title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Tammy is at cheerleader practice, and her new boyfriend Michael walks in from football practice to observe. They meet Byron, Tammy's gay friend, who approves of Michael as her new boyfriend. Shortly thereafter, Tammy's violent and jealous ex-boyfriend Billy arrives with his gang and harasses Michael; a fight erupts between the two. The police arrive to break up the fight and take Billy into custody, but Tammy, unable to deal with the events, breaks down and runs away in tears.


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: The scene then cuts to a figure of a "Tyrannosaurus Rex" in a dark warehouse as two people, Dr. Wachenstein and his assistant Helga, walk through the doors. The lights come on and the "Tyrannosaurus Rex" figure begins to move, being controlled by someone in a room. The Doctor is impressed by the robotic dinosaur's strength and reveals his plan to implant a living human brain into the robot to give it consciousness, mobility and "immortality".


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Later that night, Michael sneaks out to see Tammy. They are soon interrupted by Billy and his thugs, who chase and catch Michael. They throw him into the wild animal park where lions and jaguars run loose. A lion mauls Michael and he is left in a comatose state. He is brought to a hospital where his intoxicated uncle watches over him.


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Dr. Wachenstein and Helga declare Michael dead, so that they can use his brain to control their robotic "Tyrannosaurus Rex". After his brain is implanted, Michael escapes and wreaks vengeance on his high school tormentors and is reunited with his sweetheart Tammy. She realizes that the dinosaur is Michael and begins a search to find a more suitable body for him. Dr. Wachenstein is in hot pursuit of his monstrous creation, which leads to a chase that ends with Michael killing the doctor. Police officers open fire and destroy the mechanical dinosaur.


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Tammy manages to recover Michael's brain. She takes it home with her and hooks it up to her computer, speakers, and video camera. This is temporary until they find a new body for him. Through the set-up, Michael is able to speak and see, which allows him to view Tammy performing a striptease. This causes the brain hookups to spark.


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Stewart Raffill says that he was approached by a man who owned theatres in South America who had an animatronic T-Rex which was going to a park in Texas. "The eyes worked. The arms moved. The head moved. He had it for two weeks before it was going to be shipped to Texas and he came to me and said, “We can make a movie with it!” I said, “What’s the story?” and he said, “I don’t have a story, but we have to start filming within the month!” and so I wrote the story in a week."


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Raffill says all the locations were within 25 minutes of his house. He has stated there was a large fire which took place during the shoot, and that as a result, smoke can be seen in some shots. The first few minutes of the film take place in Newbury Park, California at Newbury Park High School. The film crew kept the local panther mascot and decorations during the filming.


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: During production, one of the actors portraying one of the bumbling cops had a heart attack on set and required medical attention.


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: Originally filmed as an R-rated comedy horror, its gore scenes were removed from its initial American release in order to appeal to a family audience. In other countries, such as Italy, it was released with these scenes intact. In 2019, Vinegar Syndrome restored and theatrically released the uncut version in select North American theaters. Vinegar Syndrome went on to release the restored version of the film in both DVD/Blu-ray and Blu-ray/4K Blu-ray combo packs. Squanch Games would later license the film to be used in their 2022 video game "High On Life".


title: Tammy and the T-Rex

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 7 reviews, with a 3.8/10 average. The 2019 unrated version of the film, titled "Tammy and the T-Rex: Gore Cut", has an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: Mandragora officinarum is the type species of the plant genus "Mandragora" in the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is often known as mandrake, although this name is also used for other plants. , sources differed significantly in the species they use for "Mandragora" plants native to the Mediterranean region. The main species found around the Mediterranean is called "Mandragora autumnalis", the autumn mandrake. In a broader circumscription, all the plants native to the regions around the Mediterranean Sea are placed in "M. officinarum", which thus includes "M. autumnalis". The names autumn mandrake and Mediterranean mandrake are then used. Whatever the circumscription, "Mandragora officinarum" is a perennial herbaceous plant with ovate leaves arranged in a rosette, a thick upright root, often branched, and bell-shaped flowers followed by yellow or orange berries.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: Because mandrakes contain deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids (atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine) which cause delirium and hallucinations, and the shape of their roots often resembles human figures, they have been associated with a variety of religious and spiritual practices throughout history. They have long been used in magic rituals, today also in contemporary Pagan practices such as Wicca and Heathenry. However, the so-called "mandrakes" used in this way are not always species of "Mandragora" let alone "Mandragora officinarum"; for example, "Bryonia alba", the English mandrake, is explicitly mentioned in some sources.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: , "Mandragora officinarum" has three or four different circumscriptions (see Taxonomy below). The description below applies to a broad circumscription, used in a 1998 revision of the genus, in which the name is used for all the plants native to Mediterranean region. Thus defined, "Mandragora officinarum" is a very variable perennial herbaceous plant with a long thick root, often branched. It has almost no stem, the leaves being borne in a basal rosette. The leaves are very variable in size and shape, with a maximum length of . They are usually either elliptical in shape or wider towards the end (obovate), with varying degrees of hairiness.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: The flowers appear from autumn to spring (September to April). They are borne in the axils of the leaves. The flower stalks (pedicels) are also very variable in length, up to long. The five sepals are long, fused together at the base and then forming free lobes to about a half to two-thirds of their total length. The five petals are greenish white to pale blue or violet in colour, long, and, like the sepals, joined together at the base with free lobes at the end. The lobes are between half as long as the petals to almost as long. The five stamens are joined to the bases of the petals and vary in length from . The anthers of the stamens are usually yellow or brown, but are sometimes pale blue.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: The fruit which forms in late autumn to early summer (November to June) is a berry, shaped like a globe or an ellipsoid (i.e. longer than wide), with a very variable diameter of . When ripe, the fruit is glossy, and yellow to orange – somewhat resembling a small tomato. It contains yellow to light brown seeds, long.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: Earlier, a different circumscription was used, in which "Mandragora officinarum" referred only to plants found in northern Italy and part of the coast of former Yugoslavia, most Mediterranean mandrakes being placed in "Mandragora autumnalis". The description above would then apply to both species combined, with "M. officinarum" having greenish-white rather than violet petals, up to long rather than usually or longer, and a berry that is globose rather than ellipsoid. More recently, plants native to the Levant have been separated out as "Mandragora autumnalis", leaving those found in the rest of the Mediterranean area as "M. officinarum". One difference then is that the size of the seeds of "M. officinarum" is less than half the size of those of "M. autumnalis".


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: "Mandragora officinarum" was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in the first edition of "Species Plantarum". It is the type species of the genus "Mandragora". (Linnaeus later changed his mind and in 1759 placed "M. officinarum" in the genus "Atropa" as "A. mandragora".) Linnaeus regarded "M. officinarum" as the sole species in the genus, at that time only known from the Mediterranean region. Jackson and Berry (1979) and Ungricht et al. (1998) have documented some of the subsequent confusion over the number of Mediterranean species of "Mandragora" and their scientific names. Ungricht et al. describe the confusion as "incredible" and a "morass".


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: The first confusion relates to the name ""Mandragora officinalis" ", dated to 1768 in the eighth edition of Philip Miller's "The gardener's dictionary". However, this work uses the epithet "officinarum", not ""officinalis"". There is a reference to ""Mandragora officinalis"" as a synonym in the 9th edition of "The gardener's dictionary" of 1807. However, there was no such earlier use of the name, and Ungricht et al. say that ""officinalis"" is an orthographic error for the correct epithet "officinarum", so that the name ""Mandragora officinalis" " (and any subsequent uses of this epithet) have "no real nomenclatural standing".


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: The second confusion relates to the number of Mediterranean species of "Mandragora" (a confusion which continues). At different times, between one and five taxa have been recognized. Dioscorides was among those who distinguished between "male" and "female" mandrakes, a distinction used in 1764 when Garsault published the names "Mandragora mas" and "Mandragora foemina". Flowering time was also used to distinguish species; thus in the 1820s, Antonio Bertoloni named two species as "Mandragora vernalis", the spring-flowering mandrake, and "Mandragora autumnalis", the autumn-flowering mandrake. Since the late 1990s, three main circumscriptions of "Mandragora officinarum" have been used and all three will be found in current sources.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: In the circumscription in which "Mandragora officinarum" is the only Mediterranean species, it is native to regions around the Mediterranean Sea, within the borders of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco in north Africa; southern Spain, southern Portugal, Italy included Sardinia and Sicily, (Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a novel about it), former Yugoslavia, Greece and Cyprus in southern Europe; southern Turkey; Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan in the Levant. It is usually found in open habitats, such as light woodland and disturbed sites, including olive groves, fallow land, waysides, railway embankments and ruins, from sea level to .


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: When "Mandragora autumnalis" is regarded as the main Mediterranean species, "M. officinarum" is native only to north Italy and part of the coast of former Yugoslavia. Alternatively, "M. officinarum" is absent from the Levant, where it is replaced by "M. autumnalis".


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: All species of "Mandragora" contain highly biologically active alkaloids, tropane alkaloids in particular. Hanuš et al. reviewed the phytochemistry of "Mandragora" species. More than 80 substances have been identified; their paper gives the detailed chemical structure of 37 of them. Jackson and Berry were unable to find any differences in alkaloid composition between "Mandragora officinarum" (using the narrowest circumscription of this species) and "Mandragora autumnalis" (viewed as the main Mediterranean species). Alkaloids present in the fresh plant or the dried root included atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine (hyoscine), scopine, cuscohygrine, apoatropine, 3-alpha-tigloyloxytropane, 3-alpha,6-beta-ditigloyloxytropane and belladonnines. Non-alkaloid constituents included sitosterol and beta-methylesculetin (scopoletin).


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: The alkaloids make the plant, in particular the root and leaves, poisonous, via anticholinergic, hallucinogenic, and hypnotic effects. Anticholinergic properties can lead to asphyxiation. Ingesting mandrake root is likely to have other adverse effects such as vomiting and diarrhea. The alkaloid concentration varies between plant samples, and accidental poisoning is likely to occur. Clinical reports of the effects of consumption of "Mandragora officinarum" (as "Mandragora autumnalis") include severe symptoms similar to those of atropine poisoning, including blurred vision, dilation of the pupils (mydriasis), dryness of the mouth, difficulty in urinating, dizziness, headache, vomiting, blushing and a rapid heart rate (tachycardia). Hyperactivity and hallucinations also occurred in the majority of patients.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: Mandrake has a long history of medicinal use, although superstition has played a large part in the uses to which it has been applied. WebMD, which categorises the herb European Mandrake derived from Mandragora officinarum under the heading "Vitamins & Supplements", declares that it is UNSAFE for anyone to use European mandrake for medicinal purposes. In the UK, The Prescription Only Medicines (Human Use) Order 1997, in its Schedule 1, identifies ""Mandragora autumnalis"" as a substance which, if included in medicinal products, makes those products prescription only medicines, and therefore only prescribable by those categories of appropriate practitioners specified in Regulation 214 of The Human Medicines Regulations 2012. Medical herbalists are not recognised as "appropriate practitioners" under this legislation. "Mandragora autumnalis" Bertol. is currently an accepted species distinguishable from "Mandragora officinarum" L., so it follows that mandrake preparations and products derived from "Mandragora officinarum" L. may not actually be covered by this UK legislation. However, the European Medicines Agency, which oversees the registration of herbal medicinal products in the European Union, does not recognise mandrake, and indeed any "Mandragora" species, as an approved herbal medicinal product, substance, or preparation under the European Directive on Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: The root is hallucinogenic and narcotic. In sufficient quantities, it induces a state of unconsciousness and was used as an anaesthetic for surgery in ancient times. In the past, juice from the finely grated root was applied externally to relieve rheumatic pains. It was also used internally to treat melancholy, convulsions, and mania. When taken internally in large doses, however, it is said to excite delirium and madness.


title: Mandragora officinarum

text: In the past, mandrake was often made into amulets which were believed to bring good fortune and cure sterility. In one superstition, people who pull up this root will be condemned to hell, and the mandrake root would scream as it was pulled from the ground, killing anyone who heard it. Therefore, in the past, people have tied the roots to the bodies of animals and then used these animals to pull the roots from the soil. In ancient Rome, it was used as a painkiller during surgery.


title: Kyle Dake

text: Kyle Douglas Dake (born February 25, 1991) is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 74 kilograms. Dake is a four-time and the reigning World Champion, winning back-to-back titles twice, at 79 kilos in 2018 and 2019 and 74 kilos in 2021 and 2022. He claimed a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics (competing for the first time at 74 kilos) held in Tokyo. During his first World Championship tournament, Dake outscored his opposition 37 points to zero, not surrendering a single point.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In college, he became the third four-time NCAA Division I National Champion in history, and the only one to ever do so in four different weight classes, and without a redshirt season. He was named the Dan Hodge Trophy winner as a senior and he also claimed three EIWA titles, competing out of Cornell University.


title: Kyle Dake

text: Dake competed for the wrestling team at Cornell University. Between 2010 and 2013, he became only the third wrestler to win four NCAA Division I Wrestling titles. Among four-time champions, Dake is the first wrestler to win each title in four different weight classes, and the only one to not redshirt a season during his college career.


title: Kyle Dake

text: Following his senior season, "WIN magazine" awarded Dake the Dan Hodge Trophy as the most outstanding college wrestler.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In the age-group, Dake focused more in the Greco-Roman discipline, but in freestyle, he was a two–time FILA US National All-American and a Fargo All-American. In Greco-Roman, he was a three-time FILA US National finalist, winning the championship in 2008, as well as the US World Team Trials. He placed fourteenth at the '08 Greco-Roman Junior World Championships.


title: Kyle Dake

text: Dake made his senior freestyle debut in April 2011, at the age of 20, when he became the US university national runner-up to 2010 US national champion Andrew Howe. In June, he competed at the US World Team Trials, where he posted wins over J.P O'Connor and Tyler Caldwell, going 3–2 overall.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In April 2012, Dake, then a three–time NCAA champion, attempted to become the US Olympic team member at 74 kilos, but was unable to as he was defeated by Trent Paulson in the semifinals. Overall, he had wins overDavid Taylor (pin), and Nick Marable (twice) to place third.


title: Kyle Dake

text: After graduation, Dake competed at the 2013 US World Team Trials in an attempt of representing the US at the 2013 World Championships, but after defeating Trent Paulson, David Taylor, and Andrew Howe, he was unable to win the best-of-three finale, falling to the defending Olympic and World Champion Jordan Burroughs, who would go on to again claim the World Championship. Competing at the Heydar Aliyev Golden Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, Dake severely injured his hand, but still topped two-time World Champion from Russia Denis Tsargush, before losing twice to place fifth. Due to his injury, Dake was unable to continue competing for the rest of 2013, and only came back in February 2014 at his championship performance from the Granma Cup, but after more injuries and infections, he sat out until November 2014, where he won a single match.


title: Kyle Dake

text: During 2015, he competed at the US World Team Trials after winning the Northeastern Regionals, and was able to advance to the best–of–three finals. Dake was once again defeated twice in a row by Jordan Burroughs, who would go on to claim his third World Championship. Dake then did not compete until December, when he moved up to 86 kilograms for the US Nationals, placing first after beating David Taylor, Jon Reader, Keith Gavin and Tyrel Todd. In 2016, his appearances were also scarce, as he only competed at the Alexander Medved Open, placing ninth, and at the US Olympic Team Trials. At the trials, Dake defeated Richard Perry and David Taylor to advance to the best-of-three finals. Facing J'den Cox, Dake was defeated in the first match, and after coming back to win the second match, he was defeated again in the third match, placing second at the US Olympic Team Trials.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In 2017, Dake moved back down to 74 kilograms, and claimed the Grand Prix of Paris in January after defeating Alex Dieringer in the finals. At the US Open in April, Dake once again defeated Dieringer in the semifinals, but lost to Jordan Burroughs on criteria and placed second. At the US World Team Trials, Dake defeated two-time NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez and three-time NCAA champion Alex Dieringer to make the best-of-three finals. Facing Jordan Burroughs, Dake took the first match on criteria, but lost twice in a row by decision, seemingly having ended the rivalry 1–7 in favor of Burroughs. He competed one more time in December, when he moved up to 79 kilograms and helped Team USA reach second place at the Clubs World Cup with six technical falls.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In his first event of the year, Dake competed at the Golden Grand Prix Ivan Yarygin. After defeating Alan Zaseev and Rashid Kurbanov, he was defeated by Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov, claiming the silver medal. However, he came back to the top of the podium at the World Cup, where he was able to beat Sosuke Takatani and Tariel Gaprindashvili, before defeating Jabrayil Hasanov en route to a team title. Later in the month, Dake claimed his second US national title, defeating Alex Dieringer in the finale. After defeating Liván López at Beat the Streets, Dake made his first US World Team at Final X: State College, when he defeated Zahid Valencia twice in a row. To warm up, Dake claimed the Yasar Dogu International when he defeated Jabrayil Hasanov, Ayhan Sucu, and Ibrahim Yusubov.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In October, Dake competed at the World Championships for the first time in his career, at age 27. He won every match via technical fall without giving up a point up until the finals, defeating Martin Obst, Davit Khutsishvili and avenging his only loss at the weight class to Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov. In the finale, Dake once again defeated Jabrayil Hasanov, on points, to comfortably claim his first World Championship.


title: Kyle Dake

text: The newly crowned World Champion, Dake was unable to defend his US World Team spot in June at Final X: Rutgers against Alex Dieringer, due to a "freak accident" which required surgery, pushing the wrestle–offs for later on. Instead, he came back on July at the Grand Prix of Spain, where after five matches, Dake was victorious and stood on top of the podium. The wrestle–offs for the US World Team spot with Alex Dieringer took place in August, with Dake defeating Dieringer twice to defend the spot. A month later, Dake competed at his second World Championships. After defeating Gadzhi Nabiev and Rashid Kurbanov, he once again defeated Jabrayil Hasanov from Azerbaijan to become a two–time World Champion.


title: Kyle Dake

text: Dake moved back down to 74 kilograms to attempt to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In his first tournament of the year, Dake claimed the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series championship, defeating Soner Demirtaş in the finale to emerge in the rankings at 74 kg. He was then scheduled to compete at the US Olympic Team Trials in April 4–5, however, the event was postponed along with the Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Due to the pandemic, Dake was only able to compete one more time in the year, defeating two-time World Champion (65kg and 70kg) from Italy Frank Chamizo while headlining FloWrestling: Dake vs. Chamizo in July.


title: Kyle Dake

text: To start off the Olympic year, Dake defeated David McFadden at the SCRTC I in January 8. A week later, he won gold at the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane. He then defeated Vincenzo Joseph and Jason Nolf. In April, Dake competed at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials in April 2–3, without a seed as he would go on to get a berth to the semifinals as a World Champion at a non–Olympic weight. In the challenge bracket, Dake defeated Evan Wick and Jason Nolf to head to the best of three final. Facing former rival and five–time Olympic and World Champion Jordan Burroughs, Dake was able to defeat Burroughs, thus putting an end to his nine year–long reign. After one of the biggest wins of his career, Dake earned the right to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. As a result, Dake also competed at the Pan American Continental Championships on May 30. He claimed the crown after racking up 40 points against four opponents and going unscored, helping the USA reach all the 10 freestyle medals.


title: Kyle Dake

text: On August 5, Dake competed at the first date of the men's freestyle 74 kg event of the 2020 Summer Olympics as one of the favorites to claim the gold medal, even though his signature weight was 79 kg. After a 4–0 victory over Mostafa Hosseinkhani from Iran, Dake was defeated by Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov from Belarus, losing by technical fall for the first time since 2015 and not being able to score a point on an opponent since 2013, as well as snapping a former 49-match win streak. After the stunning loss, Dake battled and rallied for the bronze medal defeating Geandry Garzón from Cuba and Frank Chamizo.


title: Kyle Dake

text: As an Olympic medalist, Dake earned the right to automatically represent the United States at the 2021 World Championships without having to compete domestically to make the US World Team, and did so from October 2 to 3. After a quick first day to make the finals, Dake got his redemption after defeating Tajmuraz Salkazanov to claim his third straight World Championship, and his first at 74 kilograms.


title: Kyle Dake

text: In his first competition of the year, Dake defended his Pan American Championship on May 8, beating Franklin Gómez.


title: Kyle Dake

text: On September 17, at the World Championships in Belgrade, Dake won his second straight world championship at 74kg, and fourth overall. In the finals, Dake defeated Tajmuraz Salkazanov of Slovakia 3-2.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a series of clashes between mainly black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London, between 10 and 12 April 1981. It resulted from racist discrimination against the black community by the mainly white police, especially the police's increased use of stop-and-search in the area, and ongoing tensions resulting from the deaths of 13 black teenagers and young adults in the suspicious New Cross house fire that January. The main riot on 11 April, dubbed "Bloody Saturday" by "Time" magazine, resulted in 279 injuries to police and 45 injuries to members of the public; over a hundred vehicles were burned, including 56 police vehicles; almost 150 buildings were damaged, thirty of which were burnt out, and many shops were looted. There were 82 arrests. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved. The Brixton riot was followed by similar riots in July in many other English cities and towns. The Thatcher government commissioned an inquiry, which resulted in the Scarman Report.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: Brixton in South London was an area with serious social and economic problems. The whole United Kingdom was affected by a recession by 1981, but the local African-Caribbean community was suffering particularly high unemployment, poor housing, and a higher-than-average crime rate.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: In the preceding months there had been growing unease between the police and the inhabitants of Lambeth, the Borough of London in which Brixton is located. On 18 January 1981, thirteen black youths died in a fire during a house party in New Cross, in the nearby Borough of Lewisham. Although authorities stated that the fire started inside and was accidental, the public believed it was an arson attack and criticised the police investigation as inadequate. Black activists, including Darcus Howe, organised a march for the "Black People's Day of Action" on 2 March. Accounts of turnout vary from 5,000 to 20,000 to 25,000. The marchers walked 17 miles from Deptford to Hyde Park, passing the Houses of Parliament and Fleet Street. While the majority of the march finished in Hyde Park without incident, there was some confrontation with police at Blackfriars. According to Professor Les Back, "while the local press reported the march respectfully, the national papers unloaded the full weight of racial stereotyping." "The Evening Standard"s front-page headline had displayed a photo of a policeman with a bloody face juxtaposed with Darcus Howe's quote about the march being "A good day". A few weeks later, the police arrested some of the march organizers and charged them with the offence of riot, but they were later acquitted.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: In 1980, the number of crimes recorded in the Lambeth borough was 30,805, with 10,626 of those taking place in the Brixton Division. Between 1976 and 1980, Brixton accounted for 35% of all crimes in the Borough, but 49% of all robbery and violent theft offences. The police recognised the rising crime: at the beginning of April, the Metropolitan Police began "Operation Swamp 81", a plainclothes operation to reduce crime (named after prime minister Margaret Thatcher's 1978 assertion that the UK "might be rather swamped by people of a different culture"), and uniformed patrols were increased in the area. Officers from other Metropolitan police districts and the Special Patrol Group were dispatched into Brixton, and within five days, 943 people were stopped and searched, with 82 arrested, through the heavy use of what was colloquially known as the "Sus law." This referred to powers under the Vagrancy Act 1824, which allowed police to search and arrest members of the public when it was believed that they were acting suspiciously, and not necessarily committing a crime. The African-Caribbean community accused the police of disproportionately using these powers against black people.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: Public disfavour came to a head on Friday 10 April. At around 5:15pm a police constable spotted a black youth named Michael Bailey running towards him, apparently away from three other black youths. Bailey was stopped and found to be badly bleeding, but broke away from the constable. Stopped again on Atlantic Road, Bailey was found to have a four-inch stab wound. He ran into a flat and was helped by a family and the police constable there by putting kitchen roll on his wound. A crowd gathered and, as the police then tried to take the wounded boy to a waiting minicab on Railton Road, the crowd tried to intervene thinking the police did not appear to be providing or seeking the medical help Bailey needed quickly enough. As the minicab pulled away at speed a police car arrived and stopped the cab. When an officer from the police car realised Bailey was wounded he moved him into the back of the police car to take him to hospital more quickly, and bound his wound more tightly to stop the bleeding. A group of 50 youths began to shout for Bailey's release, thinking the police were arresting him. "Look, they’re killing him," claimed one. The crowd descended on the police car and pulled him out.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: Rumours spread that a youth had been left to die by the police, or that the police looked on as the stabbed youth was lying on the street. More than 200 youths, black and white with predominantly Afro-Caribbean heritage, reportedly turned on the police. In response, the police decided to increase the number of foot patrols in Railton Road, despite the tensions, and carry on with "Operation Swamp 81" throughout the night and into the following day.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: It was believed by the local community that the stabbed youth died as a result of police brutality, fuelling tensions throughout the day as crowds slowly gathered. Tensions first erupted around 4pm, as two police officers stopped and searched a mini cab in Railton Road. By this time Brixton Road (Brixton High Street) was reportedly filled with angry people and police cars were pelted with bricks. At around 5pm the tension escalated and spread, and the 9pm BBC News bulletin that evening reported 46 police officers injured, five seriously. Shops were looted on Railton Road, Mayall Road, Leeson Road, Acre Lane and Brixton Road. The looting in Brixton reportedly started at around 6pm. At 6.15pm the fire brigade received their first call, as a police van was set on fire by rioters in Railton Road, with the fire brigade being warned "riot in progress". As the fire brigade approached the police cordon, they were waved through without warning, driving down Railton Road towards 300 youths armed with bottles and bricks. The fire brigade met the crowd at the junction between Railton Road and Shakespeare Road and were attacked with stones and bottles.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: The police put out emergency calls to police officers across London, asking for assistance. They had no strategy, and only had inadequate helmets and non-fireproof plastic shields to protect themselves with while clearing the streets of rioters. The police reportedly also had difficulties in radio communication. The police proceeded in clearing the Atlantic-Railton-Mayall area by pushing the rioters down the road, forming deep shield walls. The rioters responded with bricks, bottles, and petrol bombs.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: At 5.30pm the violence further escalated. Non-rioting members of the public attempted to mediate between the police and the rioters, calling for a de-escalation by withdrawing police out of the area. The destructive efforts of the rioters peaked at around 8pm, as those attempts at mediation failed. Two pubs, 26 businesses, schools and other structures were set alight in the riots.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: By 9.30pm, over 1,000 police were dispatched into Brixton, squeezing out the rioters. By 1am on 12 April 1981, the area was largely subdued, with no large groups – except the police – on the streets. The fire brigade refused to return until the following morning. Police numbers grew to over 2,500, and by the early hours of Sunday morning the rioting had fizzled out.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: During the disturbances, 299 police were injured, along with at least 65 members of the public. 61 private vehicles and 56 police vehicles were destroyed. 28 premises were burned and another 117 damaged and looted. 82 arrests were made.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: Between 3 and 11 July of that year, there was more unrest fuelled by racial and social discord, at Handsworth in Birmingham, Southall in London, Toxteth in Liverpool, Hyson Green in Nottingham and Moss Side in Manchester. There were also smaller pockets of unrest in Leeds, Leicester, Southampton, Halifax, Bedford, Gloucester, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Bristol, and Edinburgh. Racial tension played a major part in most of these disturbances, although all of the riots took place in areas hit particularly hard by unemployment and recession.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: The Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, commissioned a public inquiry into the riot headed by Lord Scarman. The Scarman report was published on 25 November 1981.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: Scarman found unquestionable evidence of the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of 'stop and search' powers by the police against black people. As a consequence, a new code for police behaviour was put forward in the "Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984"; and the act also created an independent Police Complaints Authority, established in 1985, to attempt to restore public confidence in the police. Scarman concluded that "complex political, social and economic factors [created a] disposition towards violent protest".


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: The 1999 Macpherson Report, an investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the failure of the police to establish sufficient evidence for the prosecution of the charged suspects, found that recommendations of the 1981 Scarman Report had been ignored. The report concluded that the police force was "institutionally racist". This report, which did not cover the events of the Brixton Riots, disagreed with the conclusions made by Scarman.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: On 25 March 2011, BBC Radio 4 broadcast "The Reunion", a programme featuring reminiscences by participants, including police and black Brixton residents.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: On 13 April, Margaret Thatcher dismissed the notion that unemployment and racism lay beneath the Brixton disturbances claiming "Nothing, but nothing, justifies what happened." Overall unemployment in Brixton stood at 13 percent, with 25.4 percent for ethnic minorities. Unemployment among black youths was estimated at 55 percent. Rejecting increased investment in Britain's inner cities, Thatcher added, "Money cannot buy either trust or racial harmony." Lambeth London Borough Council leader, Ted Knight, complained that the police presence "amounted to an army of occupation" that provoked the riots; Thatcher responded, "What absolute nonsense and what an appalling remark ... No one should condone violence. No one should condone the events ... They were criminal, criminal."


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: Small-scale disturbances continued to simmer throughout the summer. After four nights of rioting in Liverpool during the Toxteth riots, beginning 4 July, there were 150 buildings burnt and 781 police officers injured. CS gas was deployed for the first time on the British mainland to quell the rioting. On 10 July, there was fresh rioting in Brixton. It was not until the end of July that the disturbances began to subside.


title: 1981 Brixton riot

text: The recommendations of the Scarman Report to tackle the problems of racial disadvantage and inner-city decline were not implemented. Rioting would break out again in the 1985 and 1995 Brixton riots.


title: Wyrmwood

text: Wyrmwood (also known as Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead) is a 2014 Australian action-horror film directed by Kiah Roache-Turner and starring Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Keith Agius, Berynn Schwerdt and Luke McKenzie. The screenplay concerns a mechanic who finds himself faced with zombie hordes. Roache-Turner's directorial debut, it had its world premiere on 19 September 2014 at Fantastic Fest.


title: Wyrmwood

text: Mechanic Barry lives in the Australian outback with his wife Annie and daughter Meganne. During a meteor shower, Barry's sister Brooke is attacked in her Bulla, Victoria studio by her model and her assistant, who have suddenly become zombies. She calls Barry and warns him to get out of the city. He, Annie, and Meganne don gas masks and fight their way to the family car. When Meganne and Annie remove their gas masks they become infected and zombify, and Barry is forced to kill them with a nailgun. He runs out of nails before he can kill himself.


title: Wyrmwood

text: Chalker, another survivor, finds Barry and knocks him unconscious when Barry attempts to kill himself with Chalker's gun. Barry asks Chalker to take him to Brooke's studio, unaware that a paramilitary group has taken her captive in the back of a truck that serves as a mobile lab for mad scientist Doc. While Doc experiments on the zombies and Brooke, Chalker's truck stops working. Chalker and Barry continue on foot, and Benny, another survivor, mistakenly kills Chalker. Benny, who previously had to kill his infected brother, and Barry team up and come upon a garage staffed by Frank and his assistant. Frank explains that all flammable liquids have become useless. However, the group accidentally discovers zombie breath and blood are flammable, and they devise a zombie-powered engine. During their escape, Frank's assistant becomes infected and is used as fuel.


title: Wyrmwood

text: Barry, Benny, and Frank discover zombies stop breathing flammable gas at night, enabling them to run faster. As they hole up in the truck overnight, Frank says he believes the zombies resulted from the meteor shower; as told in the Bible, a star called Wyrmwood has fallen, making part of the world bitter. After waking up from a nightmare, Barry catches a zombie on fire and accidentally sets the truck's compressor alight. While putting out the fire, Frank is bitten and asks Barry to shoot him; Barry does. The next day, Barry and Benny encounter paramilitaries in an electric-powered truck. The two drivers, after revealing that those with an A negative blood type are not affected by the disease, offer to lead Barry and Benny to Brooke, who they claim is in custody nearby. Meanwhile, Brooke learns she can now telepathically control zombies as a result of the experiments. With the help of several zombies, she kills Doc, escapes the truck, and joins Barry and Benny.


title: Wyrmwood

text: Barry's truck stalls after the soldiers accidentally kill the zombie powering it. While taking a pit stop for Brooke to fetch them a zombie, Benny is shot in the stomach. When they later pull over to take care of Benny, the soldiers catch up and subdue them. The soldiers reveal their plan is to decapitate Brooke and take her head to their commanding officer. Barry plans to kill them all in an explosion, but Benny instead sacrifices himself to turn into a zombie so Brooke can control him to overpower the soldiers. He kills two of the three soldiers, but the captain kills him and shoots Brooke in the chest. Barry challenges him to a fistfight but ends up shot when the captain retrieves his pistol. After shooting a zombie, the captain's face is splattered with zombie blood, and Barry ignites his head with the matches. Before Barry can shoot him, Brooke rises and commands a horde of zombies to eat the captain alive.


title: Wyrmwood

text: Barry and Brooke, back on the road, come across the lab truck again. They ask the soldiers what they have in the back of the truck; when they refuse to answer, Brooke commands a new group of zombies to attack them and tear them apart.


title: Wyrmwood

text: The film premiered as "Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead" on 19 September 2014 as part of the Fantastic Fest. The limited theatre release was on 12 February 2015, It was originally supposed to have a one night only theatrical release in Australia, opening on 74 screens, but an overwhelming response and sold out sessions across the country saw its run being extended for weeks in some cinemas. It was followed by a Video on Demand release, over IFC Midnight on 13 February 2015.


title: Wyrmwood

text: The film review website Metacritic surveyed and assessed 5 reviews as positive, 3 as mixed, and 1 as negative. It gave an weighed average score of 54 out of 100, which it said indicated "mixed or average reviews". The similar website Rotten Tomatoes surveyed and, categorizing the reviews as positive or negative, assessed 31 as positive and 37as negative. Of the , it determined an average rating of 6.3 out of 10. It gave the film a score of 82% and summarized the critical consensus, "Rough around the edges but inspired at its core, "Wyrmwood" is a giddy variation on the zombie genre that will sate gore hounds' appetite for mayhem."


title: Wyrmwood

text: "Twitch Film" and "The Hollywood Reporter" both praised the film, and "Twitch Film" commented that the film's script is original. "Variety" also commented upon this element, as they enjoyed the character of Brooke "being injected with a chemical concoction that somehow gives her the ability to control the hungry hordes" and that "other nifty little touches, such as Frank and Barry’s discovery that zombie blood can be used as a substitute for gasoline, Brooke’s psychic powers bring something fresh to a horror subgenre that’s received a particularly heavy flogging in recent years." "Shock Till You Drop" also gave a favorable review, stating that they found it to be an "impressive feature debut". IGN awarded it 7.5 out of 10, saying "Wyrmwood may tread familiar ground, but it's still a bloody good time."


title: Wyrmwood

text: "Wyrmwood" was reviewed in "The West Australian": "with clear inspirations in "Dawn of the Dead", "The Evil Dead", "Bad Taste", "Re-Animator" and ... "Mad Max", from its Gothic-looking helmets, masks and weapons to its retro-fitted vehicles, "Wyrmwood" looks and plays a lot better than its $160,000 budget suggests."


title: Wyrmwood

text: In February 2015, a plan for a sequel was announced, with a potential return of the original actors Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Luke McKenzie, and Yure Covich. The release was proposed for early 2017, after the release of a “mental ghost" film, from Kiah & Tristan Roache-Turner.


title: Wyrmwood

text: The Roache-Turner brothers later announced that, due to the positive response to the film, their next project would in fact be the Wyrmwood sequel, in the form of a 10-episode TV series titled Wyrmwood: Chronicles of the Dead. The team released a short teaser for the series on 19 May 2017, featuring Gallagher and Bradey reprising their roles as Barry and Brooke. The brothers are also working on a sci-fi horror film, "Nekromancer", as they develop the series.


title: Wyrmwood

text: In August 2020, funding was announced for a sequel titled Wyrmwood Apocalypse. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this film follows soldier Rhys on an arc of redemption as he turns against his evil bosses to join forces with a group of rebel survivors. Together they help save a little girl’s sister from death at the hands of the military.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is a 1999 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Gary Halvorson in his feature film debut. This was the second film to be based on the children's television series "Sesame Street", after "" (1985). It stars Mandy Patinkin and Vanessa Williams alongside Muppet performers Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, and Steve Whitmire.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: Produced by Jim Henson Pictures and Children's Television Workshop, the film was released by Columbia Pictures on October 1, 1999. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a box office bomb, grossing $12 million against a budget of more than $26 million.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: The film was one of the few "Sesame Street" productions directly produced by The Jim Henson Company. Alongside "Muppets from Space" (which was released the same year), this was the final Muppet feature film to involve Oz, who retired from being a full-time puppeteer the following year. This was also the final theatrical Muppet film to feature Caroll Spinney before his retirement in 2018 and his death in 2019, and the final "Sesame Street" film to feature Emilio Delgado and Bob McGrath before their deaths in 2022.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: One day Elmo plays with his blanket in his bedroom. He spills orange juice on his blanket and takes it to the laundromat where he runs into his friend Zoe. Zoe wants to hold the blanket, but Elmo doesn’t consent to sharing it, resulting in a tug of war that causes it to rip. Telly Monster, rollerskating out of control, comes and accidentally swipes the blanket leading to a chase around Sesame Street. Cookie Monster has a plate of cookies, and Telly crashes into him. Grover hears the chaos and turns into Super Grover. The blanket falls into the hands of Oscar the Grouch, who sneezes on it and drops it in his trash can, and Elmo, Grover, and Telly crash into one another. Elmo dives into the bottom of Oscar's trash can, where he finds his blanket snagged on a door.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: Attempting to retrieve it, he and his blanket are then teleported through a colorful swirling tunnel to Grouchland, a city filled with Grouches, trash, and Huxley, a greedy man who loves to steal anything he comes across, including Elmo's blanket. A kind Grouch girl named Grizzy tells Elmo that his blanket is in Huxley's castle at the top of the faraway Mount Pickanose. A plant named Stuckweed encourages Elmo that he will make it if he just takes his first step, so Elmo sets out on a quest to retrieve his blanket.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: With Oscar the Grouch's help, the Sesame Street residents go to Grouchland to find Elmo, but when they encounter a Grouch police officer for help, they end up arrested as they are informed that it is against the law to ask for help in Grouchland.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: Huxley has his sidekick, Bug the bug and his minions, the Pesties, trap Elmo in a tunnel. Elmo gets out with the help of fireflies. Huxley then has Bug and the Pesties misdirect Elmo into a garbage dump where he is brought before the Queen of Trash for trespassing. The Queen tests him, requesting that he blows 100 raspberries for her in 30 seconds. Elmo succeeds with some help from the audience and the Queen allows him to pass through. Huxley sends in a huge pet chicken to stop Elmo, who tosses Elmo far away. Elmo decides to give up on retrieving his blanket for the night. Meanwhile, Grizzy sneaks into the jail where she informs Elmo's friends that he has gone to Huxley's castle. After admitting that Elmo is his friend, Oscar convinces all the Grouches to cooperate, since it is the only way they can stop Huxley from stealing any more of their trash. The police officer releases the Sesame Street residents so they and the Grouches can go to Huxley's castle to fight for their trash and rescue Elmo.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: Early the next morning, a caterpillar wakes Elmo up and convinces him that he has what it takes to be brave. Elmo then arrives at Huxley's castle and rescues his blanket as Huxley sends the Pesties to stop him. Elmo falls into a basket as Huxley decides to make him and his blanket both his property by using a claw to put them on his conveyor stamper. The Sesame Street and Grouchland citizens arrive and the Pesties flee in panic. Huxley tries to escape with Elmo's blanket, only to have Elmo's blanket sucked up with the vacuum cleaner nozzle on his helicopter. Elmo launches a basket over Huxley's shoulders, incapacitating him. Bug is revealed to be at the controls of the helicopter, and refuses Huxley's demand for the blanket, instead returning it to Elmo. Elmo returns to Sesame Street with his friends, where he apologizes to Zoe and allows her to hold his blanket. She accepts his apology, agreeing that they can resume their friendship. Elmo says goodbye to the audience, thanking them for helping.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: Throughout the movie, Bert and Ernie serve as hosts, and interrupt the film at certain points to explain things to the audience.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: Additional characters performed by: Drew Allison, Bruce Lanoil, Bill Barretta, Bob Lynch, John Boone, Ed May, R. Lee Bryan, Tim Parati, Leslie Carrara, Annie Peterle, Lisa Consolo, Andy Stone, Jodi Eichelberger, Lisa Sturz, Rowell Gormon, Kirk Thatcher, Mary Harrison, Matt Vogel, Rob Killen and Matt Yates


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: All the puppeteers who performed the primary "Sesame Street" characters (such as Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson, Caroll Spinney and Fran Brill) were called to Wilmington, North Carolina for the table read on May 19, 1998. The regular puppets were used for the normal Sesame Street characters, and puppets for assorted Grouches (including Grizzy) were designed and built by Mark Zezsotek. Paul Andrejco, Muppet designer for "Bear in the Big Blue House", also designed Humungous Chicken. Sonia Manzano reprised her role as Maria and Roscoe Orman reprised his role as Gordon. Vanessa Williams was cast as the Queen of Trash and the hairstylist colored her hair green for the role. Mandy Patinkin was a last-minute replacement for the original actor hired to play Huxley. For the role, the makeup artist designed false eyebrows for Patinkin to wear to make him seem like he had bushier eyebrows than normal.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: The film was shot over a 30-day period (starting May 26, 1998) at the EUE/Screen Gems studio in Wilmington. The set was raised so that puppeteers would be able to stand up instead of squatting below street level like usual. Filming wrapped and visual effects by D.Rez were added during the following month, and the Ernie and Bert scenes were later shot in New York in 1999, with Matt Vogel assisting Steve Whitmire in performing Ernie and Eric Jacobson assisting Frank Oz with Bert.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: The film has a rating of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 6.72/10. The film's consensus states, "This fun and moral tale entertains both first-time "Sesame Street" watchers and seasoned veterans." On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film holds a 59/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland" was the only family film playing in most theaters at the time of its release. Sony had planned a scaled-back release, making it difficult to make its money back. The film opened at No. 8 with a weekend gross of $3,255,033 from 1,210 theaters, averaging $2,690 per venue. In total, "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland" earned back less than half its $26 million budget, grossing $11,683,047 during its two-and-a-half-month theatrical run. It is currently the lowest-grossing Muppet film to date.


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: On December 21, 1999, the film was released on VHS and DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 2007, the film was released as part of a double feature with "Thomas and the Magic Railroad".


title: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

text: The film inspired a trilogy of children's books, published in 1999: "Happy Grouchy Day," "The Grouchiest Lovey," and "Unwelcome to Grouchland". The book series was written by Suzanne Weyn and illustrated by Tom Brannon.


title: Eric Scott (actor)

text: Eric Scott (born Eric Scott Magat; October 20, 1958, in Los Angeles, California, United States) is an American actor whose best known role is as Ben Walton, which he first played in the television film "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story" (1971), and in the series it inspired, "The Waltons".


title: Eric Scott (actor)

text: He was briefly married to actress Karey Louis. His second marriage was to Theresa Fargo, the mother of his daughter Ashley, until her death from acute myelomonocytic leukemia on November 5, 1992, not long after Ashley's birth. She had developed the disease during her pregnancy.


title: Eric Scott (actor)

text: In March 2000, Scott married Cynthia (Cindy) Ullman Wolfen. They have a daughter, Emma, born in 2001, and a son, Jeremy, who was born in 2004.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: The eighth and final season of the American television series "Arrow" premiered on The CW on October 15, 2019, and concluded on January 28, 2020, with a total of ten episodes. The series is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, a costumed vigilante created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, and is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with other Arrowverse television series and associated media. Executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Beth Schwartz returned as co-showrunners for this season.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: Stephen Amell stars as Oliver Queen, with principal cast members David Ramsey as John Diggle, Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez, Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake and Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance also returning from previous seasons. Katherine McNamara, Ben Lewis, and Joseph David-Jones, who previously recurred as the adult versions of Mia Smoak, William Clayton and Connor Hawke, were all promoted to starring status, as was LaMonica Garrett, who stars across multiple Arrowverse shows as the Monitor. Former series regulars Emily Bett Rickards, Colin Donnell, Susanna Thompson, Paul Blackthorne, Colton Haynes, John Barrowman, Willa Holland, Echo Kellum, Sea Shimooka and Josh Segarra all returned as guests.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: The series follows Oliver Queen, who claimed to have spent five years shipwrecked on Lian Yu, an island in the North China Sea, before returning home to Starling City (later renamed "Star City") to fight crime and corruption as a secret vigilante whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. This season follows Oliver as he fights in a battle that will have the multiverse hanging in the balance.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: The series was renewed for an eighth and final season on January 31, 2019, and filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 2019. The eighth episode features the sixth annual Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths", with TV series "Supergirl", "Batwoman", "The Flash" and "Legends of Tomorrow" also taking part. The ninth episode was set as a backdoor pilot to the later-scrapped spin-off titled "Green Arrow and the Canaries" which takes place in the year 2040.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: On January 31, 2019, The CW renewed "Arrow" for an eighth season. On March 6, 2019, it was announced that it would be the final season of the series, with an abbreviated ten-episode order. Stephen Amell, who stars as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, had approached series co-creator Greg Berlanti towards the end of the sixth season about "mov[ing] on" following the expiration of his contract at the end of the seventh season. He had hoped that the series could continue without him, but Berlanti and showrunners Marc Guggenheim and Beth Schwartz decided to conclude the series with a shortened eighth season, which Amell agreed to.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: Berlanti, Guggenheim and Schwartz released a press statement saying, "This was a difficult decision to come to, but like every hard decision we’ve made for the past seven years, it was with the best interests of "Arrow" in mind [...] We're heartened by the fact that "Arrow" has birthed an entire universe of shows that will continue on for many years to come. We're excited about crafting a conclusion that honors the show, its characters and its legacy and are grateful to all the writers, producers, actors, and – more importantly – the incredible crew that has sustained us and the show for over seven years."


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con ahead of the season premiere, Guggenheim commented on the difficulty of approaching the final season without Emily Bett Rickards, who made the decision to step away from her role as Felicity Smoak at the end of the seventh season. He stated that "for the longest time, I've been saying you can't do the show without Emily Rickards. And I think, if the show – if the conversations had been, 'we'll do 22 episodes without Emily,' I would've said, 'you can't do that'", and that the shorter ten-episode run, combined with the crossover, made the prospect feel "a little more realistic".


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: As with the seventh season of "Arrow", the eighth season makes extensive use of flashforwards. Stephen Amell revealed that, unlike the serialized approach of previous seasons, this one would follow a more episodic approach due to the limited number of episodes. Katie Cassidy, who plays Laurel Lance, supported Amell's claim, saying each episode would feel like a "miniature movie". The penultimate episode, which serves as a backdoor pilot to "Green Arrow and the Canaries" was originally intended to be titled after the Bruce Springsteen song "Livin' in the Future", continuing the series' tradition of having the penultimate episode of every season titled after a Springsteen song. Because the studio mandated that the backdoor pilot be titled after the planned spin-off series, the writers were forced to scrap the original title.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: Main cast members Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Rick Gonzalez, Juliana Harkavy and Katie Cassidy returned as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow, John Diggle, Rene Ramirez, Dinah Drake and Earth-2's Laurel Lance respectively. Following the announcement that she would be leaving the series at the end of its seventh season, this was the first and only season not to feature Emily Bett Rickards, who portrayed Felicity Smoak, as either a recurring or main cast member, although the producers left open the possibility of her making a guest appearance in the final season. Rickards appears as Felicity through archive footage in the episodes "Welcome to Hong Kong" and "Green Arrow & The Canaries". In November 2019, Amell confirmed that Rickards would return for the series finale.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: In June 2019, Joseph David-Jones, who recurred in the seventh season as the adult version of Connor Hawke, was promoted to the main cast, and that July Katherine McNamara and Ben Lewis were also promoted to regular status in their roles as the adult versions of Mia Smoak and William Clayton respectively. It was also announced that former series regulars Colin Donnell, Josh Segarra, John Barrowman and Susanna Thompson would reprise their roles as Tommy Merlyn, Adrian Chase, Malcolm Merlyn and Moira Queen in a guest capacity. In August, it was announced that Colton Haynes, who portrayed Roy Harper as a series regular in the seventh season, would not return with the same status, though Schwartz stated that she hoped to have him back in some capacity. Haynes said he did not exit the season, but that he was "not asked to come back for the final season as a series regular", and added that Roy is "never gone for too long". In September, it was announced that Willa Holland would return as Thea Queen in a recurring role, after departing as a regular in the sixth season and returning as a guest star in the seventh. In the same month, Charlie Barnett was cast in the role of the adult version of John Diggle Jr. In October, it was announced that Haynes would appear in the season in a recurring role. In November, it was announced that Paul Blackthorne would return as Quentin Lance in a recurring role, after departing as a regular in the sixth season and returning as a guest star in the seventh.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: In July 2019, a new Green Arrow costume was unveiled on the "Entertainment Weekly" magazine cover. A new Spartan costume was revealed by Guggenheim and a new Black Canary costume was revealed in the season's first trailer.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: Filming began on July 11, 2019, and lasted until November 13. The season's third episode, "Leap of Faith", marks Cassidy's directorial debut. On October 21, filming for the ninth episode, the backdoor pilot for "Green Arrow and the Canaries", began.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: In December 2018, during the end of that year's Arrowverse crossover "Elseworlds", a follow-up crossover – titled "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and based on the comic book series of the same name – was announced. The crossover took place over five episodes – three in December 2019, and two (including the "Arrow" episode) in January 2020.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: The season premiered on October 15, 2019, in the United States on The CW. Additionally, The CW aired a retrospective special titled "Hitting the Bullseye" which preceded the series finale.


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: The season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 28, 2020 with special features including the show's 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel, the special "Hitting the Bullseye" and all five episodes of the sixth annual Arrowverse crossover event, "Crisis on Infinite Earths".


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 95% approval rating for the eighth season, with an average rating of 7.5/10 based on 125 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, "Oliver Queen's final adventure hits emotional peaks while spearheading the game-changing 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', giving the Emerald Archer a rousing sendoff."


title: Arrow (season 8)

text: Katie Cassidy's portrayal of Earth-2 Laurel Lance was praised by critics, with TVLine calling her development "one of "the" most enjoyable aspects of "Arrow"‘s 10-episode farewell run". Cassidy additionally received an honorable mention on TVLine's Performer of the Week for her performance on "Welcome to Hong Kong".


title: Yvonne Zima

text: Yvonne Zima (born January 16, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Daisy Carter on "The Young and the Restless".


title: Yvonne Zima

text: Zima was born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, the daughter of Dennis and Marie. Her surname means "winter" in Polish and comes from her maternal grandfather, who was of Polish descent.


title: Yvonne Zima

text: Zima's breakthrough role was as Caitlin, the daughter of Geena Davis' character, in the film "The Long Kiss Goodnight" (1996). She also played Rachel Greene on "ER" from 1994–2000. Zima played Daisy on "The Young and the Restless" on and off between 2009 and 2012.


title: Paros

text: Paros (; ; Venetian: "Paro") is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets totaling of land. Its nearest neighbor is the municipality of Antiparos, which lies to its southwest. In ancient Greece, the city-state of Paros was located on the island.


title: Paros

text: Historically, Paros was known for its fine white marble, which gave rise to the term "Parian" to describe marble or china of similar qualities. Today, abandoned marble quarries and mines can be found on the island, but Paros is primarily known as a popular tourist spot.


title: Paros

text: Paros' geographic co-ordinates are 37° N. latitude, and 25° 10' E. longitude. The area is . Its greatest length from N.E. to S.W. is , and its greatest breadth . The island is of a round, plump-pear shape, formed by a single mountain () sloping evenly down on all sides to a maritime plain, which is broadest on the north-east and south-west sides. The island is composed of marble, though gneiss and mica-schist are to be found in a few places. To the west of Paros lies its smaller sister island Antiparos. At its narrowest, the channel between the two islands is less than wide. A car-carrying shuttle-ferry operates all day (to and from Pounda, south of Parikia). In addition a dozen smaller islets surround Paros.


title: Paros

text: Paros has numerous beaches including Golden Beach (Chrissí Aktí) near Drios on the east coast, at Pounda, Logaras, Piso Livadi, Naousa Bay, Parikia and Agia Irini. The constant strong wind in the strait between Paros and Naxos makes it a favoured windsurfing location.


title: Paros

text: The story that Paros of Parrhasia colonized the island with Arcadians is an etymological fiction of the type that abounds in Greek legends. Ancient names of the island are said to have been Plateia (or Pactia), Demetrias, Strongyle (meaning round, due to the round shape of the island), Hyria, Hyleessa, Minoa and Cabarnis.


title: Paros

text: The island later received from Athens a colony of Ionians under whom it attained a high degree of prosperity. It sent out colonies to Thasos and Parium on the Hellespont. In the former colony, which was planned in the 15th or 18th Olympiad, the poet Archilochus, a native of Paros, is said to have taken part. As late as 385 BC the Parians, in conjunction with Dionysius of Syracuse, founded a colony on the Illyrian island of Pharos (Hvar).


title: Paros

text: Shortly before the Persian War, Paros seems to have been a dependency of Naxos. In the first Greco-Persian War (490 BC), Paros sided with the Persians and sent a trireme to Marathon to support them. In retaliation, the capital was besieged by an Athenian fleet under Miltiades, who demanded a fine of 100 talents. But the town offered a vigorous resistance, and the Athenians were obliged to sail away after a siege of 26 days, during which they had wasted the island. It was at a temple of Demeter Thesmophoros in Paros that Miltiades received the wound from which he died. By means of an inscription, Ross was able to identify the site of the temple; it lies, as Herodotus suggests, on a low hill beyond the boundary of the town.


title: Paros

text: Paros also sided with shahanshah Xerxes I of Persia against Greece in the second Greco-Persian War (480–479 BC), but, after the battle of Artemisium, the Parian contingent remained inactive at Kythnos as they watched the progression of events. For their support of the Persians, the islanders were later punished by the Athenian war leader Themistocles, who exacted a heavy fine.


title: Paros

text: Under the Delian League, the Athenian-dominated naval confederacy (477–404 BC), Paros paid the highest tribute of the island members: 30 "talents" annually, according to the estimate of Olympiodorus (429 BC). This implies that Paros was one of the wealthiest islands in the Aegean. Little is known about the constitution of Paros, but inscriptions seem to show that it was modeled on the Athenian democracy, with a "boule" (senate) at the head of affairs. In 410 BC, Athenian general Theramenes discovered that Paros was governed by an oligarchy; he deposed the oligarchy and restored the democracy. Paros was included in the second Athenian confederacy (the Second Athenian League 378–355 BC). In c. 357 BC, along with Chios, it severed its connection with Athens.


title: Paros

text: From the inscription of Adule, it is understood that the Cyclades, which are presumed to include Paros, were subjected to the Ptolemies, the Hellenistic dynasty (305–30 BC) that ruled Egypt. Paros then became part of the Roman Empire and later of the Byzantine Empire, its Greek-speaking successor state.


title: Paros

text: In 1204, the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade seized Constantinople and overthrew the Byzantine Empire. Although a residual Byzantine state known as the Empire of Nicaea survived the Crusader onslaught and eventually recovered Constantinople (1261), many of the original Byzantine territories, including Paros, were lost permanently to the crusading powers. Paros became subject to the Duchy of the Archipelago, a fiefdom made up of various Aegean islands ruled by a Venetian duke as nominal vassal of a succession of crusader states. In practice, however, the duchy was always a client state of the Republic of Venice.


title: Paros

text: In 1537, Paros was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and remained under the Ottoman Empire until the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829). During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) in 1770–1775 Naoussa Bay was the home base for the Russian Archipelago Squadron of Count Alexey Orlov. Under the Treaty of Constantinople (1832), Paros became part of the newly independent Kingdom of Greece, the first time the Parians had been ruled by fellow Greeks for over six centuries. At this time, Paros became the home of a heroine of the nationalist movement, Manto Mavrogenous, who had both financed and fought in the war for independence. Her house, near Ekatontapiliani church, is today a historical monument.


title: Paros

text: On 26 September 2000 the ferry MS Express Samina collided with the Portes islets off the bay of Parikia, killing 82 of those on board.


title: Paros

text: The capital, Parikia (Greek: παροικία), situated on a bay on the north-west side of the island, occupies the site of the ancient capital Paros. Parikía harbour is a major hub for Aegean islands ferries and catamarans, with several sailings each day for Piraeus, the port of Athens, Heraklion, the capital of Crete, and other islands such as Naxos, Ios, Mykonos, and Santorini.


title: Paros

text: In Parikia town, houses are built and decorated in the traditional Cycladic style, with flat roofs, whitewash walls and blue-painted doors and window frames and shutters. Shadowed by luxuriant vines, and surrounded by gardens of oranges and pomegranates, the houses give the town a picturesque aspect. Above the central stretch of the seafront road, are the remains of a medieval castle, built almost entirely of the marble remains of an ancient temple dedicated to Apollo. Similar traces of antiquity, in the shape of bas-reliefs, inscriptions, columns, and so on, are numerous. On a hillside in the southern outskirts of Parikia on the left of the Parikia – Alyki road are the remains of a temple dedicated to Asclepius. In addition, close to the modern harbour, the remains of an ancient cemetery are visible, having been discovered recently during non-archaeological excavations.


title: Paros

text: Back from the port, around 400 m left of Parikia's main square, is the town's principal church, the Panagia Ekatontapiliani, literally meaning "church of the hundred doors". Its oldest features almost certainly predate the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in 391. It is said to have been founded by the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337), Saint Helen, during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There are two adjoining chapels, one of very early form, and also a baptistery with a cruciform font.


title: Paros

text: The Archaeological Museum of Paros is located in Parikia town,a small but interesting museum housing some of the many finds from sites in Paros. The best pieces, however, are in the Athens National Archaeological Museum. The Paros museum contains a fragment of the Parian Chronicle, a remarkable chronology of ancient Greece. Inscribed in marble, its entries give time elapsed between key events from the most distant past (1500 BC) down to 264 BC.


title: Paros

text: On the north side of the island is the bay of Naoussa (Naussa, formerly Agoussa or Ausa), which provides a natural spacious harbor for boat traffic. In ancient times it was closed by a chain or boom. In modern times it is experiencing great touristic development.


title: Paros

text: Another popular harbor is that of Drios on the south-east side, where the Turkish fleet used to anchor on its annual voyage through the Aegean during the period of Ottoman rule over Paros (1537–1832).


title: Paros

text: The three villages of Prodromos (formerly Dragoulas), Marmara and Marpissa (formerly Tsipidos), situated on an open plain on the eastern side of the island, and rich in remains of antiquity, probably occupy the site of an ancient town. They are known together as the "villages of Kephalos" after the steep and lofty hill of Kephalos. On this hilltop stands the monastery of "Agios Antonios" (St. Anthony). Around it are the ruins of a medieval castle which belonged in the late Middle Ages to the Venetian noble family of the Venieri which fought a battle against the Turkish admiral Barbarossa in 1537.


title: Paros

text: Another settlement on the island Paros is Lefkes (Λεύκες). Lefkes is an inland mountain village away from Parikia. In the late 19th century, Lefkes was the center of the municipality of Iria which belonged to the Province of Naxos until 1912. The name of the municipality Iria was one of the ancient names of Paros. Lefkes was the capital of the municipality Iria which included the villages Angyria or Ageria, Aliki, Aneratzia, Vounia, Kamari, Campos, Langada, Maltes and Marathi. Iria became Lefkes Community following the law enforcement DNZ/1912 "On Municipalities". At that time, the village managed to achieve great economic development. In the 1970s many residents moved to Athens due to urbanization. However, the last few years, tourism presented to be a new source of income for the locals that led to the reconstruction of homes and landscaping to make it appealing as a tourist destination. Lefkes became part of the municipality of Paros in the Kapodistrias local government reform. In the latest census (2011) the population numbered 545 inhabitants.


title: Paros

text: Parian marble, which is white and translucent, with a coarse grain and a very beautiful texture, was the chief source of wealth for the island. The celebrated marble quarries lie on the northern side of the mountain anciently known as Marathi (afterwards Capresso), a little below a former convent of St Mina. The marble, which was exported from the 6th century BC onwards, was used by Praxiteles and other ancient Greek sculptors. It was obtained by means of subterranean quarries driven horizontally or at a descending angle into the rock. The marble thus quarried by lamplight was given the name of Lychnites, Lychneus (from "lychnos", a lamp), or Lygdos. Several of these tunnels are still to be seen. At the entrance to one of them is a bas-relief dedicated to Pan and the nymphs. Several attempts to work the marble have been made in modern times, but it has not been exported in any great quantities. The major part of the remaining white marble is now state-owned and, like its Pentelic counterpart, is only used for archaeological restorations.


title: Bastard (Tyler, the Creator mixtape)

text: Bastard is the debut mixtape by American rapper Tyler, the Creator. It was self-produced by Tyler, the Creator, and was first self-released on December 25, 2009. Due to its free online release and lack of retail availability, "Bastard" is commonly considered a mixtape, although Tyler himself refers to the project as his debut studio album. The mixtape was published on DatPiff.


title: Bastard (Tyler, the Creator mixtape)

text: The songs were written and recorded by Tyler from 2007 through 2009, and released on December 25, 2009. Tyler produced most of the album using FL Studio. "Bastard" features Tyler speaking to a character named Dr. TC, who acts as Tyler's therapist and guidance counselor. The title track contains Dr. TC hinting that Tyler's then-upcoming debut album, called "Goblin" (2011), will be an additional session with him, stating that there would be three sessions. Both songs "Odd Toddlers" and "Slow It Down" were previously released on "The Odd Future Tape" (2008). The chopped and screwed version (which was hosted by fellow rapper and label-mate Mike G) was released for free online. On December 25, 2010, one year after the album's initial release, Bastard was re-released with Brandun DeShay's verse on "Session" being replaced with a verse from Mike G, due to a dissension between Tyler and DeShay. The project is now made available on Odd Future's online music store, with DeShay's vocals returning to that same track. Tyler later announced intended plans on re-releasing "Bastard" in a remastered physical form through Odd Future Records. However, since this announcement, nothing has materialized.


title: Bastard (Tyler, the Creator mixtape)

text: "Bastard" received critical acclaim, and was ranked at number 32 on "Pitchfork"'s list of the Top 50 Albums of 2010, while the single "French!" was ranked at number 61 on Pitchfork Media's list of the Top 100 Tracks of 2010. The mixtape, alongside Tyler's debut studio album, "Goblin" (2011), caused controversy among members of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, which led to Theresa May, who was Home Secretary at the time, imposing a ban on Tyler from entering the country for three to five years. The ban was met with uproar, which was revisited when May became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Tyler and many of his fans believe the ban was racially motivated, with Tyler stating he felt he was being treated "like a terrorist", and that they did not like the fact that their children were idolizing a black man. The ban was lifted in May 2019.


title: Bastard (Tyler, the Creator mixtape)

text: In the album's title track, the first words Tyler says are cursing 2DOPEBOYZ, NahRight, and other blogs who Tyler viewed as snubbing him early in his career. After several attacks on different tracks in the following years, 2DOPEBOYZ founders Joel Zela and Meka Udoh addressed Tyler's comments in a February 17, 2011 post, claiming they weren't even aware of him as an artist until he started insulting them in interviews and on tracks. They said they never received music from Tyler or Odd Future and they would not work with him in the future, calling Tyler's outrage a marketing ploy.


title: Alveda King

text: Alveda Celeste King (born January 22, 1951) is an American activist, author, and former state representative for the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives.


title: Alveda King

text: She is a niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and daughter of civil rights activist A. D. King and his wife, Naomi Barber King. She is a Fox News Channel contributor. She once served as a senior fellow at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank. She is a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives and the founder of Alveda King Ministries.


title: Alveda King

text: Alveda King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the first of five children of A. D. King, the younger brother of Martin Luther King Jr., and his wife Naomi (Barber) King. King says her mother wanted to abort her so she could continue college, but her grandfather was able to persuade her to keep her child. When she was 12, her father became a leader of the Birmingham campaign while serving as pastor at the First Baptist Church of Ensley in Ensley near Birmingham, Alabama. Later that same year, King's house was bombed by opponents to the civil rights movement.


title: Alveda King

text: In 1969 her father, A. D. King, was found dead in the pool at his home. The cause of death was listed as an accidental drowning.


title: Alveda King

text: Martin Luther King Sr. wrote in his autobiography, "Alveda had been up the night before, she said, talking with her father and watching a television movie with him. He'd seemed unusually quiet . . . and not very interested in the film. But he had wanted to stay up and Alveda left him sitting in an easy chair, staring at the TV, when she went off to bed. . . . I had questions about A. D.'s death, and I still have them now. He was a good swimmer. Why did he drown? I don't know—I don't know that we will ever know what happened."


title: Alveda King

text: King studied journalism and sociology as an undergraduate and received a Master of Arts degree in business management from Central Michigan University. She received an honorary doctorate from Saint Anselm College and a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Theology from Aidan University.


title: Alveda King

text: From 1979 to 1982, King represented the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives. The district included Fulton County, and King served as a Democrat.


title: Alveda King

text: In 1984 King ran for the seat of Georgia's 5th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. King challenged incumbent Representative Wyche Fowler. Fowler's predecessor, Andrew Young, endorsed Hosea Williams, who also challenged Fowler in the primary; Williams was one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s most trusted lieutenants and perhaps best known for organizing and leading the first Selma March.


title: Alveda King

text: Coretta Scott King did not endorse her niece. Young, who had given up the seat to serve as U.S. ambassador to the UN, and Williams approached King and asked her to end her campaign for the seat so that she could dedicate more time to her family. Young later apologized for what he called "some blatantly chauvinistic remarks." She did not withdraw. With the Black vote split, Fowler defeated both King and Williams in the primary. It was the last time she ran for elected office. Since then, she has publicly stated "I've been a Democrat, and I've been a Republican. I've even considered being an independent. Today, I'm just a Christian."


title: Alveda King

text: King is a member of the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission, having been nominated to the position by President Donald Trump in 2018.


title: Alveda King

text: In 2012, King was a supporter of Herman Cain for president and defended him from sexual harassment claims, saying, "A woman knows a skirt-chaser" and "Herman Cain is no skirt-chaser." She co-founded Women for Cain.


title: Alveda King

text: King voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, stating, "I pray that all polar opposites learn to Agape Love, live, and work together as brothers and sisters—or perish as fools. While I voted for Mr. Trump, my confidence remains in God, for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Prayers for president-elect Trump, Congressman John Lewis, and everyone including leaders."


title: Alveda King

text: Angela D. Dillard classifies King as among the most prominent black figures on the American religious right.


title: Alveda King

text: King is an anti-abortion activist. She had two abortions before changing her views following the birth of one of her children and her becoming a born-again Christian in 1983. King frames the issue as one of racial discrimination; she has referred to abortion as "womb-lynching" and accused Planned Parenthood of profiting from "aborting black babies." King is director of the activist group Civil Rights for the Unborn and is director of Priests for Life's African American outreach.


title: Alveda King

text: On September 22, 2020, King appeared in Birmingham alongside political activists including Amie Beth Dickinson to present the Equality Proclamation. The document, signed on the 158th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation's signing, argued that the tactics and locations of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood were racially discriminatory. According to a document distributed by the group, King and the other signees believed that “the targeted practices of Alabama abortion providers are both discriminatory and disproportionately harmful to black mothers and their babies” and that a legal case could be made against abortion using the Tenth Amendment.


title: Alveda King

text: King spoke at Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial in August 2010. ABC News reported that in King's speech, she hoped that "white privilege will become human privilege and that America will soon repent of the sin of racism and return itself to honor."


title: Alveda King

text: King has spoken out against same-sex marriage. In 2010 she equated same-sex marriage to genocide at a rally in Atlanta, saying, "We don't want genocide. We don't want to destroy the sacred institution of marriage." In a 2015 essay, she wrote that "life is a human and civil right, so is procreative marriage. . . . We must now go back to the beginning, starting with Genesis, and teach about God's plan for marriage."


title: Alveda King

text: King is African-American. She has been married and divorced three times. Her first marriage was to Eddie Clifford Beal, her second marriage was to Jerry Ellis, and her third marriage was to Israel Tookes. She has six children.


title: Alveda King

text: King has alleged that her novel, "The Arab Heart", was plagiarized in the 1988 film "Coming to America".


title: Alveda King

text: King produced the musical CD "Let Freedom Ring" in 2005. She has appeared in film and television as both "Alveda King" and "Alveda King Beal". "The Human Experience", a 2010 documentary film, featured commentary from King. She co-produced the video "Latter Rain" (2005) and co-executive-produced "Pray for America" (2015).


title: Alveda King

text: King portrayed Gaylee's mother in "Fifteen Forever" season 2, episode 19 of "In the Heat of the Night", original air date April 25, 1989.


title: Shark finning

text: Shark finning is the act of removing fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the shark back into the ocean. This act is prohibited in many countries. The sharks are often still alive when discarded, but without their fins. Unable to swim effectively, they sink to the bottom of the ocean and die of suffocation or are eaten by other predators. Shark finning at sea enables fishing vessels to increase profitability and increase the number of sharks harvested, as they must only store and transport the fins, by far the most profitable part of the shark; the shark meat is bulky to transport. Many countries have banned this practice and require the whole shark to be brought back to port before removing the fins.


title: Shark finning

text: Shark finning increased since 1997 largely due to the increasing demand for shark fins for shark fin soup and traditional cures, particularly in China and its territories, as a consequence of its economic growth, and as a result of improved fishing technology and market economics. Shark fin soup substitutes have lately also appeared on the market which do not require any shark fins.


title: Shark finning

text: The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Shark Specialist Group say that shark finning is widespread, and that "the rapidly expanding and largely unregulated shark fin trade represents one of the most serious threats to shark populations worldwide". Estimates of the global value of the shark fin trade range from US$540 million to US$1.2 billion (2007). Shark fins are among the most expensive seafood products, commonly retailing at US$400 per kg. In the United States, where finning is prohibited, some buyers regard the whale shark and the basking shark as trophy species, and pay $10,000 to $20,000 for a fin.


title: Shark finning

text: The regulated global catch of sharks reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been stable in recent years at an annual average just over 500,000 tonnes. Additional unregulated and unreported catches are thought to be common.


title: Shark finning

text: Shark finning has caused catastrophic harm to the marine ecosystem. Roughly 73-100 million sharks are killed each year by finning. A variety of shark species are threatened by shark finning, including the critically endangered scalloped hammerhead shark.


title: Shark finning

text: Nearly every fin of a shark is targeted for harvest, as highlighted in the diagram. The primary and secondary dorsal fins are removed from the top of the shark, plus its pectoral fins, and, in a single cutting motion, the pelvic fin, anal fin, and bottom portion of its caudal fin, or tail.


title: Shark finning

text: Because the rest of the shark has little value relative to that of its fins, sharks are sometimes finned while fishing vessels are still at sea, and the finless and often still-living shark is thrown back into the sea to free space aboard the vessel. In legal contexts the use of the term "shark finning" can refer specifically to this practice of removing the fins from live sharks and discarding the carcass while still at sea. For these legal purposes the removal of fins on land during catch processing is not necessarily considered to be shark finning.


title: Shark finning

text: When sharks have been finned, they are likely to die from lack of oxygen because they are not able to move to filter the water through their gills, or are eaten by other fish that have found them defenseless at the bottom of the ocean. Studies suggest that 73 million sharks are finned each year, and scientists have noted that the numbers may be closer to the 100 million mark. The majority of shark species exhibit slow growth rates and low reproductive rates, and the rate of reproduction cannot keep pace with the current mortality rate.


title: Shark finning

text: Some studies suggest 26 to 73 million sharks are harvested annually for fins. The annual median for the period from 1996 to 2000 was 38 million, which is nearly four times the number recorded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, but considerably lower than the estimates of many conservationists. It has been reported that the global shark catch in 2012 was 100 million.


title: Shark finning

text: Sharks have a K-selection life history, which means that they tend to grow slowly, reach maturity at a larger size and a later age, and have low reproductive rates. These traits make them especially vulnerable to overfishing methods, such as shark finning. Recent studies suggest changes in abundance of apex predators may have cascading impacts on a variety of ecological processes.


title: Shark finning

text: Some organizations claim that shark fishing or bycatch (the unintentional capture of species by other fisheries) is the reason for the decline in some species' populations, and that the market for fins has very little impact – bycatch accounts for an estimated 50% of all sharks taken. Others suggest that the market for shark fin soup is the main reason for the decline.


title: Shark finning

text: Sharks are apex predators and have extensive implications for marine systems and processes, particularly coral reefs. A report by WildAid on global threats to sharks further explains the importance of these animals.


title: Shark finning

text: Fins from the critically endangered sawfish (Pristidae) "are highly favored in Asian markets and are some of the most valuable shark fins". Sawfishes are now protected under the highest protection level of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Appendix I.


title: Shark finning

text: "The overfishing of sharks [has] serious effects for the entire marine food chain in some ecosystems. [...] [A] study found that removing sharks from a reef environment in the Caribbean had a trickling effect on other species. Without sharks, carnivorous fish that the sharks usually fed on thrived. The carnivorous fish, in turn, preyed on parrotfish that kept the corals clean. In time, the reefs changed from one dominated by coral to one overrun by algae."


title: Shark finning

text: On the IUCN Red List there are 39 species of elasmobranches (sharks and rays) listed as threatened species (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable). Sharks are an important part of the ocean ecosystem and are "an indicator for ocean health." Their role keeps the environment healthy because "they usually go after the sick, weak and slower fish populations." Due to shark overfishing in many areas in the world sharks are going missing or endangered.


title: Shark finning

text: In 2013, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed the vulnerability of sharks.


title: Shark finning

text: Appendix II, which lists animals that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled, lists


title: Shark finning

text: The crew of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society conservation vessel RV "Ocean warrior" witnessed and photographed industrial-scale finning within Costa Rica's Cocos Island National Park protected marine area. The practice is featured in the documentary "Sharks: Stewards of the Reef", which contains footage from Western Australia and Central America. This documentary also examines shark finning's cultural, financial, and ecological impacts. Underwater photographer Richard Merritt witnessed finning of living sharks in Indonesia where he saw immobile finless sharks lying on the sea bed still alive below the fishing boat. Finning has been witnessed and filmed within a protected marine area in the Raja Ampat islands of Indonesia.


title: Shark finning

text: Animal welfare and animal rights groups vigorously oppose finning on moral grounds, as the practice gives sharks a large wound, causes them to slowly die of starvation or drowning, and because finning is one cause for the rapid decline of global shark populations.


title: Shark finning

text: Shark finning is sometimes linked to organized crime, including Chinese organized crime syndicates in South Africa, Fiji, and Hawaii.


title: Shark finning

text: Opponents also raise questions on the medical harm from the consumption of high levels of toxic mercury reportedly found in shark fins. The Shark Research Institute, A multi-disciplinary nonprofit 501(c)(3) scientific research organization says, "The reason indulging in this dish can be so harmful is because of bioaccumulation. Toxins concentrate in animals when they move up the food chain. Since sharks are some of the largest and longest-living species in the ocean, they have a high position on the food chain, so they consume huge amounts of toxins that have accumulated in their prey."


title: Shark finning

text: A third of fins imported to Hong Kong come from Europe. Spain is by far the largest supplier, providing between 2,000 and 5,000 metric tons a year. Norway supplies 39 metric tonnes, but Britain, France, Portugal, and Italy are also major suppliers. Hong Kong handles at least 50%, and possibly up to 80%, of the world trade in shark fin, with the major suppliers being Europe, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen, India, Japan, and Mexico.


title: Shark finning

text: According to Giam's article, "Sharks are caught in virtually all parts of the world... Despite the strongly declared objectives of the Fisheries Commission in Brussels, there are very few restrictions on fishing for sharks in European waters. The meat of dogfishes, smoothhounds, cat sharks, skates and rays is in high demand by European consumers... The situation in Canada and the United States is similar: the blue shark is sought after as a sport fish while the porbeagle, mako and spiny dogfish are part of the commercial fishery... The truth is this: Sharks will continue to be caught and killed on a wide scale by the more organized and sophisticated fishing nations. Targeting shark's fin soup will not stop this accidental catch. The fins from these catches will be thrown away or turned into animal feed and fertilizers if shark's fin soup is shunned."`


title: Shark finning

text: The Australian naturalist Steve Irwin was known to walk out of Chinese restaurants if he saw shark fin soup on the menu. American chef Ken Hom sees the West doing little to protect stocks of cod and caviar-producing sturgeon despite the outcry over shark-finning, but he also stresses the wastefulness of harvesting only the fins.


title: Shark finning

text: In 2006, Canadian filmmaker and photographer Rob Stewart created a film, "Sharkwater", which exposes the shark fin industry in detail.


title: Shark finning

text: In March 2011, the VOA Special English service of the Voice of America broadcast a 15-minute science program on shark finning.


title: Shark finning

text: In 2011, British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and his film crew visited Costa Rica to investigate illegal shark fin trading. After investigating the shark fins, Ramsay was held at gunpoint and doused in gasoline by gangsters for confronting them.


title: Shark finning

text: According to WildAid, opposition to shark finning in China has increased as a result of campaigns. In a 2008 survey in Beijing, 89% of respondents supported a ban on shark fin. A 2010 poll on Sina Weibo again indicated strong support for a ban on shark fin sales, with 27,370 respondents in favour and only 440 against. In an August 2013 survey of respondents from four cities in China, 91% supported a government ban on the shark fin trade.