title: George Henry Thomas

text: After the end of the Civil War, Thomas commanded the Department of the Cumberland in Kentucky and Tennessee, and at times also West Virginia and parts of Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, through 1869. During the Reconstruction period, Thomas acted to protect freedmen from white abuses. He set up military commissions to enforce labor contracts since the local courts had either ceased to operate or were biased against blacks. Thomas also used troops to protect places threatened by violence from the Ku Klux Klan. In a November 1868 report, Thomas noted efforts made by former Confederates to paint the Confederacy in a positive light, stating:


title: George Henry Thomas

text: President Andrew Johnson offered Thomas the rank of lieutenant general—with the intent to eventually replace Grant, a Republican and future president, with Thomas as general in chief—but the ever-loyal Thomas asked the Senate to withdraw his name for that nomination because he did not want to be party to politics. In 1869 he requested assignment to command the Military Division of the Pacific with headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco. He died there of a stroke on March 28, 1870, while writing an answer to an article criticizing his military career by his wartime rival John Schofield. Sherman, by then general-in-chief, personally conveyed the news to President Grant at the White House. None of Thomas's blood relatives attended his funeral as they had never forgiven him for his loyalty to the Union. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, in Troy, New York. His gravestone was sculpted by Robert E. Launitz and comprises a white marble sarcophagus topped by a bald eagle.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: The veterans' organization for the Army of the Cumberland, throughout its existence, fought to see that he was honored for all he had done. In 1879, they commissioned the equestrian statue of Thomas at Thomas Circle, Washington, D.C.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Thomas was in chief command of only two battles in the Civil War, the Battle of Mill Springs at the beginning and the Battle of Nashville near the end. Both were decisive victories. However, his contributions at the battles of Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Peachtree Creek were decisive. His main legacies lay in his development of modern battlefield doctrine and in his mastery of logistics.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Thomas has generally been held in high esteem by Civil War historians; Bruce Catton and Carl Sandburg wrote glowingly of him, and many consider Thomas one of the top three Union generals of the war, after Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. But Thomas never entered the popular consciousness like those men. The general destroyed his private papers, saying he did not want "his life hawked in print for the eyes of the curious." Beginning in the 1870s, many Civil War generals published memoirs, justifying their decisions or re-fighting old battles, but Thomas, who died in 1870, did not publish his own memoirs. In addition, most of his campaigns were in the Western theater of the war, which received less attention both in the press of the day and in contemporary historical accounts.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Grant and Thomas also had a cool relationship, for reasons that are not entirely clear, but are well-attested by contemporaries. It apparently started when Halleck placed Thomas in command of most of Grant's divisions after the Battle of Shiloh. When a rain-soaked Grant arrived at Thomas's headquarters before the Chattanooga Campaign, Thomas, caught up in other activity, did not provide dry clothes for several minutes until Grant's staffer intervened. Thomas's perceived slowness at Nashville—although necessitated by the weather—drove Grant into a fit of impatience, and Grant nearly replaced Thomas. In his "Personal Memoirs", Grant minimized Thomas's contributions, particularly during the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, saying his movements were "always so deliberate and so slow, though effective in defence."


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Grant did, however, acknowledge that Thomas's eventual success at Nashville obviated all criticism. Sherman, who had been close to Thomas throughout the war, also repeated the accusation after the war that Thomas was "slow", and this damning with faint praise tended to affect perceptions of the Rock of Chickamauga up to the present day. Both Sherman and Grant attended Thomas's funeral, and were reported by third parties to have been visibly moved by his passing. Thomas's legendary bay horse, Billy, bore his friend Sherman's name.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Thomas was always on good terms with his commanding officer in the Army of the Cumberland, William Rosecrans. Even after Rosecrans was relieved of command by Grant and replaced by Thomas, he had nothing but praise for him. Upon hearing of Thomas' death, Rosecrans sent a letter to the National Tribune, stating Thomas' passing was a "National Calamity... Few knew him better than I did, none valued him more."


title: George Henry Thomas

text: In 1887, Sherman published an article praising Grant and Thomas, and contrasting them to Robert E. Lee. After noting that Thomas, unlike his fellow Virginian Lee, stood by the Union, Sherman wrote:Sherman concluded that Grant and Thomas were "heroes" deserving "monuments like those of Nelson and Wellington in London, well worthy to stand side by side with the one which now graces our city of 'George Washington.'"


title: George Henry Thomas

text: A fort south of Newport, Kentucky was named in his honor, and the city of Fort Thomas now stands there and carries his name as well. A memorial honoring Thomas, "Major General George Henry Thomas", can be found in the eponymous Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: A distinctive engraved portrait of Thomas appeared on U.S. paper money in 1890 and 1891. The bills are called "treasury notes" or "coin notes" and are widely collected today because of their fine, detailed engraving. The $5 Thomas "fancyback" note of 1890, with an estimated 450–600 in existence relative to the 7.2 million printed, ranks as number 90 in the "100 Greatest American Currency Notes" compiled by Bowers and Sundman (2006).


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Thomas County, Kansas, established in 1888, is named in his honor. The townships of Thomas County are named after fallen soldiers in the Battle of Chickamauga. Thomas County, Nebraska, is also named after him.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: Thomas's torn loyalties during the Civil War are briefly discussed in Chapter XIX of MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Andersonville" (1955).


title: George Henry Thomas

text: A three-quarter length portrait of him, executed by U.S. general Samuel Woodson Price (1828–1918) in 1869 and gifted by the heirs of General Price, hangs in the stairwell to Special Collections at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky.


title: George Henry Thomas

text: He was honored as the namesake off the George Henry Thomas Post Number 5 of the Grand Army of the Republic. A 10-mile road in Southampton County, Virginia, his birthplace, is named General Thomas Highway.


title: Mahesh Jadu

text: Mahesh Jadu (born 26 October 1982) is an Australian actor of Indo-Mauritian ancestry. He is best known for the role of Dr. Doug Harris in the soap opera "Neighbours" and the role of Ahmad in Netflix original series "Marco Polo". He also portrayed the supporting role of Shanmugum in the miniseries "Better Man" and Vilgefortz in "The Witcher".


title: Mahesh Jadu

text: Mahesh Jadu was born in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. His parents are from Mauritius and his Indo Mauritian ancestry originates from Bihar, Gorakhpur and Kashmir.


title: Mahesh Jadu

text: He started off as a composer for an Australian show, "Byte Me". He auditioned for a small role in an Indian film, "Sorry Bhai!" and was subsequently cast. He was later cast in one of Australia's longest running soaps, "Neighbours" as Doug Harris. He played poker to cover rent and living expenses until he was called for an audition by the casting director, Lou Mitchell.


title: Mahesh Jadu

text: In 2011, he was cast in an Australian drama, "Taj", which was presented at the 16th Busan International Film Festival.


title: Mahesh Jadu

text: He then worked on "The Three Ages of Sasha". He got his big break when he was cast in Roland Joffé's periodic drama, "Singularity", which was later renamed "The Lovers". In 2015, he was cast in Netflix's "Marco Polo" as Ahmad Fanakati. and had a role in "I, Frankenstein". In 2019 he played Vilgefortz of Roggeveen in the Netflix's TV series "The Witcher".


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA is an Illinois independent governmental agency that started operations on October 1, 1947, upon the purchase and combination of the transportation assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines streetcar system. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, which was under the control of Yellow Cab Company founder John D. Hertz, resulting in a fully unified system. Today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority and CTA service connects with the commuter rail Metra, and suburban bus and paratransit service, Pace.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The Chicago Transit Authority provides service in Chicago and 10 surrounding suburbs. The CTA provided a total of 532 million rides in 2011, a 3 percent increase over 2010 with ridership rising to levels not seen for 20 years.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA operates 24 hours each day and on an average weekday provides 1.7 million rides on buses and trains. It has approximately 1,800 buses that operate over 140 routes traveling along . Buses provide about one million passenger trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops. The Chicago Transit Authority's 1,450 train cars operate over eight routes and of track. Its trains provide about 750,000 customer trips each weekday and serve 145 stations in Chicago and seven suburbs.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Currently, the CTA provides regular service within Chicago and the neighboring suburbs of Forest Park, Evanston, Skokie, Oak Park, Summit, Cicero, Berwyn, North Riverside, Rosemont, Evergreen Park, Park Ridge, Harwood Heights, Norridge, Lincolnwood, and Wilmette.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA accepts payment with a Ventra Card which can be purchased with a single-ride, 1 day unlimited ride ($10), 3 day unlimited ride ($20), 7 day unlimited ride ($28), 30 day unlimited ride ($105), a Ventra disposable ticket, contactless credit or debit card, and certain smartphones. Unlimited ride Ventra cards/tickets are only valid for one passenger. CTA buses also accept cash. Up to three children under 7 can ride free with a fare-paying rider.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA has many free and discounted fare options, for elementary, middle, and high school students, college and university students, people with disabilities, senior citizens, and military service members.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Only buses allow riders to pay directly with cash at a farebox. Exact fare is required, since no change is given. Since January 7, 2018, the bus full fare is $2.50, the senior/disabled fare is $1.25, and the student fare is $.75. No cash transfers are available. Previously, some rail station turnstiles accepted cash, but this feature has been removed in an effort to speed up boarding. Cash at rail stations is only accepted at Ventra Vending Machines to purchase Ventra cards and tickets.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA no longer sells Transit Cards. All remaining Transit Cards must have been used by July 1, 2014. In its place CTA has adopted the Ventra Card system. The Ventra Card can be purchased online, Ventra Vending Machines at CTA rail stations, and at authorized retailers like Walgreens, CVS Pharmacies and check cashing locations.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Ventra is an electronic fare payment system for the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace that replaced the Chicago Card and the Transit Card automated fare collection system. Ventra (purportedly Latin for "windy," though the actual Latin word is "ventosa") launched in August 2013, with a full system transition slated for July 1, 2014. The Ventra payment system includes several options of payment, including a contactless smart card powered by RFID, a single day or use ticket powered by RFID, any personal bank-issued credit card or debit card that has an RFID chip, and a compatible mobile phone. This includes Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay. Ventra is operated by Cubic Transportation Systems.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Riders using Ventra pay $2.25 for bus, $2.50 for rail (except Blue Line O'Hare station, $5). Disabled & seniors who are 65 or older pay $1.10 for bus, $1.25 for rail. Elementary and high school students 7–20 years old: Valid 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on school days pay $.75 during school hours and pay $1.10 during weekends and holidays. The two transfers, within two hours, from the start of a trip is free. After that, it is considered a new trip and the user is charged another fare.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Ventra readers on buses and rail station turnstiles can accept contactless payments directly from mobile devices. Riders can pay a PAYG fare ($2.50) by touching mobile phones with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay—or any contactless bankcard with the contactless wave symbol.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: As mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for all transit operators in the U.S., all CTA buses are accessible, with a ramp on every bus available for use upon request by anyone who has trouble with steps, even temporarily. The majority of train stations CTA operates have elevators or ramps to provide access for customers with disabilities. All trains include accessible rail cars.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA provides the means to view alerts regarding elevator status at the CTA's Elevator Status Alerts page or by calling an Elevator Status Hotline at 1-888-YOUR-CTA. Accessibility alert notifications also appear, by default, in CTA "Train Tracker", a station arrival prediction tool appearing on its website.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Until 1973, CTA's fleet included a large number of electric trolley buses – or "trolley coaches", as they were commonly known at the time. In the 1950s, the fleet of around 700 trolley coaches was the largest such fleet in the U.S., and represented about one-quarter of CTA's total number of surface-transit vehicles (motor bus, trolley bus and, until 1958, streetcar). Due to the January 26–27, 1967 Chicago Blizzard, in which CTA trolley buses were unable to maneuver around abandoned automobiles without dewiring, the crucial decision was made to discontinue trolley bus service. Trolley bus service was phased out in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and trolley buses ran for the last time on March 25, 1973.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: CTA buses were known as the "green limousine" or the "big green" — buses were one or more shades of green from the CTA's establishment through the end of the 1980s. With the delivery of the TMC RTS buses in 1991, a more patriotic color scheme was adopted, and the green scheme was fully phased out by 1996. A notable color scheme was the "Bicentennial" of about 1974 to 1976.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: CTA bought very few buses between the mid-1970s and the end of the 1980s. During this time, purchases were only made in 1979 (20 MAN/AM General SG 220 articulated buses), 1982-83 (200 Flyer D901 buses and 125 additional MAN articulateds), and 1985 (362 MAN Americana standard-length buses). Another aspect of this period was that with the exception of the 1979 and 1983 MAN orders, none of those buses had air-conditioning, a budget saving move by the CTA. The 1972-76 fleet of GM "New Look" buses, 1870 total, which were originally air-conditioned (although there were problems with the air-conditioning systems, resulting in their eventually being disabled and sliding windows installed in the buses), composed the majority of vehicles in service into the early 1990s.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: In 1998, the CTA placed an order for 484 new low floor transit buses from Canadian bus-building firm Nova Bus. This was done to meet the "Buy American" requirements for buses in the United States transit bus market, since General Motors ceased bus production and Flxible went out of business.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Today CTA's current fleet of buses is mostly dominated by New Flyer's D40LF, numbered 1000–2029, which replaced buses that were built in 1991 and 1995 (Flxible Buses). In 2014, CTA ordered 400 new buses from Nova. The number increased to 425 after it exercised an option. The buses are numbered 7900–8324. The CTA exercised another option for an additional twenty-five buses, numbered 8325–8349, from Nova. The buses were assigned to the Forest Glen and 103rd St. garages, and began service on its routes February 23, 2019.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The rail orders of the CTA include the last railcar stock built by the Budd Company and rail cars built by Boeing-Vertol and Morrison-Knudsen.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The most recent order was from Bombardier who built the 5000-series from 2009 to 2015. Ten (10) prototypes of the 5000-series were received in 2009, and entered passenger testing in April 2010, with 396 more ordered once the tests were completed. On July 20, 2011, CTA announced the order of 300 more railcars, bringing the total ordered to 706 at a cost of about US$1 billion.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: In 2014, the CTA received their first electric buses from New Flyer, making the CTA the first major U.S. transit agency to use the new wave of electric buses as part of a regular service.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: After the September 11 attacks, CTA announced its "If you See Something, Say Something" campaign. CTA has also installed a security camera network, and a system to send real time images from cameras in buses directly to emergency responders.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: CTA has also been actively prosecuting vandals, announcing on several occasions that felony convictions were obtained against persons who spray painted authority vehicles.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA installed GPS Bus Tracker systems on all buses starting with the 20 (Madison St) bus in 2006 before expanding it to other routes in 2008. The original claim justifying the addition of this technology was that it would reduce the issue of bunching buses. The system also allows riders to be able to determine the location of buses online.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: A report prepared by the CTA claims that there was a decrease in bus bunching from 3.9% to 2.3% from 2007 to 2009, but the report neither demonstrated a direct connection between Bus Tracker and this reduction in bunching, nor did it show whether this was a temporary or permanent phenomenon.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: CTA has also made its Bus Tracker and other developer tools available, and is making Bus Tracker arrival data available through text messaging. One of the first applications of the Bus Tracker Developer Tools involved the installation of monitors showing the information in several businesses in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Using the developer API published by CTA, some augmented CTA bus tracking applications have been developed for mobile phones, and CTA has its own Transit App Center, featuring applications developed by others. CTA also has a train tracker (Beta starting January 2011), and it can also be accessed through a computer, smart phone, or text messaging.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA is home to a collection of art – including mosaics, sculptures and paintings. More than 50 pieces of art are exhibited at over 40 CTA stations.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: According to the CTA's website, the original pieces of artwork contribute to each station's identity and enhance travel for customers. Art promotes a friendly, inviting atmosphere for these stations, which serve as gateways to the communities they serve.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Many of the pieces are a result of the Arts in Transit Program, which is funded by the Federal Transit Administration and coordinated locally through the City of Chicago's Office of Tourism and Culture. A number of other pieces were created through the CTA's Adopt-A-Station program and through partnerships with organizations such as the Chicago Public Art Group.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: In 2004, the CTA and the City of Chicago Public Art Program installed nine permanent works of art at eight renovated rail stations on what is now known as the Pink Line. The CTA has since created an ongoing program to showcase permanent works of art in conjunction with the City of Chicago Public Art Program. The Arts in Transit Program is funded by the Federal Transit Administration, and created opportunities to develop original artwork for station reconstruction projects along the CTA Red and Brown Lines. Artists were selected for each of the stations included in the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project and select renovated Red Line stations.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: By the completion of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project in 2010, original artwork was installed in each of the 18 renovated stations along the CTA's Brown Line. By combining the visibility and accessibility of the city's mass transit system with the creativity of Chicago's art resources, this program resulted in a successful public display of professional works of art designed with input from nearby communities. This program provided high-profile locations for public art and server as a gateway to communities served by the CTA stations. Media under consideration included, but were not limited to, mosaics, art glass, ornamental fencing, mixed-media artwork, and freestanding sculpture and furniture.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The CTA and the City of Chicago Public Art Program, administered by the Office of Tourism and Culture, encouraged and facilitated collaborations between artists, government agencies, the community and other partners. The City of Chicago Public Art Program accepted qualifications from local and national professional artists or artist teams capable of creating permanent public works of art for the CTA Arts in Transit Program for the renovated stations.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: The Chicago Transit Authority produced a monthly television show, "Connections", from May 2003 through March 2011. The show, hosted by Braydens Connections, was broadcast on City of Chicago Public-access television cable TV channels 23 & 49, as well as on Comcast's CN100 in the Chicago metropolitan area, including areas of Michigan and Indiana.


title: Chicago Transit Authority

text: Connections featured news and information about the CTA and services it provides. Individual segments from Connections are available on CTA's YouTube channel.


title: Serena Grandi

text: Serena Grandi (born 23 March 1958, in Bologna) is an Italian actress, famous as an icon and sex symbol in Italian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. Known for her junoesque body and voluptuous measurements, she was considered one of the main pin-up girls of Italy. Some films credited her as Vanessa Steiger. Horror film buffs know her for her two gory opuses, "Antropophagus" (1980) and "Delirium" (1987).


title: Serena Grandi

text: Serena Grandi is the stage name for Serena Faggioli, born in Bologna. She graduated in computer programming and was first employed in a scientific analysis laboratory. She started her acting career in 1980, playing a supporting role in the comedy film "La Compagna di viaggio" by Ferdinando Baldi.


title: Serena Grandi

text: In the same year, Grandi played the role of Maggie in the controversial film "Antropophagus", directed by Joe D'Amato. This film is well known among horror movie fans for its extreme gore sequences. After several minor roles, she took the title role in Tinto Brass' "Miranda", which gave her the status of sex symbol in her native Italy and set the path for her stardom.


title: Serena Grandi

text: Through the 1980s, Grandi made nearly 20 films, mainly appearing in "Commedie sexy all'italiana" and erotic films, but also starring in sword epics such as "The Adventures of Hercules" and in some horror films. In 1987 Lamberto Bava gave her the role of Gloria in his film "Delirium". In 1991 she married the antiquarian Beppe Ercole, 20 years her senior, with whom she had a son Edoardo; the couple divorced in 1998.


title: Serena Grandi

text: In the 1990s, Grandi started to back away from the spotlight; during this time she focused her career on television series.


title: Serena Grandi

text: In 2003-2004 Grandi spent 157 days under house arrest, accused of having sold a few grams of cocaine. The case was later dismissed.


title: Serena Grandi

text: In 2006, Grandi was a candidate in the list of Azione Sociale, a right-leaning party led by Alessandra Mussolini, but she was not elected. The same year she published her first novel, "L’amante del federale". In 2008, after a break of ten years, she returned to acting.


title: Rice weevil

text: The rice weevil ("Sitophilus oryzae") is a stored product pest which attacks seeds of several crops, including wheat, rice, and maize.


title: Rice weevil

text: The adults are usually between 3 and 4.6 mm long, with a long snout. The body color appears to be brown/black, but on close examination, four orange/red spots are arranged in a cross on the wing covers. It is easily confused with the similar looking maize weevil. The maize weevil is typically somewhat larger than the rice weevil, but rice weevils as large as the largest maize weevils and maize weevils nearly as small as the smallest rice weevils have been found. Some external features can be used to differentiate the vast majority of adults, but the only reliable features are on the genitalia (see table below). Both species can hybridize. The genitalic structure of hybrids is unknown.


title: Rice weevil

text: Adult rice weevils are able to fly, and can live for up to two years. Females lay 2-6 eggs per day and up to 300 over their lifetime. The female uses strong mandibles to chew a hole into a grain kernel after which she deposits a single egg within the hole, sealing it with secretions from her ovipositor. The larva develops within the grain, hollowing it out while feeding. It then pupates within the grain kernel and emerges 2–4 days after eclosion.


title: Rice weevil

text: Male "S. oryzae" produce an aggregation pheromone called sitophilure ((4S,5R)-5-Hydroxy-4-methylheptan-3-one) to which males and females are drawn. A synthetic version is available which attracts rice weevils, maize weevils and grain weevils. Females produce a pheromone which attracts only males.


title: Rice weevil

text: Its gammaproteobacterial symbiont "Candidatus Sodalis pierantonius" str. SOPE is able to supply rice weevil with essential vitamins like pantothenic acid, riboflavin, and biotin. During larvae development, bacteria rely on up-regulation of type three secretion system genes and genes for flagellum so they can infect insect stem cells.


title: Rice weevil

text: Control of weevils involves locating and removing all potentially infested food sources. Rice weevils in all stages of development can be killed by freezing infested food below -18 °C (0 °F) for a period of three days, or heating to 60 °C (140 °F) for a period of 15 minutes.


title: Aspide

text: Aspide (the Italian name for the asp) is an Italian medium range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile produced by Selenia (then by Alenia Aeronautica, now a part of Leonardo S.p.A.). It is provided with semi-active radar homing seeker. It is very similar to the American AIM-7 Sparrow, using the same airframe, but uses an inverse monopulse seeker that is far more accurate and much less susceptible to ECM than the original conical scanning version.


title: Aspide

text: This resemblance, and that Selenia was provided with the technology know-how of the AIM-7 (around 1,000 of which it had produced under licence), has generally led non-Italian press to refer to the Aspide as a Sparrow variant. However, the Aspide had original electronics and warhead, and a new and more powerful engine. Closed-loop hydraulics were also substituted for Sparrow's open-loop type, which gave Aspide better downrange maneuverability. Even the control surfaces are different, replacing the original triangular wings, fixed in the air-to-air and instead foldable in the surface-to-air version, to a newly designed common cropped delta fixed version.


title: Aspide

text: A similar design is the UK's Skyflash, which entered service about the same time. The US's own Sparrow fleet also added a monopulse seeker in the AIM-7M versions of 1982.


title: Aspide

text: Aspide, in its various versions, was used both in the air-to-air role, carried by Aeritalia F-104s in the apposite versions F-104S and F-104ASA, and in the surface-to-air naval role. In the latter role it has been replaced by the MBDA Aster. Naval Aspide launchers can be adapted to fire the Sparrow by merely switching a single circuit board.


title: Aspide

text: In the mid 1980s, China imported a small batch of the Aspide Mk.1 from Italy, then signed an agreement with Alenia to produce the missile locally under license. In 1989, China produced its first batch of Aspide Mk.1 missiles using imported parts from Italy. However, due to the EEC arms embargo imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, China was unable to purchase additional Aspide kits. China subsequently developed its own missile family based on the Aspide Mk.1, with surface to air versions designated as the LY-60, and an air-to-air version designated as PL-11.


title: Aspide

text: The rocket engine of the Aspide is produced by Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan. It weighs about 75 kg and produces 50 kN of thrust for 3.5 s.


title: Galina Lukashenko

text: Galina Rodionovna Lukashenko (, ), née Zhelnerovich (, ) is the wife of the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko and is the current First Lady of Belarus.


title: Galina Lukashenko

text: Galina is estranged from Alexander who has had at least one extra-marital affair that produced a son, Nikolai in 2004.


title: Galina Lukashenko

text: She was born on 1 January 1955 in the family of Rodion Georgievich Zhelnerovich (1928-1983) from Brest and Elena Fedorovna Zhelnerovich (1929-2019) from Slutsk. She met Alexander Lukashenko while still in high school in the village of Ryzhkovichi, and married him in 1975, upon graduation from the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute (now Mogilev State University). At this time, she worked in a kindergarten. Since January 1998, she has been the head of the department of the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee for the Improvement of the Population.


title: Galina Lukashenko

text: She did not move with her husband to Minsk at the beginning of his presidential career, instead living on Zemlyanichnaya Street in Shklow, where she has since lived. She does not accompany her husband at public events and rarely sees with him. One of the earlier moments when the couple was seen together was the year Lukashenko was elected, when he was on a state visit to Israel.


title: Galina Lukashenko

text: On 15 March 2022, Galina Lukashenka was added to the US Treasury sanctions list - designated under Executive Order 13405 for "being a senior-level official who is responsible for or has engaged in public corruption related to Belarus". On 25 March 2022, she was sanctioned by Australia.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) is a budgeting method where all expenses must be justified and approved in each new budget period. Developed by Peter Pyhrr in the 1970s, the organization's needs and costs are analyzed by starting from a "zero base" (i.e., no funding allocation) at the beginning of every period. The claimed advantage is a more efficient use of resources, to determine if services can be achieved at a lower cost. However, this putative saving comes at the cost of a complete restructure every budget cycle, which carries associated costs. Although used at least partially in both government and the private sector, there is some doubt whether ZBB has ever been utilized to its fullest extent in any organisation.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: As an accounting manager for Texas Instruments, Peter Pyhrr created zero-based budgeting to help incorporate top-level strategic objectives into the budgeting process by tying them to the organisation's specific functional areas. Under his system, costs are grouped and measured against the previous results and current expectations, enabling management to allocate funds by current needs instead of historical expenditures.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Author of "Zero Based Budgeting: A Practical Management Tool for Evaluating Expenses", Pyhrr was appointed by then-Georgia governor Jimmy Carter to manage the state's budgetary process.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: In the United States, Texas Instruments was the first to develop zero-based budgeting for the private sector. Jimmy Carter, then Governor of Georgia, applied the same method to the public sector while he prepared the state's 1973 fiscal budget. Three years later, after Carter was elected President of the United States, the federal government implemented zero-base budgeting in "The Government Economy and Spending Reform Act of 1976". President Carter later required the adoption of zero-based budgeting by the federal government during the late 1970s. As stated later by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), "Zero-Base Budgeting (ZBB) was an executive branch budget formulation process introduced into the federal government in 1977. Its main focus was to optimise outputs available at alternative budgetary levels. Under ZBB, agencies were expected to set priorities based on the program results that could be achieved at alternative spending levels, one of which was to be below current funding."


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: For most governments in the United States, the main users of ZBB are legislatures, government agencies, and the executive. Legislatures include congress, state legislatures, and city councils, which all require summarising and focusing on public priorities and objectives. Agencies include the agency director and department managers, and they require more detailed information and focus on programme implementation and efficiency. Lastly, the executive includes the President, governors, and mayor/city manager focus on the needs of the legislature and agency. Although the legislative, the agency, and the executive have different focuses, they all have to address two standard questions:


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: According to Peter Sarant, the former director of management analysis training for the US Civil Service Commission during the Carter ZBB implementation effort, ZBB means "different things to different people." Some definitions imply that zero-based budgeting is the act of starting budgets from scratch or requiring each programme or activity to be justified from the ground up. This is not true; the acronym ZBB is a misnomer. ZBB is a misnomer because in many large agencies a complete zero-base review of all program elements during one budget period is not feasible. This is because it would result in excessive paperwork. In many aspects, the "common misunderstanding" of ZBB resembles a "sunset review" process more than a traditional public sector ZBB process.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: In many cases, programme staffers were tasked to look for alternative service delivery models that could deliver services more efficiently at lower funding levels.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: The US General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed past performance budgeting initiatives in 1997 and found that ZBB's "main focus was to optimise accomplishments available at alternative budgetary levels:


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Set priorities based on the program results that could be achieved at alternative spending levels, one of which was to be below current funding.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: The federal ZBB budgeting system had the following components: "Budget requests for each decision unit were to be prepared by their managers, who would (1) identify alternative approaches to achieving the unit's objectives, (2) identify several alternative funding levels, including a "minimum" level normally below current funding, (3) prepare "decision packages" according to a prescribed format for each unit, including budget and performance information, and (4) rank the decision packages against each other."


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: ZBB was officially eliminated in federal budgeting on August 7, 1981. "Some participants in the budget process, as well as other observers, attributed certain program efficiencies, arising from the consideration of alternatives, to ZBB. ZBB established within federal budgeting a requirement to:


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: This element of the ZBB budgeting process remained in effect through the Reagan, Bush and early Clinton administrations before being eliminated in 1994.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: As noted earlier, there is often considerable confusion over the meaning of zero-base budgeting. There is no evidence that public sector ZBB has ever included "building budgets from the bottom up" and "reviewing every invoice" as part of the analysis. In discussions of ZBB, there is often confusion between a ZBB process and a sunset review process. In a sunset review, the entire function is eliminated unless evidence is provided of program effectiveness. This confusion ultimately leads to the question: what is a zero-base?


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Sarant's definition of the zero-base based on the federal training experience is: A minimum level is the grassroots funding level necessary to keep a program alive. Therefore, the minimal level is the "program or funding level below which it is not feasible to continue a programme... because no constructive contribution can be made toward fulfilling its objective." Identifying this level of programme funding has been subjective and problematic.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Consequently, "some states have selected arbitrary percentages to ensure that an amount smaller than last year's request is considered. They do this by stipulating that one alternative must be 50, 80, or 90 percent of last year's request." This equates to analysing the impact on program operations of a 10, 20 or 50 percent reduction in funding as the "zero bases" funding level.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Performance measures are a key component of the ZBB process. At the core, ZBB requires quality measures that can be used to analyze the impact of alternative funding scenarios on program operations and outcomes. Without quality measures, ZBB simply will not work because decision packages cannot be ranked. To perform a ZBB analysis, "alternative decision packages are prepared and ranked, thus allowing marginal utility and comparative analysis."


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Traditionally, a ZBB analysis focused on three types of measures. They (federal agency programme staff) were to identify the key indicators to be used in measuring performance and results. These should be "measures of:


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Indirect or proxy indicators could be used if these systems did not exist or were under development."


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: According to the GAO, "Agencies believed that inadequate time had been allowed to implement the new initiative. The requirement to compress planning and budgeting functions within the time frames of the budget cycle had proven especially difficult, affecting program managers' ability to identify alternative approaches to accomplishing agency objectives. Some agency officials also believed that the performance information needed for ZBB analysis was lacking."


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Also, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures: In its original sense, ZBB meant that no past decisions are taken for granted. Every previous budget decision is up for review. Existing and proposed programs are on an equal footing, and the traditional state practice of altering almost all existing budget lines by small amounts every year or two would be swept away. No state government has ever found this feasible. Even Georgia, where Governor Jimmy Carter introduced ZBB to state budgeting in 1971, employed a much-modified form.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: State programs are not, in practice, amenable to such a radical annual re-examination. Statutes, obligations to local governments, requirements of the federal government, and other past decisions have many times created state funding commitments that are almost impossible to change very much in the short run. Education funding levels are determined in many states partly by state and federal judicial decisions and state constitutional provisions, as well as by statutes. Federal mandates require that state Medicaid funding meet a specific minimum level if Medicaid is to exist at all in a state. Federal law affects environmental program spending, and both state and federal courts help determine state spending on prisons. Much state spending, therefore, cannot usefully be subjected to the kind of fundamental re-examination that ZBB in its original form envisions.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: To the extent that ZBB has encouraged governors and legislators to take a hard look at the impact of incremental changes in state spending, it produced a significant improvement in state budgeting. But in its classic form – begin all budget evaluations from zero – ZBB is as unworkable as it ever was.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: The concept of ZBB was first introduced to China at the beginning of the 1990s and was primarily focused on the Hubei Province area of China. Just as the United States encountered many problems and failures with ZBB, China ran into them as well. But even with the numerous problems and failures along the way, they have gradually adjusted appropriately since then to become more effective in using ZBB as a budget reform. Western influence on budgeting was non-existent in China before 1993. It was during the 1990s that China began looking out for a new and modern form of budgeting for their country's nationwide budget reform. They ended up settling on ZBB. A new policy was set in place to put ZBB into action, known as the DBR, or the Departmental Budgeting Reform. The DBR and ZBB were first implemented in the Hubei province of China. According to Jun Ma, a professor at the University of Nebraska, the beginning years of ZBB in Hubei were a bit rocky as the DBR had not yet been implemented in all the state departments in Hubei. Only a few departments implemented the budgeting system, and the results of multiple departments using multiple budgeting systems were not good. It slowly became clear that using ZBB in a traditional sense would not work out. Officials in the Hubei province and the DBR began looking for ways to incorporate the best parts of ZBB and form a new budgeting system that would work for their needs. The result of this change was a Chinese-styled Target-Based Budgeting system. This form of budgeting required bureaucracies and agencies to submit a simple budget within a pre-set time limit. TBB, as a modified form of ZBB, has worked out moderately well for the Chinese government in Hubei over the years, but many problems still face the budgeting system.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Some number of issues ranging from the absence of a unified budget and certain expenditures that are somehow exempt from the ZBB process, to the influence or effects of political factors have been widely noted.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: Two notable reforms to the ZBB process include having departments submit budget requests and the use of sunset legislation.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: 3G Capital has become successful using ZBB within their company. Carlos Brito, a protégé of Jorge Paulo Lemann, "brought to Anheuser-Busch the concept of 'zero-based budgeting,' wherein every expense must be newly justified every year, not just new ones, and the goal is to bring it lower than the year prior" at Anheuser-Busch InBev as early as in the 1990s. Following their decade of lessons in ZBB, 3G Capital employed similar cost management concepts at their next acquisitions: Burger King, Tim Hortons, Heinz, Kraft Foods, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. The use of ZBB might have continued the subjective notion that this budgeting style is a fix-all for businesses trying to lighten the load of a new company. This concept triggered measures as drastic as cutting hundreds of management jobs and jettisoning corporate jets, to as simple as requiring employees to ask to make photocopies. Following the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz, some analysts and former employees blamed 3G Capital's use of ZBB for the company's poor performance.


title: Zero-based budgeting

text: According to Accenture, "examples of companies that have successfully implemented ZBB...include a consumer goods company that was able to achieve 18 percent savings and a 20 percent increase in the share price. Another case was that of a prominent commercial bank, which unlocked a large sum of money and reinvested it in 'going digital' and a healthcare company that achieved savings of £1.2bn (€1.36bn) in three years." As a result, companies are vocal about their use of ZBB programs in their earning calls including Mondelēz International, Campbell Soup Company, Kraft Heinz, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Tesco. In its 2017 first-half results, Unilever even reported that ZBB was improving its marketing productivity and streamlining its advertising spend, while also reducing overhead costs that weren't bringing much value. In another case, the use of ZBB within 3G Capital has been profitable for stockholders. When 3G Capital quickly cut costs within Kraft, their stock prices increased 36% as a direct result. This type of budgeting enabled companies like Kraft to compete again on price with some of the leaner competition, that had previously undercut Kraft's prices. Zero-based budgeting helps more money to flow to stockholders than into unused departments, over-funded programs, and wasteful spending habits.


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: Sayantani Ghosh (born 6 September 1984) is an Indian television actress. She debuted into Hindi television with the long running soap opera "Kumkum – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan" and is best known for starring in the successful TV shows "Naaginn", "Mahabharat", "Naamkarann," Tera Yaar Hoon Main and "Naagin 4". In 2012, she participated in " Bigg Boss 6".


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: Sayantani Ghosh won the Miss Calcutta beauty pageant and found roles in Bengali films before obtaining her first television role in 2002, in the Indian soap opera "Kumkum – Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan".


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: After four years in that supporting role she joined the main cast of" Naaginn" as Amrita for two years followed by the guest role of Prosecutor Pranali Gujral on "Adaalat". Same year, she played the lead role of Kakul Samman Chaudhary in "Ghar ek sapna".


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: Ghosh participated in the sixth season of " Bigg Boss 6", the Indian version of UK reality show "Big Brother", and was evicted from the house in the third week.


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: In 2013 she appeared in the main cast of epic television series" Mahabharat" in the role of Satyavati, a fisher-woman who later became the emperor's wife. In 2014 Ghosh portrayed an antagonist in "Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar" and became a contestant on "Dare 2 Dance".


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: In 2015, Ghosh played the supporting role of Rajkumari Rajeshwari in "Sasural Simar Ka". She then appeared in "Rishton Ka Mela", "Comedy Nights with Kapil" and "Comedy Classes". At the end of 2015 Ghosh was cast as lead antagonist Poulomi Maa in " Santoshi Maa". In 2016 she joined the main cast of romantic drama "Naamkaran", playing Neela Parikh until her character's death in February 2018.


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: In 2019, Ghosh made her theatre debut in a stage play called "Ovee- A Haunted Hostel.". She then appeared in "Sanjivani" as Dr. Anjali Gupta


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: In December 2020, she replaced Shweta Gulati's character Jhanvi Bansal in the Sony SAB series "Tera Yaar Hoon Main" and entered the show as Daljeet Bagga, the new female lead. Her character was shown to marry Rajeev (Sudeep Sahir), the male lead, under a certain situation. In 2021, she won the 'Favourite Lokpriya Sadasya' award from "Gold Comedy Awards" for her role as Daljeet Bagga in "Tera Yaar Hoon Main".


title: Sayantani Ghosh

text: In January 2022, Ghosh tested positive for COVID-19 along with her husband. She took a brief break from shooting and quarantined herself. Some time later, she recovered and tested negative for COVID-19, post which she resumed shooting for show.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has coached the Indian Cricket Team as well as the South African Cricket team.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for South Africa between 1993 and 2004, mainly as an opening batsman. His half brother Peter also played provincial cricket for Western Province, and then later for the South Africa cricket team which included the highlight of the 1992 Cricket World Cup.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten was the coach of the Indian cricket team from 2008 to 2011, going on to win the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He was appointed as the coach of the South African cricket team in June 2011, and he stepped down in August 2013.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He retired from international cricket in 2004 after crafting a match-winning 76 in his final innings, against New Zealand. Against the same country, he had made history by becoming the first-ever Protea to play in 100 Test matches.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Over the years, Kirsten gained a reputation as being a sturdy batsman in both Test cricket and One Day cricket. He could up the tempo of an innings if he needed to, but more often than not he simply waited for the bad ball, much like Steve Waugh and Justin Langer. He was also a reliable fielder. Kirsten held the South African records for most runs and centuries in a Test career, before both were surpassed by Jacques Kallis. He was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test nations. He scored 275 runs against England as a result of batting for over 14 and a half hours as South Africa followed on at Kingsmead in Durban, it still stands as the second-longest innings (in terms of duration) in Test history.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: The high score was later surpassed by Graeme Smith when he made 277 against England in 2003. He still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a One Day International; 188 not-out made against the United Arab Emirates during the 1996 World Cup, which is the tenth highest innings of all time in One Day International cricket, and the third-highest score in World Cup cricket history. This record stood until it was surpassed by Chris Gayle who scored 215 against Zimbabwe in 2015. Later, that record was surpassed by Martin Guptill who scored 237* against the West Indies in the quarter-finals of that very World Cup.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: After retirement, Kirsten organized his own cricket academy. In November 2007, it emerged that Kirsten was a candidate for the vacant post of coach of the India team. The BCCI offered him a two-year contract for the post, and despite voicing reservations about concerns he had about having the full support of the Indian players, he confirmed he would be taking the job on 4 December.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten officially started as a coach on 1 March 2008. However, he travelled to Australia with India beforehand during the test series. His first full series in charge was against his home country, South Africa in March–April 2008 which was drawn 1–1. Also, he coached India to the finals of the Kitply Cup and 2008 Asia Cup (India lost both the finals). During his tenure as Coach of India, the Indian cricket team won a home series against Australia beating them 2–0. Apart from clinching the Border-Gavaskar trophy, he also coached India to its first bilateral series win in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka and India's first Test and One-Day International series victories against New Zealand in New Zealand after 40 years. India also won the Compaq Cup, defeating Sri Lanka in the finals on 14 September 2009 by 46 runs. A highly accomplished batsman himself, he has brought in a considerable amount of improvement in the batting performances, which is largely associated with his ability to instill better confidence among younger players.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten has been praised by all players for improving/enhancing their playing techniques, motivating them and discussing tactics that can be deployed on the field. The results could be clearly seen within months. He is considered the key force behind the clearly visible performance improvement in all players. In 2010, Prior to the start of India's tour of South Africa, Indian captain M.S. Dhoni described him as "The best thing to happen to Indian cricket."


title: Gary Kirsten

text: In 2017, Kirsten spoke to HBR about the qualities of a great coach, coaching a young team, and learning from one's mistakes. Some edited excerpts of his interview are online.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: After the tour of South Africa, which India drew 1–1 in the Test series lost 3–2 in ODIs, Kirsten announced he would not renew his contract with BCCI because of family commitments. Kirsten often stated that he wanted to spend time with his two growing sons, Joshua and James, and his wife. He has also stated that he felt three years away from home was long enough. Immediately after the announcement Kirsten was linked with joining South Africa as their coach as the South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl also announced his contract would end after the World Cup as well.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten ended his tenure as coach after India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare on 2 April 2011 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India. During the celebration, he was carried around the ground by Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli to show their respect.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten cleared the air of any rumours about a renewal in contract by adopting a modest approach on his further availability as a coach to the Indian team by stating that he wanted to say goodbye to India to spend time with his family.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: On 5 June 2011, Kirsten was appointed the full-time coach of the South Africa national cricket team for a term period of two years. His first decision was to name AB de Villiers as the new captain for the limited-overs game, replacing Graeme Smith who remained the Test side captain. Kirsten began his term as a coach on 1 August and his first assignment was a home series against Australia. He took over from Corrie van Zyl, who was an interim coach for 14 months after Mickey Arthur resigned following the home series against England in 2009–10. Under Kirsten, in August 2012, the South African team reached number 1 in the ICC Test rankings, by defeating England 2–0.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Kirsten did not renew his contract with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and stepped down as the coach of the national team in August 2013 citing family commitments.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: On 3 April 2017, Kirsten was appointed head coach of the men's Hobart Hurricanes cricket team. The Hobart Hurricanes are Tasmania's professional T20 cricket club in the Australian Big Bash League.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: In January 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore appointed Kirsten as their batting coach. In August 2018, he was appointed as head coach of RCB following the sacking of their previous coach Daniel Vettori for the 2019 Indian Premier League .


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Following former head coach Dean Jones' death in September 2020, reports began to spread in December 2020 that Kirsten was appointed as the new head coach of the Karachi Kings. This was later revealed to be untrue, with Kirsten only being considered for the job, and it ultimately being given to former South African cricketer Herschelle Gibbs. In January 2021, reports came in that the Pakistan Cricket Board was planning to fire current head coach Misbah-Ul-Haq. This came following the team's poor results against New Zealand in the World Test Championship. Kirsten is reported to be a favourite for the job, along with former Zimbabwean player Andy Flower.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: Following the dismissal of Chris Silverwood due to the England Cricket Team's 4-0 defeat in the 2021-22 Ashes series, Kirsten emerged as a favourite for the role of Men's Test Head Coach having previously been linked with the England Cricket Team prior to Silverwood's appointment in 2019. The role was instead given to Brendon McCullum.


title: Gary Kirsten

text: In 2007, Kirsten joined Paddy Upton and Dale Williams to form a company called Performance Zone. The focus of the company is to work with individuals and teams in business and sport, bringing out their clients' best performance. When Kirsten was appointed Indian coach and Upton as Indian mental conditioning coach on a two-year contract, they decided to continue the business. Its first project post Kirsten taking on the Indian coach role has been the creation of garykirsten.com.


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: Stephen Hopkins is a Jamaican-born British-Australian director and producer of film and television. He directed "Predator 2", "", "Blown Away", "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers", "Lost in Space" and "Under Suspicion". He also produced and directed several episodes of the first season of "24".


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: In Australia Hopkins made "Dangerous Game" (1987). This helped him get the job directing "". Hopkins later said, "I went at it like a dog, and had a wild, fun time. But when I look back, I think I'm the luckiest guy in the world because I don't understand how it all happened."


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: He went on to make "Predator 2", of which he said, "I'm pretty immature, really, so it was kind of a laugh". He followed it with "Judgment Night" ("a real, absolute, total bomb" according to Hopkins), "Blown Away" ("made a lot of mistakes") and "The Ghost and the Darkness" ("It was a mess. I haven't been able to watch it.").


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: In 2016, Hopkins directed "Race", a biopic about athlete Jesse Owens for Focus Features. Stephan James plays Jesse Owens, opposite Jason Sudeikis and Jeremy Irons. The film was released in February 2016.


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: Hopkins said that after "Predator 2" he "looked around for a good film for a long time, and I couldn't get anything I wanted to do... I didn't realise the Hollywood trick. In American action movies, people get shot to death and their arms are blown off, and they get up and they're fine. These films are supposed to be fun things that people can laugh at. I always thought, 'That's wrong, that's not what violence is like.' I took these films too seriously and tried to add profound depths, and that's not what's wanted. You either do that film or you do the other one, but I kept mixing the two up, and probably unsuccessfully.'"


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: Hopkins has directed a number of episodes for television. He was a co-executive producer for the first season of the Fox action drama "24", and also directed half of the season's episodes, including the first and last episodes. He is also co-executive producer on "," and director of the show's pilot episode. Hopkins has also directed a number of episodes of Showtime's series "House of Lies" starring Don Cheadle which premiered on 8 January 2012. He is also a producer on the series.


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: In 2004, Hopkins directed the controversial biographical film "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers", which was broadcast by HBO in the United States but received a theatrical release in a number of countries. The film provoked the ire of the actor's son Michael Sellers and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.


title: Stephen Hopkins (director)

text: in 2019 Hopkins directed the pilot episode for a potential "The Dark Tower" series for Amazon. However Amazon passed on the series.


title: Cork Airport

text: Cork Airport (, ) is the second-largest of the three principal international airports in Ireland, after Dublin and ahead of Shannon. It is located in Cork City, south of the city centre in an area known as Farmers Cross. In 2018, Cork Airport handled 2,392,821, growing by 8.3% to 2,585,466 passengers as of 2019 and representing a fourth consecutive year of growth. Aviation was severely impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020 and passenger numbers at Cork Airport fell to 530,000, a decline of 80%.


title: Cork Airport

text: Cork is the state's second-busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers, after Dublin, and third busiest on the island of Ireland, after Dublin and Belfast International.


title: Cork Airport

text: In 1957 the Government of Ireland agreed in principle to the building of an airport for Cork. After considering many sites in the area, it was agreed that the airport should be built at Ballygarvan. Tenders were invited for the construction of the airport in 1959 at an estimated cost of £1 million. The airport was officially opened on 16 October 1961, following proving flights four days earlier by Aer Lingus and Cambrian Airways. Vincent Fanning was the first manager at the airport. In its first year the airport handled 10,172 passengers – close to the average number of passengers handled each day at the airport in 2007. Throughout the 1960s the airport expanded with the arrival of more advanced aircraft and more destinations. The first jet, a British Overseas Airways Corporation Comet, landed at Cork Airport on 29 March 1964. By 1969 Aer Lingus was operating to London Heathrow, Manchester and Bristol.


title: Cork Airport

text: In 1975 Aer Rianta, the then state airports authority, undertook a passenger terminal study aimed at improving the terminal facilities. The findings resulted in the provision, over the next two years, of new departure and arrival halls, a new check-in area, office complex, information desk, duty office and executive lounge. The new extensions and facilities were opened in 1978.


title: Cork Airport

text: The 1980s began with an extension of the main apron. New services to London Gatwick began, while Aer Lingus' commuter division started a new domestic service to Dublin Airport. In 1985 following significant growth, Aer Rianta carried out a survey of the terminal facilities with a view to carrying out a major expansion and development programme. On 8 June 1987, Ryanair commenced services at Cork Airport. The following year, Phase I of the Terminal Expansion and Development Plan was completed. The following year the main runway extension of was opened.


title: Cork Airport

text: The 1990s began with the completion of Phase II of the terminal expansion in 1991 and Phase III being completed in 1992 with the plan being brought to completion in 1994.


title: Cork Airport

text: A Great Southern Hotel was opened on the airport grounds during 2001 and plans were drawn up for the construction of a new terminal building and ancillary capital investment works at an estimated cost of €140 million. Also towards the end of 2001, new Irish regional airline Aer Arann opened its second base at Cork opening new routes to/from the airport.


title: Cork Airport

text: Along with the construction of the terminal, roads were upgraded from single to dual carriageway and re-aligned, and a new short term multi-storey car park was constructed. Airbridges were included in the original terminal design, however only one airbridge was built because airline representatives from the low-cost carriers who use Cork Airport made it clear that they did not want airbridges, would not use them and would not pay for them. In the circumstances, the DAA removed the airbridges from the terminal design during construction of the new facility. The new terminal was completed with four fixed links to the main building, and was designed to accommodate additional airbridges in future or if needed.


title: Cork Airport

text: In 2005, Ryanair opened its 15th European base and second Irish base at Cork. The following year, the new terminal opened on 15 August 2006. Designed by HOK and Jacobs Engineering Group, the new terminal was the first built in Ireland in the 21st century.


title: Cork Airport

text: In April 2008, the board of Cork Airport Authority agreed by one vote to accept responsibility for a debt of €113 million incurred by the Dublin Airport Authority in the redevelopment of Cork Airport to secure independence from Dublin Airport. This was despite government commitments that the Cork Airport Authority would be established on a debt-free basis. The Cork Airport Authority Board also stated that their strong reservations about the level of debt that Cork Airport was being levied with and the potential impact on its future sustainability. In late April 2008, Cork Airport Authority chairman, Joe Gantly, announced his resignation effective from the end of July 2008. Gerry Walsh replaced Gantly as chairman.


title: Cork Airport

text: The Irish Aviation Authority completed a new control tower 1 km from the old terminal to the west of the main runway.


title: Cork Airport

text: The total cost was €7.5 million and was funded entirely by the IAA with no government funding. Construction began in August 2007 and was completed in June 2008 but it took until mid October 2009 to get all the new systems tested and working. The new control tower officially opened on 20 October 2009 at 00:01.


title: Cork Airport

text: On 22 May 2011, at around 4:30pm a man entered a Garda Síochána vehicle in Cork City Centre and slashed the Garda in the vehicle with a knife. The Garda jumped from his vehicle and the man hijacked it, hitting a number of vehicles while driving to Cork Airport. At approximately 4:50pm the vehicle rammed through a perimeter airport fence, before breaking down. The man abandoned the Garda vehicle and, again producing a knife, hijacked an Airport Fire Service vehicle. By this time Air Traffic Control had suspended all operations. The man drove erratically on the airport taxiway, driving underneath a stationary Thomas Cook aircraft at high speed. The man proceeded to ram several Garda and airport vehicles, before attempting to ram an Aer Lingus aircraft. The hijacked vehicle stalled, halting feet from the Airbus A320. Armed Gardaí subdued the man with a taser. Flights were resumed after the man was removed and the airport perimeter secured.


title: Cork Airport

text: In 2013, Cork Airport was placed first for overall customer satisfaction in a global survey of passengers carried out by Airports Council International. The survey measured customer satisfaction across eight categories in 61 regional airports worldwide, with Cork Airport scoring highest.


title: Cork Airport

text: In 2014, the Airport met its public sector obligation of a 33% reduction in energy costs, 6 years earlier than their 2020 target, and were awarded first place in the public sector category at the Sustainable Energy Awards 2014.


title: Cork Airport

text: In 2016, Cork Airport won the Corporate Campaign of the Year Prize at the EU Public Affairs Awards (EuroPAwards) in Brussels, primarily for its efforts to secure a direct transatlantic route. Also in 2016, Cork Airport became the first Irish airport to launch a no drone zone within 5 km of the airfield. The campaign was launched following a number of incidents involving drones or aircraft on approach or departure from aerodromes throughout Europe. Despite this campaign, at least two drones encroached airspace during April 2017.


title: Cork Airport

text: The airport was named as "Best Airport in Europe under 5 million passengers" at the Airports Council International (ACI) Europe General Assembly in both 2017 and 2019.


title: Cork Airport

text: With an elevation of above sea level, Cork Airport is sometimes prone to fog and a low cloud ceiling. The Instrument landing system has been upgraded to Category II, and together with a extension of the main runway has significantly reduced the number of diversions. However, during times of severe inclement weather the airport can suffer from delays or diversions to airports such as Shannon, Dublin or Kerry. Similarly, diversions from these airports occasionally land at Cork.


title: Cork Airport

text: The length of the main runway dictates that the airport cannot handle fully laden large widebody aircraft. Large wide-bodied aircraft do visit Cork Airport on an irregular basis, for example to operate ad-hoc charter services for flights to sporting events such as those of the Munster Rugby team.


title: Cork Airport

text: From its opening in 1961, the airport was managed by the Department of Transport and Power, now the Department of Transport. Aer Rianta took control of Cork and Shannon Airports on 1 April 1969 and the assets of the airports were transferred to the company under the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act, 1998. The name of Aer Rianta was changed to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) under the "State Airports Act 2004", which also created the Cork Airport Authority and the Shannon Airport Authority. These companies were charged with preparing a business plan in preparation for taking over the assets of their airports from the DAA.


title: Cork Airport

text: Cork Airport is responsible for the infrastructure which enables airlines and handling agents at the airport. Some airlines provide their own aircraft ground handling services (such as Aer Lingus and Ryanair), while other airlines contract services to third party ground handlers (like Swissport and Weston Aviation).


title: Cork Airport

text: The main terminal at Cork Airport contains several shopping and eating facilities both before and after the security screening area, a bureau de change kiosk and ATM (cash machine) and a business lounge operated by Swissport. There are eight departure gates in the airport, two of which have an airbridge. Wi-Fi is available throughout the terminal.


title: Cork Airport

text: There are two hotels located adjacent to the passenger terminal, the Cork International Hotel which is located in the business park, and the Cork Airport Hotel (previously branded Park Inn by Radisson) which is located opposite the terminal on airport grounds.


title: Cork Airport

text: This plan envisages that the cargo area, currently located to the north–east of the airport, would be moved to the south–east of the grounds, with the general aviation area transferred opposite the main runway at the south–west of airport. Using space from the removal of the cargo area, the main terminal could be extended northwards, potentially doubling the space for aircraft. The plan also calls for the old terminal to be demolished.


title: Cork Airport

text: Parallel plans for transport infrastructure also exist, including upgrading the N27 to two lanes in each direction and a dedicated bus lane for city–bound traffic. The roundabout at the entrance of the airport would be enhanced with an under-pass.


title: Cork Airport

text: In February 2017 it was announced that €4 million was to be invested at the airport for training, screening and restaurant facilities, with the existing restaurant moving from landside to airside.


title: Cork Airport

text: In November 2020 it was announced that Cork Airport was bringing forward its plans to rebuild and refurbish its main runway from Q4 2022/Q1 2023 to Q3 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on its traffic.


title: Cork Airport

text: Passenger numbers at Cork Airport increased every year during the ten years between 1998 and 2008 by an average of 14.8% per annum from around 1.3 million to over 3.2 million. Passenger numbers fell however during the subsequent seven years to just below 2.1 million in 2015. Passenger numbers returned to growth in 2016, with a year-on-year increase of 7.7% to 2.23 million passengers. In 2017 this number rose to 2.3 million, increasing during 2018 by a further 4% to around 2.4 million passengers. By 2019 it had increased to 2.6 million after which it suffered a drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with most other airports in the world.


title: Cork Airport

text: Cork Airport has a number of services supporting general aviation flying, and also serves business jets. Both fixed wing and rotary wing flight training providers operate at the airport, with flying schools located to the south of the terminal building, on the east side of the main runway.


title: Cork Airport

text: A business park was developed at the airport from October 1998. , there were in excess of 50 tenant companies in the business park, including Amazon, IBM, BNY Mellon, Logitech, Nuix, McKesson and Aviva.


title: Cork Airport

text: Bus Éireann serve the airport on route number 225 (from Kent Rail Station to Haulbowline) and route 226 (Kent Rail Station to Kinsale). Irish Citylink also operate coach services to the airport from Galway via Limerick:


title: Cork Airport

text: There is no rail link to the airport, and the nearest station is Kent Station on the edge of the city centre. There are multiple Bus Éireann routes connecting the airport to Kent Station via the city centre.


title: Cork Airport

text: Cork Airport is located from the city centre. It is connected to the city centre via the N27 and N40. The R600 connects the airport to the port town of Kinsale, which forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way tourist route. The airport is approximately away from Dublin and from Limerick, accessed via the M8 and N20 respectively. DAA operates all car parks at the airport, with both short-term and long-term parking within the campus and over 4,600 spaces in total. A number of companies offer car-hire in the arrivals hall of the terminal building.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (; 12 March 1824 – 17 October 1887) was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: He coined the term black-body radiation in 1862. Several different sets of concepts are named "Kirchhoff's laws" after him, concerning such diverse subjects as black-body radiation and spectroscopy, electrical circuits, and thermochemistry. The Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy is named after him and his colleague, Robert Bunsen.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Gustav Kirchhoff was born on 12 March 1824 in Königsberg, Prussia, the son of Friedrich Kirchhoff, a lawyer, and Johanna Henriette Wittke. His family were Lutherans in the Evangelical Church of Prussia. He graduated from the Albertus University of Königsberg in 1847 where he attended the mathematico-physical seminar directed by Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, Franz Ernst Neumann and Friedrich Julius Richelot. In the same year, he moved to Berlin, where he stayed until he received a professorship at Breslau. Later, in 1857, he married Clara Richelot, the daughter of his mathematics professor Richelot. The couple had five children. Clara died in 1869. He married Luise Brömmel in 1872.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Kirchhoff formulated his circuit laws, which are now ubiquitous in electrical engineering, in 1845, while still a student. He completed this study as a seminar exercise; it later became his doctoral dissertation. He was called to the University of Heidelberg in 1854, where he collaborated in spectroscopic work with Robert Bunsen. In 1857, he calculated that an electric signal in a resistanceless wire travels along the wire at the speed of light. He proposed his law of thermal radiation in 1859, and gave a proof in 1861. Together Kirchhoff and Bunsen invented the spectroscope, which Kirchhoff used to pioneer the identification of the elements in the Sun, showing in 1859 that the Sun contains sodium. He and Bunsen discovered caesium and rubidium in 1861.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: At Heidelberg he ran a mathematico-physical seminar, modelled on Franz Ernst Neumann's, with the mathematician Leo Koenigsberger. Among those who attended this seminar were Arthur Schuster and Sofia Kovalevskaya.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: He contributed greatly to the field of spectroscopy by formalizing three laws that describe the spectral composition of light emitted by incandescent objects, building substantially on the discoveries of David Alter and Anders Jonas Ångström. In 1862, he was awarded the Rumford Medal for his researches on the fixed lines of the solar spectrum, and on the inversion of the bright lines in the spectra of artificial light. In 1875 Kirchhoff accepted the first chair dedicated specifically to theoretical physics at Berlin.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: He also contributed to optics, carefully solving the wave equation to provide a solid foundation for Huygens' principle (and correct it in the process).


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Kirchhoff died in 1887, and was buried in the St Matthäus Kirchhof Cemetery in Schöneberg, Berlin (just a few meters from the graves of the Brothers Grimm). Leopold Kronecker is buried in the same cemetery.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Kirchhoff's first law is that the algebraic sum of currents in a network of conductors meeting at a point (or node) is zero. The second law is that in a closed circuit, the directed sums of the voltages in the system is zero.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Kirchhoff did not know about the existence of energy levels in atoms. The existence of discrete spectral lines was known since Fraunhofer discovered them in 1814. And that the lines formed a discrete mathematical pattern was described by Johann Balmer in 1885. Joseph Larmor explained the splitting of the spectral lines in a magnetic field known as the Zeeman Effect by the oscillation of electrons. But these discrete spectral lines were not explained as electron transitions until the Bohr model of the atom in 1913, which helped lead to quantum mechanics.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: It was Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation in which he proposed an unknown universal law for radiation that led Max Planck to the discovery of the quantum of action leading to quantum mechanics.


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Kirchhoff showed in 1858 that, in thermochemistry, the variation of the heat of a chemical reaction is given by the difference in heat capacity between products and reactants:


title: Gustav Kirchhoff

text: Integration of this equation permits the evaluation of the heat of reaction at one temperature from measurements at another temperature.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: The Dassault nEUROn is an experimental unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed with international cooperation, led by the French company Dassault Aviation. Countries involved in this project include France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The design goal is to create a stealthy, autonomous UAV that can function in medium-to-high threat combat zones. Comparable projects include the British BAE Systems Taranis, German/Spanish EADS Barracuda, Turkish Baykar Bayraktar Kızılelma, American Boeing X-45 and Northrop Grumman X-47B, the Indian DRDO AURA, and the Russian Mikoyan Skat and Sukhoi Okhotnik.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: The industrial goal is to give European firms experience designing and building high-end UAVs and associated technologies, in order to keep them competitive in the global marketplace. The first flight took place on December 1, 2012.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: This flying wing stealth UCAV project is the final phase of the French Dassault LOGIDUC 3-step stealth "combat drone" programme. Until June 2005 it had the form of the original Dassault developed Grand Duc vehicle: supersonic two-engined long-range unmanned bomber, capable of performing attacks with nuclear weapons.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Under pressure of the international cooperation, especially from Sweden and Saab, it was transformed into a demonstrator of smaller single-engine technology. Thus it is now optimised for the testing of various technologies for the future UAVs and UCAVs, and will not enter serial production. It will, however, clear the way for a commercial product, which will use the technologies developed thanks to the nEUROn program. The full-scale replica of the current configuration was unveiled at the Paris Air Show 2005.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: The nEUROn development, originally planned by Dassault as "AVE Grand Duc", evolved into a European cooperation including Swedish Saab AB, Greek EAB, Swiss RUAG Aerospace, Spanish EADS CASA and Italian Alenia (today Leonardo-Finmeccanica's Aircraft Division), with Dassault as the lead contractor. As a "technology demonstrator", only one vehicle will be produced to explore new operational concepts for a future generation of autonomous stealth fighter aircraft that will be produced beyond 2020. This is advocated by the statement that the industrial partners want to invest more in technology development, rather than manufacturing of the flying hardware and weapons, despite the risk of the loss of the single prototype.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: However Dassault plans to primarily use the data collected by the demonstrator to produce derived UCAVs. The French maker states the nEUROn's Adour engine (adapted from the version used in the SEPECAT Jaguar) will be replaced in the production version by a more powerful, specific, engine based on Snecma's M88 from the Dassault Rafale.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: According to the DGA, nEUROn test flights were planned in France, Sweden and Italy in early 2010, but were delayed. Its first flight was at the end of 2012. While nEUROn was on display at the Paris Air Show 2013, it did not fly due to reluctance by European civil aviation authorities to allow UAVs to fly out of closed airspace.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: As a UCAV, nEUROn will be significantly larger and more advanced than other well-known UAV systems like the MQ-1 Predator, with ranges, payloads and capabilities that approach those of manned fighter aircraft. Although the project is not yet closely defined, illustrations and statements by the consortium partners indicate that the nEUROn is envisioned as a competitive system with the American J-UCAS program's Boeing X-45C or Northrop-Grumman X-47B.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Indeed, Saab's February 9, 2006 release notes that nEUROn will be a demonstrator measuring 10 m long by 12 m wide and weighing in at 5 tons. This is roughly the size of a Mirage 2000 fighter rotated 90 degrees (as the nEUROn is wider than it is long). The aircraft will have unmanned autonomous air-to-ground attack capabilities with precision guided munitions, relying on an advanced stealth airframe design to penetrate undetected. Another feature being contemplated is the ability to control squad flight in automatic mode from an advanced fighter like the Rafale or JAS 39 Gripen platform, grouping the nEUROns and controlling the group in a manner similar to many combat real-time strategy computer games.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: In 1999, Dassault Aviation launched its LOGIDUC stealth UCAV program, which gave birth to the Dassault AVE-D Petit Duc that flew in July 2000 as the first stealth UAV in Europe, and to the Dassault AVE-C Moyen Duc (2001). Dassault changed the third phase name "Grand Duc" – a full-scale advanced version of the Moyen Duc – to the more European sounding nEUROn, as the French project was joined by European partners to reduce its development cost. Great Britain didn't join because it was already involved with an American similar program, neither Germany who desisted officially because the country was unable to afford the financial participation.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: During the 2003 Paris Air Show, French Minister of Defence Mme Michèle Alliot-Marie announced a major agreement signed between the French groups EADS France, Dassault Aviation and Thales. The agreement covered a joint-venture to "realise a new unmanned military technology that covers all future activity in combat and strategic reconnaissance aeronautics" "i.e." LOGIDUC's phase three, "Grand Duc".


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Meanwhile, the French defence procurement agency, DGA, acting as the program executive on behalf of the participating countries, has entrusted development of the first nEUROn UCAV demonstrator to Dassault Aviation and its European partners. Sub-contracts have been made with the French industrial firms Thales and EADS France and also with five European firms, Saab (Sweden), EAB (Greece), Alenia (Italy), RUAG Aerospace (Switzerland) and EADS CASA (Spain).


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Chief project manager Thierry Prunier comes from Dassault Aviation, and the deputy project managers are Mats Ohlson of Saab and Ermanno Bertolina of Alenia. There is a single link between the executive agency (DGA) and the prime contractor (Dassault), and it will be up to the executive agency to coordinate with the government agencies of the participating countries. It will be up to the prime contractor, meanwhile, to coordinate the work with the other industries.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: After Spain joined the programme in early February 2006 (Belgium could join later), work breakdown among the European industrial partners was planned as follows:


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Dassault claims 50% of development and is responsible for the standalone LOGIDUC programme. The nEUROn (2010) will be the third Dassault stealth UAV prototype following the AVE-D Petit Duc (2000) & AVE-C Moyen Duc (2004). The nEUROn project replaces the LOGIDUC final phase AVE Grand Duc.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Thanks to the technologies developed for the UAV prototype Sky-x (2003) Alenia Aeronautica was the first industrial partner and claims a 25% share of the entire programme.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: Saab claims 25% of development and is also the coordinator for the other Swedish corporations involved.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: The nEUROn made its first flight on December 1, 2012 in France. Flight trials in France to open its flight envelope and evaluate its stealth characteristics were successfully completed in March 2015. These tests were followed by sensor evaluation trials in Italy, which were completed on August 25, 2015. The last leg of flight trials take place in Sweden and will include live fire trials.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: In July 2016 extensive stealth and detection tests were conducted with the nEUROn and the Charles de Gaulle carrier group. The nEUROn was to penetrate the aircraft carrier defensive area to test its stealth and the capacity of the carrier group to detect it.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: The contract is valued at €405 million, and allows industry to begin a three-year system definition and design phase with related low-observability studies. This phase will be followed by the development and assembly phase, and by a first flight in 2011. It is planned that the 2-year flight-test program (2010–2012) will entail about 100 sorties, including the launch of a laser-guided bomb tentatively scheduled for 2012. The initial €400 million budget was increased by €5 million in 2006 due to the addition of a modular bomb bay including a designator and a laser-guided bomb.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: In February 2006, DGA had announced that France will provide €202.5 million, half of the program's €405 million ($480 million) budget, while the remaining funds will be supplied by the other participating member nations. In December 2005, the Swedish defence ministry reported the national share would be €75 million, of which €66 million would be financed by Saab AB. The cost of Spain's participation to the program is estimated at €35.5 million, spread over the 2007–2012 period.


title: Dassault nEUROn

text: In November 2014, a two-year feasibility study was announced by the French and British governments. This could lead to a program combining the experience of the BAE Systems Taranis and nEUROn programs into a Future Combat Air System.


title: Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1929–1939)

text: This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" banners between 1930 and 1939, plus the pilot film from 1929 which was used to sell the "Looney Tunes" series to Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. A total of 270 shorts were released during the 1930s.


text: "Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid" is a live-action/animated short film starring a character named Bosko. The film was produced in May 1929, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, and shown by the two to various distributors. In the film, a cartoonist (portrayed in live action by Rudolf Ising) draws Bosko, who comes to life. Bosko speaks, sings, dances and plays the piano before the cartoonist sucks him into his ink pen and pours him back into the inkwell. Bosko pops out of the bottle and promises to return. The film is in the public domain.


text: The film was first made viewable to the public on Cartoon Network's television special "Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons" on March 12, 2000 in an edited form. The full cartoon is present on disc 4 of the "" as a special feature.


text: All cartoons are "Looney Tunes" starring Bosko and are all directed and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, along with Leon Schlesinger as associate producer. All cartoons are scored by Frank Marsales. All cartoons are in the public domain.


text: This year marks the debut of the "Merrie Melodies" series. All Merrie Melodies cartoons are directed by Rudolf Ising, and all Looney Tunes cartoons after "The Tree's Knees" are directed by Hugh Harman. The cartoons star Bosko, Foxy, Piggy, and other characters. All the cartoons are scored by Frank Marsales. All cartoons are in the public domain.


text: This year marks the beginning of production of color WB cartoons. For this year, most would still be in black and white up until "Rhythm in the Bow". All cartoons are under copyright.


text: All "Merrie Melodies" cartoons are in 2-strip Technicolor until the end of the year, when the series adopts 3-strip Technicolor as its new color process, starting with "Flowers for Madame".


text: This year, the "Merrie Melodies" series adopts the iconic bullseye rings in its opening titles alongside a script "That's all Folks!" text starting with "I Wanna Play House" and later the "Merrily We Roll Along" theme song starting with "Boulevardier from the Bronx".


text: Starting this year, the "Looney Tunes" series adopts "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" theme song starting with "Rover's Rival".


title: Dirt 5

text: Dirt 5 is a simcade racing video game developed and published by Codemasters. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 6 November 2020, for Xbox Series X/S on 10 November, and for PlayStation 5 on 12 November (for North America, Oceania, Japan, and South Korea) and 19 November (for most other regions), for Stadia on 24 March 2021, and for Amazon Luna on 15 July 2021. It was the last video game released by Codemasters as an independent company before acquired by Electronic Arts on 18 February 2021.


title: Dirt 5

text: "Dirt 5" is a racing game focused on off-road racing. Disciplines within the game include rallycross, ice racing, Stadium Super Trucks and off-road buggies. Players can compete in events in a wide range of locations, namely Arizona, Brazil, China, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Nepal, New York City, Norway and South Africa. The game includes a dynamic weather system and seasons, which affect the racing; for example, the player can only compete in ice racing events in New York during winter months. A four-player splitscreen system is also introduced into the game.


title: Dirt 5

text: "Dirt 5" also features a narrative-focused career mode that pits the player character against a rival driver called Bruno Durand (voiced by Nolan North) in a series of championships. The player also has a mentor called Alex “AJ” Janiček (voiced by Troy Baker) who provides them with advice throughout their career. The game was also not to feature a cinematic replay. Instead, the game would follow in a series of podcasts by Donut Media that follows the storyline.


title: Dirt 5

text: "Dirt 5" was announced during the 2020 Xbox Games Showcase presentation. In addition to releasing on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms, it was available for the ninth generation of video game consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Xbox versions of the game support Microsoft's "Smart Delivery" program, which allows the player to purchase the Xbox One copy of the game and receive the Xbox Series X version. PlayStation 4 owners can also update to the PlayStation 5 version at no additional cost. The game was developed by Codemasters Cheshire, formerly known as Codemasters Evo, developers of "Onrush". It is also powered by the evolved game engine of "Onrush". Many of its staff worked on "Driveclub" and "MotorStorm". It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020. The Stadia and Amazon Luna versions launched in 2021.


title: Dirt 5

text: Praising the 120 Hz refresh rate, PlayStation Official Magazine – UK listed it as the 5th best game on the PS5.


title: 2019–20 EFL Championship

text: The 2019–20 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season of the Football League Championship under its current title and the 28th season under its current league division format. Leeds United won the title, with West Bromwich Albion following in second. Brentford finished closely in third, only to be beaten in the playoff final to 4th placed Fulham by a narrow 2–1 victory at Wembley.


title: 2019–20 EFL Championship

text: The season was halted, following a decision on 13 March 2020 to suspend the league after a number of players and other club staff became ill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial suspension was until 4 April, which was then extended until 30 April. On 13 May, following a meeting, the clubs decided to continue with the season with plans for players to return to training on 25 May.


title: 2019–20 EFL Championship

text: In May, 1014 tests were carried out across all of the English Football League and funded by the clubs. Two people from Hull City returned positive results. Later in May, Elliott Bennett of Blackburn Rovers tested positive for the virus as did two unnamed players from Fulham. In further tests, Jayden Stockley of Preston North End tested positive as did one unnamed person from both Cardiff City and Middlesbrough. On 31 May, the EFL stated plans to restart the league on 20 June, with the play-off final being scheduled for around 30 July, subject to safety requirement and government approval being met.


title: 2019–20 EFL Championship

text: On 7 June, two Championship clubs reported one person each to have tested positive of coronavirus, during the latest round of testing. A total of 1,179 people were tested in the duration of four days and those tested positive were required to self-isolate, as per EFL guidelines. On 8 June, the first round of fixtures was released. The first set of fixtures following the restart was scheduled for 20 June with the first fixture being Fulham against Brentford with a 12:30pm kick-off. In a further round of testing on 8 June, Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill tested positive for the virus having tested negative in five previous rounds of testing. A practice game between Stoke and Manchester United was called off at short notice with the Stoke players already in United's Carrington training ground.


title: Džanan Musa

text: Džanan Musa (, born 8 May 1999) is a Bosnian professional basketball player for Real Madrid of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. Standing at and weighing , Musa plays at the small forward position. He was selected by the Brooklyn Nets with the 29th pick in the 2018 NBA draft.


title: Džanan Musa

text: Born in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Musa began playing soccer at first, before choosing to focus on basketball. Musa started playing junior basketball in the youth setup at KK Bosna XXL, when he was 8 years old. He then moved to Sarajevo-based KK Koš, before joining Croatian team KK Cedevita in 2014.


title: Džanan Musa

text: In December 2014, he signed a deal with Croatian team Cedevita. Musa made his debut in Europe's top-tier level competition, the EuroLeague, on 15 October 2015, making him the ninth-youngest player to make their debut in the EuroLeague. Musa played the first 4:55 minutes of the game and recorded 4 points.


title: Džanan Musa

text: In June 2017, Musa attended the Adidas Eurocamp, a basketball camp based in Treviso for international NBA draft prospects. He was named the Eurocamp 2017 Most Improved Player.