jerome, who had "gone to the bathroom" weeks before, returns. The exam goes smoothly, despite Rhonda going into labor during the test; she later puts the child up for adoption. Gills tells Shoop the average of grades was below passing, so he is ready to fire him. However, the students' parents come to defend him. Due to the students' marked improvement, Principal Kelban (Francis X. McCarthy) grants Shoop tenure for his positive efforts.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Shoop returns to the beach with his dog and Robin. He asks her to a dinner date for the last time, and she accepts at last, kissing him in the sunset.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: The "Summer School" soundtrack, on Chrysalis, consists of 1980s rock and dance songs with performers including Paul Engemann, Blondie, E. G. Daily, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Vinnie Vincent, Billy Burnette, and Elisa Fiorillo.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Some songs that appear in the film, including James Brown's, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time", do not appear on the soundtrack. The movie is also notable for containing the only completely unreleased Danny Elfman film score to date.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Daily's "Mind over Matter" was released as a single off the soundtrack. It became a top 10 dance hit in the US and hit #96 in the UK in 1988. The song was originally recorded by Debbie Harry, but label disputes caused her recording to go unreleased and Daily was chosen to sing it instead. The song was produced at PWL by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: "Summer School" holds a 56% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews; the average rating is 5.4/10 indicating mixed or average reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film ½ out of four stars, calling it "listless, leisurely and unspirited". Metacritic gave the film a score of 27 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: The film grossed $35.7 million in the United States, becoming the 32nd highest-grossing film of 1987.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: A bare-bones DVD edition of "Summer School" was released by Paramount Home Entertainment in 2004. This was followed by a special edition DVD, known as the "Life's a Beach Edition", which was released on May 22, 2007.


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Shout Factory released a Blu-ray, including the 2007 bonus features and adding a discussion with Richard Steven Horvitz, on Feb 8, 2022


title: Summer School (1987 film)

text: Along with the special edition DVD release commemorating the twentieth anniversary of "Summer School", many of the original cast were present for a reunion party. During an audience Q&A, Dean Cameron suggested that he would be open to a sequel or possibly even a remake of the original. When asked who he would cast as Chainsaw, he suggested Shia LaBeouf or Zach Braff.


title: Corto Maltese

text: Corto Maltese is a series of adventure and fantasy comics named after the character Corto Maltese, an adventurous sailor. It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most artistic and literary graphic novels ever written and have been translated into numerous languages and adapted into several animated films.


title: Corto Maltese

text: The series features "Corto Maltese", an enigmatic sea captain who lives in the first three decades of the 20th century. Born in Valletta on the island of Malta on 10 July 1887, the son of a sailor from Cornwall, and a gypsy from Seville.


title: Corto Maltese

text: In his adventures full of real-world references, "Corto" has often crossed with real historical characters like the American author Jack London and his nurse Virginia Prentiss, the American outlaw Butch Cassidy, the German World War I flying ace Red Baron, and many others.


title: Corto Maltese

text: The character debuted in the serial "Ballad of the Salty Sea", one of several Pratt stories published in the first edition of the magazine "Sergeant Kirk" in July 1967. The story centers around smugglers and pirates in the World War I-era Pacific Islands. In 1970, Pratt moved to France and began a series of short "Corto Maltese" stories for the French magazine "Pif Gadget", an arrangement lasting four years and producing many 20-page stories. In 1974 he returned to full-length stories, sending Corto to 1918 Siberia in the story "Corto Maltese in Siberia", first serialised in the Italian comics magazine "Linus".


title: Corto Maltese

text: In 1976, "Ballad of the Salty Sea" was published in book format and was awarded the prize for best foreign realistic comic album at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.


title: Corto Maltese

text: Pratt continued to produce new stories over the next two decades, many first appearing in the eponymous comics magazine "Corto Maltese", until 1988 when the final story "Mu, the Lost Continent" was serialised, ending in June 1989.


title: Corto Maltese

text: On October 7, 2014, Italian publisher Cong, who owns the rights to Corto Maltese, announced that a new album was being made by writer Juan Díaz Canales and artist Rubén Pellejero. "Under the Midnight Sun" was released in Europe on September 30, 2015 and takes place in 1915. In September 2017, a second album, "Equatoria" set in 1911 was published. In November 2019, a third album, "All Saints Day" set in 1912–1913 was published. The fourth album by Canales and Pellejero was published in September 2022, entitled "Berlin Nocturne". It takes place in Berlin and Prague in 1924.


title: Corto Maltese

text: Corto Maltese (whose name derives from the Andalusian Argot and means "quick hands") is a laconic sea captain adventuring during the early 20th century (1900–1920s). A "rogue with a heart of gold", he is tolerant and sympathetic to the underdog. Born in Valletta on July 10, 1887, he is the son of a British sailor from Cornwall and an Andalusian–Romani witch and prostitute known as ""La Niña de Gibraltar"". As a boy growing up in the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Maltese discovered that he had no fate line on his palm and therefore carved his own with his father's razor, determining that his fate was his to choose. Although maintaining a neutral position, Corto instinctively supports the disadvantaged and oppressed.


title: Corto Maltese

text: The character embodies the author's skepticism of national, ideological and religious assertions. Corto befriends people from all walks of life, including the murderous Russian Rasputin (no relation with the historical figure, apart from physical resemblance and some character traits), British heir Tristan Bantam, voodoo priestess Gold Mouth and Czech academic Jeremiah Steiner. He also knows and meets various real-life historical figures, including Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Butch Cassidy, James Joyce, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Frederick Rolfe, Joseph Conrad, Sükhbaatar, John Reed, White Russian general Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Enver Pasha of Turkey and Sergei Semenov, modelled after Grigory Semyonov. His acquaintances treat him with great respect, as when a telephone call to Joseph Stalin frees him from arrest when he is threatened with execution on the border of Turkey and Armenia.


title: Corto Maltese

text: Corto's favourite book is "Utopia" by Thomas More, but he never finishes it. He also read books by London, Lugones, Stevenson, Melville and Conrad, and quotes Rimbaud.


title: Corto Maltese

text: "Corto Maltese" stories range from straight historical adventure to occult dream sequences. He is present when the Red Baron is shot down, helps the Jívaro in South America, and flees Fascists in Venice, but also unwittingly helps Merlin and Oberon to defend Britain and helps Tristan Bantam to visit the lost continent of Mu.


title: Corto Maltese

text: Chronologically, the first adventure, "Corto Maltese: The Early Years", happens during the Russo-Japanese War. In other albums he experiences the Great War in several locations, participates in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution, and appears during the early stages of Fascist Italy. In a separate series by Pratt, "The Desert Scorpions", Corto is said to be missing in action in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.


title: Corto Maltese

text: This is a list of the twelve original "Corto Maltese" novels in chronological order. French editions were published by Casterman, Italian by Edizioni Lizard, English editions by IDW's EuroComics imprint.


title: Corto Maltese

text: In 2015 the series was continued by Ruben Pellejero and Juan Díaz Canales, with the following albums published thus far:


title: Corto Maltese

text: In 2021 a reboot series was launched by Martin Quenehen and Bastien Vivès reimagining the character for the 21st Century.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a 1990 American action comedy mystery film directed by Renny Harlin and written by David Arnott, James Cappe, and Daniel Waters based on a story by Arnott and Cappe. The film stars comedian Andrew Dice Clay as the title character, Ford Fairlane, a "Rock n' Roll Detective", whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles. True to his name, Ford drives a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner in the film.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The film's main character was created by writer Rex Weiner in a series of stories that were published as weekly serials in 1979–80 by the "New York Rocker" and the "LA Weekly". The stories were published as a book by Rare Bird Books in July 2018.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The film was both a commercial and critical failure, being awarded the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture, tying with Bo Derek's "Ghosts Can't Do It". However, Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love" from the soundtrack became one of his biggest hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100 (peaking at #2).


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: Ford Fairlane is seen sitting on a beach smoking as the film opens. A flashback initiates, showing a roaring crowd at a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, given by fictional popular heavy metal band The Black Plague. Lead singer Bobby Black makes an eccentric entrance down a zip-line from Creation Rock onto the stage and begins performing. Shortly into one of the band's songs, Bobby Black starts gagging and collapses dead on stage.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: After the lead singer of The Black Plague is murdered onstage, shock-jock Johnny Crunch, an old friend who came west with Fairlane, hires Ford to track down a mysterious teenage groupie named Zuzu Petals, who may have a connection to Black's death.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: Soon after hiring Fairlane, Crunch is electrocuted on the air. The world's hippest detective soon finds himself trading insults with ruthless record executive Julian Grendel, a clueless cop and former disco star, Lt. Amos, a merciless hit man named Smiley and countless ex-girlfriends out for his blood. Aiding and abetting Fairlane is loyal assistant Jazz and a hip record producer at the head of a bizarre lineup of suspects, victims, beautiful women, and a koala as he finds himself hip-deep in the case of his life.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The MacGuffin of the film is three data CDs which, when read simultaneously, detail the illegal dealings of Julian Grendel, who was getting rich from bootlegging his record company's music and murdered Bobby Black when he found out Black had acquired the CDs with the incriminating evidence. Both of Fairlane's beloved possessions, his house and his car, are blown to bits, courtesy of Grendel.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The first disc was with Colleen Sutton, the second with Zuzu Petals, and the third disc was hidden under the star for Art Mooney on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: It is later revealed that Grendel killed Bobby Black and Johnny Crunch, as he considered them both greedy and stupid because they wanted more money for their involvement in pirating CDs to sell to the highest bidder, making Grendel Records and the rest of the music industry corrupt. However, Fairlane kills Grendel by setting him on fire with a flammable alcoholic milkshake and a cigarette. Jazz leaves Fairlane, knowing how ungrateful he is for everything that has happened. Smiley shows up and plans to kill Ford, but not before revealing that he killed his young neighbor's [the Kid's] father. Ford distracts him and kills Smiley with a sleeve pistol. Jazz and Ford decide to reconcile, while the Kid decides to join their detective agency. Ford wins a million-dollar radio contest and buys a yacht. He sails away with Jazz, the Kid and the koala (now in a neck brace). They're all now one big happy family.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: Howard Stern was originally considered for the role of Johnny Crunch. Billy Idol was originally to play Vince Neil's role, and David Bowie was approached to play Newton's.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: Music being central to the plot of a film about a private detective who specializes in cases arising from the music industry, the soundtrack featured a diverse group of artists. The official soundtrack release featured:


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The film's soundtrack includes Idol's "Cradle of Love", which also appeared on Idol's 1990 album "Charmed Life".


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: A number of the musicians featured on the soundtrack also appeared in the film itself, including Morris Day, Sheila E., and Tone Loc (as Slam the Rapper). The members of the fictional band Black Plague are played by professional musicians: Vince Neil, lead singer of Mötley Crüe; Ozzy Osbourne bassist Phil Soussan and drummer Randy Castillo; and Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazzo. Richie Sambora's contribution to the soundtrack was a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song "Wind Cries Mary". Yello's "Unbelievable" samples dialogue from the film, although a phone number given as "1-800-Perfect" is changed to "1-800-Unbelievable". Not appearing on the soundtrack is "Booty Time", the song that Ed O'Neill's character performs during the film.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: Yello is also credited with the film's "music score", and an early cut of their album "Baby" is used as the film's incidental soundtrack. Barry McIlheney in "Q" magazine was critical of the collection and only highlighted the Billy Idol contribution while giving the overall release 2 out 5 stars.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The film received generally negative reviews upon release. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 25% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10. On Metacritic, the film has a 24 out of 100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A+ to F.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of a possible 4, and called the film "loud, ugly and mean-spirited" but he also suggested that Clay had the confidence and screen presence for a successful acting career if he could move beyond his shtick.


title: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

text: The film was not a financial success during its original theatrical release, making just over $21 million in the U.S. According to Clay, "They pulled my movie...in a week...I was a lightning rod for everything [politically correct]".


title: Zoox (company)

text: Zoox, Inc. is a subsidiary of Amazon developing autonomous vehicles that provide Mobility-as-a-Service. It is headquartered in Foster City, California and has offices of operations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, Washington. Zoox sits in the Amazon Devices & Services organization alongside other Amazon units like Amazon Lab126, Amazon Alexa, and Kuiper Systems.


title: Zoox (company)

text: Zoox was founded in 2014 by Australian artist-designer Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson, son of Apple Inc. chairman Arthur D. Levinson, who was developing self-driving technology at Stanford University. The name "Zoox" is a reference to Zooxanthellae, a marine organism that, like the Zoox robo-taxi, depends on renewable energy and is able to maintain a symbiotic relationship with organisms in its surrounding habitat.


title: Zoox (company)

text: In January 2019, Zoox appointed a new CEO, Aicha Evans, who was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Intel. On June 26, 2020, Amazon and Zoox signed a definitive merger agreement, under which Amazon acquired Zoox as a wholly-owned subsidiary for over $1.2 billion. As is the case with other Amazon subsidiaries like Amazon Web Services, Zoox has no independent board of directors, but operates as a separate legal entity with its own governance structure. Zoox sits within the Amazon Devices & Services organization with Evans reporting into Amazon Senior Vice President, Dave Limp.