title: Sources for the historicity of Jesus

text: By "our Savior" Quadratus means Jesus and the letter is most likely written before AD 124. Bauckham states that by "our times" he may refer to his early life, rather than when he wrote (117–124), which would be a reference contemporary with Papias. Bauckham states that the importance of the statement attributed to Quadratus is that he emphasizes the "eye witness" nature of the testimonies to interaction with Jesus. Such "eye witness statements" abound in early Christian writings, particularly the pseudonymous Christian Apocrypha, Gospels and Letters, in order to give them credibility.


title: Sources for the historicity of Jesus

text: A number of later Christian texts, usually dating to the second century or later, exist as New Testament apocrypha, among which the gnostic gospels have been of major recent interest among scholars. The 1945 discovery of the Nag Hammadi library created a significant amount of scholarly interest and many modern scholars have since studied the gnostic gospels and written about them. However, the trend among the 21st century scholars has been to accept that while the gnostic gospels may shed light on the progression of early Christian beliefs, they offer very little to contribute to the study of the historicity of Jesus, in that they are rather late writings, usually consisting of sayings (rather than narrative, similar to the hypothesised Q documents), their authenticity and authorship remain questionable, and various parts of them rely on components of the New Testament. The focus of modern research into the historical Jesus has been away from gnostic writings and towards the comparison of Jewish, Greco-Roman and canonical Christian sources.


title: Sources for the historicity of Jesus

text: As an example, Bart Ehrman states that gnostic writings of the Gospel of Thomas (part of the Nag Hammadi library) have very little value in historical Jesus research, because the author of that gospel placed no importance on the physical experiences of Jesus (e.g. his crucifixion) or the physical existence of believers, and was only interested in the secret teachings of Jesus rather than any physical events. Similarly, the Apocryphon of John (also part of the Nag Hammadi library) has been useful in studying the prevailing attitudes in the second century, and questions of authorship regarding the Book of revelation, given that it refers to , but is mostly about the post ascension teachings of Jesus in a vision, not a narrative of his life. Some scholars such as Edward Arnal contend that the Gospel of Thomas continues to remain useful for understanding how the teachings of Jesus were transmitted among early Christians, and sheds light on the development of early Christianity.


title: Sources for the historicity of Jesus

text: There is overlap between the sayings of Jesus in the apocryphal texts and canonical Christian writings, and those not present in the canonical texts are called agrapha. There are at least 225 agrapha but most scholars who have studied them have drawn negative conclusions about the authenticity of most of them and see little value in using them for historical Jesus research. Robert Van Voorst states that the vast majority of the agrapha are certainly inauthentic. Scholars differ on the number of authentic agrapha, some estimating as low as seven as authentic, others as high as 18 among the more than 200, rendering them of little value altogether. While research on apocryphal texts continues, the general scholarly opinion holds that they have little to offer to the study of the historicity of Jesus given that they are often of uncertain origin, and almost always later documents of lower value.


The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, informally known as the Iraq Resolution, is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No. 107-243, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against Saddam Hussein's Iraq government in what would be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.


title: Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002

text: The resolution "supported" and "encouraged" diplomatic efforts by President George W. Bush to "strictly enforce through the U.N. Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq" and "obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion, and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq."


text: The resolution authorized President Bush to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" in order to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq."


text: An authorization by Congress was sought by President George W. Bush soon after his September 12, 2002 statement before the U.N. General Assembly asking for quick action by the Security Council in enforcing the resolutions against Iraq.


text: Of the legislation introduced by Congress in response to President Bush's requests, sponsored by Sen. Daschle and Sen. Lott was based on the original White House proposal authorizing the use of force in Iraq, sponsored by Rep. Hastert and Rep. Gephardt and the substantially similar sponsored by Sen. Lieberman were modified proposals. sponsored by Rep. Hastings was a separate proposal never considered on the floor. Eventually, the Hastert–Gephardt proposal became the legislation Congress focused on.


text: Introduced in Congress on October 2, 2002, in conjunction with the Administration's proposals, passed the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. EDT on October 10, 2002, by a vote of 296–133, and passed the Senate after midnight early Friday morning, at 12:50 a.m. EDT on October 11, 2002, by a vote of 77–23. It was signed into law as by President Bush on October 16, 2002.


text: The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit refused to review the legality of the invasion in 2003, citing a lack of ripeness.


text: In early 2003, the Iraq Resolution was challenged in court to stop the invasion from happening. The plaintiffs argued that the President does not have the authority to declare war. The final decision came from a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit which dismissed the case. Judge Lynch wrote in the opinion that the Judiciary cannot intervene unless there is a fully developed conflict between the President and Congress or if Congress gave the President "absolute discretion" to declare war.


text: Similar efforts to secure judicial review of the invasion's legality have been dismissed on a variety of justiciability grounds.


text: There have been no findings by any legal tribunal with both legal authority and legal jurisdiction that any laws were violated. There are only two legal tribunals with both authority and jurisdiction to make such a finding: (1) The US federal courts and (2) the United Nations. Advisory opinions are prohibited in US Courts and are also prohibited by the UN Charter unless the security council authorizes them. There are no relevant advisory opinions or legal finding regarding the legality. The United Nations security council has made no findings on the issues. Importantly, the UK and the United States, the two aggressor nations, are permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto powers. Thus, it's unlikely any legal determination can ever be made while the UK and the US are in the council as they would veto such a vote. The then United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, stated in an interview with The Guardian that according to the UN charter the invasion was illegal.


text: There is no requirement in international law that the United States (or any nation) seek permission to initiate any war of self-defense. "The United States government has argued, wholly apart from Resolution 1441, that it has a right of pre-emptive self-defense to protect itself from terrorism fomented by Iraq. Although this position has been intensively criticized, without any legal finding for support, claims for legality or illegality are merely debates. To prove illegality it would first be necessary to prove that the US did not meet the conditions of necessity and proportionality and that the right of pre-emptive defense did not apply. In September 2004, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, reiterated his opinion “that it was not in conformity with the UN Charter" and "it was illegal".


text: Debate about the legality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq under international law, centers around ambiguous language in parts of U.N. Resolution 1441 (2002). The U.N. Charter in Article 39 states: "The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security".


text: The position of the U.S. and U.K. is that the invasion was authorized by a series of U.N. resolutions dating back to 1990 and that since the U.N. security council has made no Article 39 finding of illegality that no illegality exists.


text: Resolution 1441 declared that Iraq was in "material breach" of the cease-fire under U.N. Resolution 687 (1991), which required cooperation with weapons inspectors. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties states that under certain conditions, a party may invoke a "material breach" to suspend a multilateral treaty. Thus, the U.S. and U.K. claim that they used their right to suspend the cease-fire in Resolution 687 and to continue hostilities against Iraq under the authority of U.N. Resolution 678 (1990), which originally authorized the use of force after Iraq invaded Kuwait. This is the same argument that was used for Operation Desert Fox in 1998. They also contend that, while Resolution 1441 required the UNSC to assemble and assess reports from the weapons inspectors, it was not necessary for the UNSC to reach an agreement on the course of action. If, at that time, it was determined that Iraq breached Resolution 1441, the resolution did not "constrain any member state from acting to defend itself against the threat posed by Iraq".


text: It remains unclear whether any party other than the Security Council can make the determination that Iraq breached Resolution 1441, as U.N. members commented that it is not up to one member state to interpret and enforce U.N. resolutions for the entire council.


text: In addition, other nations have stated that a second resolution was required to initiate hostilities. The vast majority of international legal scholarship contended that the war was an illegal war of aggression, and Kofi Annan, then-United Nations Secretary-General, expressed the belief that the war in Iraq was an "illegal act that contravened the U.N. charter."


text: On June 17, 2021, the House of Representatives voted for House Resolution 256, to repeal the 2002 resolution by a vote of 268–161. 219 House Democrats and 49 House Republicans voted to repeal, while 160 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted to oppose the repeal.


text: In July 2021 several Senators introduced S.2391, the National Security Powers Act of 2021, which would repeal previous war authorizations and establish new procedures. Its companion in the House, H.R.5410, the National Security Reforms and Accountability Act, did not contain the repeal language.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice (2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vuelta a España three times (2008, 2012, 2014). He is one of only seven riders to have won all three Grand Tours of cycling, and one of only two riders to have won all three more than once. He has also won the Vélo d'Or a record 4 times.


title: Alberto Contador

text: He was regarded as the natural successor of Lance Armstrong and won the 2007 Tour de France with the team. During his time at the Astana team, he won the 2008 Giro d'Italia, the 2008 Vuelta a España and the 2009 Tour de France. Between 2007 and 2011 he won six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered. This included winning the 2010 Tour de France with Astana, although it later emerged that he had tested positive for clenbuterol during the race. After a long battle in court, he was suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and stripped of his 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro wins.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador was known as an attacking rider who excelled as a climber, and on his best days was also an excellent time-trialist. He was also known for being able to turn races around to his favour, most notably during the Fuente Dé stage at the 2012 Vuelta a España. Following his return from suspension, he won the Vuelta twice and the Giro once more. On the penultimate day of his career, he won a stage victory at the mountaintop finish of the Alto de l'Angliru.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador was born on 6 December 1982 in Pinto in the Community of Madrid, the third of four children. He has an older brother and sister and a younger brother, who has cerebral palsy. Having previously taken part in other sports, such as football and athletics, Contador discovered cycling at the age of 14 thanks to his elder brother Francisco Javier.


title: Alberto Contador

text: When Contador was 15, he began to compete in races at the amateur level in Spain, joining the Real Velo Club Portillo from Madrid. Although he got no victories that year or the next, he demonstrated great qualities and was soon nicknamed "Pantani" (after Marco Pantani, regarded as one of the best climbers of all time) for his climbing skills. In 2000, he experienced his first victories, winning several mountains classification prizes from prominent events on the Spanish amateur cycling calendar.


title: Alberto Contador

text: He dropped out of school at the age of 16 without having finished his Bachillerato and signed with Iberdrola–Loinaz, a youth team run by Manolo Saiz, manager of the professional team. In 2001, he won the under-23 race at the Spanish National Time Trial Championships.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador lives with his wife Macarena in the city of Pinto when not competing. He has a fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador turned professional in 2003 for . In his first year as a professional he won the eighth stage of the Tour de Pologne, an individual time trial. He deliberately let himself fall back on the morning's road stage and saved energy to deliver the winning effort in the time trial in the afternoon. During the first stage of the 2004 Vuelta a Asturias he started to feel unwell, and after he fell and went into convulsions. He had been suffering from headaches for several days beforehand and was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma, a congenital vascular disorder, for which he underwent risky surgery and a recovery to get back on his bike. As a result of the surgery, he has a scar that runs from one ear to the other over the top of his head. Contador started to train again at the end of November 2004 and eight months after the surgery he won the fifth stage of the 2005 Tour Down Under racing for , as the team previously known as ONCE had become. He subsequently described this win as the greatest of his career. He went on to win the third stage and the overall classification of the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, thus winning his first stage race as a professional. He also won an individual time trial during the Tour of the Basque Country, where he finished third, and the fourth stage of the Tour de Romandie, where he finished fourth overall.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In 2006, he won stages at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse in preparation for the Tour de France. Prior to the start of the race he was implicated along with several teammates in the Operación Puerto doping case by the Spanish authorities, and the team was not able to start. He was later cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale, cycling's governing body. Contador returned to racing in the Vuelta a Burgos but he crashed after finishing fifth in stage 4, when he was riding back down to the team bus, and briefly lost consciousness.


title: Alberto Contador

text: After having been implicated in the Operación Puerto doping case, Contador was without a professional contract until mid-January 2007, when he signed with .


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador's first major professional victory came with Paris–Nice, which he won on the race's final stage. effectively wore down the remnants of the race leader Davide Rebellin's team, allowing Contador to launch an attack on the final climb. With Rebellin leading the chase, Contador held off his competitors in the final kilometres, winning him the race.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In the Tour de France, he won a stage at the mountaintop finish of Plateau de Beille, and was second in the general classification to Michael Rasmussen. Upon Rasmussen's removal from the race before stage 17 for lying to his team about his pre-race training whereabouts, Contador assumed the overall lead and the yellow jersey, though he did not don it until after the stage. In the stage 19 individual time trial, he managed to defy expectations and keep hold of the yellow jersey by a margin of only 23 seconds over challenger Cadel Evans and 31 seconds over teammate Levi Leipheimer. As this was the Tour's penultimate stage, it was the last real competition of the race (since the final stage is traditionally non-competitive save for a bunched sprint to the finish line) and it secured Contador his first Tour de France victory. It is the closest the top three finishers in the Tour de France have ever finished to one another.


title: Alberto Contador

text: After announced 2007 would be its final season in professional cycling, Contador announced on 23 October 2007 that he would move to the team for 2008.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 13 February 2008, the organiser of the Tour de France, the Amaury Sport Organisation, announced that Astana would not be invited to any of their events in 2008 due to the doping previously perpetrated by Astana, despite the fact that its management and most of its ridership had changed before the 2008 season. Consequently, Contador was unable to defend his Paris–Nice and Tour de France victories. He went on to win his second Vuelta a Castilla y León, as well as the Tour of the Basque Country by winning the opening stage and the final individual time trial. His next scheduled race and objective was the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré but his team received an invite to the Giro d'Italia one week prior to the start of the race. Contador was on a beach in Spain when he was told he was going to ride the Giro.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Despite the lack of preparation, he finished second in the first individual time trial and took the pink jersey after the 15th stage up to Passo Fedaia. Upon winning the final pink jersey in Milan, he became the first non-Italian to win the Giro d'Italia since Pavel Tonkov in 1996 and also the second Spanish rider to win the Giro after Miguel Induráin won in 1992 and 1993. He later emphasized the importance of this win by saying that "taking part in the Giro and winning it was a really big achievement, bigger than if I'd had a second victory in the Tour de France".


title: Alberto Contador

text: At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Contador competed in the road race and the individual road time trial. He did not finish in the road race, in which 53 of the 143 starters did not complete the course in particularly hot and humid conditions. He placed fourth in the individual time trial, eight seconds behind his regular teammate Leipheimer.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador entered the Vuelta a España as the main candidate to win. His biggest challenger was likely to be compatriot Carlos Sastre, who had won the Tour de France just a month before. Contador won stage 13 by attacking on the fabled Angliru climb and this resulted in him capturing the golden jersey as the leader of the race. He extended his lead by winning stage 14 to Fuentes de Invierno and maintained his lead in subsequent flat stages and the final time trial, won by Leipheimer by a wide margin. Contador later took some offence to Leipheimer seemingly riding with winning the Vuelta in mind, after it had been established earlier in the race that Contador was Astana's team leader. In the final standings, Contador finished 46 seconds ahead of Leipheimer and more than four minutes ahead of Sastre. The win made him the fifth cyclist, at that point, to win all three Grand Tours, after Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx, and Bernard Hinault. In the process he also became the first Spaniard, youngest (age 25), and shortest amount of time to accumulate all three wins (15 months). He also became only the third cyclist to win the Giro and the Vuelta in the same year, joining Merckx (who did it in 1973) and Giovanni Battaglin (who did it in 1981).


title: Alberto Contador

text: Later in the year, Contador won the Vélo d'Or award for the best rider of the year for the second consecutive season. The Giro and Vuelta winner beat Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara and Sastre in a vote by international cycling writers.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 9 September 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that he was returning to professional cycling with the express goal of participating in the 2009 Tour de France. manager Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong's former mentor and sporting director, said that he could not allow Armstrong riding for another team and later signed him. Contador hinted at the possibility of leaving the team if he was given a secondary role supporting Armstrong but Bruneel said in no uncertain terms that he would hold Contador to the terms of his contract but he also said "Alberto has had a magnificent year and is currently the best professional cyclist in the world," Contador was later given assurances by Bruyneel that he would remain team leader and decided to remain at Astana for the 2009 season. Contador later claimed the situation was drastically overblown by the media. Contador decided to miss the Giro d'Italia to focus on winning the Tour de France.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador started his 2009 season at the Volta ao Algarve race in Portugal, winning the overall classification, placing second on stage 3, and winning the decisive individual time trial. He was in position to win Paris–Nice again after winning the prologue and the toughest mountain stage, but suffered a breakdown in stage 7, losing his yellow jersey to fellow Spaniard Luis León Sánchez. Contador and his Astana team later blamed the breakdown on Contador eating inadequately, leaving him without the energy to chase attacks. Contador finished fourth overall; he continued his build up to the Tour de France by racing the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. He put in a strong performance of the opening time trial and stayed in touch with race leader Cadel Evans on the longer time trial. However, the strong ride of compatriot Alejandro Valverde up Mont Ventoux distanced Contador and he rode to help Valverde take the Yellow Jersey while finishing comfortably in third place overall. On 26 June, Contador competed in the Spanish National Time Trial Championships. He stated that he entered the race in order to gain more experience on his new Trek time trial bike, but he came away with a convincing victory over Sánchez, the defending champion, winning by 37 seconds. This was his first National Championship as a professional.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador won Stage 15 of the Tour de France by soloing to the finish line more than a minute ahead of most of his closest general classification competitors, and in so doing took the yellow jersey. He then extended his lead on Stage 17, after finishing second in a breakaway of three riders with the same time as the stage winner, and then the next day he won the second time trial, increasing his overall advantage to more than four minutes. Contador won his second Tour de France on 26 July with a winning margin of 4' 11" over Andy Schleck, and finished 5' 24" ahead of Armstrong, who finished third in his return to the Tour after a four-year absence. Contador had won the last four Grand Tour races that he had entered. During the celebration at the podium, the organisers of the Tour wrongly played the Danish national anthem instead of the Spanish Royal March. In the aftermath of the tour, Contador and Armstrong engaged in a war of words, with Contador quoted as saying that, although Armstrong "is a great rider and [..] did a great Tour[, but] on a personal level [..] I have never admired him and never will", and Armstrong responding that "a champion is also measured on how much he respects his teammates and opponents." The sniping caused others, such as the director of the Tour, to wonder "what it would have been like to have had Contador and Armstrong in different teams." Contador later described the experience as "psychologically tough", likening it to having to compete in two races – one on the road, the other in the team hotel. Armstrong's control of the team during the race extended to its entire fleet of team cars, forcing Contador to rely on his brother to take him from stage finishes to the hotel.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 31 July, Contador's agent (who is also his brother) announced that Contador had turned down an offer to remain with Astana under a new four-year contract because he had felt so uncomfortable being caught between the Kazakhstan owners of the team on one side and Bruyneel on the other, and he was hoping to leave Astana at the end of the year, although his contract did not expire until the end of 2010. However, on 11 August, Contador's teammate and close friend Sérgio Paulinho accepted a two-year contract with , indicating that Contador might not be able to leave Astana as readily as he and his agent wished. This was confirmed on 15 August, when a spokesperson for the Kazakhstan sponsors of Astana said that they intended to sponsor the Astana team on the UCI ProTour through 2013 and that they intended to enforce the last year of Contador's contract with Astana in 2010.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 21 February, Contador won his first race of the season, the Volta ao Algarve, by winning its queen stage and finishing second in the final time trial. Due to new UCI regulations concerning the nose cone of time trial bikes, Contador did not use his Shiv time trial bike, and instead used the standard red Specialized time trial bike. On 14 March, Contador won his second Paris–Nice, finishing ahead of other pre-race favorites like Alejandro Valverde and Luis León Sánchez. His main attack came in the hilltop finish to Mende, where he crossed the finish line alone and successfully secured the yellow jersey. Contador also competed in and concluded the Critérium International with a second place in the final time trial, only 2 seconds behind stage winner David Millar, while Pierrick Fédrigo successfully defended the "maillot jaune" against rivals such as Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador was a favourite coming into the Tour de France, along with Team Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck. On Stage 15 Schleck was race leader and pressing the pace over the day's final climb of Port de Bales when he threw his chain. Contador and Denis Menchov immediately moved to the front and attacked, pressing the advantage over the crest of the climb and all the way back down into Bagneres-de-Luchon. They were aided by Samuel Sánchez and two others making a group of five riders. Schleck chased hard, but had no other riders to help bridge the gap. By stage's end, he had lost the yellow jersey and 39 seconds to Contador. Contador, who now had an eight-second lead in the race, met with a mixed reception as he received the yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the stage. It is an unusual occurrence in the Tour for the new race leader to be met with whistles and cat calls as he is given the yellow jersey. The yellow jersey changing shoulders made a large difference in the remainder of the race, for now the onus was on Schleck to attack Contador, and not the other way around.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Jered Gruber, writing for "VeloNation", argued that Contador was right to attack, defending him on the basis that Schleck did not wait for Contador when he was delayed behind a crash on the cobblestones in stage 3 and lost 1' 13" to Schleck, a crash that cost Schleck the aid of his best ally in the tour, his brother Fränk Schleck. But of course that was early in the race and neither rider had the yellow jersey at the time. Race commentator Paul Sherwen thought the attack in poor form, whereas his co-commentor Phil Liggett thought not. Schleck said he considered Contador's actions to be unsporting. Hours after the conclusion of the stage, Contador voiced an apology for his behaviour on his YouTube channel. Five days later in the stage 19 time trial, Contador beat Schleck again, taking 31 seconds from him. Contador went on to win the Tour de France for the third time with an advantage of 39 seconds over Andy Schleck, the exact amount of time he had taken from Schleck on Stage 15. Contador became the seventh rider to win a Tour de France without winning a stage, but this win was later nullified due to his doping suspension.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador signed a two-year contract with for the 2011 season, to ride under team manager Bjarne Riis, who revealed that he would like Contador to try winning all three Grand Tours in one season, a feat never before accomplished. Contador's agent and brother Fran later countered the statement by saying it was "nothing but a dream". Within two weeks, three of Contador's Spanish teammates signed to make the same transfer: Jesús Hernández, Daniel Navarro and Benjamín Noval.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Amidst the clenbuterol controversy, Contador earned his first win in the Vuelta a Murcia. He won the overall classification as well as two stage victories en route to his victory. Later in the month of March, Contador entered in the Volta a Catalunya, where he claimed a win on the third stage to Vallnord, maintaining his advantage until the end of the race. He also won the individual time trial of Vuelta a Castilla y León.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador competed in the Giro d'Italia, his first time racing in the Giro since his victory in 2008. Contador won the ninth stage on Mount Etna, his first stage win at the Italian Grand Tour. He attacked midway through the climb, dropping his overall rivals and gaining almost a minute on them. That stage gave him the overall lead in the Giro, as well as the points classification lead. Contador extended his overall lead to 3 minutes over second place Vincenzo Nibali where he broke away with José Rujano on the Grossglockner. He solidified his lead through stage 14 up the Monte Zoncolan and a very difficult stage 15 through the Dolomites taking his lead up to 4 minutes ahead of second place Michele Scarponi. He also won the mountain time-trial to Nevegal. On 29 May, Contador went on to win the race for the second time finishing 6 minutes ahead of second place Scarponi. In addition to winning the general classification, Contador also won the points classification and finished second in the mountains classification. This made the sixth consecutive grand tour that he entered and won.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Despite the fact that he was scheduled to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in early August, Contador announced in early June he would compete in the Tour de France. The CAS had planned to hear the case in early June but the dates were pushed back to early August. Contador aimed to become the first rider to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani accomplished the feat in 1998.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In the opening stage Contador was slowed by a crash and lost more than one minute. He lost additional time in the team time trial at Les Essarts but finished second in the fourth stage up to Mûr-de-Bretagne. Contador suffered four crashes in the opening nine days of the Tour, injuring his right knee before facing the Pyrenees mountain stages. He was dropped in the final kilometre in the stage to Luz Ardiden and finished two seconds behind Andy Schleck at the top of the Plateau de Beille. On the sixteenth stage to Gap, Contador attacked on the ascent of the Col de Manse, with Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez joining him in taking a time advantage over the other favourites in the general classification, including more than a minute over Schleck. He was also aggressive in the next stage to Pinerolo but unable to win time to the other favourites besides Thomas Voeckler and Ivan Basso. In the stage to the Col du Galibier he lost time to the other favourites after Schleck launched a solo attack from the finish and Contador was later unable to follow the pace set by Evans. Contador launched an early attack on the last mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez, reaching the top of Galibier with Schleck, but their effort proved unsuccessful and they were captured by the rest of the main contenders following the long descent from the mountain. Contador launched another attack on the first kilometres of Alpe d'Huez but he was eventually beaten to victory by Pierre Rolland with Samuel Sánchez second. Contador finished fifth in the overall classification, 3 minutes 57 seconds behind Evans, bringing an end to his streak of winning six consecutive Grand Tours that he entered.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador started his season with still no verdict in the clenbuterol case. He finished second overall in the Tour de San Luis and he won both uphill finishes, only falling short in the time trial stage of the race. On 6 February he was stripped of these early results, as well the 2010 Tour de France and 2011 Giro d'Italia wins and many other victories. He was also suspended until 5 August and his contract with was annulled.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 8 June it was announced that Contador would rejoin upon the completion of his ban, signing a contract that would keep him with the team until the end of the 2015 season. After the completion of his suspension, Contador competed in the Eneco Tour as preparation for the Vuelta a España where he finished 4th in the general classification. Consequently, Contador was named leader of for the Vuelta a España. Contador attacked numerous times throughout the mountains in the first sixteen stages of the race, but with no avail, since the race leader Joaquim Rodríguez always countered and finished ahead of him. This proved costly since there were bonus seconds awarded to the first three riders of each stage: twelve seconds for first, eight seconds for second and four seconds for third. Even on the queen stage of the race, finishing atop the Cuitu Negru and featuring slopes with a gradient of more than 20% close to the line, Rodríguez annulled the numerous attacks of Contador and sailed past him to the finish. However, his fortunes turned around during the seventeenth stage; he attacked in that latter portion of the stage and made a solo effort up the final climb of the day after his breakaway companion Paolo Tiralongo of was dropped. Contador won the stage by six seconds over the first chase group and took the lead away from Rodríguez, who was relegated to more than two minutes in the general classification. He held on to the race lead during the last mountain stage leading atop the Bola del Mondo, where he was dropped by Rodríguez and Alejandro Valverde (), who held second place overall. He managed to limit his losses and retain the lead of the race. On the next day, Contador crossed the finish line in Madrid with the race leader's red jersey, earning the second Vuelta victory of his career.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador participated in the UCI Road World Championships held in Valkenburg in both the road race and the individual time trial. He was ninth in the time trial, after being overtaken by eventual winner Tony Martin, who started two minutes behind him. For the road race, Contador rode in support of his Spanish teammates and finished 53 seconds in arrears of the victor, Belgian Philippe Gilbert. Days later, Contador headed for Italy to take part in the newly resurrected Classic Milano–Torino. He took the win by accelerating on the final slope of the day in sight of the final kilometre banner, dropping all contenders. It was the first time in his career that he won a single-day race, and he dedicated the event to the memory of Víctor Cabedo, a young professional cyclist who died in a training accident a week prior.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In 2013, Contador's only victory was a stage in the Tour de San Luis in January. From then on, his season did not go as expected: though finishing 3rd in Tirreno–Adriatico he became ill during the race. This disrupted his preparations for the rest of the season. Contador returned to racing in the Tour of the Basque Country in April and finished fifth in the general classification. He was too late to be in optimal condition for the Tour de France, where he could not match up to Chris Froome and finished in fourth place. After the Tour, main sponsor Oleg Tinkov expressed critical comments on Contador's style of riding. At the end of the season, Tinkov bought the team ownership, but Contador stayed loyal to the team.


title: Alberto Contador

text: After a disappointing 2013 season, Contador went into the season trying to find the form that allowed him to take numerous victories in the past. Contador's first objective of the season was the Volta ao Algarve. Although he would lose time to Michał Kwiatkowski after his two consecutive stage wins, Contador showed his much improving form in the race, taking third in the second stage and fourth in the third stage individual time trial before taking his first win of the season on the fourth stage. In the stage featuring a summit finish at Alto do Malhão, Contador attacked a kilometre from the finish as he eventually soloed to the stage win, three seconds ahead of Rui Costa. He eventually finished second overall, 19 seconds down on Kwiatkowski.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador's next race was Tirreno–Adriatico where he faced stiffer competition with riders such as Nairo Quintana and Jean-Christophe Péraud. He continued to show his strong form by winning the third stage of the race going to Cittareale after he outsprinted Quintana, his main rival for the race. He took the lead in the general classification on the next day, winning a second successive stage as he attacked on the stage's penultimate climb before soloing to the finish. He kept his lead for the remainder of the race, finishing more than two minutes clear ahead of runner-up Quintana. Contador raced the Volta a Catalunya next, where he had his first duel with riders such as Chris Froome and Joaquim Rodríguez. On the race's first mountain stage, he followed attacks set by his fellow general classification contenders before he had to settle for second in the stage, 5 seconds behind Rodríguez. He finished the race in second place overall, just 4 seconds behind Rodríguez.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador's next objective for the season was the Tour of the Basque Country. He got into a duel with fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde and both riders did not disappoint on the first stage. Contador followed Valverde's attack on the stage's last climb before putting on an attack that Valverde was not able to answer. He negotiated the descent and soloed to the stage win and yellow jersey, 14 seconds ahead of Valverde. He kept the race lead to the end, finishing second on the final stage time trial and winning the race by 49 seconds ahead of Michał Kwiatkowski. As his final preparation for the Tour de France, Contador entered the Critérium du Dauphiné where he battled with Froome and Vincenzo Nibali, his main rivals for the Tour. Contador started the Dauphiné on good form, finishing second to Froome on the race's short individual time trial before dueling with Froome on the Col du Béal. Unlike in 2013 where he was unable to follow the accelerations of Froome, Contador was able to stay on his rival's wheel, eventually finishing second on the stage after Froome outsprinted him to the line. He had his next duel with Froome on the seventh stage, the queen stage of the race. Contador attacked with left on the stage and Froome (who was suffering from the effects of a crash on the previous day's stage) was not able to bridge the gap to him as Contador took the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification. However, Contador fell victim to an ambush on the next stage as several riders in the top ten went into the breakaway including Andrew Talansky, who was sitting in third place overall, 39 seconds behind Contador. Contador was left isolated with no teammates around him as he tried to bridge the gap to the leading group but he ran out of steam as Talansky won the race overall. However, Contador dealt a psychological blow to Froome ahead of the Tour as Froome struggled in the stage, eventually dropping to 12th place overall.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In the Tour de France, Contador entered the race in much better form. He avoided crashing during the first week but he lost a lot of time in the fifth stage of the race, the stage featuring cobbles as part of the route. He lost around 2 and a half minutes to fellow overall contender, Nibali, as he was unable to bridge the gap to him after mud became stuck in his gears. On the Tour's first summit finish going to Gérardmer, he attacked as Nibali went with him. Contador made a final acceleration near the finish line as he took 3 seconds back on Nibali. On the descent of the Petit Ballon in the tenth stage, Contador crashed heavily before he was treated on the side of the road. He tried to ride for nearly after the crash but he eventually abandoned the Tour. He initially ruled himself out of the Vuelta a España as well but he eventually joined the start list of the race.


title: Alberto Contador

text: His Vuelta started well as his team, , finished seventh in the opening team time trial, 19 seconds behind the , the team which fielded fellow overall contenders, Quintana and Valverde. On the race's first mountain stage to La Zubia, he was able to stay with the overall contenders as he eventually finished the stage in third place behind Froome and Valverde. He showed his improving form on the next mountain stage to Valdelinares, attacking with around to go while dropping Froome and Valverde among others as he sat 3 seconds behind red jersey holder Quintana before the individual time trial. He took the red jersey on the individual time trial as he finished fourth. He showed he could defend the red jersey by staying with his fellow overall contenders. On the race's queen stage to La Farrapona, he followed Froome's attack with to go while distancing other overall contenders. He stayed in his rival's wheel before putting on a finishing kick with around to go, winning the stage and strengthening his hold on the red jersey. The same thing happened on the penultimate stage to Puerto de Ancares where he followed Froome throughout the climb, distancing the other contenders once again before kicking on to take the stage, all but securing the red jersey. On the final stage individual time trial, he rode conservatively in wet conditions to avoid any mishaps and though he lost time to the other favourites, he had more than enough time in hand to win his third Vuelta.


title: Alberto Contador

text: During the Vuelta, Contador announced he would not contest the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada, saying the course did not fit his characteristics at all. Contador suffered a crash in the Giro di Lombardia, injuring the knee that he had hurt in the Tour de France and ending his chances of winning the 2014 UCI World Tour overall classification, as he decided to forego the Tour of Beijing to better prepare for the 2015 season.


title: Alberto Contador

text: For 2015, Contador announced that he would attempt to win both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, a feat that had not been done since Marco Pantani accomplished it in 1998. His debut race was the Vuelta an Andalucía in February. He took the race lead after the time trial on stage 1b, finishing fourth. Contador then won stage 3, a mountaintop finish, by attacking with to go. He did however lose the race leader's jersey on the very next stage, another mountain affair, where Chris Froome snatched both the stage win and the race lead. Froome did not relinquish his lead and Contador finished the race second in the overall classification, only 2 seconds behind. In mid-March, Contador finished fifth overall at Tirreno–Adriatico, helping his teammate Peter Sagan win stage 6 by accelerating on a climb and shedding the pure sprinters off the leading group. At the end of March, Contador took fourth place in the Volta a Catalunya, where he crashed severely in the penultimate stage. Contador was able to remount and participate in the last stage, securing his general classification placing. At the end of April, and days before the start of the Giro d'Italia, Contador revealed that he was ready for the Grand Tour race. His injuries sustained in the Volta a Catalunya were healed and included a micro-fissure in his sacrum. He stated: "I'm going very well, the big blocks of training here in the Canaries are all but finished and I'm now beginning to go through the recovery phase prior to the Giro. I've done a huge amount of climbing rides in these last three weeks and now what we've got to do is ease back before next week."


title: Alberto Contador

text: At the Giro d'Italia, Contador's team performed well in the opening team time trial, finishing 2nd to . He gained 6 seconds on Fabio Aru, 12 seconds on Rigoberto Urán, and 20 seconds on Richie Porte. Contador took the "maglia rosa" on the summit finish on stage 5 to Abetone. However, the next day, Contador dislocated his shoulder after crashing on the finishing straight. He was able to finish but dislocated the shoulder again before the podium presentation. Despite this, Contador was able to continue in the race, holding on to the jersey. However, on stage 13, on what most assumed was an "easy day" of racing, Contador crashed in a pile-up, from the finish; he crossed the line 42 seconds behind the peloton, including Aru. Thus Contador lost the pink jersey, the first time he lost the leader's jersey in any Grand Tour up to that point in his career. However the next day, on a individual time trial, Contador led the field, taking back the pink jersey and created a sizable time difference over the rest of the peloton. On stage 16, Contador suffered a mechanical problem on the descent of Apria and other teams including Astana tried to take advantage. Still, Contador made contact with Aru at the Mortirolo Pass and put another two minutes into his rival as Mikel Landa became the second-placed rider on the general classification. On Stage 20, Contador lost some time to both Landa and Aru but retained his pink jersey. Eventually, he won the overall classification by 1:53 over Aru. Despite being stripped of his 2011 title for a doping suspension, Contador insisted that this was his third Giro victory, therefore including the 2011 race in his count. With his second official Giro title, along with two official Tour de France titles and three Vuelta a España overall wins, Contador joined Bernard Hinault as the only cyclists to have achieved multiple victories at each of the Grand Tours.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In preparation for the Tour, Contador chose to ride the four-day Route du Sud, where he won the queen stage and the overall classification. His main rival was Nairo Quintana, a competitor he had to contend with at the Tour de France. Contador had solid opening to the first week of the tour; despite losing a little time to Chris Froome in the team time trial, he gained time on his rivals including Nibali and Quintana who both lost time on stage 2. He struggled though on the opening summit finish losing 3 minutes to stage winner Froome putting a serious dent to his victory chances. Despite this setback he improved on the next two Pyrenean stages staying in contact with his big rivals where he also remained 6th overall. His chances faded after he crashed on the descent of the Colle d'Allos on stage 17. Despite a hard effort on the finishing climb after, he lost over 2 minutes to Froome and Quintana. He was unable to recover from his crash on stage 17 and his efforts in the Giro which made him unable to match his rivals on the last 2 mountain stages. Contador finished the Tour de France in fifth place, 9' 48" down on winner Froome. Though he failed to achieve the double in the end, Contador had no regrets over his attempt. "It's true that there are riders that would dream of finishing fifth. For me that was not my objective but I'm glad that I tried. If I hadn't tried then after my career I might have wondered whether I could have done the Giro-Tour double and now I know. I don't think it's impossible to do the double but it's really complicated because nobody has the experience on how to prepare it. However, I prefer having tried than being left with a desire to do it".


title: Alberto Contador

text: After the Tour, Contador planned on racing the Clásica de San Sebastián but had to cancel due to sickness, ending his 2015 season.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In March 2015, Contador signed a contract extension with his team, , but at the same time announced that 2016 would be his final season in professional cycling. He competed in his first race of the season at the Volta ao Algarve, finishing third overall and winning the final stage of the race. He went on to claim runner-up finishes in Paris–Nice, where he attacked race leader Geraint Thomas from out and again on the final climb of Col d'Èze before Thomas closed the gap on the final descent to the finish line, and the Volta a Catalunya, before taking the general classification and the stage six time trial at the Tour of the Basque Country, subsequently stating to the press that he would postpone his retirement for at least another year.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador got off to a difficult start to the Tour de France, crashing in the opening stages and losing time to his rivals. He was in 20th place on the general classification with a deficit of 3 minutes 12 seconds to leader Chris Froome before the ninth stage, where after attempting to make the breakaway at the start of the day, he withdrew from the race, citing a fever which had developed overnight. In August, Contador won the overall classification of the Vuelta a Burgos, beating both Ben Hermans and Sergio Pardilla by just one second. He went on to finish fourth at the Vuelta a España.


title: Alberto Contador

text: During the 2016 Tour de France it was reported that Contador would race for for the 2017 season, with the deal being confirmed by the team in September, along with the transfer of teammate Jesús Hernández and Tinkoff directeur sportif Steven de Jongh. This would be his final season as a professional cyclist.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In February, Contador began his season by finishing Vuelta an Andalucía, one second behind 's Alejandro Valverde. In March, Contador missed out on victory in Paris–Nice to a rider by a narrow margin for the second year running after Sergio Henao managed to fend off a final-day attack to win the race by just two seconds. Contador had trailed by 31 seconds overnight, but had gone clear with rider David de la Cruz and Marc Soler of the ; after taking a couple of seconds at an intermediate sprint, Contador was beaten to the line in Nice by de la Cruz, which cost him four bonus seconds and decided the race in favour of Henao. Later that month, Contador finished second overall at the Volta a Catalunya, 63 seconds behind Valverde. In April, Contador finished second overall at the Tour of the Basque Country, again behind Valverde.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In July, Contador rode the Tour de France for the final time, but was unable to challenge for overall victory, finishing ninth overall, 8 minutes and 49 seconds down on the winner, Chris Froome. In August, Contador rode the Vuelta a España, which was to be his final race as a professional. Contador rode an aggressive race in search of a stage victory, placing fifth overall, winning the combativity award in his final Grand Tour, as well as winning the final mountain stage atop the iconic Alto de l'Angliru after attacking on the penultimate climb of the day.


title: Alberto Contador

text: After final rosters had been presented for the 2006 Tour de France, Contador and five other members of the team were barred from competing due to alleged connections with the Operación Puerto doping case. Contador and four other members of his team at the time, , were eventually cleared of all charges on 26 July 2006 by the Spanish courts and later two out of the five (including Contador) were cleared by the UCI. Each received a written document signed by Manuel Sánchez Martín, secretary for the Spanish court, stating that "there are not any type of charges against them nor have there been adopted any type of legal action against them."


title: Alberto Contador

text: In May 2006, a document from the summary of the investigation ("Documento 31") was released. In it, the initials "A.C." were associated with a hand-written note saying, ""Nada o igual a J.J."" (). J.J. were the initials of Jörg Jaksche, who later admitted to being guilty of blood doping prepared by the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes in 2005. Contador was questioned in December 2006 by the magistrate in charge of the Puerto file. The rider declared to Judge Antonio Serrano that he did not know Fuentes personally. According to French daily "Le Monde", he refused then to undergo a DNA test that would have judged whether or not he had any link to the blood bags that were found in the investigation.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 28 July 2007, "Le Monde", citing what it claimed was an investigation file to which it had access, stated that Contador's name appeared in several documents found during Operación Puerto. A second reference includes initials of riders' names that appeared on another training document, although neither of those two references could be linked to doping practices.


title: Alberto Contador

text: On 30 July 2007, German doping expert Werner Franke accused Contador of having taken drugs in the past and being prescribed a doping regimen by Fuentes, who was connected with Operación Puerto. He passed his allegations on to the German authorities the following day. Contador denied the accusations, saying "I was in the wrong team at the wrong time and somehow my name got among the documents." On 10 August, Contador publicly declared himself to be a clean rider in face of suspicions about his alleged links to the Operación Puerto blood doping ring.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In September 2010, Contador revealed that a urine sample he had given on 21 July, a rest day in the Tour de France, had contained traces of clenbuterol. He has stated, due to the number of other tests he passed and that only a tiny amount of the substance was detected in the one he failed, that food contamination was to blame. Adding credibility to the explanation, anti-doping doctor Don Catlin said that of the contaminants found in food supplements, clenbuterol is one of the more common. However, when asked if it was plausible that Contador had ingested the clenbuterol through contamination, Catlin said "without knowing what the level in his sample is, it's impossible to say." Contador stated that he is the victim, and he can "hold his head high" and that he thinks he should not be punished. Several people related to the sport defended Contador saying that there is little benefit from using the drug in the amounts that were discovered and that no one would intentionally take such an easily detectable substance.


title: Alberto Contador

text: There was some scepticism of Contador's claim that contaminated meat was to blame. In 2008 and 2009, only one animal sample came back positive for clenbuterol out of 83,203 animal samples tested by EU member nations. Out of 19,431 animal tests in Spain over the same period, there were no samples that came back positive for clenbuterol.


title: Alberto Contador

text: Contador's urine sample, taken during the day before his clenbuterol positive sample, was reported to contain plastic residue (plasticizers) indicating possible blood doping as these materials are introduced to the bloodstream from blood bags used in blood doping, but the test was not recognised by the World Anti-Doping Agency, so no charges in relation to this finding were brought. A theory circulated that blood doping could account for the minute traces if the clenbuterol was introduced through a transfusion, re-introducing contaminated blood that had been extracted at a time when he had been taking Clenbuterol. It was supposed that this caused the presence of it in his system and the subsequent failed test, rather than the direct ingestion or injection of the drug at the time. This theory also recognised that Clenbuterol is not very effective at all as a performance-enhancing drug, but effective if used to strip fat and hence reduce a rider's weight pre-season, and it is theorized that this is when the blood was taken which was later re-introduced by transfusion.


title: Alberto Contador

text: The UCI issued a statement reporting that the concentration was 50 pg/mL, and that this was 400 times below the minimum standards of detection capability required by WADA, and that further scientific investigation was required. Contador was provisionally suspended from competition, although this had no short-term effect as he had already finished his racing programme for the 2010 season. Contador had been informed of the results over a month earlier, on 24 August. Later the amount discovered was clarified as 40 times below the minimum standards, rather than the 400 times originally reported by the UCI. Contador's scientific adviser claimed that he would have needed 180 times the amount detected to gain any benefit in his performance.


title: Alberto Contador

text: In late January 2011, the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) proposed a one-year ban, but it subsequently accepted Contador's appeal and cleared him of all charges. Contador returned to racing in February in the Volta ao Algarve, a race he won in 2009 and 2010. The UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency each appealed the RFEC decision independently to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March 2011, but Contador remained free to ride until the CAS made its ruling. The hearing with CAS was initially scheduled for June, but following an extension requested by Contador's legal team, it was rearranged for August, in the week following the Tour de France, and later postponed again until November, with the result to be given in 2012. The decision on 6 February 2012 found Contador guilty of accidental ingestion of the prohibited substance Clenbuterol and hence he was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title, and his results since that race, including victory in the 2011 Giro d'Italia and fifth place in the 2011 Tour de France, were voided, and he was suspended until August 2012. The following day, in a press conference, his contract with was annulled.


title: Lucian Msamati

text: Lucian Gabriel Wiina Msamati (born 5 March 1976) is a British-Tanzanian actor. He played Salladhor Saan in HBO series "Game of Thrones", and was the first black actor to play Iago in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2015 production of "Othello".


title: Lucian Msamati

text: Msamati was born in London on 5 March 1976 and brought up in Zimbabwe by his Tanzanian parents, a doctor and a nurse. After secondary education at Prince Edward School in Harare, he studied towards a BA honours degree in French and Portuguese at the University of Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1997.


title: Lucian Msamati

text: After university, he took a day-job as an advertising copywriter and freelance radio presenter. He also worked as a voice-over artist, compere and after-dinner speaker.


title: Lucian Msamati

text: In 1994, Msamati and school friends Shaheen Jassat (deceased), Craig and Gavin Peter, Kevin Hanssen, Roy Chizivano, Sarah Norman founded what would become Zimbabwe's acclaimed Over the Edge Theatre Company in Harare, later joined by Erica Glyn-Jones, Zane E. Lucas, Chipo Chung, Karin Alexander, Rob Hollands and Michael Pearce. The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in December 2004, having flown the Zimbabwe flag across Europe, the United States and South Africa. The last few years have seen individual members pursuing other interests. Though not officially disbanded, there are no immediate plans of an Over the Edge reunion. From 1998 to 2001, the company performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland; some plays were written by Msamati.


title: Lucian Msamati

text: In November 2010, Msamati was appointed the Artistic Director of British-African theatre company Tiata Fahodzi, until being succeeded in 2014 by Natalie Ibu.


title: Lucian Msamati

text: In the spring of 2015, Msamati became the first black actor ever to play Iago in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of "Othello" (with Hugh Quarshie in the title role).


title: Lucian Msamati

text: From October 2016 to March 2017 and from February to 24 April 2018, he performed in the leading role of Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play "Amadeus" at the National Theatre, a performance which Michael Billington, in a four-starred review for "The Guardian", described as "excellent".


title: Lucian Msamati

text: He has also appeared in several television productions, including episodes of the television series "Ultimate Force" and "Spooks". In 2008, he took on his most prominent role, playing JLB Matekoni in the BBC/HBO-produced series "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". He has guest starred in episodes of the BBC television series "Luther", "Ashes to Ashes", "Doctor Who", "Taboo," and "Death in Paradise", as well as playing the part of the pirate Salladhor Saan in the HBO series "Game of Thrones".


title: Lucian Msamati

text: He recently appeared as Lord Faa in "His Dark Materials" on BBC One. In 2020 Msamati appeared as Ed Dumani in Sky Atlantic’s "Gangs of London" and in an episode of the BBC's production of Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads".


title: Lucian Msamati

text: Msamati appeared in the film "The International" (2009). Other film credits include "Lumumba" (1999), directed by Raoul Peck; the animated feature "The Legend of the Sky Kingdom" (2003), directed by Roger Hawkins and "Richard II", directed by Rupert Goold.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: "Weapon of Choice" is a song by English big beat musician Fatboy Slim from his third studio album, "Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars". It features American funk musician Bootsy Collins. It was released as a double A-side single with "Star 69" on 23 April 2001, as well as a standalone single release, and a 2010 re-release with remixes. The single peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: The music video, directed by Spike Jonze, features actor Christopher Walken dancing around a deserted hotel lobby. It won multiple awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards and won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Music Video.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: "Weapon of Choice" features a lead vocal by Bootsy Collins, known as a member of the funk group Parliament-Funkadelic and leader of Bootsy's Rubber Band. On the album version, Collins's normal vocals are heard through the right audio channel; the same vocals, distorted to a much deeper pitch, are heard through the left. The song features a prominent sample of Sly & the Family Stone's 1968 song "Into My Own Thing", as well as samples from "All Strung Out Over You" by The Chambers Brothers and "Word Play" by The X-Ecutioners, the latter of which was previously sampled on another Fatboy Slim song, "Don't Forget Your Teeth", the B-side to his single "Right Here, Right Now", and "Gangster Trippin".


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: The chorus of the song, "You could blow with this, or you could blow with that", is an homage to the Black Sheep song "The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)", which has a similar chorus. The lines "Walk without rhythm/and it won't attract the worm" quote the science fiction film "Dune", while the line "tone of my voice" may be the titular weapon, as used by some of the film's characters. The line "halfway between the gutter and the stars" refers to a line in Oscar Wilde's play "Lady Windermere's Fan": "We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars", and was also used as the album title.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: The radio edit is referred to as the "Attack Hamster Edit", and is the version featured on Fatboy Slim's greatest hits album "The Greatest Hits – Why Try Harder". Collins's vocal tracks, both normal and distorted, remain intact, but the distorted track is barely audible. It peaked at No. 137 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was briefly featured in the 2001 film "Joe Somebody", the "Malcolm in the Middle" episode "Malcolm vs. Reese" and the 2006 film "Night at the Museum". It was used in the E3 trailer of "" in 2013.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: On the album, the song segues from "Retox" and thus the ending of "Retox" is on this track. At 5:06 on the "single version", the last second (5:05) gets repeated many times until it finishes at 5:36. On the album, the last two seconds get repeated until 5:23, and scratching sounds start at 5:14 until the conclusion at 5:45. The single version and album version also have several other differences, including the ordering of vocal snippets towards the five-minute mark.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: The music video was filmed in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel (now the L.A. Grand Hotel Downtown) in Los Angeles in December 2000. Directed by Spike Jonze, it features actor Christopher Walken, who trained as a dancer in musical theatre before his acting career. Walken had asked Jonze to film his dancing, and Jonze suggested that he participate in the video. Fatboy Slim had originally been scheduled to have a cameo in the video, replacing Walken in the harness shots, but was unavailable that weekend because his wife was giving birth.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: In the video, Walken is relaxing in a chair in a deserted hotel lobby, when he hears the song being played from a cleaning cart nearby. He begins to dance around the hotel, then gets in an elevator, leaps off the balcony, and flies around the mezzanine before returning to the chair and sitting back down.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: The "Weapon of Choice" video won six awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. Walken was awarded one of MTV's "Moonmen" for Best Choreography. The clip was also ranked number one in a list of the top 100 videos of all time by VH1 in April 2002 compiled from a music industry survey. The Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt has also danced in a version of the video directed by Malik Bendjelloul. In 2012, British comedian and presenter Rowland Rivron also won charity TV show "Let's Dance for Sport Relief" with his reenactment of the video's choreography.


title: Weapon of Choice (song)

text: Walken has cited admiration for Jonze as one of his main reasons for appearing in the video, which he also welcomed as a chance to do "something different". He also noted that as a trained tap dancer, dancing to electronic music suited him well.


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: The Ford Puma is a subcompact crossover SUV (B-segment) marketed by Ford since 2019. It is considered an SUV equivalent of the seventh-generation Fiesta. The vehicle is only available for the European and Australasian markets, with sales starting in Europe from 2019 and sales in Australasia from late 2020. In the European market, the Puma is positioned above the EcoSport and below the Kuga (also called Escape outside Europe).


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: Ford first announced the Puma crossover at its event "Go Further" in Amsterdam, along with the introduction of the third-generation Kuga. The Puma nameplate was last used on the Puma sport compact. The vehicle is based on the seventh-generation Fiesta platform (Ford Global B-car platform).


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: Production of the Puma started in Craiova, Romania (Ford Romania) in October 2019 along with the EcoSport subcompact crossover and the EcoBoost 1.0 L Fox engine used in both cars. Ford invested two hundred million euros, and employed 1,700 people on the project.


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: The Puma is offered with a mild hybrid 1.0 litre EcoBoost three cylinder turbo gasoline engine with a belt driven integrated starter, which uses energy from the braking system to charge the forty eight volt lithium ion battery pack in order to increase torque and lower emissions. Power is rated at , 114 kW, and with an additional from the integrated starter system.


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection, Emergency Brake Assist, Tire Pressure Monitoring System, Electronic Stability Control, semi-autonomous parking assist, and Emergency Steering Assist.


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: Other available features are autonomous emergency braking, Intelligent Speed Limiter and lane keeping assist.


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: In January 2021, the Puma 1.0 Ecoboost Hybrid 155 Titanium won "What Car?"'s Small SUV of the Year title. The same year, the Puma ST 1.5 Ecoboost 200 Performance Pack was named the magazine's Sports SUV of the Year. "What Car?" awarded the Puma five stars out of five in its review of the car.


title: Ford Puma (crossover)

text: In 2021, the Ford Puma became the best-selling Ford model in the UK, surpassing the Ford Fiesta. Its high sales figures also resulted in it being the overall 8th best-selling car in the UK in 2021 having achieved 28,697 new registrations throughout the year.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Albertosaurus (; meaning "Alberta lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaurs that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 71 million years ago. The type species, "A. sarcophagus", was apparently restricted in range to the modern-day Canadian province of Alberta, after which the genus is named, although an indeterminate species ("cf. "Albertosaurus" sp.") has been discovered in the Corral de Enmedio and Packard Formations in Mexico. Scientists disagree on the content of the genus, with some recognizing "Gorgosaurus libratus" as a second species.


title: Albertosaurus

text: As a tyrannosaurid, "Albertosaurus" was a bipedal predator with tiny, two-fingered hands and a massive head that had dozens of large, sharp teeth. It may have been an apex predator in its local ecosystem. While "Albertosaurus" was large for a theropod, it was much smaller than its larger and more famous relative "Tyrannosaurus rex", growing up to in length and weighing .


title: Albertosaurus

text: Since the first discovery in 1884, fossils of more than 30 individuals have been recovered, providing scientists with a more detailed knowledge of "Albertosaurus" anatomy than is available for most other tyrannosaurids. The discovery of 26 individuals at one site provides evidence of pack behaviour and allows studies of ontogeny and population biology, which are impossible with lesser-known dinosaurs due to their remains being rarer and more fragmentary compared to those of "Albertosaurus".


title: Albertosaurus

text: "Albertosaurus" was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in a one-page note at the end of his 1905 description of "Tyrannosaurus rex". Its namesake is Alberta, the Canadian province established the same year, in which the first remains were found. The generic name also incorporates the Greek term /"sauros" ("lizard"), the most common suffix in dinosaur names. The type species is "Albertosaurus sarcophagus"; the specific name is derived from Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (') meaning "flesh-eating" and having the same etymology as the funeral container with which it shares its name: a combination of the Greek words σαρξ/' ("flesh") and /"" ("to eat"). More than 30 specimens of all ages are known to science.


title: Albertosaurus

text: The type specimen is a partial skull collected on June 9, 1884 from an outcrop of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation alongside the Red Deer River in Alberta. It was recovered by an expedition of the Geological Survey of Canada, led by the famous geologist Joseph Burr Tyrrell. Due to a lack of specialised equipment the almost complete skull could only be partially secured. In 1889, Tyrrell's colleague Thomas Chesmer Weston found an incomplete smaller skull associated with some skeletal material at a location nearby. The two skulls were assigned to the preexisting species "Laelaps incrassatus" by Edward Drinker Cope in 1892; although the name "Laelaps" was preoccupied by a genus of mite and had been changed to "Dryptosaurus" in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh, Cope refused to recognize the new name created by his archrival. However, Lawrence Lambe used the name "Dryptosaurus incrassatus" instead of "Laelaps incrassatus" when he described the remains in detail in 1903 and 1904, a combination first coined by Oliver Perry Hay in 1902.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Shortly later, Osborn pointed out that "D. incrassatus" was based on generic tyrannosaurid teeth, so the two Horseshoe Canyon skulls could not be confidently referred to that species. The Horseshoe Canyon skulls also differed markedly from the remains of "D. aquilunguis", type species of "Dryptosaurus", so Osborn created the new name "Albertosaurus sarcophagus" for them in 1905. He did not describe the remains in any great detail, citing Lambe's complete description the year before. Both specimens (the holotype CMN 5600 and the paratype CMN 5601) are stored in the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. By the early twenty-first century, some concerns had arisen that, due to the damaged state of the holotype, "Albertosaurus" might be a "nomen dubium" that could only be used for the type specimen itself because other fossils could not reliably be assigned to it. However, in 2010, Thomas Carr established that the holotype, the paratype and comparable later finds all shared a single common unique trait or autapomorphy: the possession of an enlarged pneumatic opening in the back rim of the side of the palatine bone, proving that "Albertosaurus" was a valid taxon.


title: Albertosaurus

text: On 11 August 1910, American paleontologist Barnum Brown discovered the remains of a large group of "Albertosaurus" at another quarry alongside the Red Deer River. Because of the large number of bones and the limited time available, Brown's party did not collect every specimen, but made sure to collect remains from all of the individuals that they could identify in the bone bed. Among the bones deposited in the American Museum of Natural History collections in New York City are seven sets of right metatarsals, along with two isolated toe bones that did not match any of the metatarsals in size. This indicated the presence of at least nine individuals in the quarry. Palaeontologist Philip J. Currie of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology rediscovered the bonebed in 1997 and resumed fieldwork at the site, which is now located inside Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park. Further excavation from 1997 to 2005 turned up the remains of 13 more individuals of various ages, including a diminutive two-year-old and a very old individual estimated at over in length. None of these individuals are known from complete skeletons, and most are represented by remains in both museums. Excavations continued until 2008, when the minimum number of individuals present had been established at 12, on the basis of preserved elements that occur only once in a skeleton, and at 26 if mirrored elements were counted when differing in size due to ontogeny. A total of 1,128 "Albertosaurus" bones had been secured, the largest concentration of large theropod fossils known from the Cretaceous.


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 1911, Barnum Brown, during the second year of American Museum of Natural History operations in Alberta, uncovered a fragmentary partial "Albertosaurus" skull at the Red Deer River near Tolman Bridge, specimen AMNH 5222.


title: Albertosaurus

text: William Parks described a new species in 1928, "Albertosaurus arctunguis", based on a partial skeleton lacking a skull excavated by Gus Lindblad and Ralph Hornell near the Red Deer River in 1923, but this species has been considered identical to "A. sarcophagus" since 1970. Parks' specimen (ROM 807) is housed in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.


title: Albertosaurus

text: No "Albertosaurus" fossils were found from 1926–1972, but, there has been an increase in findings since then. Apart from the Dry Island bonebed, six more skulls and skeletons have since been discovered in Alberta and are housed in various Canadian museums: specimens RTMP 81.010.001, found in 1978 by amateur paleontologist Maurice Stefanuk; RTMP 85.098.001, found by Stefanuk on 16 June 1985; RTMP 86.64.001 (December 1985); RTMP 86.205.001 (1986); RTMP 97.058.0001 (1996); and CMN 11315. None of the skeletons were found with complete skulls. Fossils have also been reported from the American states of Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Missouri, but they are doubted to be from "A. sarcophagus" and may not even belong to the genus "Albertosaurus".


title: Albertosaurus

text: Two specimens from "cf "Albertosaurus" ".sp" have been found in Mexico (Packard Formation and Corral de Enmedio Formation).


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 1913, paleontologist Charles H. Sternberg recovered another tyrannosaurid skeleton from the slightly older Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta. Lawrence Lambe named this dinosaur "Gorgosaurus libratus" in 1914. Other specimens were later found in Alberta and the US state of Montana. Finding—largely due to a lack of good "Albertosaurus" skull material—no significant differences to separate the two taxa, Dale Russell declared the name "Gorgosaurus" a junior synonym of "Albertosaurus", which had been named first, and "G. libratus" was renamed "Albertosaurus libratus" in 1970. A species distinction was maintained because of the age difference. The addition extended the temporal range of the genus "Albertosaurus" earlier by several million years and its geographic range southwards by hundreds of kilometres.


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 2003, Philip J. Currie, benefiting from much more extensive finds and a general increase in anatomical knowledge of theropods, compared several tyrannosaurid skulls and came to the conclusion that the two species are more distinct than previously thought. As the two species are sister taxa, they are more closely related to each other than to any other species. Recognizing this, Currie nevertheless recommended that "Albertosaurus" and "Gorgosaurus" be kept as separate genera, as he concluded that they were no more similar than "Daspletosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus", which are almost always separated. In addition, several albertosaurine specimens have been recovered from Alaska and New Mexico, and Currie suggested that the "Albertosaurus"-"Gorgosaurus" situation may be clarified once these are described fully. Most authors have followed Currie's recommendation, but some have not.


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 1930, Anatoly Nikolaevich Riabinin named "Albertosaurus pericolosus" based on a tooth from China, that probably belonged to "Tarbosaurus". In 1932, Friedrich von Huene renamed "Dryptosaurus incrassatus", not considered a "nomen dubium" by him, to "Albertosaurus incrassatus". Because he had identified "Gorgosaurus" with "Albertosaurus", in 1970, Russell also renamed "Gorgosaurus sternbergi" (Matthew & Brown 1922) into "Albertosaurus sternbergi" and "Gorgosaurus lancensis" (Gilmore 1946) into "Albertosaurus lancensis". The former species is today seen as a juvenile form of "Gorgosaurus libratus", the latter as either identical to "Tyrannosaurus" or representing a separate genus "Nanotyrannus". In 1988, Gregory S. Paul based "Albertosaurus megagracilis" on a small tyrannosaurid skeleton, specimen LACM 28345, from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. It was renamed "Dinotyrannus" in 1995, but is now thought to represent a juvenile "Tyrannosaurus rex". Also in 1988, Paul renamed "Alectrosaurus olseni" (Gilmore 1933) into "Albertosaurus olseni"; this has found no general acceptance. In 1989, "Gorgosaurus novojilovi" (Maleev 1955) was renamed by Bryn Mader and Robert Bradley as "Albertosaurus novojilovi".


title: Albertosaurus

text: On two occasions, species based on valid "Albertosaurus" material were reassigned to a different genus: in 1922 William Diller Matthew renamed "A. sarcophagus" into "Deinodon sarcophagus" and in 1939 German paleontologist Oskar Kuhn renamed "A. arctunguis" into "Deinodon arctunguis".


title: Albertosaurus

text: "Albertosaurus" was a large bipedal predator but smaller than "Tarbosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus rex". Typical "Albertosaurus" adults measured up to long, and weighed between in body mass.


title: Albertosaurus

text: "Albertosaurus" shared a similar body appearance with all other tyrannosaurids. Typically for a theropod, "Albertosaurus" was bipedal and balanced the heavy head and torso with a long tail. However, tyrannosaurid forelimbs were extremely small for their body size and retained only two digits. The hind limbs were long and ended in a four-toed foot on which the first digit, called the hallux, was short and did not reach the ground. The third digit was longer than the rest. "Albertosaurus" may have been able to reach walking speeds of 14–21 km/hour (8–13 mi/hour). At least for the younger individuals, a high running speed is plausible.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Two skin impressions from "Albertosaurus" are known, both showing scales. One patch is found associated with some gastralic ribs and the impression of a long, unknown bone, indicating that the patch is from the belly. The scales are pebbly and gradually become larger and somewhat hexagonal in shape. Also preserved are two larger feature scales, placed 4.5 cm apart from each other, making "Albertosaurus", along with "Carnotaurus", the only known theropods with preserved feature scales. Another skin impression is from an unknown part of the body. These scales are small, diamond-shaped and arranged in rows.


title: Albertosaurus

text: The massive skull of "Albertosaurus", which was perched on a short, S-shaped neck, was about long in the largest adults. Wide openings in the skull (fenestrae) reduced the weight of the head while also providing space for muscle attachment and sensory organs. Its long jaws contained, both sides combined, 58 or more banana-shaped teeth; larger tyrannosaurids possessed fewer teeth; "Gorgosaurus" had 62. Unlike most theropods, "Albertosaurus" and other tyrannosaurids were heterodont, with teeth of different forms depending on their position in the mouth. The premaxillary teeth at the tip of the upper jaw, four per side, were much smaller than the rest, more closely packed, and D-shaped in cross section. Like with "Tyrannosaurus", the maxillary (cheek) teeth of "Albertosaurus" were adapted in general form to resist lateral forces exerted by a struggling prey. The bite force of "Albertosaurus" was less formidable, however, with the maximum force, by the hind teeth, reaching 3,413 Newtons. Above the eyes were short bony crests that may have been brightly coloured in life and used in courtship to attract a mate.


title: Albertosaurus

text: William Abler observed in 2001 that "Albertosaurus" tooth serrations resemble a crack in the tooth ending in a round void called an ampulla. Tyrannosaurid teeth were used as holdfasts for pulling flesh off a body, so when a tyrannosaur pulled back on a piece of meat, the tension could cause a purely crack-like serration to spread through the tooth. However, the presence of the ampulla distributed these forces over a larger surface area, and lessened the risk of damage to the tooth under strain. The presence of incisions ending in voids has parallels in human engineering. Guitar makers use incisions ending in voids to, as Abler describes, "impart alternating regions of flexibility and rigidity" to wood they work. The use of a drill to create an "ampulla" of sorts and prevent the propagation of cracks through material is also used to protect aircraft surfaces. Abler demonstrated that a plexiglass bar with incisions called "kerfs" and drilled holes was more than 25% stronger than one with only regularly placed incisions. Unlike tyrannosaurs, ancient predators like phytosaurs and "Dimetrodon" had no adaptations to prevent the crack-like serrations of their teeth from spreading when subjected to the forces of feeding.


title: Albertosaurus

text: "Albertosaurus" is a member of the theropod family Tyrannosauridae, in the subfamily Albertosaurinae. Its closest relative is the slightly older "Gorgosaurus libratus" (sometimes called "Albertosaurus libratus"; see below). These two species are the only described albertosaurines; other undescribed species may exist. Thomas Holtz found "Appalachiosaurus" to be an albertosaurine in 2004, but his more recent unpublished work locates it just outside Tyrannosauridae, in agreement with other authors.


title: Albertosaurus

text: The other major subfamily of tyrannosaurids is the Tyrannosaurinae, which includes "Daspletosaurus", "Tarbosaurus" and "Tyrannosaurus". Compared with these robust tyrannosaurines, albertosaurines had slender builds, with proportionately smaller skulls and longer bones of the lower leg (tibia) and feet (metatarsals and phalanges).


title: Albertosaurus

text: Below is the cladogram of the Tyrannosauridae based on the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Loewen "et al." in 2013.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Most age categories of "Albertosaurus" are represented in the fossil record. Using bone histology, the age of an individual animal at the time of death can often be determined, allowing growth rates to be estimated and compared with other species. The youngest known "Albertosaurus" is a two-year-old discovered in the Dry Island bonebed, which would have weighed about 50 kilograms (110 lb) and measured slightly more than in length. The specimen from the same quarry is the oldest and largest known, at 28 years of age. When specimens of intermediate age and size are plotted on a graph, an "S"-shaped growth curve results, with the most rapid growth occurring in a four-year period ending around the sixteenth year of life, a pattern also seen in other tyrannosaurids. The growth rate during this phase was per year, based on an adult 1.3 tonnes. Other studies have suggested higher adult weights; this would affect the magnitude of the growth rate, but not the overall pattern. Tyrannosaurids similar in size to "Albertosaurus" had similar growth rates, although the much larger "Tyrannosaurus rex" grew at almost five times this rate ( per year) at its peak. The end of the rapid growth phase suggests the onset of sexual maturity in "Albertosaurus", although growth continued at a slower rate throughout the animals' lives. Sexual maturation while still actively growing appears to be a shared trait among small and large dinosaurs as well as in large mammals such as humans and elephants. This pattern of relatively early sexual maturation differs strikingly from the pattern in birds, which delay their sexual maturity until after they have finished growing.


title: Albertosaurus

text: During growth, through thickening the tooth morphology changed so much that, had the association of young and adult skeletons on the Dry Island bonebed not proven they belonged to the same taxon, the teeth of juveniles would likely have been identified by statistical analysis as those of a different species.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Most known "Albertosaurus" individuals were aged 14 years or more at the time of death. Juvenile animals are rarely found as fossils for several reasons, mainly preservation bias, where the smaller bones of younger animals were less likely to be preserved by fossilization than the larger bones of adults, and collection bias, where smaller fossils are less likely to be noticed by collectors in the field. Young "Albertosaurus" are relatively large for juvenile animals, but their remains are still rare in the fossil record compared with adults. It has been suggested that this phenomenon is a consequence of life history, rather than bias, and that fossils of juvenile "Albertosaurus" are rare because they simply did not die as often as adults did.


title: Albertosaurus

text: A hypothesis of "Albertosaurus" life history postulates that hatchlings died in large numbers, but have not been preserved in the fossil record due to their small size and fragile construction. After just two years, juveniles were larger than any other predator in the region aside from adult "Albertosaurus", and more fleet of foot than most of their prey animals. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in their mortality rate and a corresponding rarity of fossil remains. Mortality rates doubled at age twelve, perhaps the result of the physiological demands of the rapid growth phase, and then doubled again with the onset of sexual maturity between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. This elevated mortality rate continued throughout adulthood, perhaps due to the high physiological demands of procreation, including stress and injuries received during intraspecific competition for mates and resources, and eventually, the ever-increasing effects of senescence. The higher mortality rate in adults may explain their more common preservation. Very large animals were rare because few individuals survived long enough to attain such sizes. High infant mortality rates, followed by reduced mortality among juveniles and a sudden increase in mortality after sexual maturity, with very few animals reaching maximum size, is a pattern observed in many modern large mammals, including elephants, African buffalo, and rhinoceros. The same pattern is also seen in other tyrannosaurids. The comparison with modern animals and other tyrannosaurids lends support to this life history hypothesis, but bias in the fossil record may still play a large role, especially since more than two-thirds of all "Albertosaurus" specimens are known from one locality.


title: Albertosaurus

text: The Dry Island bonebed discovered by Barnum Brown and his crew contains the remains of 26 "Albertosaurus", the most individuals found in one locality of any large Cretaceous theropod, and the second-most of any large theropod dinosaur behind the "Allosaurus" assemblage at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah. The group seems to be composed of one very old adult; eight adults between 17 and 23 years old; seven sub-adults undergoing their rapid growth phases at between 12 and 16 years old; and six juveniles between the ages of 2 and 11 years, who had not yet reached the growth phase.


title: Albertosaurus

text: The near-absence of herbivore remains and the similar state of preservation common to the many individuals at the "Albertosaurus" bonebed quarry led Currie to conclude that the locality was not a predator trap like the La Brea Tar Pits in California, and that all of the preserved animals died at the same time. Currie claims this as evidence of pack behaviour. Other scientists are skeptical, observing that the animals may have been driven together by drought, flood or for other reasons.


title: Albertosaurus

text: There is plentiful evidence for gregarious behaviour among herbivorous dinosaurs, including ceratopsians and hadrosaurs. However, only rarely are so many dinosaurian predators found at the same site. Small theropods like "Deinonychus" and "Coelophysis" have been found in aggregations, as have larger predators like "Allosaurus" and "Mapusaurus". There is some evidence of gregarious behaviour in other tyrannosaurids as well. Fragmentary remains of smaller individuals were found alongside "Sue", the "Tyrannosaurus" mounted in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and a bonebed in the Two Medicine Formation of Montana contains at least three specimens of "Daspletosaurus", preserved alongside several hadrosaurs. These findings may corroborate the evidence for social behaviour in "Albertosaurus", although some or all of the above localities may represent temporary or unnatural aggregations. Others have speculated that instead of social groups, at least some of these finds represent Komodo dragon-like mobbing of carcasses, where aggressive competition leads to some of the predators being killed and cannibalized.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Currie has also speculated on the pack-hunting habits of "Albertosaurus". The leg proportions of the smaller individuals were comparable to those of ornithomimids, which were probably among the fastest dinosaurs. Younger "Albertosaurus" were probably equally fleet-footed, or at least faster than their prey. Currie hypothesized that the younger members of the pack may have been responsible for driving their prey towards the adults, who were larger and more powerful, but also slower. Juveniles may also have had different lifestyles than adults, filling predator niches between the enormous adults and the smaller contemporaneous theropods, the largest of which were two orders of magnitude smaller than adult "Albertosaurus" in mass. A similar situation is observed in modern Komodo dragons, with hatchlings beginning life as small insectivores before growing to become the dominant predators on their islands. However, as the preservation of behaviour in the fossil record is exceedingly rare, these ideas cannot readily be tested. In 2010, Currie, though still favouring the hunting pack hypothesis, admitted that the concentration could have been brought about by other causes, such as a slowly rising water level during an extended flood.


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 2009, researchers hypothesized that smooth-edged holes found in the fossil jaws of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs such as "Albertosaurus" were caused by a parasite similar to "Trichomonas gallinae", which infects birds. They suggested that tyrannosaurids transmitted the infection by biting each other, and that the infection impaired their ability to eat food.


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 2001, Bruce Rothschild and others published a study examining evidence for stress fractures and tendon avulsions in theropod dinosaurs and the implications for their behavior. They found that only one of the 319 "Albertosaurus" foot bones checked for stress fractures actually had them and none of the four hand bones did. The scientists found that stress fractures were "significantly" less common in "Albertosaurus" than in the carnosaur "Allosaurus". ROM 807, the holotype of "A. arctunguis" (now referred to "A. sarcophagus"), had a deep hole in the iliac blade, although the describer of the species did not recognize this as pathological. The specimen also contains some exostosis on the fourth left metatarsal. In 1970, two of the five "Albertosaurus sarcophagus" specimens with humeri were reported by Dale Russel as having pathological damage to them.


title: Albertosaurus

text: In 2010, the health of the Dry Island "Albertosaurus" assembly was reported upon. Most specimens showed no sign of disease. On three phalanges of the foot strange bony spurs, consisting of abnormal ossifications of the tendons, so-called enthesophytes, were present, their cause unknown. Two ribs and a belly-rib showed signs of breaking and healing. One adult specimen had a left lower jaw showing a puncture wound and both healed and unhealed bite marks. The low number of abnormalities compares favourably with the health condition of a "Majungasaurus" population of which it in 2007 was established that 19% of individuals showed bone pathologies.


title: Albertosaurus

text: Most fossils of "Albertosaurus sarcophagus" are known from the upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta. These younger units of this geologic formation date to the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, 70 to 68 Ma (million years ago). Immediately below this formation is the Bearpaw Shale, a marine formation representing a section of the Western Interior Seaway. The seaway was receding as the climate cooled and sea levels subsided towards the end of the Cretaceous, exposing land that had previously been underwater. It was not a smooth process, however, and the seaway would periodically rise to cover parts of the region throughout Horseshoe Canyon before finally receding altogether in the years after. Due to the changing sea levels, many different environments are represented in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, including offshore and near-shore marine habitats and coastal habitats like lagoons, estuaries and tidal flats. Numerous coal seams represent ancient peat swamps. Like most of the other vertebrate fossils from the formation, "Albertosaurus" remains are found in deposits laid down in the deltas and floodplains of large rivers during the later half of Horseshoe Canyon times.