title: Lego Dimensions

text: Arriving on Foundation Prime, a shapeshifting planet located in the center of the Lego multiverse, Lord Vortech (Gary Oldman), a being who has the power to shapeshift and travel through dimensions, and his robot minion X-PO (Joel McHale) seek the twelve Foundation Elements, the cornerstones of time and space itself, in a bid to merge all the dimensions into one under Vortech's control. These elements, such as the ruby slippers, the One Ring, the flux capacitor, the Palantír, the PKE meter, and kryptonite, were scattered across the dimensions long time ago, but gathered together at Foundation Prime's palace can unlock the Foundation of All Dimensions, an artifact that grants the user the power to control all of the dimensions. When X-PO voices his doubts about Vortech's plot, Vortech decides that he no longer needs him and banishes him to the dimensional void Vorton, ignoring X-PO's warning that it is too dangerous to safely harness the elements. Unfortunately for Vortech, his own body cannot handle too many more dimensional jumps, forcing him to open vortexes to the different dimensions and recruits their villains to help him search for the elements while imprisoning the heroes pulled through them. These actions damage the boundaries between the dimensions, causing them to merge and characters to be displaced.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: When Robin (Scott Menville), Frodo (Elijah Wood), and MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) are pulled into the vortexes, each unknowingly in possession of one of the elements, Batman (Troy Baker), Gandalf the Grey (Tom Kane), and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) all jump in after them. The three get pulled into the same vortex and appear on Vorton, where the vortex generator they came out of explodes, prompting them to rebuild it. Aided by X-PO, the three use the generator to travel through the dimensions and search for the Foundation Elements and the five missing Keystones that power the generator (Shift, Chroma, Elemental Phase, Scale, and Locate) hoping to find their missing friends and thwart Vortech's plot. Along their journey, they meet and assist the various heroes of the dimensions they visit, such as Dorothy Gale (Laura Bailey), Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta), Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Wheatley (Stephen Merchant), and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) while fighting numerous villains, including the Wicked Witch of the West (Courtenay Taylor), Lord Business (Nolan North), Joker (Christopher Corey Smith), Master Chen (William Salyers), Saruman the White (Roger L. Jackson), Daleks (Nicholas Briggs), Lex Luthor (Travis Willingham), Riddler (Roger Craig Smith), Two-Face (Baker), Sauron (Steve Blum), General Zod (North), as well as Vortech himself twice. However, Vortech eventually realizes that X-PO is helping them. The heroes travel to Foundation Prime to find their friends and fight Vortech, but it turns out to be a diversion, allowing his lackeys to infiltrate Vorton and retrieve the trio's Foundation Elements in their absence. With all of the elements collected, Vortech unlocks the Foundation of All Dimensions (which is a green Lego plate) and is imbued with near-unlimited power. He merges Robin, Frodo, MetalBeard, and a piece of himself into a giant mutant known as the Tri, (Menville, Wood, and Offerman) and sends it to wreak havoc on the trio's home dimensions. Fearing that a failure could lead to a transformation into a similar mutant, Vortech's lackeys bail out on him.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: The heroes free their friends from inside the Tri and destroy the Vortech piece, causing it to implode. After the Tri's defeat, Batman realizes that they will need all the help they can get to defeat Vortech, leading them to recruit the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Mystery Inc., the Ghostbusters, the space ship Defender, and GLaDOS (Ellen McLain) to their cause. While the Doctor, GLaDOS, and X-PO work on a plan to seal Vortech in a rift loop, the heroes head to Foundation Prime, fighting him along the way. With their allies' help, they are able to neutralize the Foundation of All Dimensions, which causes Foundation Prime's palace to collapse, infuriating Vortech. He grows to an enormous size and attacks the trio, but the Doctor is able to manipulate the portal technology and sucks all of them into a rift loop. Using special devices he, GLaDOS, and X-PO designed, the heroes are able to seal Vortech in an endless rift prison for all eternity, saving the multiverse.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: In a post-credits scene, an unknown figure finds a piece of Vortech's body in the remains of Foundation Prime's palace. He picks it up and instantly becomes corrupted, yelling in pain as he converts into a Vorton being. Vortech's laughter is heard as the scene fades out, suggesting that the figure has been transformed into another version of Vortech.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: The game also features character and setting cameos from other franchises, including HAL 9000 from the "Space Odyssey" series, S.T.A.R. Labs from CW's "The Flash", Bedrock from "The Flintstones", the family room from "The Jetsons", and the DNA ship from "Red Dwarf". Unlike other toys-to-life series such as "Skylanders" and "Disney Infinity", "Lego Dimensions" allows all figures to be compatible with the existing title, rather than releasing a sequel.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: In addition to the game's starter pack, "Lego Dimensions" has a wide range of packs available, split into four categories: story packs, level packs, team packs, and fun packs. Packs from the game's second year (September 2016–17) also unlock Adventure World Battle Arenas, competitive four-person multiplayer areas themed after each figure's respective franchise.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: Story packs add six new levels to the game based on the represented franchise; these levels retell the story of their respective film, with characters from other franchises making occasional appearances. The packs also include one or two characters, a vehicle or gadget, and a new gateway design for the toy pad. Story packs each also unlock a new keystone for the portal, providing additional abilities.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: Level packs contain a character with two items, which are either vehicles or gadgets, along with a new level to play in, based on the represented character's franchise.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: Team packs are similar to Fun packs except they contain two characters and a combination of two vehicles or gadgets, one for each character.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: Polybags are limited-edition releases of a single character figure, distributed only at events and via special offers.


title: Lego Dimensions

text: "Lego Dimensions" received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN awarded it a score of 7.7 out of 10, saying ""Lego Dimensions" great characters and fun references consistently left me with a big dumb grin on my face." GameSpot awarded it a score of 8.0, saying "In any game within the toys-to-life genre, there's sometimes an unspoken question: is this also a great toy or just a great game? In "Lego Dimensions" case, the answer is easy: it's both." They also praised the open world sections of the game, stating that "While they don't feature the same level of intricacy the main game provides, they do add several more hours each to the overall experience." Polygon awarded it 8 out of 10, saying "Where the game's innovative designs push forward what it means to blend toys and games into a single experience, the writing and both companies' willingness to dig deep into their vaults, pull the whole game together." Hosts Bajo and Hex both awarded the game 3 out of 5. Praise was given to the puzzles and mechanics, commenting that it may be their favourite LEGO game. However, they gave harsh criticism to the pricing model. Their summation was that it was "poor value", stating that the last few Lego games were "pretty much as good as this one", but players can play as their extensive character rosters without having to buy expensive expansions."


title: Lego Dimensions

text: In the UK and Ireland, "Lego Dimensions" landed at number 2 on the sales charts in its first week. Sales had surpassed in comparison to first week sales of other 2015 toys-to-life game competitors "" and "Disney Infinity 3.0".


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: A manga adaptation with art by Masahiro Ikeno has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "shōnen" manga magazine "Monthly Shōnen Ace" since May 2018. Both the light novel and manga are licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation by Wolfsbane and Studio Flad aired from October to December 2021. A second season has been announced.


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: In a world whose inhabitants find their destinies dictated by the Divine Blessings they receive upon birth, Gideon Ragnason was a member of the Hero's Party, a powerful group led by his sister Ruti destined to save the world from evil. His Blessing gave him the common ability to survive any terrain, and he proves that additional skills can go beyond the limit. That is, until one day, Ares, the Party's second-in-command, considers him a dead weight to the party members and banishes him from the group. Gideon heeds Ares' words and leaves without telling Ruti.


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: Hoping to live an easy life on the frontier, Gideon moves to a borderland town and opens an apothecary, changing his name to Red. However, keeping his former status a secret may not be as simple as he thinks, especially when Rit, a beautiful adventurer from his past, shows up and asks to move in with him!


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: Series is written by Zappon and illustrated by Yasumo. It began serialization online in October 2017 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by Kadokawa Shoten, who have published eleven volumes since June 2018 under their Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint. The light novel series is licensed in North America by Yen Press.


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: A manga adaptation with art by Masahiro Ikeno has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "shōnen" manga magazine "Monthly Shōnen Ace" since May 2018. It has been collected in nine "tankōbon" volumes as of July 2022. The Manga series is also licensed in North America by Yen Press.


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: An anime television series adaptation was announced on November 17, 2020. The series is animated by Wolfsbane and Studio Flad and directed by Makoto Hoshino, with Megumi Shimizu handling the series' scripts, Ruriko Watanabe designing the characters, and Yukari Hashimoto composing the music. The series marked the first time Ryōta Suzuki had been cast in a leading voice role. It was originally scheduled to premiere in July 2021, but was delayed to October 2021 due to "various circumstances." It aired from October 6 to December 29, 2021 on AT-X and other channels. Yui Nishio performed the opening theme "Iki o Sū Koko de Sū Ikiteku" (息を吸う ここで吸う 生きてく), while JYOCHO performed the ending theme "Minna Onaji" (みんなおなじ, "All the Same"). Funimation licensed the series outside of Asia. On October 19, 2021, Funimation announced that the series would receive an English dub, which premiered the following day.


title: Banished from the Hero's Party

text: The light novel series has over 1,000,000 copies in print as of November 2020, when the anime adaptation was announced.


title: Cupra Racing

text: Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the mission to enforce the brand's participation in rally championships, followed by 11 titles between 1979 and 1983. It has competed in rallying and touring car racing, and also develops high performance versions of road cars. The result of this effort has been rewarded through SEAT's most prestigious titles in FIA championships, three conquests with the SEAT Ibiza Kit-Car in the FIA 2L World Rally Championship (WRC) (1996, 1997, 1998) and two times with the SEAT León in the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) (2008, 2009).


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2018 SEAT created the Cupra brand as its independent high-performance branch and SEAT Sport was officially replaced by Cupra Racing.


title: Cupra Racing

text: SEAT's first serious attempt at a World Rally Championship (WRC) was in the 1977 season when the company took part with its 'SEAT 1430/124D Especial 1800' race car, and in its debut at the Monte Carlo Rally the SEAT team finished in third and fourth place with the official 1430-1800 cars being driven by Antonio Zanini and Salvador Cañellas. In recent years the consignment was burdened on the small SEAT Ibiza, a 1.6L normally aspirated front-wheel drive car with its roots in the Volkswagen Polo. The Ibiza allowed the company to start building its rallying experience, and was officially engaged in some European national championships. The years went by and little success followed until a 2L version of the Ibiza was homologated as a kit-car, and extra wide tracks, larger wheels, brakes, etc., were fitted to it as the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) kit-car regulations allow. With these attributes, the car won the 2L World Championship three times ('96, '97, '98).


title: Cupra Racing

text: SEATs three conquests of the 2L FIA title, and the sport's popularity in Spain, convinced Volkswagen Group management to go further, and allocate sufficient budgets to the SEAT Sport department so as to allow it a chance to reach its goal. SEAT's project to build a WRC-spec car was officially announced during the 1997 San Remo rally. It was in 1998 that the SEAT Córdoba WRC was first enrolled by the company to compete at the highest level of WRC racing. The Córdoba was based on the family saloon of the same name but was, naturally, a WRC class car. It had a 4 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, permanent four-wheel drive, and active differentials were involved in its transmission. However, the short wheelbase and high-mounted engine (compared to its rivals) worked against the Córdoba, and results weren't impressive. The main drivers were ex-WRC champion Didier Auriol, along with Harri Rovanpera and rising Finnish star Toni Gardemeister. They did achieve three podium finishes; at the 1999 Rally New Zealand (Gardemeister), the 1999 Rally of Great Britain (Rovanpera) as well as the 2000 Safari Rally (Auriol). SEAT pulled out of international rallying at the end of 2000.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2002 SEAT Sport set up the SEAT León Supercopa in Spain, a one-make series featuring the SEAT León. This format has since expanded across Europe, with the formation of the SEAT León Eurocup in 2008. In 2003, SEAT began entering the SEAT Toledo Cupra in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) with drivers Jordi Gené and Frank Diefenbacher. Former British Touring Car Championship winner Rickard Rydell joined them in 2004, taking their first victory.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2005, the ETCC became the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). Peter Terting replaced fellow German Diefenbacher. Jason Plato also joined the team for four rounds, and Marc Carol for one round. Later in 2005, the León model made its debut.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2006, Gabriele Tarquini, Yvan Muller and James Thompson joined the team. André Couto, Oscar Nogués and Florian Gruber also raced in one-off rounds.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2007, Rydell, Thompson and Terting left the team and were replaced by Michel Jourdain Jr. and Tiago Monteiro. Terting and Rydell later made one-off appearances for the team, as did Nogués. Towards the end of the season SEAT debuted the TDi diesel version of the León.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2008, Jourdain left the team, as the team scaled down from a six-car to a five-car team. Yvan Muller won SEAT's first driver's championship in the WTCC and SEAT also won the manufacturers title.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2009, SEAT Sport continued with the same five drivers, with French team Oreca assisting with the operation. Gabriele Tarquini won SEAT's second in-a-row driver's championship in the WTCC and SEAT won the manufacturers title for a second consecutive year.


title: Cupra Racing

text: After winning two consecutive driver's and manufacturers titles, SEAT withdrew from the WTCC at the end of the 2009 season as a manufacturer-backed team. However, in January 2010, it was announced that they would provide backing to the newly formed SR-Sport team run by SUNRED Engineering, while also confirming Gabriele Tarquini, Jordi Gene, Tiago Monteiro and Tom Coronel as 2010 drivers, as Yvan Muller departed for the works Chevrolet team.


title: Cupra Racing

text: For 2012, SEAT announced that they will return to the WTCC Season as a Customer Supply team, SEAT Sport supplied engines in 2012 to the Lukoil Racing Team who run two 1.6T cars driven by veteran SEAT Driver Gabriele Tarquini and Aleksei Dudukalo. They also supplied 1.6T Engines to the Tuenti Racing Team who ran cars for Pepe Oriola and Fernando Monje, Tuenti Racing Team driver Tiago Monteiro ran a SEAT Sport TDI engine for the first weekend but then switched to a 1.6T engine supplied by SUNRED. Special Tuning Racing have run both a 1.6T engine and 2.0 TDI engine both supplied by SEAT Sport, Daryll O'Young has only used the 1.6T engine but Tom Boardman used the 2.0TDI from the start of the season till round 7. SUNRED engineering ran a SEAT Sport 2.0TDI engine at the start of the season in Andrea Barlesi's car but then switched to the SUNRED 1.6T engine from rounds 2-3.


title: Cupra Racing

text: Between 2004 and 2008, SEAT Sport competed in the British Touring Car Championship, under the SEAT Sport UK banner. Jason Plato drove for the team for five years, while Rob Huff, James Pickford, Luke Hines, Darren Turner, James Thompson and WTCC regular Tom Coronel (as a one-off) also competed. Initially the cars were run by RML Group until they began concentrating on the Chevrolet WTCC project. Plato finished as championship runner-up in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 the TDi version was used, but reliability was a problem. Two teams continued to campaign petrol SEATs in the championship during 2009 with Adam Jones and series returnee Dan Eaves competitive for the Cartridge World Clyde Valley team, while Gordon Shedden drove for Clyde Valley for a couple of events before it withdrew, but he returned to drive a Leon for the Club Seat outfit.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2010, Tom Boardman drove a petrol SEAT Leon Under the team name Special Tuning UK with sponsorship from Club SEAT. Phil Glew joined Tom in a SEAT for one weekend at Silverstone racing under the team name of YourRacingCar.com but the car was run by Special Tuning UK.


title: Cupra Racing

text: In 2011, Boardman and Dave Newsham drove petrol SEATs under the team name Special Tuning Racing. Special Tuning Racing where not associated with SEAT Sport or SEAT Sport UK. Boardman came first in the third race at Knockhill.


title: Annunciation

text: The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, the Christian Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation. Gabriel told Mary to name her son Jesus, meaning "YHWH is salvation".


title: Annunciation

text: According to , the Annunciation occurred "in the sixth month" of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist. Many Christians observe this event with the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March, an approximation of the northern vernal equinox nine full months before Christmas, the ceremonial birthday of Jesus.


title: Annunciation

text: The Annunciation is a key topic in Christian art in general, as well as in Marian art in the Catholic Church, having been especially prominent during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A work of art depicting the Annunciation is sometimes itself called an Annunciation.


title: Annunciation

text: 26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth,27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.


title: Annunciation

text: 29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end.


title: Annunciation

text: 35 And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.36 And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren:37 Because no word shall be impossible with God.


title: Annunciation

text: 38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.()


title: Annunciation

text: The archangel Gabriel's greeting to Mary forms the first part of the prayer, Hail Mary; Mary's response to the archangel forms the second versicle and response of the Angelus prayer. (Various Bible translations also give Gabriel's salutation as a variation on: "Greetings, you who are highly favored!")


title: Annunciation

text: 18 Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. 19 Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.


title: Annunciation

text: 20 But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost.21 And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins.


title: Annunciation

text: 22 Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: 23 Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.()


title: Annunciation

text: [X] shall be great upon the earth. O king, all people shall make peace, and all shall serve him. He shall be called the son of the Great God, and by his name shall he be hailed as the Son of God, and they shall call him Son of the Most High.


title: Annunciation

text: It has been suggested that the similarity in content is such that Luke's version may in some way be dependent on the Qumran text.


title: Annunciation

text: The Annunciation is described in the Quran, in Surah (Al-Imran – The Family of Imran) verses 45–51 "(Yusuf Ali translation)":


title: Annunciation

text: In the Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Feast of the Annunciation is one of the twelve "Great Feasts" of the liturgical year, and is among the eight of them that are counted as "feasts of the Lord". Throughout the Orthodox Church, the feast is celebrated on 25 March. In the churches that use the new style Calendar (Revised Julian or Gregorian), this date coincides with 25 March on the civil calendar, while in those churches using the old style Julian calendar, 25 March is reckoned to fall on 7 April on the civil calendar, and will fall on 8 April starting in the year 2100.


title: Annunciation

text: The traditional hymn (troparion) for the feast of the Annunciation goes back to St Athanasius. It runs:


title: Annunciation

text: As the action initiating the Incarnation of Christ, the Annunciation has such an important place in Orthodox Christian theology that the festal Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is always celebrated on the feast, even if it falls on Great and Holy Friday, the day when the crucifixion of Jesus is remembered. Indeed, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated on Great and Holy Friday only when the latter coincides with the feast of the Annunciation. If the Annunciation falls on Pascha (Easter Sunday) itself, a coincidence which is called "Kyriopascha", then it is celebrated jointly with the Resurrection, which is the focus of Easter. Due to these and similar rules, the rubrics surrounding the celebration of the feast are the most complex of all in Orthodox Christian liturgics.


title: Annunciation

text: St Ephraim taught that the date of the conception of Jesus Christ fell on 10 Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, the day in which the passover lamb was selected according to Exodus 12 (Hymn 4 on the Nativity). Some years 10 Nisan falls on 25 March, which is the traditional date for the Feast of the Annunciation and is an official holiday in Lebanon.


title: Annunciation

text: Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches hold that the Annunciation took place at Nazareth, but slightly differ as to the precise location. Catholic tradition holds that the Annunciation occurred in Mary's home, while Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that it occurred at the town well. The Basilica of the Annunciation marks the site preferred by the former, while the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation marks that preferred by the latter.


title: Annunciation

text: The feast of the Annunciation is usually held on 25 March. It is moved in the Catholic Church, Anglican and Lutheran liturgical calendars when that date falls during Holy Week or Easter Week or on a Sunday. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Eastern Catholic Churches do not move the feast. Instead they have special combined liturgies for those years when the Annunciation coincides with another feast. In these churches, even on Good Friday a Divine Liturgy is celebrated when it coincides with the Annunciation.


title: Annunciation

text: Greek Independence Day is celebrated on the feast of the Annunciation and 25 March is also a national holiday in the Lebanon.


title: Annunciation

text: When the calendar system of Anno Domini was first introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525, he assigned the beginning of the new year to 25 March since, according to Catholic theology, the era of grace began with the Incarnation of Christ. The first certain mentions of the feast are in a canon of the 656 Council of Toledo, where it is described as celebrated throughout the church. The 692 Council of Constantinople "in Trullo" forbade observance of any festivals during Lent, excepting Sunday and the Feast of the Annunciation. An earlier origin had been claimed for it on the grounds that it appeared in manuscripts of the sermons of Athanasius and Gregory Thaumaturgus but they were subsequently discovered to be spurious.


title: Annunciation

text: Along with Easter, 25 March was used as the New Year's Day in many pre-modern Christian countries. The holiday was moved to January 1 in France by Charles IX's 1564 Edict of Roussillon. In England, the feast of the Annunciation came to be known as Lady Day, and Lady Day marked the beginning of the English new year until 1752. Also in England, the 1240 Synod of Worcester banned all servile work during the Feast of the Annunciation, making it a day of rest.


title: Annunciation

text: The Annunciation has been one of the most frequent subjects of Christian art. Depictions of the Annunciation go back to early Christianity, with the Priscilla catacomb including the oldest known fresco of the Annunciation, dating to the 4th century. It has been a favorite artistic subject in both the Christian East and as Roman Catholic Marian art, particularly during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and figures in the repertoire of almost all of the great masters. The figures of the virgin Mary and the angel Gabriel, being emblematic of purity and grace, were favorite subjects of Roman Catholic Marian art, where the scene is also used to represent the perpetual virginity of Mary via the announcement by the angel Gabriel that Mary would conceive a child to be born the Son of God.


title: Annunciation

text: Works on the subject have been created by artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Duccio, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jan van Eyck, and Murillo among others. The mosaics of Pietro Cavallini in Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome (1291), the frescos of Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (1303), Domenico Ghirlandaio's fresco at the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1486), and Donatello's gilded sculpture at the church of Santa Croce, Florence (1435) are famous examples.


title: Annunciation

text: Hans Leo Hassler composed a motet "Dixit Maria", setting Mary's consent. Johann Sebastian Bach and others composed cantatas for the feast of the annunciation which is still celebrated in the Lutheran Church, such as "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", BWV 1.


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR stands for "Bronetransporter" (БТР, Бронетранспортер, literally "armoured transporter").


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-152 and BTR-40, the first two Soviet mass-produced APCs developed after the Second World War, gave the Soviet Army useful experience with wheeled armoured personnel carriers. However, even as they were designed, they were not suited for the needs of the Soviet Army as they lacked a roof (which was added in later versions designated BTR-152K and BTR-40B respectively). The low combat values of the BTR-152 and BTR-40 were exposed when the Egyptian Army used them during the Suez Crisis and also when the Soviet Army used them in the fighting on the streets of Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. These were among the reasons why the new APC was developed.


title: BTR-60

text: Between 1956 and 1957, a decision was made to convert all rifle and mechanized divisions into motor rifle divisions and a requirement for a new transport vehicle was drawn up.


title: BTR-60

text: Development proceeded along two paths: a more expensive vehicle that would eventually become the BMP-1, for use in tank divisions, and a cheaper vehicle for use in motor rifle divisions, that would eventually become the BTR-60. Two design bureaus were given the requirements, GAZ led by V. A. Dedkov, and ZIL led by Rodionov and Orlov. The requirements stated that the vehicle should have all wheel drive, at least two turnable axles, independent suspension as well as mobility and fording capabilities allowing it to operate alongside tanks. The vehicle was also supposed to be amphibious. The GAZ design team started to work on the new APC during the winter of 1956. Despite the fact that the army wanted a fully roofed vehicle with NBC protection system, the GAZ design did not have those features. It was argued that firing from the cramped interior would be difficult and that the limitation of losses wasn't a priority. The prototype was built between 1957 and 1958. ZIL developed a 6x6 design, the ZIL-153, similar in hull shape to the GAZ design. There were also three other 8x8 prototypes: Ob'yekt 560 (also known as MMZ-560), Ob'yekt 1015 (developed by KAZ), Ob'yekt 1015B (developed by KAZ, it had with a turret-mounted armament and stream propellers, also known as BTR-1015B) and Ob'yekt 1020B (developed by KAZ). All prototypes were submitted to and passed state trials in 1959. Even though the Ob'yekt 1015B performed best, the GAZ design was selected and given the designation BTR-60P. Officially, the committee that made the decision did so because of the GAZ plant's production capabilities and experience. The main reason was that the GAZ design was the simplest and cheapest one and introduced the fewest technological advancements, which made it easier to put into mass production.


title: BTR-60

text: BTR-60P had open-roofed crew and troop compartments, which was deemed to be a serious disadvantage. Accordingly, a new version with an armoured roof, designated BTR-60PA, entered production in 1963. This new version's capacity was reduced from 16 soldiers to 14 soldiers.


title: BTR-60

text: The appearance of the German HS.30 APC, which was armed with a 20 mm cannon, prompted the addition of the conical BPU-1 turret. This turret, which was originally developed for the BRDM-2 amphibious armoured scout car, was armed with the KPVT 14.5 mm heavy machine gun and a PKT 7.62 mm tank machine gun. The new vehicle was designated the BTR-60PAI and entered production in 1965. It was, however, quickly replaced by the BTR-60PB, which had a better sighting system for the machine guns.


title: BTR-60

text: BTR-60 was a revolutionary design for its time. It had a non-standard layout for an APC; the crew compartment was in the front, the troop compartment in the middle and the engine compartment in the rear. This meant that, while the BTR-60 did not share some of the weaknesses that other APCs had, it had several disadvantages of its own.


title: BTR-60

text: In the BTR-60, the crew compartment is located in the front of the vehicle and had a roof – unlike the troop compartment, which first received one with the introduction of the BTR-60PA. In the BTR-60P and BTR-60PA, the crew consists of a driver and a commander. The driver's seat is on the left and commander's seat is on the right. In the BTR-60PAI, BTR-60PB and BTR-60PZ, the crew consists of a driver, a commander and a gunner. The position of the driver and commander stations remained unchanged in later models. The gunner operates the BPU-1 turret, using the PP-61A optical sight. In the BTR-60P, both the driver and commander manned their positions by entering the vehicle through the sides. The BTR-60PA introduced two hatches over their stations and crew members had to climb on top of the vehicle to use them. The entry method did not change in later production models. The BTR-60B introduced a side door for the gunner on the right side, and firing ports for both the driver and commander, and two for the gunner, one on each side. (For more information on the BTR-60's firing port see the troop compartment section). Both the driver and the commander have forward views through bulletproof windshields, onto which steel covers can be lowered. In the BTR-60P and BTR-60PA, the covers had vision slots, and additional slots on both sides of the crew compartment. These were removed in the BTR-60PB in favor of two periscopes on each side. In early models of the BTR-60P and BTR-60PA, only the driver had a periscope, while the commander had a removable OU-3 infrared searchlight. In the BTR-60PB, both the driver and the commander have three periscopes in the front (the commander's center periscope can be hard to see as it's just below the OU-3 infrared light). The vehicle was usually equipped with an R-113 radio; however, some models used the R-123. The initial BTR-60P production model lacked night-vision and had only four headlights (two infrared, two white, one of each kind per side, these remained in all BTR-60 models). Late BTR-60P models were fitted with night-vision; the TKN-1 connected with the OU-3 infrared searchlight for the commander and the TWN-2 for the driver. This remained unchanged in later models.


title: BTR-60

text: The troop compartment is behind the crew compartment and in front of the engine compartment. The BTR-60P can transport up to 16 fully equipped soldiers. This number reduced to 14 in BTR-60PB. As the BTR-60P didn't have a roof, it was covered with a tarpaulin when traveling in bad weather conditions. It was also covered with bows and canvas. Also, all BTR-60 models had three firing ports on each upper side of the hull through which the infantry being transported could fire at the enemy with their personal weapons. The difference between models was in the position of these three firing ports. The BTR-60P and BTR-60PA had the firing ports positioned in a row between the middle and the front part of the troop compartment. In the BTR-60PB, the firing ports were relocated; one was next to the driver and commander, one next to the gunner and one in the side of the troop compartment.


title: BTR-60

text: Because of the engine placement (in the rear of the vehicle), transported infantry must mount and dismount through the sides in the BTR-60P or through the roof hatches in the roofed BTR-60PA, BTR-60PB, and BTR-60PZ variants. To help the infantry to mount and dismount the vehicle, the BTR-60P had two steps on each side of the hull, one between the first and second pair of road wheels and the other between the third and fourth pair of wheels. It also had two vertical hand rails on each side of the troop compartment, as well as an angled horizontal one on the left-hand side of the hull next to the engine compartment. The BTR-60PA introduced yet another step on each side of the hull between the second and third pair of wheels, as well as six horizontal hand rails on each side of the vehicle, three on the lower side and three on the upper side. The vertical ones were removed, while yet another angled horizontal one was added on the right-hand side of the hull next to the engine compartment. In the BTR-60PB, the number of hand rails decreased from six to five on each side of the hull; the rear upper hand rail was removed from the right side, whereas the center upper one was removed from the left side. The BTR-60P has two doors on each side of the troop compartment (one in the front and one in the rear), but infantry still had to dismount through the sides. The side doors were removed in the BTR-60PA. They were used mostly as emergency exits and as auxiliary firing ports. In the BTR-60PB, a side door was added on the front left of the troop compartment.


title: BTR-60

text: The hull armour is made from welded steel and provides protection against small arms fire and shrapnel. The frontal armour can withstand 7.62 mm bullets from any range. The rest of the armour can withstand 7.62 mm bullets from a range of 100 m.


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-60P did not have a roof over the troop compartment, which made a weakness that could easily be exploited—even the simplest explosives could take out a BTR-60P. The new BTR design with a roof was called the BTR-60PA.


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-60 has a 8x8 suspension. Originally, there were difficulties in finding a suitable engine for it: the six-cylinder GAZ-40P gasoline engine, which produces 90 hp, had insufficient power, while the 205-hp YaAZ-206B was too heavy. Instead, the BTR was fitted with two six-cylinder gasoline GAZ-40P engines (67 kW) located side by side in the rear of the vehicle. The combined power of the engines is 180 hp (134 kW). Each engine propels two of the vehicle's axles. The engine on the right propels the second and the fourth axles, while the one on the left propels the first and the third axles. Each engine has its own four-speed gear box with a single-shielded hydraulically controlled clutch and an exhaust. Each axle has its own differential and is hung on transversal torsion bars. The first two axles each have two hydraulic absorbers, while the third and fourth only have one. The first and second pair of wheels can be turned. The gaps between the first and second axles and between the third and fourth axles are even. The gap between the second and third axles is slightly larger than the other ones.


title: BTR-60

text: The two-engines setup has an advantage in the fact that each engine could work without the other. This means that if one engine is disabled, it does not affect the other one and the vehicle can still move, albeit with reduced speed. This setup, however, caused several problems that either do not exist in single-engined vehicles or were not as serious: the design itself was complicated and the amount of work that had to be done during maintenance and repair was higher than in vehicles with a single engine. The engines themselves were originally intended for truck use, which meant that they were working in extreme conditions not originally envisioned for them. Because of this, engine breakdowns were frequent. The vehicle also used large amounts of fuel and caught fire easily. Despite all this, the two-engines setup was used in all BTR-60 production models as well as most variants of the BTR-70. The single-engine setup was introduced in the BTR-80.


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-60 is fully amphibious, propelled in the water by a jet centrally mounted at the rear of the hull. It was, however, prone to breakdowns. When not in use, it is protected by the sideways opening lids. Before entering the water, the trim vane at the front of the hull should be erected to prevent water from flooding over the bow. While in its traveling position, it serves as additional lower frontal armor.


title: BTR-60

text: BTR-60"s" were produced by Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ). The BTR-60P was produced between 1960 and 1963. The BTR-60PA entered production in 1963, followed by the BTR-60PA-1 in 1965. Both the BTR-60PA and BTR-60PA-1 were produced until 1966. The BTR-60PAI also entered production in 1965, but was quickly replaced in 1966 by the BTR-60PB, which had a better sighting system for the machine guns. The BTR-60PB remained in production until 1976, when it was superseded by the BTR-70. According to Western estimates, around 25,000 BTR-60"s" were produced by GAZ. During BTR-80 production, and therefore after BTR-60 production had ended, there was a special production run of 100 BTR-60PB"s", some of which have been exported to Iraq.


title: BTR-60

text: An order to enter the BTR-60P into Soviet Army service was issued on 13 December 1959. However, production did not start until 1960. The first BTR-60P"s" were delivered in 1960. It first entered service with the Soviet Army and later the Marine Corps. The BTR-60 entered service with the Soviet military at the time when the USSR was arming on a mass scale. In the early 1960s, it replaced the BTR-152 in the role of the basic APC. The BTR-60P was first seen by the West in 1961. The BTR-60PA entered service with the Soviet Army in 1963, the BTR-60PA-1 and BTR-60PAI entered service in 1965, the BTR-60PB in 1966, the BTR-60PZ in 1972 and the BTR-60PBK in 1975. As newer models of the BTR-60 appeared, the older ones were gradually withdrawn from front-line service. A number of old BTR-60P"s" were converted into repair vehicles.


title: BTR-60

text: The first use of Soviet BTR-60"s" in an armed conflict happened during the Warsaw Pact 1968 Invasion of Czechoslovakia. However, actual combat was scarce.


title: BTR-60

text: In the 1980s, most of the BTR-60"s" in the Soviet army had been replaced by the BTR-70 and BTR-80; however, a large number was still operated by second-line and border troops. According to the data provided by the USSR during the signing of the CFE Treaty in 1990, there were 4,191 BTR-60"s" in service with the units stationed in the European part of the Soviet Union.


title: BTR-60

text: The first real combat use of the BTR-60 took place during the Sino-Soviet border conflict on Zhenbao Island (Damansky Island at the time) in March 1969. The frontier units operating on the island were equipped with BTR-60PB"s", while the 57th border detachment group was equipped with BTR-50P"s" and BTR-50PK"s". The BTR-60 proved to be a worthwhile vehicle, although it sustained high losses due to the large number of RPGs used by the Chinese and mistakes made by the commanders of the APCs stemming from their insufficient combat experience with the new vehicles.


title: BTR-60

text: The high losses due to RPG hits wasn't unexpected, as the BTR-60's armour was designed to protect the vehicle from small arms fire and shrapnel, but not specialized anti-tank weapons. The most effective tactic found for using BTR-60PB"s" was in covering the dismounted infantry. This is a job more suited for infantry fighting vehicles than armoured personnel carriers, whose main role is transporting infantry to the battlefield and providing them with armour protection during that time. The BMP-1, the world's first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle, started production in 1966 and therefore the Soviet Army had very small numbers of those vehicles available at the time of Sino-Soviet border conflict. During the fights in March, the Chinese managed to capture four BTR-60PB"s" and one T-62 MBT.


title: BTR-60

text: BTR-60PB"s" were used again during the border conflict east of Lake Zhalanashkol in Kazakhstan (Kazakh SSR at the time) in August 1969. During the fighting, the armour of BTR-60PB proved inadequate.


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-60PB was used in large numbers during the initial part of the Soviet–Afghan War. This was because the units that were originally used for this operation weren't the top priority of the Soviet military, which prioritized the units stationed in East Germany. The same design flaws were present during this conflict and the vehicle became even more vulnerable due to the kind of fighting that took place in Afghanistan. The GAZ-40P gasoline engines experienced frequent power losses and overheating due to the tropical highland climate for which they were not well suited. Also, the BTR-60PB's turret could not elevate its armament high enough to fire at the Mujahideen attacking from high ground. Like during the Sino-Soviet border conflict, many BTR-60PBs fell victim to RPGs. Because of those drawbacks, the BTR-60PBs were replaced by BTR-70s as soon as possible to a point where only the BTR-60 command variants were used.


title: BTR-60

text: Soviet BTR-60"s", BTR-70"s" and BTR-80"s" were used for dispersing the demonstrations in Tbilisi in 1989 and stopping the fighting on the border between Uzbek SSR and Kirghiz SSR. They were also used in Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia. In 1990, they were used in Vilnius to suppress the Lithuanian independence movements.


title: BTR-60

text: In 1991, the BTR-60"s" of the Soviet Army was passed on to the armies of the successor states and thus used in many regional conflicts. 27 BTR-60PBs that were inherited by Moldavia were used by its army during the War of Transnistria. A number of BTR-60"s" were used by the Georgian army during the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia.


title: BTR-60

text: As of 2007, several hundred BTR-60"s" remain in service with USSR successor states; these are in a process of being replaced by more modern vehicles.


title: BTR-60

text: Russia used BTR-60s during the First Chechen War, but since the mid-1990s BTR-60s have only been in use with the border troops.


title: BTR-60

text: In Russian service, many BTR-60 variants have been replaced by variants of the BTR-80/K1Sh1 or have been upgraded with the engines from the BTR-80.


title: BTR-60

text: Moldova inherited 27 BTR-60PB"s" from the Soviet Union. They were used during the War of Transnistria against the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Moldova also ordered 161 ex-Romanian TAB-71M"s" in 1992, which were delivered between 1992 and 1995. Moldova also inherited 20 BTR-70"s" from the Soviet Union and received 250 TAB Zimbru"s" and MLI-84"s" from Romania. In the end of March 1992, the Moldavian army was trying to sever the connection between Tiraspol and Rîbnița. Five out of the six BTR"s" used during that operation were lost. On 1 April, two BTR"s" were used during the assault on Bender. In June, dozen of APCs were used during another assault on the city.


title: BTR-60

text: In 1992, the separatist state of Abkhazia declared Independence from Georgia and the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) began. Georgia sent its troops to Abkhazia to stabilize the region. The 3,000-man force was poorly equipped with military vehicles, having only five T-55 main battle tanks, a few BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, three BTR-60/70 armoured personnel carriers and a small number of BM-21 Grad MRLs. As the war continued, the Georgian forces in Abkhazia were strengthened. The rebels had no AFV"s" of their own, but captured some heavy equipment from the Georgians. BTR-60 was also used by Ossetian rebels during 1991–1992 South Ossetia War, in one case Ossetian rebels supported by BTR-60PB launched an attack on Georgian Checkpoint, BTR was heavily damaged by 30mm Rounds fired by Georgian BMP-2 and was forced to retreat, following BTR-60 was found by Georgian forces in several days after attack, it was repaired and used by Georgian National Guard.


title: BTR-60

text: A BTR-60PB of the Armenian police was used on 1 March 2008 during the Armenian presidential election protests in Yerevan. It was sent to counter the protest at the Shahumyan Square near the French Embassy, where it arrived at 1:30 pm. Eventually, the unarmed and peaceful demonstrators surrounded the APC, mounted it, and forced its crew to leave the square.


title: BTR-60

text: During the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukrainian Military used several BTR-60 variants. The Ukrainian National Guard, have deployed BTR-60PB's for counter-insurgency operations in Eastern Ukraine.


title: BTR-60

text: BTR-60 APCs were employed widely both by the Soviet Army and by more than 30 export customers. Operators of the BTR-60 have included Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bhutan, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Congo, Cuba, Djibouti, East Germany, Ethiopia, Finland, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Libya, Mali, Mongolia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Korea, Romania, Soviet Union, Syria, Uganda, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Yemen, and Zambia, as well as many of the successor states of the Soviet Union. The most widely spread model is the BTR-60PB.


title: BTR-60

text: Although the BTR-60 still remains in service with many of the world's armies, it is almost never used as an APC any more. They are still being used as mobile command posts, artillery forward observation posts, airplane guidance posts, communication posts and many other specialized roles.


title: BTR-60

text: The BTR-60 has seen action in the Yom Kippur War, the 1971 War between India and Pakistan (where it was used very effectively to punch a hole through to Jessore and subsequently Khulna), the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (where it was used by both the Soviet and Afghan government troops), the Chechen and Yugoslav wars. It was also used by Warsaw Pact forces during the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.


title: BTR-60

text: The Soviet Union invested heavily in bolstering the mechanized and armoured capabilities of the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) during the Angolan Civil War. To that end, it provided FAPLA with just under 500 BTR-60s as part of a comprehensive military assistance programme between 1975 and 1989. FAPLA initially received 74 BTR-60PBs in 1975, and ordered another 175 BTR-60PBs in 1980, which were delivered between 1981 and 1985. In 1987 and 1988, Angolan motorized brigades received another 250 BTR-60PBs and some BTR-60R-145BM command vehicles.


title: BTR-60

text: For most of the 1970s, FAPLA remained critically short of modern armoured vehicles, and as late as 1981 many of its motorized infantry formations were equipped only with trucks or obsolete BTR-152s. By the late 1980s, however, the BTR-60 had largely superseded the BTR-152 in FAPLA service and was being deployed frequently during the civil war. FAPLA's motorized brigades, which bore the brunt of South African counter-insurgency as well as conventional army operations, came to include three companies of BTR-60s each. Additionally, both the Cuban and Soviet military missions in Angola possessed a number of BTR-60s, which were used for general liaison purposes.


title: BTR-60

text: A number of FAPLA BTR-60PBs were deployed during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, with 65 being lost during several engagements with South African expeditionary forces. FAPLA was not successful in coordinating its combined arms operations over the course of the campaign, and on several occasions the Angolan motorized infantry became separated from their accompanying armour or advanced with no accompanying armour at all, allowing the much more lightly armed South African troops to isolate and destroy them. The first armour-to-armour kill of the battle occurred on 9 September 1987, when a lone BTR-60 carrying out reconnaissance on the Lomba River was knocked out by a South African Ratel infantry fighting vehicle.


title: BTR-60

text: Over the course of the civil war, FAPLA BTR-60PBs were commonly used for convoy escort purposes, guarding logistical vehicles bringing fresh supplies and ammunition to the front lines. In this role they were used to repel counter-insurgent ambushes, with some success. Due to prevalence of land mines on Angolan roads, the BTRs always traveled behind a bulldozer or a tank equipped for mine clearance. During the late 1980s, the threat of ambush by South African troops with armoured vehicles and heavy weapons of their own prompted the BTR-60 to be complemented in this role by the much more heavily armed BMP-1.


title: BTR-60

text: Finland's Jäger battalions operated Soviet-built BTR-60R-145BM "Chaika" vehicles. These were upgraded to BTR-60PUM standard between 1996 and 1997. In 1991, seven conscripts of the Karelia Brigade drowned when their BTR-60 sank at Taipalsaari during an amphibious exercise because the vehicle was loaded incorrectly (top-heavy) and the roof hatches opened.


title: BTR-60

text: The usual nicknames for BTR-60 amongst the Finnish conscripts were "Petteri" (a male name), after the initials BTR, and "Taipalsaaren sukellusvene" (Taipalsaari Submarine) after the 1991 incident.


title: BTR-60

text: Milicja Obywatelska (MO) operated several BTR-60PA"s". They were used by ZOMO riot control units. The Polish Army also received a dozen BTR-60PU-12"s", which were used within the Soviet supplied 9K33 Osa SAM regiment delivered between 1980 and 1985. On 7 December 1981, the delegation of the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs went to the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs asking for equipment and supplies necessary to equip around 60,000 MO operatives and reservists enlisted because of the intensified activities against the Communist government. In response, on 17 December, the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs decided to transfer 25 BTR-60PB"s" along with 10,250,000 "Czeromucha" incapacitating chemical devices and 2,000 tonnes of gas over to its Polish counterpart. These vehicles had previously been used in Afghanistan. They were later modified by adding another radio set. They were used by ZOMO. During the martial law in Poland, the MSW automobile plant in Łódź fitted some BTRs with breakers mounted on the front of the vehicle, which were used for clearing obstacles (See Poland section in the Variants section for details). When the Milicja Obywatelska was transformed back into Policja in 1990, all BTR-60PB"s" had their armament removed. This was because Policja, unlike MO, didn't have a need for weaponry with such a high muzzle velocity – such weapons were dangerous to use in urban areas. The MO needed such weaponry because it was also supposed to carry out anti-partisan operations. Policja used unarmed BTR-60PB"s" for security during European Economy Summit 2004 in Warsaw, as well as for clearing blockades set up by the Samoobrona political party. A few Police BTR-60PB"s" are kept in storage for anti-riot duty as barricade breakers.


title: BTR-60

text: PRC reversed engineered the BTR-60PB after capturing four examples during the Sino-Soviet border conflict on Zhenbao Island in March 1969. The program was completed in the late 1970s. However, the vehicle did not enter service in large numbers because the PRC's primitive road system and rugged terrain meant that the wheeled APC was not well suited for the Chinese conditions as it lacked the cross country capability of the tracked APCs in the Chinese inventory. It should be noted though that, before the Sino-Soviet split, the PRC imported 100 BTR-40"s" and 100 BTR-152"s" from the USSR and manufactured copies of those vehicles; and these served with the PLA until the mid-1990s. The experience gained through reverse-engineering the BTR-60 helped the PRC in developing other more advanced wheeled APCs later in the 1980s.


title: BTR-60

text: Finland bought later two BTR-80s for testing out a replacement but ended up buying the domestic XA-180 series of vehicles, known later as Patria Pasi.


title: Chanel Miller

text: Chanel Elisabeth Miller (born June 12, 1992) is an American writer and artist based in San Francisco, California and New York City. She was known anonymously after she was sexually assaulted on the campus of Stanford University in 2015 by Brock Allen Turner. The following year, her victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing went viral after it was published online by "BuzzFeed", being read 11 million times within four days. Miller was referred to as "Emily Doe" in court documents and media reports until September 2019, when she relinquished her anonymity and released her memoir "". The book won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiographies and was named in several national book lists of the year. She is credited with sparking national discussion in the United States about the treatment of sexual assault cases and victims by college campuses and court systems. She is also a public speaker.


title: Chanel Miller

text: Chanel Miller was born in 1992 in Palo Alto, California, the elder of two daughters of a Chinese mother and an American father. Her mother emigrated from China to become a writer and her father is a retired therapist. Miller graduated from Gunn High School in 2010. She attended the University of California, Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies from which she graduated with a degree in literature in 2014.


title: Chanel Miller

text: On the evening of January 17, 2015, Miller accompanied her sister to a Kappa Alpha fraternity party at Stanford University; later that night, two Stanford graduate students found Miller lying on the ground behind a dumpster with another Stanford student, 19-year-old Brock Turner, on top of her. Miller was unconscious, her blood alcohol level was estimated to have been 0.22% at the time of the assault. When Turner tried to flee, he was caught and held down on the ground by the two graduate students as they waited for police to arrive. Turner was arrested and indicted on five felony sexual assault charges, to which he pleaded not guilty. In 2016, he was convicted of three of these charges and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, sparking public outrage due to the sentence's leniency. Sentencing judge Aaron Persky was recalled two years later.


title: Chanel Miller

text: The 7,137-word-long victim impact statement by Miller—who was referred to in court documents and media reports as "Emily Doe"—was published by "BuzzFeed" on June 3, 2016, the day after Turner was sentenced, and was reprinted in other major news outlets such as "The New York Times". The victim impact statement was read 11 million times in four days after it was published, going viral.


title: Chanel Miller

text: On August 9, 2019, "60 Minutes" released an interview with Miller—who decided to go public with her name. She described her story and the consequences of being anonymous, and met the two students who stopped Turner. Miller's memoir entitled "Know My Name: A Memoir" was published on September 4, 2019 by Viking Books and became a best-seller. The book won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiographies and was named one of the top ten books of the year by "The Washington Post". "The New York Times" also selected "Know My Name" for its "100 Notable Books of 2019." The Dayton Literary Peace Prize selected the book as its 2020 non-fiction winner.


title: Chanel Miller

text: After her assault, Miller started taking art courses at the recommendation by her therapist. In the summer of 2015, Miller attended a printmaking class at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island.


title: Chanel Miller

text: In 2020, a mural drawn by Miller appeared in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The -long and -tall mural shows three vignettes of a cartoon figure, and the phrases "I was", "I am", and "I will be". The museum was closed to the public due to COVID-19, though the mural is visible through the windows facing Hyde Street.


title: Chanel Miller

text: Miller's assault story and the legal case "sparked a nationwide discussion about rape on college campuses and how survivors were not being heard", and "became part of the intense debates around rape, sexism and sexual misconduct over the past years," including the Me Too movement.


title: Chanel Miller

text: On November 1, 2016, "Glamour" named Miller, then known only as Emily Doe, a Woman of the Year for "changing the conversation about sexual assault forever", citing that her impact statement had been read over 11 million times. Miller attended the award ceremony anonymously.


title: Chanel Miller

text: She accepted the award on stage in November 2019 after the publication of her book. She delivered a poem at the ceremony in which she advocated for the well-being of sexual assault survivors. She was listed as an influential person in "Time" 2019 100 Next list. In 2019, Stanford University installed a plaque on campus memorializing the assault.


title: Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)

text: Panchaksharam Rangasamy Pillai (born 29 August 1943), known professionally as Vijayakumar, is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. He started his film career in the Tamil film "Sri Valli" (1961) as a child actor and started playing a lead role from the movie "Aval Oru Thodar Kathai" (1974) then he worked in "Madhura Geetham" (1977) and "Azhage Unnai Aarathikkiren" (1979). He has also acted in Telugu and Malayalam movies. He also worked in television serials like "Thangam", "Vamsam", "Talambralu", "Nandini" and "Rasaathi". His son is actor Arun Vijay.


title: Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)

text: Vijayakumar was born on 29 August 1943 in Nattuchalai, Pattukkottai Taluk, Thanjavur dist, Tamil Nadu, India. His birth name Panchaksharam was changed to Vijayakumar for films. He debuted in the 1961 Tamil movie "Sri Valli". Again in 1964, with the help of his uncle, he came to Chennai and tried for roles, but only got a small role in the movie "Kandhan Karunai" as one of the devargal, arrested by the Asura king, Surapadma. Later in 1973, he got an offer to act in films. His first major role was in Kailasam Balachander's "Aval Oru Thodar Kathai" in 1974.


title: Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)

text: His journey in filmdom began as a child actor in the film "Sri Valli" in 1961. Vijayakumar was the little Lord Murugan in "Sri Valli", starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini. Though not many offers were forthcoming for the little actor, he was supposed to play Lord Murugan in "Kandhan Karunai" (1967), but instead Sivakumar played that role. Vijayakumar acted in a small role as one of the Lords that was arrested by Surapadman. In 1973, Vijayakumar got his first break in "Ponnukku Thanga Manasu", directed by Devaraj–Mohan. The other hero in the film was Sivakumar. The success of "Ponnuku Thanga Manasu" got him a permanent place in Tamil cinema. Vijayakumar was a popular actor the seventies, who acted alongside leading actors such as Sivaji Ganesan in "Dheepam" (1977), with M. G. Ramachandran in "Indru Pol Endrum Vaazhga" (1977) and Kamal Haasan in "Neeya?" (1979). While Vijayakumar was a popular supporting actor, he did play the lead role during the 1970s, in films such as "Aval Oru Thodar Kathai" (1974), "Madhura Geetham" (1977) and "Azhage Unnai Aarathikkiren" (1979).


title: Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)

text: Vijayakumar continued to act in supporting roles in the early 1980s. After a brief slump, Vijayakumar's second innings came in 1988 with Mani Ratnam's "Agni Natchathiram" (1988), where he played Prabhu and Karthik's father. The movie told the story of two half brothers who fight for their father's love and property. During the 1990s, Vijayakumar was frequently seen in father roles such as "Nattamai" (1994) and "Baashha" (1995). During the same time, Vijayakumar also played lead roles in award-winning films such as "Kizhakku Cheemayile" (1993) and "Anthimanthaarai" (1996), with Bharathiraaja. The latter took him close to winning the National Film Award for Best Actor, eventually missing it by one vote. Vijayakumar continued to play senior roles during the 2000s; eventually the actor was seen in more grandfather roles. In the last few years, the actor has reduced his film commitments and focused on television serials. Vijayakumar has acted in over 400 films, primarily in Tamil, but also had brief stints in Telugu cinema.


title: Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)

text: Vijayakumar's family consists of wives Muthukannu and Manjula, daughters Kavitha and Anitha and son Arun Vijay from his first wife and daughters Vanitha, Preetha and Sridevi from his second wife. So far, Arun and his father have appeared together on screen five times – in ‘’Pandavar Bhoomi’’, "Malai Malai", "Maanja Velu’’, ‘Kuttram 23’’ and ‘Oh My Dog’.


title: Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)

text: He was the vice-president of South Indian Nadigar Sangam until 18 October 2015. He was also a member of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. On 16 March 2016, Vijayakumar joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister of state for road transport highways and shipping. Sri Pon Radhakrishnan said he would campaign for the party for this Assembly election.


title: MediaTek

text: MediaTek Inc. () is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that provides chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia products and digital subscriber line services as well as optical disc drives.


title: MediaTek

text: Headquartered in Hsinchu, the company has 25 offices worldwide and was the third largest fabless chip designer worldwide in 2016. Mediatek was founded in 1997. The company also provides its customers with reference designs. MediaTek became the biggest smartphone chipset vendor with 31% market share in Q3 2020. MediaTek’s strong performance in regions like China and India helped it become the biggest smartphone chipset vendor.


title: MediaTek

text: MediaTek was originally a unit of the Taiwanese firm, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), tasked with designing chipsets for home entertainment products. On May 28, 1997, the unit was spun off and incorporated. MediaTek Inc. was listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSEC) under the "2454" code on July 23, 2001.


title: MediaTek

text: The company started out designing chipsets for optical drives and subsequently expanded into chips for DVD players, digital TVs, mobile phones, smartphones and tablets. In general MediaTek has had a strong record of gaining market share and displacing competitors after entering new markets.


title: MediaTek

text: The company launched a division to design products for mobile devices in 2004. Seven years later, it took orders for more than 500 million mobile system-on-chip units per annum, including products for feature phones and smart devices. By providing extensive system engineering assistance, the company allowed many smaller companies and new entrants to enter a mobile phone market that had previously been dominated by large, often vertically integrated corporations that had long been broadly entrenched in the telecommunications industry. The mobile chip market quickly became the main growth driver for the company.


title: MediaTek

text: At Mobile World Congress 2014, MediaTek unveiled its new brand "Everyday Genius", dubbing the term "Super-mid market", with the vision and aiming to make smartphones more accessible affordable to the wider market.


title: MediaTek

text: As of November 2014, over 1500 mobile models accounting for 700 million units were shipped globally in 2014, using MediaTek chips, and the company posted revenues of US$5.3 billion in the first half of 2014, nearly as much as the whole of 2013. The revenue growth was however partly due to revenue recognition from the acquisition of MStar which became effective at the beginning of 2014.


title: MediaTek

text: In September 2019, MediaTek collaborated with VVDN Technologies to design, manufacture new-age AIoT solutions.


title: MediaTek

text: On November 25, 2019, MediaTek and Intel announced a partnership to bring 5G to PCs in 2021. MediaTek overtook Qualcomm as the largest vendor of smartphone chipsets in the world in the third quarter of 2020, mainly due to significant growth in the Indian and Latin American markets.


title: MediaTek

text: In 2005, MediaTek acquired Inprocomm, a wireless semiconductor design company producing 802.11a, b and a/g chips.


title: MediaTek

text: On September 10, 2007, MediaTek announced its intention to buy Analog Devices cellular radio and baseband chipset divisions for US$350 million. The acquisition was finalised by January 11, 2008.


title: MediaTek

text: On May 5, 2011, MediaTek acquired Ralink Technology Corporation, gaining products and expertise for Wi-Fi technology for mobile and non-mobile applications, as well as for wired DSL and Ethernet connectivity.


title: MediaTek

text: On April 11, 2012, MediaTek acquired Coresonic, a global producer of digital signal processing products based in Linköping, Sweden. Coresonic became a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaTek in Europe.


title: MediaTek

text: On June 22, 2012, MediaTek announced it would acquire a rival Taiwanese chipset designer MStar Semiconductor Inc., which held a strong market share position in digital television chips. The initial phase of the deal saw MediaTek taking a 48 percent stake, with an option to purchase the remaining stake later. The following merger between MediaTek and MStar was delayed by antitrust concerns in China and South Korea and finalized on February 1, 2014.


title: MediaTek

text: On September 7, 2015, MediaTek announced to buy Richtek Technology Corp., a fabless vendor of analog ICs and power management ICs based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Richtek became a wholly subsidiary of MediaTek after the completion of the acquisition in the second quarter of 2016.


title: MediaTek

text: MediaTek's financial results have been subject to variation as the financial success of different product lines fluctuated. MediaTek's relatively strong sales in 2009/2010 were based on its strong market position for feature phone chipsets. Smartphone and tablet products contributed to MediaTek's sales and income increase in 2013, while revenue recognition from the acquisition of MStar Semiconductor, which became effective in February 2014, as well as a continuing strong position for smartphone and tablet solutions, were the main reasons for the sales growth seen in 2014. In 2014 smartphone chips accounted for approximately 50–55% of revenue, followed by digital home products (25–30%, includes digital television chips), tablet chips (5–10%), feature phone chips (5–10%) and Wi-Fi products (5–10%).


title: MediaTek

text: MediaTek started shipping chips with integrated 4G LTE baseband in volume in the second half of 2014, later than its largest competitor Qualcomm. The additional cost of the separate baseband chip required in every 4G handset made MediaTek's offerings more expensive and prompted some of its larger customers, like Alcatel One Touch and ZTE, to choose competing SoCs like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 and 410 platforms, negatively affecting MediaTek's revenue stream.


title: MediaTek

text: A March 2021 report revealed that MediaTek had overtaken Qualcomm for the first time as the world's biggest smartphone chipset vendor in 2020, with 351.8 million chipsets shipped that year. The report attributes MediaTek's performance to its focus on less expensive smartphones. Market analyst firm Counterpoint predicts that MediaTek will maintain this lead in 2021, projecting a record of 37% in chip shipments.


title: MediaTek

text: The MT8135 system-on-chip (SoC) for tablets announced in July 2013 was the industry's first chip to implement the new ARM big.LITTLE technology for heterogeneous multi-processing. A variant of the MT8135 was used by Amazon in its Kindle Fire HD tablet models. Also on November 20, 2013, MediaTek launched the MT6592 SoC, the first system-on-chip (SoC) with eight CPU cores which could be used simultaneously, in contrast to competing SoCs with eight physical cores of which only a subset could be active at any given time. The "True Octa-Core" trademark was registered to emphasize the difference in marketing materials.


title: MediaTek

text: On January 7, 2014, MediaTek announced the development of the world's first "multimode receiver" for wireless charging. In contrast to existing implementations it is compatible with both inductive and resonant charging. The resulting MT3188 wireless charging chip, certified by both the Power Matters Alliance and the Wireless Power Consortium was announced on February 24, 2014.


title: MediaTek

text: On February 25, 2014, MediaTek announced the MT6732, and the MT6630. The SoC MT6630 supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth, ANT+, GPS and FM radio.


title: MediaTek

text: On May 12, 2015, MediaTek announced their Helio X20, which features the industry's first tri-cluster CPU and the first CPU with a 10-core configuration. It also integrates MediaTek's first modem compatible with CDMA2000. Tri-cluster CPUs were later adopt by HiSilicon (Huawei) in 2018, Qualcomm and Samsung Exynos SoCs in 2019.


title: MediaTek

text: MediaTek collaborated with Google on the first Ultra HD TV platform for Android TV, resulting in the development of the MT5595 digital television SoC. The product first shipped in LCD TV models made by Sony.


title: MediaTek

text: On November 26, 2019, MediaTek announced their 5G SoC Dimensity 1000, the world's first mobile SoC supporting AV1.


title: MediaTek

text: On April 8, 2020, AnandTech published an article on MediaTek's Sports Mode; that same day, MediaTek published a post titled "Why MediaTek Stands Behind Our Benchmarking Practices". MediaTek said Sports Mode is designed to show full capabilities during benchmarks, that it is standard practice in the industry, and their device makers can choose to enable it or not. AnandTech pointed out Sports Mode was also being applied to benchmarks intended on measuring user experience benchmarks, providing otherwise untenable results, and that similar high performance modes from other device makers only turn on if chosen by the user, not from automatic app detection from a whitelist. The AnandTech article also noted that they had criticized other vendors such as Samsung Exynos and HiSilicon (Huawei) for past cheating practices.


title: MediaTek

text: On April 14, 2020, Qualcomm responded, saying they do not use whitelisting as they consider it cheating. On April 16, 2020, Oppo claimed that they tried to remove Sports Mode, but did not know it was still cached, hence it was removed in a firmware update. UL delisted several MediaTek Helio SoCs from their 3DMark and PCMark rankings.


title: MediaTek

text: As a result of the merger with Ralink, MediaTek has added wireless network interface controllers for IEEE 802.11-standards, and SoCs with MIPS CPUs to its product portfolio.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon are an English heavy metal band formed in 1975 in Barnsley. As leaders of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), they had eight UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including four UK Top 10 albums and two Top 5 albums. They had numerous singles in the UK Singles Chart and chart success all over Europe and Japan, as well as success in the United States.


title: Saxon (band)

text: During the 1980s, Saxon established themselves among Europe's most successful metal acts. The band tours regularly and have sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. They have also been cited as a major influence or inspiration by notable bands, including Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera, Testament, Dokken, Skid Row, Dream Theater, Exodus, Overkill, King Diamond and Celtic Frost.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon was formed in November 1975 by former Coast members Peter "Biff" Byford on vocals, Paul Quinn, and former SOB and Blue Condition members Graham Oliver on guitars, Steve "Dobby" Dawson on bass; and former Glitter Band member Pete Gill on drums who replaced original drummer John Walker in 1977.


title: Saxon (band)

text: They were originally named "Son of a Bitch" and gigged extensively in 1976-78 and recorded at least one demo in 1976 using that name.


title: Saxon (band)

text: The band changed their name to Saxon in July 1978 and in September the same year the band signed to French record label Carrere, run by Freddy Cannon in the UK. They began by supporting established bands such as Motörhead and Ian Gillan Band, and released their eponymous debut album in 1979.


title: Saxon (band)

text: "Wheels of Steel", released in 1980, charted at No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart. It resulted in two hit songs: the title track and the crowd favourite "747 (Strangers in the Night)". As a result, Saxon began a series of long UK tours. On 16 August, they earned a positive reception at the first Monsters of Rock festival, commemorated by the following year's "And the Bands Played On". Their set was recorded, but not officially released until 2000. In April, Saxon made the first of many appearances on "Top of the Pops", performing the hit "Wheels of Steel".


title: Saxon (band)

text: "Strong Arm of the Law" was released later in the year, charting at No. 11 in the UK. Two singles were issued: the title track and "Dallas 1PM", the latter about the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Sold-out tours of Europe and the UK followed as the album charted in several European countries. The band was also popular in Japan, where the single "Motorcycle Man" stayed in the charts for almost six months.


title: Saxon (band)

text: "On the "Strong Arm of the Law" tour, in 1981, we met Harry Shearer," Dawson recalled. "We thought he was just an American journalist. He spent three days on the road with us. [When] we all went to see "This Is Spinal Tap", I didn't recognise Harry. I was too busy laughing my head off. But some of the other guys didn't see the funny side."


title: Saxon (band)

text: In 1981, the band released their fourth album "Denim and Leather", dedicated to their fan base. Still popular today, its title track "Denim and Leather" is regarded as a metal anthem. The album also featured fan favourites such as "Princess of the Night", "Never Surrender", and "And the Bands Played On" – all UK Top 20 hits. "Denim and Leather" followed its predecessor's success and went Gold in several European countries, including the UK. By this time, the band was seen as the leaders of the NWOBHM movement, with future greats Iron Maiden and Def Leppard following close behind.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Just as the band was to embark on a long tour to follow the success of "Denim and Leather", drummer Pete Gill left, after injuring his hand. The band quickly replaced him with Nigel Glockler, formerly of Toyah, who had to learn the entire set within a day and a half. Glockler is still with the band today.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Headlining tours around the UK and a sold-out tour in Europe with support act Ozzy Osbourne resulted in "The Eagle Has Landed" (1982, UK No. 5). It was planned as a double album, but the record company decided to release it as a single live album, despite protests from the band. Saxon also played the Monsters of Rock festival again in 1982, becoming the first band to appear there twice.


title: Saxon (band)

text: As the NWOBHM movement began to fade, 1983's "Power & the Glory", their best selling album to date, saw Saxon confirmed as one of the leading metal acts in Europe, along with Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The "Power and Glory Tour" was an arena tour that began in Europe, and was a huge success. The US leg of the tour, as special guest to Iron Maiden, along with Fastway, proved to be successful and Saxon found themselves becoming a major act in the US as the album, in its first week of release, sold more than 15,000 copies in Los Angeles alone. The cover art of the album was produced by Hollywood film director Ridley Scott.


title: Saxon (band)

text: In late 1983, Saxon left Carrere and signed with EMI Records in 1984, with their first release on the label being "Crusader". Though still heavy, critics felt the album had a more commercial sound, and fans began to wonder what direction the band was taking. Despite its commercial sound, the title track became a fan favourite. The album sold over two million copies and the 1984 world tour "The World Crusade" was a success both in Europe and America. In the US, the band toured with Accept as their special guests, as well as supporting Mötley Crüe for some shows of a year long tour.


title: Saxon (band)

text: With the release of "Innocence Is No Excuse" in 1985, the band continued to take a more commercial direction, and this divided fans as the band's once raw, heavy sound had been watered down for the large US market. A huge sold out world tour in support of the album followed, but tensions began to appear within the band and, by early 1986, bassist Steve Dawson was fired, and Saxon was forced to record their eighth studio album "Rock the Nations" without a replacement. With Elton John making guest appearances as pianist on two tracks, and Byford recording the bass parts, the album charted higher than its predecessor and was considered a success. They hired bassist Paul Johnson to play for the band's European arena tour that followed. In the summer of 1986, Saxon headlined the Reading Festival and toured the United States.


title: Saxon (band)

text: In 1987, the band took time off from the constant touring and recording that had begun in the mid 1970s, and only a minor tour of the U.S. and Canada was scheduled. In early 1987, Nigel Glockler left the band and was replaced by Nigel Durham.


title: Saxon (band)

text: The band found it hard to attain chart success in America; the release of "Destiny" (1988) did not change this, and Saxon were later dropped by EMI. In 1988, Paul Johnson was replaced by Nibbs Carter. Nigel Glockler also decided to return to the band. 1989 saw the release of "Rock n Roll Gypsies", a live album recorded on an arena tour of eastern Europe in 1988, but by 1989, the gigs at the big stadiums and arenas of Europe and the US were few and far between and, with no record deal, Saxon's future was uncertain.


title: Saxon (band)

text: The band eventually decided to embark on a European tour titled '10 Years of Denim and Leather' which proved to be a successful move as the band was re-established as a popular act. In 1990, they signed to Virgin Records and started work on their new album "Solid Ball of Rock", which was released in 1991 and proved to be successful. In 1992, Saxon sustained this success with the release of "Forever Free". The album was produced by Biff Byford and Herwig Ursin. A UK version of the album featured an alternate cover with a "Space Marine" from the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame. "Iron Wheels" was released as a single. The song was written about and dedicated to Byford's father who worked in the coal mines of Yorkshire.


title: Saxon (band)

text: During 1994, Saxon recorded the album "Dogs of War". Shortly afterwards, Graham Oliver was fired by the band in 1995. The band replaced Oliver with Doug Scarratt, a long time friend of drummer Nigel Glockler. Saxon recorded a new music video for "Dogs of War". 1996 saw the release of another live album, "The Eagle Has Landed Pt II". They also recorded a cover of the Judas Priest song "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", for a tribute album entitled "".


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon released "Unleash the Beast", produced by Kalle Trapp and Saxon, in 1997. Saxon began their Unleash The Beast tour in May, where they played in Europe. "Unleash the Beast" reached the top 100 in the charts in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. In November, they played two gigs in Brazil (São Paulo and Santos) and ended the year with a Christmas show in Belgium. In 1998, the band toured the US, as well as playing the Brazilian Monsters of Rock. After relentless touring, drummer Nigel Glockler took time off to recover from a neck and shoulder injury and was temporally replaced by Fritz Randow.


title: Saxon (band)

text: September 1999 saw the release of "Metalhead". The album was praised in Germany where Saxon had begun to play the Wacken Open Air Festival, where they later became a regular fixture. Saxon also headlined the first Bloodstock Festival in the UK. In 2001, they again headlined the Wacken Open Air Festival and recorded the live DVD "Saxon Chronicles". Saxon also released the album "Killing Ground" during the same year. In 2002, Saxon released "Heavy Metal Thunder", a compilation album featuring re-recorded versions of songs from the band's biggest selling albums.


title: Saxon (band)

text: In 1999, former members Graham Oliver and Steven Dawson registered 'Saxon' as a trade mark. They then maintained that they had exclusive rights to the name and tried to prevent Biff Byford and Saxon's promoters and merchandisers from using the name. Byford applied to the Trade Mark Registry to have the trade mark declared invalid. He applied on the basis that the registration had been obtained in bad faith and that he was entitled to prevent use of the trade mark by bringing an action for 'passing off', that is an action to stop others misrepresenting themselves as Saxon. In 2003, the High Court declared that it was Byford and the current members of the band who owned the name, and were therefore in a position to prevent Oliver and Dawson passing themselves off as Saxon. After this Oliver and Dawson renamed their band Oliver/Dawson Saxon.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Fritz Randow left the band in 2004. His replacement was former Stratovarius member Jörg Michael. 2004 also saw the release of "Lionheart" their 16th studio album. The album title was inspired from Richard Lionheart, King of England. "Beyond the Grave" was released as a single and a music video. The album received positive reviews and the title track remains a fan favorite. Nigel Glockler rejoined the band in 2005. In 2006, the band released the live album, "The Eagle Has Landed – part 3". The band were due to play that year's Dubai Desert Rock Festival and perform alongside Megadeth. Just before the band were due to play Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing had withdrawn the band's permission to play the festival. It was rumored that the historical lyrics in "Crusader" were the reason for this.


title: Saxon (band)

text: In 2007, Saxon were the subject of an episode of "Harvey Goldsmith's Get Your Act Together". As part of his programme, Goldsmith wanted to try and restore their popularity and reputation. He drafted in two new producers to oversee the production of a new single "If I Was You" (a song about gun culture), which went to number one in the Rock Charts in over 10 countries (becoming their most successful single for over 12 years). At the end of the programme, Saxon played at the half sold out Sheffield City Hall. Saxon also performed at the 2008 Download Festival.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon's "The Inner Sanctum" album, released in Europe on 5 March 2007, and North America on 3 April, was seen by critics as their best work in years. The band then started a world tour in support of the album.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon released a new studio album, "Into the Labyrinth", on 12 January 2009. The album received positive reviews and continued the success that "The Inner Sanctum" had created. The band also headlined the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. In February, it was announced that the band were cancelling the Spanish leg of their European tour with Iced Earth, due to scheduling issues. At the start of 2009, they toured the UK with Doro, and again at the end of the year they did a UK tour, co-headlining with Motorhead. In August of that year, they played at Sonisphere. In September Saxon announced the release of "Heavy Metal Thunder - The Movie", a documentary on the band's history from the beginning.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Continuing their success in the UK, Saxon performed at the 2010 Download Festival, which took place at Donington Park between 11 and 13 June. The band played the "Wheels of Steel" album in its entirety to mark the 30th anniversary of its release.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon released their nineteenth studio album, "Call to Arms", on 3 June 2011. It debuted at number 6 on the UK Rock Albums chart. The band embarked on a world tour which saw them visit the US; Saxon also revisited the UK for a second leg of the tour. The band announced on their Call To Arms tour that a number of fans at each venue, each paying £10, would be able to watch them soundcheck. This was donated to the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and Childline charities.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon were billed as special guests supporting Judas Priest at Hammersmith Apollo on 26 May 2012. Saxon also played Download Festival 2012, and were recorded playing "Wheels of Steel" for the festival's Highlights show shown on Sky Arts. On 13 February 2012, the band announced that they were releasing a new live DVD and CD package entitled "Heavy Metal Thunder - Live: Eagles Over Wacken", which compiled their 2004, 2007 and 2009 performances at the Wacken Open Air across various formats. In March, Saxon won the Metal Hammer 2012 Golden God award for 'Best UK band'.


title: Saxon (band)

text: In October, the band announced that their next studio album would be titled "Sacrifice" and it was released in March 2013. On 11 December 2012 "Heavy Metal Thunder - The Movie" saw an international release and was the first Blu-ray release for the band. 2013 also saw the release of a new compilation album "Unplugged and Strung Up". 2014 saw the release of a new live album named "St. George's Day Sacrifice - Live in Manchester". The band also embarked on a tour in October of that year named Warriors of the Road.


title: Saxon (band)

text: During an interview in November 2014, Biff Byford revealed that: "We're making the new album in January, February and March". In a March 2015 interview, Byford described the album as a mixture of rock and roll and heavy metal. When asked about a possible release date, Byford said: "We're looking at maybe at a summer release. It just depends on whether it's ready or not. We're looking at finishing the album by the end of April. We're keeping our fingers crossed."


title: Saxon (band)

text: On 1 August 2015, the band announced 16 October as the release date of "Battering Ram" and also premiered the official video of the title track.


title: Saxon (band)

text: On 14 September 2016, Biff Byford announced on Facebook that Saxon were working on a new album with producer Andy Sneap, for an early 2017 release. In October 2016, the band announced a tour in the U.S. for the early spring of 2017 with UFO. In a 16 March 2017 interview with former Anthrax vocalist Neil Turbin on Canada's The Metal Voice in Los Angeles, California, Biff Byford gave an update on the new album saying that several songs were already recorded with a few more to complete, with an estimated release date for early 2018.


title: Saxon (band)

text: On 15 June 2017, Byford revealed that the title of their new studio album was "Thunderbolt". Saxon and UFO teamed up again for another round of shows in North America for the fall. On 7 November 2017, the band announced that the album would be officially released on 2 February 2018. To support the album, they briefly toured Europe and the UK with Diamond Head, Rock Goddess and Magnum from late February to early March 2018, and was the support act along with Black Star Riders for Judas Priest's Firepower World Tour from mid March to early May 2018.


title: Saxon (band)

text: In an October 2018 interview with Sonic Perspectives, Byford confirmed that Saxon would "definitely" record a new album sometime in 2019. He was quoted as saying, "We don't have to have too much commitment to timings. We're an established band — we can pretty much do what we want. If we feel like writing, then we write. If we don't feel like writing, then we don't write. Simple as that." Byford had stated that their new album was expected to be released in early 2021; but later sighted a tentative February 2022 release.


title: Saxon (band)

text: Saxon released their first album of song covers, "Inspirations", on 19 March 2021. Their 24th studio album, "Carpe Diem", was released on 4 February 2022 with the band embarking on the "Seize the Day" tour alongside Diamond Head which ended in November 2022.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: macOS Sierra (version 10.12) is the thirteenth major release of macOS (formerly known as and ), Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. The name "macOS" stems from the intention to uniform the operating system's name with that of iOS, watchOS and tvOS. Sierra is named after the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California and Nevada. Its major new features concern Continuity, iCloud, and windowing, as well as support for Apple Pay and Siri.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: The first beta of macOS Sierra was released to developers shortly following the 2016 WWDC keynote on June 13, 2016. The first public-beta release followed on July 7, 2016. It was released to end users on September 20, 2016, as a free upgrade through the Mac App Store and it was succeeded by macOS High Sierra on September 25, 2017.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: macOS Sierra requires at least 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage space and will run on:. Sierra drops support for various Macs released in 2007 to 2009.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Sierra is the first version of macOS since OS X Mountain Lion, released in 2012, that does not run on all computers that the previous version supported.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Developers have created workarounds to install macOS Sierra on some Mac computers that are no longer officially supported as long as they are packed with a CPU that supports SSE4.1. This requires using a patch to modify the install image.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: The user can access the Siri intelligent assistant via the Dock, the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut and results are shown in a window in the upper-right corner. Siri can send messages, search the web, find files and adjust settings. Results can be dropped into other applications or pinned to Notification Center. For instance, pictures from search results can be dragged into a document.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: iCloud Drive can upload the user's documents and desktop directories and sync them to other devices. The System Information application has a new section that gives the user detailed information about space usage per application or file and provides tools and suggestions for freeing up space. For instance, the user can let the system upload old files to iCloud Drive and remove their local copies, keeping them available on-demand in Finder. It can also remove old files from trash automatically. iTunes can delete watched, purchased films and TV programs from its library.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Building upon Continuity, an "umbrella term [for] features that facilitate the communication between [Apple devices]" using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Sierra adds two features. With Auto Unlock, the user can unlock their user account by holding a paired Apple Watch close to the device. Time of flight is used to prevent relay attacks. Auto Unlock requires a Mac that was introduced in 2013 or later. With Universal Clipboard, the user can share the clipboard for cut, copy and paste between macOS Sierra and iOS 10 devices, including text and rich content, such as pictures or videos.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Applications that support multiple windows can support multiple tabs within a single window, allowing the user to keep windows organized similarly to Safari. With Picture-in-Picture, videos can be played in a window that follows the user across the system.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Apple released a preview of a new file system in Sierra, called Apple File System (APFS), to overcome the limitations of HFS Plus. It is intended for solid-state drives and flash memory and will adopt several features found in modern file systems, such as snapshots and cloning, as well as native support for features that Apple already provides in HFS Plus through supplementary software, such as file-system encryption and TRIM support. The file system was released in macOS High Sierra.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Night Shift is new in macOS 10.12.4, with the same functionality as its iOS counterpart. Night Shift reduces blue light at night to aid sleep. This can be scheduled in the System Preferences app (in the Displays menu) and can be toggled on or off in the Notification Center or using Siri.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Since this feature relies on the Metal framework, Night Shift is not available on all systems that support macOS Sierra.


title: MacOS Sierra

text: Apple says it has improved the face recognition of the Photos application, adding object and scene recognition. It groups similar pictures together using faces, locations and object recognition to create "memories". Memories contain picture slideshows with transitions and music selected by the algorithm, which can be modified to the user's liking. The "People" album organizes photos by the people in them, and Places shows all photos on a world map.