title: Terminator (character)

text: The Terminator CPU is an artificial neural network with the ability to learn and adapt. It was also briefly referred to as a room-temperature superconductor. In "Terminator 2", The Terminator states that "the more contact [it] has with humans, the more [it] learns." In the original film, it learns how to swear from the punks it encounters in the beginning of the film, and when a janitor of the building where one of the Sarah Connors he killed lived visits to ask about the odor from the room, it replies with "Fuck you, asshole", from a list of responses. In the second movie's Special Edition, it says that Skynet "presets the switch to 'read-only' when [Terminators] are sent out alone", to prevent them from "thinking too much". Sarah and John activate his learning ability, after which he becomes more curious and begins trying to understand and imitate human behavior. This leads to his use of the catchphrase ""hasta la vista", baby". He ultimately "learn[s] the value of human life" as mused by Sarah in the closing narration. The Terminator apologized – something it had never done previously – when John was frantically trying to convince it not to be sacrificed. Its last words to John were "I know now why you cry, but it is something I can never do."


title: Terminator (character)

text: The Terminator shown in "Genisys" underwent an even greater degree of personal development after spending over a decade raising Sarah Connor after her parents were killed when she was a child, with Sarah referring to it as "Pops" and the Terminator referring to her as "my Sarah", its words reflecting a reluctance to allow harm to come to her for emotional reasons rather than just its programmed mission.


title: Terminator (character)

text: The Terminator in "Dark Fate", after completing its mission of killing John Connor, was left purposeless but learned to become a part of humanity and effectively grew a conscience on its own over 20 years time. This Terminator states at one point that it can't love its human family like a human which it thought would be easier, but it is not. It is able to make a good father and husband, though it stresses the relationship is not physical and even successfully run a business. As Skynet and the timeline it came from was erased, it came to feel that it was set free to make its own choices. Its mission to aid Sarah and Grace protect Dani is one that is self-given rather than programmed, making it in many ways the most self-aware of the Terminators in the series as its actions, aside from the assassination of John Connor, are all its own.


title: Terminator (character)

text: The flesh-covering that is used on the majority of Terminator models has similar qualities to real human muscle and skin, as well as the ability to sweat, simulate breathing, and produce realistic body odor. Although Terminator flesh does contain blood, it only displays minimal bleeding when damaged and has never been shown to experience any kind of profuse bleeding even from massive lacerations, dozens of gunshot wounds, or even complete removal. In the absence of a circulatory system, the flesh uses a system of "nanobots" which maintain the skin. It is unknown what biological processes take place to sustain the flesh covering, since Terminators do not require the consumption of food. Under 2007-era analysis, this blood is shown to be similar to human blood, using a synthetic oxygen carrier rather than human red blood cells, as Terminator endoskeletons contain no bone marrow.


title: Terminator (character)

text: Terminator flesh heals by itself, and at a much faster rate than normal human tissue and has never been shown to bruise or discolor from trauma, even after several days. However, a Terminator's flesh covering can die if it sustains adequately massive damage without maintenance, at which point it takes on a waxy, corpse-like pallor and begins to decompose. In "Terminator Genisys", it is also shown that a T-800's covering ages; Pops is shown as having aged over eleven years and then a further thirty-three. In "", the Terminator that killed John Connor visibly aged over the course of the twenty years between the assassination and when it was rediscovered by Sarah Connor, though not as much as Pops had. In addition, its skin covering aging over time allowed it to blend in undetected all that time as a human with a human family. By contrast, a T-888's undamaged flesh can remain un-aging for decades; immured itself for 89 years, emerging from its wall unchanged.


title: Terminator (character)

text: Although clearly not the normal procedure, a bare T-800 endoskeleton is able to grow itself a new flesh covering using 2007 technology (with the assistance of a geneticist and its own knowledge of future formulae) by submerging itself in a blood-like bath. This improvised process results in a deformed covering that has the appearance of a burn victim and lacks its own biological eyes, requiring it to steal some and subsequently undergo cosmetic surgery to produce a more normal appearance (while escaping detection from law enforcement as it was able to undergo this procedure without the use of pain medication). Whether or not this replacement flesh possessed the T-800's original flesh's un-aging properties, it appeared healthy despite the T-800's deactivation for many days. The theft of the eyes suggests that Terminator flesh is capable of accepting some degree of organ grafts from ordinary humans, that it can circumvent transplant rejection, and is capable of sustaining the life of the grafted tissue via its own unknown biological process.


title: Terminator (character)

text: Although a T-800's physical covering ages like regular human skin, it can be regrown with enough time. During a confrontation with a T-1000 in 1984, the organic covering on its right forearm is destroyed while it is holding the T-1000 under a shower of acid, and it states that its dissolved covering would take years to regrow. By the time it is seen thirty-three years later, its covering was fully regrown, and the Terminator had spent some time working in construction, implying that it had become operational in time for it to regularly interact with humans.


title: Terminator (character)

text: It has been shown that Terminators' flesh coverings are somehow grown identically, producing many multiple copies of exactly the same physical appearance, indicating the use of specific physical templates for different variations of a model or series. The most well known is that worn by multiple units portrayed by Schwarzenegger; a scene in "" displays a memory of a T-888 model, referred to as "Vick", facing a room (presumably in the factory where he was created) of several dozen units sharing an identical template to himself, naked and moving in unison to his direction.


title: Terminator (character)

text: A deleted scene from "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" reveals that the T-101's appearance was based on Chief Master Sergeant William Candy, portrayed by Schwarzenegger with a dubbed-over Southern accent, which was replaced by the more menacing Austrian-accented voice of one of the developers. In a flashback sequence in "The Terminator", a T-101 known as an "Infiltrator" bears the appearance of Franco Columbu. In "Terminator Salvation", the T-800 is shown to be stronger physically than its predecessor, tearing a malfunctioning T-600 in half. It is also the first model to be manufactured using a titanium alloy. However, titanium loses strength when heated above 430 °C (806 °F) which later prompted Skynet's decision to use coltan, which is also referred as columbite–tantalite, for better heat resistance as its metal base as stated in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"; it is also used for the T-850 and T-888 models.


title: Terminator (character)

text: According to "Terminator Salvation", the T-800 was the first Terminator to have a human styled skeleton built using coltan and titanium alloy. The earlier Terminators had a bulkier design, though the 800 series are still large enough to necessitate their usual appearance as large, heavily built men.


title: Terminator (character)

text: An entirely different origin of the Terminator's physical and vocal templates was provided in the novel "T2: Infiltrator" (published prior to "T3"), in the form of former counter-terrorist Dieter von Rossbach, who meets and joins forces with the Connors in the present (the novel reveals that he was never questioned about the Terminators' actions as his superiors always knew that he was somewhere else during its rampages). The reason stated for copying Dieter was that Skynet was looking in the old military files for someone whose body could effectively conceal the Terminator's massive endoskeleton. Its voice was provided through Kurt Viemeister, the scientist that taught Skynet its sentience. Skynet also uses Viemeister's voice.


title: Terminator (character)

text: The teaser trailer for "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" shows a Model 101 having its flesh covering applied by a large industrial mold.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Menudo is a Puerto Rican boy band that was formed in Puerto Rico by producer Edgardo Díaz. Referred to as the "Most Iconic Latino Pop Music Band", Menudo has been ranked as one of the Biggest Boy Bands of All Time by several publications, including "Billboard", "Us Weekly", "Seventeen", and "Teen Vogue", being the only Latin band on their lists.


title: Menudo (group)

text: The band had several radio hits during its course. They acted in a television film (1979's "Leyenda de Amor") and two feature films, "Una aventura llamada Menudo" and "", in a telenovela named "Quiero Ser" and a television mini-series named "Panchito y Arturo".


title: Menudo (group)

text: Menudo's original line-up consisted of (5 boys) two sets of brothers: Fernando and Nefty Sallaberry (ages 12 and 13); and the Melendez brothers, Carlos Meléndez, (age 12), Óscar Meléndez, (age 11), and Ricky Meléndez, (age 9); the latter three are Díaz's cousins. The band's golden-era lineup consisted of members Ricky Meléndez, Johnny Lozada, René Farrait, Miguel Cancel, Xavier Serbiá, Charlie Masso and Ray Reyes. It was also a starting point for popular international stars like Ricky Martin (1984–89) and Draco Rosa (1984–87), who were members of the band in the mid-1980s.


title: Menudo (group)

text: As the group entered the 1990s, and their popularity started to wane, allegations of drug use and sexual abuse accusations against Díaz started to surface. In 1997, the rights and the name Menudo were sold. The remaining members continued to perform as MDO until their official disbandment in 2002. However, this iteration has continued to perform sporadically since. New management of Menudo formed a new line-up in 2007, releasing an EP but disbanding in 2009. Some of the members of the "golden era" of the band reunited in 1998 under the name El Reencuentro and in 2019 for the "Súbete a Mi Moto Tour".


title: Menudo (group)

text: Menudo is estimated to have sold 20 million albums worldwide and have generated over 300 million US dollars.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Menudo was formed in 1977 by music producer Edgardo Díaz. The original line up consisted of 5 members, the Sallaberry brothers, Fernando and Nefty, and Díaz's cousins, the Melendez brothers, Oscar, Carlos, and Ricky. They were signed to Padosa Records and released their first album Los Fantasmas in 1977. It featured Enséñame a cantar, a song by Spanish singer Micky. In 1978 they released another album called "Laura". Fifteen-year-old Nefty was the very first member to leave and was replaced by 12-year-old René Farrait. In 1979, they released an album called Chiquitita. At the end of 1979, Carlos left the band at age 15 and was replaced by 12-year-old Johnny Lozada, after which they made their first Christmas album, "Felicidades".


title: Menudo (group)

text: In the early 1980s, Menudo had several hits, including "Los Fantasmas" and a cover version of ABBA's "Voulez-Vous". They filmed three music videos for the song "Chiquitita", including one with Puerto Rican music star Ednita Nazario (who sang with them and played the titular "Chiquitita" on the video). The group then released several moderately successful albums, including "Fuego" ("Fire"), which yielded hits "Ella A-A" ("Her"), "Fuego" ("Fire"), and "A Bailar" ("To Dance"). They also made "Fui Hecho Para Amarte", which itself was also a cover, in that song's case of KISS's '"I Was Made For Lovin' You", but that song was not included in "Fuego", and was released on their "Xanadu" album instead.


title: Menudo (group)

text: During 1981, the group, which by then consisted of René Farrait (14), Johnny Lozada (13), Xavier Serbiá (13), Miguel Cancel (13), and remaining original member Ricky Melendez (13), released ""Quiero Ser"" ("I Want to Be"). The album would launch Menudo into international stardom. It included hit songs such as "Quiero Ser" ("I Want to Be"), "Súbete A Mi Moto" ("Get on My Motorcycle"), "Rock En La TV" ("Rock on TV"), "Claridad" ("Clarity"), and "Mi Banda Toca Rock" ("My Band Plays Rock"). They also had their own telenovela series entitled "Quiero Ser".


title: Menudo (group)

text: That same year, the group hosted a television show on Telemundo entitled "Gente Joven de Menudo". They hosted a yearly beauty pageant, "La chica joven de Menudo", ("Menudo's young girl") and the winner of the pageant would sometimes appear in the band's videos or join them onstage at their concerts in the United States.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Menudo became very popular throughout Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, and Brazil. They also became the first boy band to own their own private jet. Díaz, their manager, purchased a Lockheed JetStar that had belonged to American President Richard Nixon and the Shah of Iran. He had Menudo's name emblazoned on both sides of the fuselage.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1982, Charlie Masso, then age 12, replaced René Farrait, age 15. Masso's first album with Menudo was "Por Amor" ("For Love"). During this boom of popularity, fans started calling themselves contagious to the "Menuditis", similar to Beatlemania and Bieber Fever, or the "Menudomania". They were so popular that they starred in their own feature films: "" and "Una Aventura Llamada Menudo". "Aventura" starred Gladys Rodríguez as "Señora Mía" and included songs such as "Clara" and "A Volar" ("Fly").


title: Menudo (group)

text: During their first visit to New York in early 1983, Ray Reyes, 13, replaced Xavier Serbiá, 15. Their American fanbase grew, especially among the young, as evidenced by "Menudo on ABC", a


title: Menudo (group)

text: series of four minute music spots that aired during the Fall 1983 season of ABC's youth-oriented Saturday-morning programming block. They also sang the theme song for ABC's "Rubik, the Amazing Cube". Miguel Cancel became the first member to voluntarily quit the group. According to a 1998 interview, he was unhappy that a sudden voice change rendered him unable to sing his songs, so he opted to leave before his scheduled departure. He was replaced by Roy Rosselló, 13. Menudo signed a six-year multimillion-dollar contract with RCA International and released their Spanish album "A Todo Rock" ("Full of Rock"). According to "Time" magazine, at the end of July, the group had already sold 3 million copies worldwide, 750,000 in USA only.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Around this time, Menudo merchandise began to be mass-produced. Merchandise included Menudo dolls, which appeared in the United States and Latin American toy markets in 1984, Menudo Topps trading cards, wristwatches, fotonovelas, fanzines, T-shirts, a 1981 board game named "Menudo Karshow" and other clothing accessories and school supplies.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1984, Robby Rosa (now known as Draco Rosa), 14, replaced Johnny Lozada, 16, just in time for Menudo to release their first English-language album, "Reaching Out", which featured the theme track "Like a Cannonball" for the Hollywood movie "Cannonball Run 2"; and their first Portuguese album, "Mania", both featuring versions of some of their Spanish hits. During the first half of 1984, Menudo toured the U.S. and Brazil. The Spanish version "Como Cannonball" was used in the Filipino youth movie "Bagets 2" and also featured the song "Fly Away".


title: Menudo (group)

text: On September 16, 1984, Ricky Melendez, 16, the sole remaining original member, left the group. Up until then, he was the only Menudo member to remain with the group for seven years. He was replaced by Ricky Martin, then 12, who debuted on the album, "Evolución "("Evolution"). During this time, Menudo's popularity reached parts of Asia including Japan and the Philippines, and the group made English-language commercials for Pepsi, Scope, Burger King, McDonald's, and Crest. They also made a guest appearance on the popular American children's program "Sesame Street". By the end of September, sales of their records suprass 8 million copies worldwide. Then, much to the surprise of fans and himself, Ray Reyes, 15, departed the group earlier than expected, due to internal conflicts between Ray's father and the manager (information recently confirmed by his brother Raúl Reyes). In a 1998 interview, Reyes stated he was surprised when during a Menudo interview in 1985, the interviewer asked who would leave the group next and Edgardo Díaz named Ray. The group also had a weekly television show called "Menudo Mania".


title: Menudo (group)

text: Raymond Acevedo (13) took over Reyes' spot in 1985 and Menudo sang vocals for the Spanish-English song "Cantare, Cantaras" (I Will Sing, You Will Sing) with various Latin artists to raise money for UNICEF. This song was the Latin American version of "We Are the World". "Cantare, Cantaras" was recorded on April 9, 1985, at the A&M Studios. The group released their second English-language album, "Menudo" which contains the songs "Hold Me" (#62 Billboard Hot 100, RCA 14087) and "Explosion", both with lead vocals by Robi Rosa. They also released their next Spanish album, "Ayer Y Hoy (Yesterday And Today)", and their second Portuguese album "A Festa Vai Comecar (The Party Is Going To Start)". They successfully toured Brazil, performing before hundreds of thousands of fans, but there were allegations of the tour being poorly organized: the capacity for a concert in Rio de Janeiro was 60,000 but 70,000 tickets were sold, and 2 women died. In São Paulo, a 100,000-capacity stadium was sold-out with 200,000 people, and in the São Paulo city of Campinas, rain delayed a concert for 4 hours.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1986, the song King Holiday was recorded. Later in the year Roy Rosselló (16) was replaced by Sergio Blass (13) but no farewell concert was held. According to a book written by Raymond Acevedo's father in 2012 titles "Papi, Quiero Ser Un Menudo," Roy threatened to expose management irregularities to the press and was given a huge sum of money to leave the group due to his behavior as it was deemed by creator Edgardo Diaz as "uncontrollable." At this time, Menudo's management started bending the rules a little and started allowing members to remain in the group after reaching the age limit. Sergio had been in two Puerto Rican groups prior to joining Menudo; the first being Concepto Juvenil from 1983 to 1985, and then Los Chicos de Puerto Rico, for a few months in 1985. The group released several albums that year, starting with their only Italian album, "Viva! Bravo!", which they showcased in Italy in the San Remo Music Festival. The Spanish album "Refrescante (Refreshing)", the English album "Can't Get Enough", and the Portuguese album "Menudo" followed respectively, then came tours of the U.S., Latin America (including Brazil), and the Philippines.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In January 1987, Ralphy Rodriguez (13) replaced Charlie (17) just as the group began facing internal conflicts. First, Robby (17) quit without warning in the midst of a Brazilian tour, becoming the third member to quit voluntarily. Apparently, he had written a song and presented the idea to management and they turned him down, supposedly mocking him, which prompted him to leave. Robbie's lawyer prevented them from using his song. Also, the group was dropped from RCA International due to low record sales, so they signed a contract with Melody International Mexico. Charlie was asked to return to the group to complete the Brazilian tour and to embark on the Summer in the Street U.S. tour and introduce new member Rubén Gómez (14).


title: Menudo (group)

text: At this point, the group underwent a complete image makeover, changing their look to a rougher, more rugged, rock-n-roll-like look. Ralphy, Ruben, Ricky Martin, Sérgio e Raymond: this formation became known as ""Los Hijos Del Rock"". Their music, formerly described as bubblegum-pop, underwent a similar change. They released the Spanish album "Somos Los Hijos del Rock (We Are The Sons Of Rock)", followed by an English-Tagalog album for the Philippines titled "In Action" with Ralphy and Rubén. In late 1987, Ralphy's parents pulled him from the group, citing improper treatment by management; this eventually came to light in 1991 with accusations of a Menudo sex scandal. Charlie was again asked to fill in during the Philippines tour, which would be their last as their popularity there waned.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In early 1988, Angelo García (12) replaced Ralphy Rodríguez (14) and they released their final English-language album, "Sons of Rock", scoring an international hit, "You Got Potential". Another song, "TLC", featured lead vocals by Ricky Martin. In August 1988, Raymond Acevedo's contract was about to expire, but he decided to leave before auditions were held for his replacement, and Menudo performed as a quartet for a few months before Robert Avellanet (13) took over. The album Sombras Y Figuras was released at the end of the year.


title: Menudo (group)

text: During 1989, longtime member Ricky Martin (17) left the group to pursue a solo career. Rawy Torres (13) years old, replaced him and the formation "Los Ultimos Heroes" was born and they released the album Los Ultimos Heroes. This formation was a success. They filmed a telenovela of the same name. Future member Jonathan Montenegro acted alongside them.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Despite their newfound success, the group kept facing problems: At age 14 during a concert in Caracas, Venezuela, Angelo García left the stage because of the pain of appendicitis; the new member was chosen by Sergio’s mother and he was César Abreu (13), who only lasted 7 months. Like Sergio, Abreu was in Concepto Juvenil, from 1989 to early 1990. They released another Portuguese album, "Menudo: Edicion Brasil".


title: Menudo (group)

text: Before Abreu left, management was preparing for Sergio's departure and the debut of the first non-Puerto Rican member, Adrián Olivares (13) of Mexico, but Abreu's exit delayed Sergio's departure. Management decided to keep Sergio for another Spanish album, "No Me Corten El Pelo" (Don't Cut My Hair) featuring the Sergio/Rubén/Robert/Rawy/Adrián lineup. During this time, Menudo: Edicion Brasil was renamed to Os Ultimos Herois and re-recorded Cesar’s songs with Adrian’s vocals and an additional track sung by Robert Avellanet.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In October 1990, two members were arrested at Miami International Airport, Sergio Blass and Ruben Gomez, ages 18 and 16, after a sniffer dog found marijuana in their pockets. It would have been acquired in Mexico while touring with Menudo.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In December, two new non-Puerto Rican members joined the group: Edward Aguilera (12) of Spain replaced Sergio Blass (17) (thus becoming the second European-after Fernando Salaberry-to be a member of the band) and Jonathan Montenegro (12) of Venezuela replaced Rubén Gómez (16).


title: Menudo (group)

text: At the end of 1990, with the resignation of Ruben Gomez and Sérgio Blass and the entry of the two new members, a new controversy arose: five of its members, Adrian Olivares, Jonathan Montenegro, Edward Aguilera, Rawy Torres and Robert Avellanet resign from Menudo, alleged abuse and mistreatment. This lineup lasted very little, from December 1990 to April 1991, and they didn't go on tour or record any albums.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Adrian Olivares was the only one who remained in the group after he was approached while in Mexico and also was paid the money owed to him. The Management proposed a new lineup with a more international focus and Adrian wanting to be the oldest in the group accepted to come back.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Edgardo Díaz left Puerto Rico and held auditions in Miami, Florida, signing Miami teens Alexis Grullón (13), Ashley Ruiz (15), and Andy Blázquez (12), and Pecos, Texas resident Abel Talamántez (13). This formation became known as the A-Team, because all the members started their name with the letter A.


title: Menudo (group)

text: The first album with the new lineup was "Detrás De Tu Mirada", which was very successful in the whole continent, especially in Peru. From then on, the Peruvian fanbase was the most important one.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Menudo continued to work, releasing an English single titled "Dancin', Movin', Shakin'", and a follow-up in 1993, "Cosmopolitan Girl", the first of several English albums on McGillis Records. They also continued to travel through Latin America.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In March 1992, Menudo filmed in New York City "The Making of Dancin, Movin, Shakin" for Darrin McGillis Productions. In August 2012, the film was released for free viewing on YouTube.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1992, they released "15 Años (15 Years)", which would be Adrián's last album with the band (he decided to leave in 1993). According to his words in a recent interview, he fled to Miami without anyone seeing and left the group without speaking to the administration. He was missing for 3 days, until he decided to let them know that he would not come back. The album had hits such as “Buscame” and “Lo Que Juramos”. Ricky López (13) replaced Adrián (16) and the group released their 5th Portuguese album "Vem Pra Mim (Come To Me)" (1993). The album was promoted for a short bit of time and most of their appearances on Portuguese TV were without Ricky or introducing him to the group.


title: Menudo (group)

text: The next year, they released their 22nd Spanish album, "Imaginate... (Imagine)," with hits like “Un Hombre Que Sabia Demas”, which is the Spanish version of “Um Homem Que Sabia Demais” from Skank, “Yo Quiero Bailar Reggae”, and “Mil Angeles”, which was dedicated to a fan, Cecilia Lopez, who died at one of their concerts in Peru the year before.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1995, Ricky López (15) quit the group without warning, and again the band performed as a quartet for a few months. Ashley (19) had also decided to leave, so auditions were held and Didier Hernández (16) and Anthony Galindo (16) were chosen. Ashley's farewell concert was in Panama, where the new members were presented.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1996, the group released their last Spanish album under the Menudo name, "Tiempo De Amar (Time To Love)". The album was very successful, producing several hit singles. In 1997, the rights and the name Menudo were sold and the band changed the name to MDO, at the time Andy Blázquez (18) was replaced by Daniel René Weider. A self-titled Spanish album was released, increasing the group's popularity in Latin America and the U.S. MDO has continued to release albums despite some changes in management (see main article: MDO.)


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 1998 Ricky Meléndez, René Farrait, Miguel Cancel, Johnny Lozada, Ray Reyes, and Charlie Massó re-joined to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their success in Latin America, North America, Spain, and several other countries. They planned the reunion concert to take place at Radio City Music Hall in New York, as an experimental project. The show sold out so quickly and the demand for more shows was so huge they had to change the venue for a bigger one. They ended up doing the shows at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. They had an unexpected success and performed as an ensemble throughout North and Latin America until August 2015, when the group disbanded due to financial issues. They named this "El Reencuentro" because they couldn't use the "Menudo" name.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2000, MDO released their album "Subir Al Cielo" with critical success. The album lead track ""Te Quise Olvidar"" topped the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks for several weeks. The group follow-up singles ""Sin Ti"" and ""Me Huele A Soledad"" also reached the top 10 in the U.S..


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2002, former members Sergio, Rubén, Robert, Angelo and Rawy reunited under the name "Los Últimos Héroes" giving numerous concerts in Venezuela.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In early 2003, MDO officially broke up on amicable terms. The members wanted to pursue other projects. Edgardo Díaz introduced the new MDO in January 2005.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2004, Edgardo Díaz announced that he would be bringing a new group with the Menudo formula into the music industry. Initially expecting this new group to be named Menudo, he surprised the press and general public by naming them Tick Tock.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Also in 2004, former Menudo members Roy, Raymond, Rubén, Sergio and Andy reunited under the name and banner: "". They were based and focused primarily on a series of 'Brazilian' tours. Sergio left due to his prior commitment with "Los Últimos Héroes", and was replaced with Anthony Galindo. Andy would later be replaced by former MDO member Caleb Avilés before disbanding in late 2005, early 2006.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In January 2005, producer Edgardo Díaz introduced the new MDO with four new members: Daniel Rodríguez, Luis Montes, Elliot Suro, and Lorenzo Duarte. The first three were among the contestants of Puerto Rican reality/talent show "Objetivo Fama". This latest incarnation of the group achieved great success with their single "Otra Vez" which took them all across Latin America.


title: Menudo (group)

text: Also, in 2005, former Menudo members René, Johnny, Miguel, Ricky, Charlie, and Ray reunited once again to perform the songs that Menudo popularized during their era under the name and banner "El Reencuentro: Momento del Adios" making this their farewell tour. There were plans to bring this production to Latin American and the U.S. Also in 2005, Sergio, Angelo, Robert, Rawy and Adrián reunited again under the name "Los Últimos Héroes" after their successful reunion concerts in 2002.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2006, former "" members, Anthony and Rubén reunited and formed the duo "Blacksheep" and continued touring in Brazil. The duo grew a large fan base in both Brazil and Hispanic America.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2007, a re-release of the 1992 VHS film of Menudo The making of Dancin', Movin', Shakin'" was released on McGillis Records. Entitled "Triple Threat DVD/CD Combo", the box set included the Film on DVD for the first time, along with two music CDs, "Latin Teen Stars" and "Dance Music All Night Long", featuring hit songs by Menudo, ex-Menudo members. The single, "Dancin', Movin', Shakin'", and "Cosmopolitan Girl" was released digitally on iTunes in May 2009.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2007, it was announced that Menudo would return after signing a multi-album contract with Sony Music. That would be directed by Johnny Wright, he was the manager of Justin Timberlake and the new band music will be a fusion of urban, pop and rock in both English and Spanish. They began promoting the project in cities of the United States and Mexico to attract young singers who wanted to belong to a new band that would sing in Spanish and English. Auditions in different cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, New York, among others. In the Dallas audition, radio announcer Daniel Luna and singer Luis Fonsi were part of the selection jury. where they were selected JC Gonzalez and Monti Montañez (Che Antonio). In New York, they took 25 boys and during this one-week mini-competency they chose 15: Monti Montañez (Che Antonio), JC Gonzalez, Carlos Pena, Jr., Anthony, Carlos Olivero, Chris Moy, Dennis, Eric, Hansel, Henry, Jorge Gabriel, Jorge Negron, José Bordonada, Monti Montañez (Che Antonio), Thomas and Trevor. The 15 semifinalists met in South Beach, Florida to continue preparing with producer Johnny Wright, choreograph Anibal Marrero and voice coach David Coury, participating through a reality show showing the entire process of competition. The re-founding of the band was profiled in a MTV reality series entitled "Making Menudo" that had launched as a primetime series on October 25, 2007, but was later pushed to afternoons due to low ratings. The series aired ten episodes, ending on November 20, 2007.


title: Menudo (group)

text: The members chosen in this version were: Jose Bordonada Collazo, Chris Moy, Emmanuel Vélez Pagán, Monti Montañez (Che Antonio), and Carlos Olivero. In December, a few weeks after the members of the group were chosen, their "More Than Words" EP was released, including four songs: "More Than Words (A E I O U)," "Mas Que Amor (A E I O U)," "Move," and "This Christmas." Their first album was scheduled for release in autumn of 2008.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2009 they had a video in two versions titled: "Lost", in which the American actress, model and singer of Puerto Rican descent, Victoria Justice, appeared, which attracted much attention of the public towards the video. The group disbanded in early 2009.


title: Menudo (group)

text: After having internal band problems, El Reencuentro disbanded in 2015 with Charlie Massó threatening to take legal action with Johnny Lozada, who at the time had the financial and managerial control of the project.


title: Menudo (group)

text: During 2016, four members of El Reencuentro René Farrait, Charlie Massó, Ray Reyes, Miguel Cancel and joined by Robert Avellanet went back on tour, this time under the name Menudo. However the project disbanded quickly and continued with the Menudomania Forever Tour produced by In Miami Productions formed by other Menudo and MDO members from different eras, including Avellanet, Jonathan Montenegro and Rawy Torres.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In 2019, Ricky Meléndez, Johnny Lozada, Miguel Cancel, Ray Reyes and René Farrait, reunited once again for the "Súbete a Mi Moto Tour" that kicked off at the Dunkin' Donuts Center and included dates in Latin America. It was later informed that Robert Avellanet was replacing Miguel Cancel for the remainder of the tour that is on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In September 2020, former Menudo and MDO member Anthony Galindo was found unconscious after attempting suicide. He died days later after remaining hospitalized and became the first Menudo member to pass away. His family described the singer's deep depression from the prolonged shutdown of various entertainment performance venues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. His organs were donated in accordance with his last wish. Longtime member Ray Reyes died April 30, 2021, of a massive heart attack in Newark, New Jersey at 51. The group will finish its last time of the "Súbete A Mi Moto Tour" with members Ricky Meléndez, René Farrait, Johnny Lozada and Miguel Cancel.


title: Menudo (group)

text: It was announced during 2022, that a group of people, led by Mexican-American actor Mario Lopez, was to oversee a reboot of Menudo, starting the project, named "Menudo: A New Beginning", with auditions held online and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.


title: Menudo (group)

text: The following lists past Menudo members. Edgardo Díaz's group had a long list of members because the boys had to leave after turning a certain age, usually 16 years old.


title: Menudo (group)

text: After years of planning and development, on September 17, 2020, it was announced that a TV series about the group titled "Súbete A Mi Moto" was set to premier on Amazon Prime Video. The series was released on October 9, 2020. The series focused the story from the perspective of Edgardo Díaz, founder and manager of the group.


title: Menudo (group)

text: In contrast to the “Súbete a Mi Moto” Series, launched in 2020, by the streaming platform, from Amazon Prime, which tells the story of the boy band from the perspective of Edgardo Díaz, the idea arose of producing a material that told the version of the Former members of Menudo.


title: Menudo (group)

text: The documentary, Menudo: Forever Young, directed by Puerto Rican, Angel Miguel Soto, premiered in June 2022 on the platform by HBOMax and revealed alleged cases of bullying, drug scandals, exploitative working conditions, neglect of boys' health, abuse, physical violence, harassment, sexual abuse, and even a rape allegedly experienced by Ângelo Garcia (member from 1988 to 1990) while he participated in Menudo.


title: Siddi

text: The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived to the indian subcontinent through the Arab Slave Trade. Others arrived as merchants, sailors, indentured servants, and mercenaries. The Siddi population is currently estimated at around 850,000 individuals, with Karnataka, Gujarat and Hyderabad in India and Makran and Karachi in Pakistan serving as the main population centres. Siddis are primarily Muslims, although some are Hindus and others belong to the Catholic Church.


title: Siddi

text: Although often economically and socially marginalised as a community today, Siddis have played large roles in the politics of the subcontinent. The most famous Siddi, Malik Ambar, effectively controlled the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in the Deccan. He played a major role, politically and militarily, in Indian history by limiting the penetration of the Mughal power into the Deccan Plateau.


title: Siddi

text: There are conflicting hypotheses on the origin of the name "Siddi". One theory is that the word derives from "sahibi", an Arabic term of respect in North Africa, similar to the word "sahib" in modern India and Pakistan. A second theory is that the term "Siddi" is derived from the title borne by the captains of the Arab vessels that first brought Siddi settlers to India; these captains were known as "Sayyid".


title: Siddi

text: Similarly, another term for Siddis, "habshi", is held to be derived from Al-Habash, Arabic for Abyssinia, whence came the ships that first delivered Siddi slaves to the subcontinent. Siddis are also sometimes referred to as Afro-Indians. Siddis were referred to as "Zanji" by Arabs; in China, various transcriptions of this Arabic word were used, including "Xinji" (辛吉) and "Jinzhi" (津芝).


title: Siddi

text: The first Siddis are thought to have arrived in India in 628 AD at the Bharuch port. Several others followed with the first Arab Islamic conquest of the subcontinent in 712 AD. The latter group are believed to have been soldiers with Muhammad bin Qasim's Arab army, and were called "Zanjis".


title: Siddi

text: Some Siddis escaped slavery to establish communities in forested areas, and some also established the small Siddi principalities of Janjira State on Janjira Island and Jafarabad State in Kathiawar as early as the twelfth century. A former alternative name of Janjira was Habshan (i.e., land of the Habshis). In the Delhi Sultanate period prior to the rise of the Mughals in India, Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut was a prominent former Siddi slave who was appointed by Razia Sultana (1235–1240 CE) as master of the royal stables. It is speculated that he may also have been her lover, but the contemporary sources provide no evidence of this. Siddis for brief period ruled Bengal as the Habshi dynasty of the Bengal Sultanate.


title: Siddi

text: Siddis were also brought as slaves by the Deccan Sultanates. Several former slaves rose to high ranks in the military and administration, the most prominent of which was Malik Ambar.


title: Siddi

text: Later, the Siddi population was increased by Bantu peoples from Southeast Africa who were brought to the Indian subcontinent as slaves by the Portuguese. Most of these migrants were or else became Muslims, while a small minority became Hindu. The Nizam of Hyderabad also employed African-origin guards and soldiers.


title: Siddi

text: Harris (1971) provides a historical survey of the eastward dispersal of slaves from Southeast Africa to places like India. Hamilton (1990) argues that Siddis in South India are a significant social group whose histories, experiences, cultures, and expressions are integral to the African Diaspora and thus, help better understand the dynamics of dispersed peoples. More recent focused scholarship argues that although Siddis are numerically a minority, their historic presence in India for over five hundred years, as well as their self-perception, and how the broader Indian society relates to them, make them a distinct Bantu/Indian. Historically, Siddis have not existed only within binary relations to the nation state and imperial forces. They did not simply succumb to the ideologies and structures of imperial forces, nor did they simply rebel against imperial rule. The Siddi are recognized as a scheduled tribe in 3 states and 1 union territory: Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Daman and Diu.


title: Siddi

text: In the 18th century, a Siddi community was established in Hyderabad State by the Arab Siddi diaspora, who have frequently served as cavalry guards to the Asif Jahi Nizam of Hyderabad's army. The Asif Jahi rulers patronised them with rewards and the traditional Marfa music gained popularity and would be performed during official celebrations and ceremonies. The Siddis of Hyderabad have traditionally resided in the A.C. Guards (African Cavalry Guards) area near Masjid Rahmania, known locally as Siddi Risala in the city and in Habsiguda named after the Habishis in Hyderabad.


title: Siddi

text: Supposedly presented as slaves by the Portuguese to the local Prince, Nawab of Junagadh, the Siddis also live around Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife sanctuary. On the way to Deva-dungar is the village of Sirvan, inhabited entirely by Siddis. They were brought 300 years ago from Portuguese colonial territories for the Nawab of Junagadh. Today, they follow very few of their original customs, with a few exceptions like the traditional Dhamal dance.


title: Siddi

text: Although Gujarati Siddis have adopted the language and many customs of their surrounding populations, some of their Bantu traditions have been preserved. These include the "Goma" music and dance form, which is sometimes called "Dhamaal" (Gujarati: ધમાલ, fun). The term is believed to be derived from the Ngoma drumming and traditional dance forms of the Bantu people inhabiting Central, East and Southern Africa. The Goma also has a spiritual significance and, at the climax of the dance, some dancers are believed to be vehicles for the presence of Siddi saints of the past.


title: Siddi

text: "Goma" music comes from the Kiswahili word "ngoma", which means a drum or drums. It also denotes any dancing occasion where traditional drums are principally used.


title: Siddi

text: In Marathi, the state language of Maharashtra, the word habshi (हाबशी) is used to denote people of African (typically Ethiopian) origin. The powerful naval presence of Siddi Johar (Zoher) in Murud, Raigad district, is evidence of their presence. This is exemplified by the sea-fort of Murud-Janjira, and the Khokha tombs of the Siddis also stand as evidence of a past glory. Additional relics are near Junnar, where the so-called Habshi mahal (palace) ruins still stand


title: Siddi

text: The Siddis of Karnataka (also spelled "Siddhis") are an ethnic group of mainly Bantu descent that has made Karnataka their home for the last 400 years. There is a 50,000-strong Siddhi population across India, of which more than a third live in Karnataka. In Karnataka, they are concentrated around Yellapur, Haliyal, Ankola, Joida, Mundgod and Sirsi taluks of Uttara Kannada and in Khanapur of Belgaum and Kalaghatagi of Dharwad district. Many members of the Siddis community of Karnataka had migrated to Pakistan after independence and have settled in Karachi, Sindh. It has been reported that these Siddis believe that Barack Obama shares their genepool. They wished to gift him and honour him on his visit to India in 2010.<ref name="http://www.openthemagazine.com">Anil Budur Lulla, "A Bottle of Honey for Our Brother Prez" , Short Takes section, "Open Magazine", 30 October 2010.</ref>


title: Siddi

text: A plurality of the Siddis in Karnataka follow Hinduism (41.8%), followed by Islam (30.6%) and Christianity (27.4%).


title: Siddi

text: In Pakistan, locals of Bantu descent are called "Sheedi". They live primarily along the Makran in Balochistan, and lower Sindh. The estimated population of Sheedis in Pakistan is 250,000. In the city of Karachi, the main Sheedi centre is the area of Lyari and other nearby coastal areas. Technically, the Sheedi are a brotherhood or a subdivision of the Siddi. The Sheedis are divided into four clans, or houses: Kharadar Makan, Hyderabad Makan, Lassi Makan and Belaro Makan. The Sufi saint Pir Mangho is regarded by many as an important Wali of the Sheedis, and the annual Sheedi Mela festival, is the key event in the Sheedi community's cultural calendar. Some glimpses of the rituals at Sidi/Sheedi Festival 2010 include visit to sacred alligators at Mangho pir, playing music and dance. Clearly, the instrument, songs and dance appear to be derived from Africa.


title: Siddi

text: In Sindh, the Sheedis have traditionally intermarried only with people such as the Mallaahs (fisherpeople), Khaskheli (laborers), Khatri (dyeing community) and Kori (clothmakers). Most Sheedis today are of mixed heritage and can be found in Sindh where the main language is Sindhi.


title: Siddi

text: Famous Sheedis include the historic Sindhi army leader Hoshu Sheedi and Urdu poet Noon Meem Danish. Sheedis are also well known for their excellence in sports, especially in football and boxing. Qasim Umer is one cricketer who played for Pakistan in 80s. The musical anthem of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, "Bija Teer", is a Balochi song in the musical style of the Sheedis with African style rhythm and drums. Younis Jani is a popular Sheedi singer famous for singing an Urdu version of the reggaeton song "Papi chulo... (te traigo el mmmm...)."


title: Siddi

text: Sheedis are largely populated in different towns and villages in lower Sindh. They are very active in cultural activities and organise annual festivals, like, Habash Festival, with the support of several community organisations. In the local culture, when there is a dance it is not performed by some selected few and watched idly by others but it is participated by all the people present there, ending difference between the performers and the audience.


title: Siddi

text: Sheedis in Sindh also proudly call themselves the Qambranis, in reverence to Qambar, the freed slave of Ali, the fourth Rashid Caliph. Tanzeela Qambrani became the first Sheedi woman to be elected as the member of Provincial Assembly of Sindh in 2018 Pakistani general election.


title: Siddi

text: Although there are no records of a Siddi community in Bengal today, the population was known to have inhabited the country historically where they were referred to as Habshi by the Bengalis. As eunuchs, they gained influential positions under the Bengal Sultanate, most prominently as "paik"s and palace-guards during the reign of Sultan Jalaluddin Fateh Shah. This Sultan was later assassinated under a coup led by the Habshi commander of the palace-guards, who seized control of Bengal as Shahzada Barbak, and began a seven-year Habshi occupation in Bengal. Barbak only ruled for several months, being replaced by another Habshi, Malik Andil, who was the army commander of the former dynasty. Andil took the name Saifuddin Firuz Shah and became the most prominent Habshi Sultan of Bengal, by patronising architecture and calligraphy. It is said that Sidi Badr had over 5000 Habshis in his army. In 1494, his wazir (chief minister) Sayyid Husain led a rebellion in which Sidi Badr was killed. He subsequently removed all Habshis from administrative posts, ending Habshi rule in Bengal. Many Habshis eventually migrated to Gujarat and the Deccan.


title: Siddi

text: The Habshi community can be seen to have flourished as late as the colonial period. In Chittagong, a Habshi slave-boy known as Zamor was captured by British slave traders in 1773, who trafficked him into France via Madagascar and sold him to King Louis XV of France. Mansur Ali Khan, the final Nawab of Bengal, married a former Habshi slave girl, Mehr Lekha Begum Sahiba (Guiti Afroz Mahal, Hasina Khanum). They had several children including Hassan Ali Mirza (first Nawab of Murshidabad) and Wahid Ali Mirza. She died in Murshidabad on 30 May 1855 and was buried at the Jafarganj Cemetery.


title: Siddi

text: Recent advances in genetic analyses have helped shed some light on the ethnogenesis of the Siddi. Genetic genealogy, although a novel tool that uses the genes of modern populations to trace their ethnic and geographic origins, has also helped clarify the possible background of the modern Siddi.


title: Siddi

text: A Y-chromosome study by Shah et al. (2011) tested Siddi individuals in India for paternal lineages. The authors observed the E1b1a1-M2 haplogroup, which is frequent among Bantu peoples, in about 42% and 34% of Siddis from Karnataka and Gujarat, respectively. Around 14% of Siddis from Karnataka and 35% of Siddis from Gujarat also belonged to the Sub-Saharan B-M60. The remaining Siddis had Indian associated or Near Eastern-linked clades, including haplogroups P, H, R1a-M17, J2 and L-M20.


title: Siddi

text: Qamar et al. (2002) analysed Makrani Sheedis in Pakistan and found that they instead predominantly carried Indian-associated or Near Eastern-linked haplogroups. R1a1a-M17 (30.30%), J2 (18.18%) and R2 (18.18%) were their most common male lineages. Only around 12% carried Africa-derived clades, which mainly consisted of the archaic haplogroup B-M60, of which they bore the highest frequency of any Pakistani population Underhill et al. (2009) likewise detected a relatively high frequency of R1a1a-M17 (25%) subclade among Makrani Sheedis.


title: Siddi

text: According to an mtDNA study by Shah et al. (2011), the maternal ancestry of the Siddi consists of a mixture of Bantu-associated haplogroups and Indian-associated haplogroups, reflecting substantial female gene flow from neighbouring Indian populations. About 53% of the Siddis from Gujarat and 24% of the Siddis from Karnataka belonged to various Bantu-derived macro-haplogroup L subclades. The latter mainly consisted of L0 and L2a sublineages associated with Bantu women. The remainder possessed Indian-specific subclades of the Eurasian haplogroups M and N, which points to recent admixture with autochthonous Indian groups.


title: Siddi

text: Narang et al. (2011) examined the autosomal DNA of Siddis in India. According to the researchers, about 58% of the Siddis' ancestry is derived from Bantu peoples. The remainder is associated with locals North and Northwest Indian populations, due to recent admixture events.


title: Siddi

text: Similarly, Shah et al. (2011) observed that Siddis in Gujarat derive 66.90%–70.50% of their ancestry from Bantu forebears, while the Siddis in Karnataka possess 64.80%–74.40% such Southeast African ancestry. The remaining autosomal DNA components in the studied Siddi were mainly associated with local South Asian populations. According to the authors, gene flow between the Siddis' Bantu ancestors and local Indian populations was also largely unidirectional. They estimate this admixture episode's time of occurrence at within the past 200 years or eight generations.


title: Siddi

text: However, Guha et al. (2012) observed few genetic differences between the Makrani of Pakistan and adjacent populations. According to the authors, the genome-wide ancestry of the Makrani was essentially the same as that of the neighboring Indo-European speaking Balochi and Dravidian-speaking Brahui.


title: Siddi

text: The culture of the Siddi is indicative of both the length of time they have been in India and their East African origins. National dress for Siddis is Sari, Kameez and their own traditional African clothing for women, for the men they wear kameez and their unique clothing. While they have assimilated in many ways to the dominant culture, they have also kept some ancestral practices especially in music and dance. Like other ethnic groups separated by geography, there are both differences and similarities in cultural practices among the Siddi.


title: Siddi

text: Generally, the Siddi primarily associate and marry members of their own communities. It is rare for the Siddi to marry outside of their communities although in Pakistan a growing number of the Sheedi intermarry as a way to dilute their African lineage and reduce racial discrimination and prejudice.


title: Siddi

text: Siddi communities, although classified as a tribe by the Indian government, primarily live in agricultural communities where men are responsible for the farming and women are responsible for the home and children. Outside of their communities, men also tend to be employed as farm hands, drivers, manual laborers, and security guards.


title: Siddi

text: When it comes to dress, women and men dress in typical Indian fashion. Siddi women wear the garments predominant in their locale, which can be colorful saris accessorised with bindis. Men wear what is generally appropriate for men in their communities.


title: Siddi

text: As in other aspects of life, the Siddi have adopted the common dietary practices of the dominant society. An example of a staple meal would be a large portions of rice with dal and pickles.


title: Siddi

text: Athletics has been an important part of the Siddi community and has been a means to uplift youth and a means of escape from poverty and discrimination.


title: Gulf Air

text: Gulf Air ( "Ṭayarān al-Khalīj") is the state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950 by British Pilot Freddie Bosworth as Gulf Aviation. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline operates scheduled flights to 55 destinations in 28 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Indian sub-continent and the Far East. The airline's main hub is the Bahrain International Airport.


title: Gulf Air

text: Gulf Air currently serves all its destinations with a combination of wide and narrow body jets of Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo and the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Gulf Air is the sponsor of the Bahrain Grand Prix and Bahrain International Airshow. It has been certified with 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by Skytrax, becoming one of just sixteen airlines and only the third airline in the world and in the Middle East respectively to currently achieve this top recognition. Dubai–International is the busiest route served by the airline, with over 95 flights a week back and forth. It was formerly a multinational airline owned by Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar. In 2002, Qatar became the first nation to leave the Gulf Air consortium to create its own national airline, followed by the UAE in 2005 and Oman in 2007, leaving the airline completely owned by and based in Bahrain.


title: Gulf Air

text: In the late 1940s, Freddie Bosworth, a British pilot and entrepreneur, began an air taxi service to Doha and Dhahran from Bahrain. Bosworth later expanded service and, on 24 March 1950, registered Gulf Aviation Company Limited as a private shareholding company. This makes its current operating company, Gulf Air, one of the oldest carriers in the Middle East. The early fleet contained seven Avro Ansons and three de Havilland DH.86B four-engine biplanes.


title: Gulf Air

text: In October 1951, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) became a major shareholder in Gulf Aviation, holding a 22% stake through the BOAC subsidiary company BOAC Associated Companies.


title: Gulf Air

text: In 1973 the governments of the Emirate (now Kingdom) of Bahrain, the State of Qatar, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman agreed to purchase the BOAC Associated Companies holding in Gulf Aviation. The Foundation Treaty was signed on 1 January 1974 and gave each government a 25% shareholding in Gulf Aviation, which became a holding company. The operating company was now branded as Gulf Air and became the flag carrier for the four states.


title: Gulf Air

text: With leased Lockheed L-1011 Tristar and Boeing 737 aircraft joining the fleet, by 1976 Gulf Air had expanded its route network to include Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Baghdad, Bombay, Bangkok, Beirut, Cairo, Colombo, Delhi, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Karachi, Khartoum, Larnaca, Manila, Paris, Ras al-Khaimah and Sana'a. The fleet comprised four Vickers VC10, three BAC One-Elevens, two Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 200s and five Boeing 737-200s. In 1978, the airline doubled the Tristar fleet to replace the VC10s. Meanwhile, the airline increased the Boeing 737 fleet to nine and phased out the One-Elevens.


title: Gulf Air

text: The 1980s saw an increase in air travel and growth for Gulf Air. In 1981, Gulf Air became an IATA member, and in the following year became the first international airline to land at Riyadh. In 1985, "Emirates", the startup national carrier of Dubai, began operating. During their first year of operations, Gulf Air profits fell 30%, prompting the airline to drop its privatization plans. In 1986, Gulf Air posted a loss.


title: Gulf Air

text: In 1988, Boeing 767s joined the fleet, and the airline launched service to Frankfurt, Istanbul, Damascus, Dar es Salaam, Fujairah and Nairobi, and resumed service to Shiraz and Baghdad.


title: Gulf Air

text: The original Gulf Air livery consisted of a white fuselage with three stripes: maroon brown, green and red with a golden falcon on the three-striped tail fin. This livery was used in the following Gulf Air airliners: Lockheed L1011-200 TriStar (1976), Boeing 737-200 (1977), Boeing 767-300ER (1988), Airbus A320-200 (1992), Airbus A340-300 (1994) and Airbus A330-200 (1999).


title: Gulf Air

text: Gulf Air celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1990. The light-blue and peach Balenciaga-designed uniform was introduced. Services to Singapore, Sydney and Thiruvananthapuram were launched, Gulf Air thereby becoming the first Arab airline to fly to Australia. Gulf Air added services to Johannesburg and Melbourne in 1992, becoming the first Arab airline to fly directly to these cities. In 1993, it opened a flight-simulator centre in Qatar and introduced service to Casablanca, Entebbe, Jakarta, Kilimanjaro, Madras, Rome, San'a', Zanzibar and Zürich.


title: Gulf Air

text: In May 1994, Gulf Air received its first Airbus A340-300. The carrier used this aircraft type to commence flights to the United States two months later; these operated nonstop from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Doha to New York City. Houston additionally joined the network. However, in early 1997 the company announced that it would discontinue its flights to America.


title: Gulf Air

text: A no-smoking policy was established in 1998 on flights to Singapore and Australia, which was later extended through its whole network. In 1999, Gulf Air launched three new routes in northern Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. It also took delivery of two out of six Airbus A330-200 aircraft, and introduced a new Balmain uniform. The Gulf Air website opened in January 1997.


title: Gulf Air

text: In 2000, the airline celebrated its 50th anniversary. It took delivery of the remaining Airbus A330-200 aircraft in June, and launched service to Milan.


title: Gulf Air

text: Later in August 2000, one of the Airbus A320s was lost in a fatal crash which resulted in 143 deaths, known as Gulf Air Flight 072, operating on a flight from Cairo to Bahrain.


title: Gulf Air

text: In May 2002, James Hogan became president and CEO of Gulf Air and instigated a restructuring and turnaround programme in response to a drastic fall in profits and increasing debt. By 1 August 2002, Qatar announced its intentions to withdraw from Gulf Air to focus on its own national airline, Qatar Airways. The state remained a member state for a six-month period after announcing the intention to withdraw.


title: Gulf Air

text: In 2003, Gulf Air introduced a new Landor Associates-designed gold and blue livery and, in June, established Gulf Traveller, a subsidiary, all-economy, full-service airline. It also announced a sponsorship deal for the Bahrain Grand Prix through 2010, creating the Gulfair Bahrain Grand Prix, of which the first was staged in 2004. The airline also introduced daily flights to Athens and Sydney via Singapore on 23 November 2003.


title: Gulf Air

text: In 2004, Gulf Air introduced direct flights between Dubai and London, Muscat and London, and a daily service between Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah. The airline carried a record 7.5 million passengers during that year. Gulf Air's sponsorship of the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix continued, with a record race crowd and a global TV audience. The airline announced a return to profit, with the best financial performance since 1997. Despite a BD30 million (US$80 million) cost to the business through fuel price rises during the year, Gulf Air recorded a profit of BD1.5 million (US$4.0 million) in the calendar year to December 2004, on revenues up 23.8% to BD476.3 million (US$1.26 billion) (2003: BD 384.6 million / USD1,020.2 million). The results meant the airline out-performed the targets set under Project Falcon, the three-year restructuring plan approved by the Board in December 2002.


title: Gulf Air

text: The owner states of Gulf Air at that time—the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the Sultanate of Oman—confirmed their support for further expansion of the airline through a new three-year strategic plan which would include re-equipment of the aircraft fleet and recapitalization of the business through private-sector financing. Gulf Air was also placed on the IOSA registry following its successful completion of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).


title: Gulf Air

text: The new summer schedule commencing 28 April 2006 saw the complete withdrawal from Abu Dhabi as a hub, following the decision on 13 September 2005 by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to withdraw from Gulf Air and establish UAE flag carrier Etihad Airways. Gulf Air changed its operations to a dual-hub basis between Bahrain and Muscat airports. The airline ran a series of advertisements in local newspapers, thanking Abu Dhabi for its contribution to Gulf Air. As the national carrier for the United Arab Emirates for over 35 years, it has a large customer base located in Abu Dhabi. Gulf Air endeavoured to show continuing support for flights to Abu Dhabi from Bahrain and Muscat, connecting to the rest of the Gulf Air network, via advertisements placed in local newspapers.


title: Gulf Air

text: James Hogan resigned as president and chief executive officer as of 1 October 2006 (subsequently becoming CEO at rival airline Etihad). Ahmed Al Hammadi was named acting chief executive officer, until Swiss national André Dosé, the former chief executive officer of Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines, became CEO on 1 April 2007. A few days later, Dosé announced a BD310 million (US$825 million) restructuring plan. This included originating or terminating all flights in Bahrain; ceasing routes to Johannesburg, Dublin, Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney; eliminating all Boeing 767s and Airbus A340-300s from the fleet; introducing the Airbus A321 in July 2007 and the Airbus A330-300 in 2009; and potentially terminating employment based on performance, and without regard for nationality. This led to some employees applying for jobs in other airlines and, in less than a month, Gulf Air lost 500 persons from its workforce, prompting the airline to rule out mass layoffs as part of its recovery plan, except for performance reasons.


title: Gulf Air

text: On 5 May 2007, the government of Bahrain claimed full ownership of the airline following an extraordinary general meeting, as joint-owner Oman withdrew from the airline to focus on Oman Air. Gulf Air had also announced cutbacks to 25% of its workforce or roughly 1,500 jobs as part of a 2-year restructuring program to stop losses of $1 million a day. André Dosé resigned on 23 July 2007 and was replaced by Bjorn Naf, prompting the Bahraini government to call for further transparency in the airline's running, and delegating parliament's financial and economic affairs committee to investigate Gulf Air's situation. On 6 November 2007, Gulf Air started its third daily non-stop flight to London Heathrow Airport from Bahrain.


title: Gulf Air

text: The airline inaugurated services to Shanghai Pudong International Airport on 16 June 2008 (the route was terminated on 25 December 2009). It also placed orders with Boeing (for 16 787s) and Airbus (for 15 A320s and 20 A330s) to upgrade its fleet. The airline's last commercial Boeing 767 flight was on 29 May 2008. On 3 July 2008, Gulf Air was announced as the official sponsor of London association football club, Queens Park Rangers. The same year, Gulf Air signed a lease agreement for five aircraft with International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) as part of its growth and expansion strategy. The lease was for six years for two Airbus A319s and three Airbus A330-200s, due for delivery in March, April and May 2009.


title: Gulf Air

text: In March 2009, Gulf Air signed a 42-month lease agreement with Jet Airways for four Boeing 777-300ERs, but the aircraft were returned to Jet Airways starting in September 2009. In May, Gulf Air inaugurated summer seasonal flights to Alexandria, Aleppo and Salalah. On 1 September 2009, Gulf Air resumed flights to Baghdad. Services to Najaf and Erbil began shortly afterward.


title: Gulf Air

text: Starting June 2009, Gulf Air's Golden Falcon logo was seen on the streets of London, emblazoned on the side of the city's taxi cabs, as part a two-year marketing deal. Fifty Hackney Carriages were to be rolled out in full Gulf Air livery to promote the airline's flights from London Heathrow to Bahrain and beyond. Later in June, the carrier announced the departure of CEO Bjorn Naf and the appointment of Samer Majali (who worked previously for Royal Jordanian) as CEO effective 1 August 2009.


title: Gulf Air

text: On 1 March 2010, Gulf Air launched its new "Falcon Gold" cabin, a single premium cabin merging business and first class together, aimed at offering higher standards of comfort for the standard premium price. As of August 2011, the new Flat Beds were installed on all aircraft except short-haul aircraft.


title: Gulf Air

text: In 2011, Gulf Air temporarily suspended flights to Iran, Iraq and Lebanon during the height of the Bahraini uprising. The airline originally was to resume service to Iran from November 2012, but cancelled the plan as it was unable to receive approval from the Iranian authorities. Flights to Iran resumed in March 2014.


title: Gulf Air

text: In November 2012, Gulf Air phased out its last Airbus A340-300. At the end of November 2012, it was announced that Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali's resignation had been accepted by the board of directors. Majali left by the end of 2012, after serving the company for three years. In March 2013, the airline announced that it cut 15% of its total staff alongside four unprofitable routes as part of its restructuring program. Maher Salman Al Musallam was the acting CEO of Gulf Air until May 2016, when he was officially appointed to the role. Musallam later resigned in June 2017 with his tenure being praised with reducing the airline's debts by 88%. On 12 November 2017, Gulf Air appointed former Croatia Airlines CEO Krešimir Kučko as the airline's new CEO.


title: Gulf Air

text: At the Bahrain International Airshow in January 2016, Gulf Air ordered 17 A321neo and 12 A320neo aircraft for delivery from June 2018, and cancelled a commitment to acquire six A330-300 aircraft. In addition, the airline also announced an restructured order for 16 Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The new order of 16 Boeing 787-9 aircraft replaced an existing order for 16 of the smaller Boeing 787-8 aircraft. In June 2017, Gulf Air suspended its flights to Qatar during the Qatar diplomatic crisis. In February 2018, Gulf Air revealed its new livery. It consisted of an all-white fuselage with a smaller golden falcon on the tail and with dark blue 'Gulf Air' titles. In February 2019, the airline briefly suspended flights to Pakistan after the country temporarily closed its airspace due to increased tensions with India. In January 2020, Gulf Air retired its last Airbus A330-200.


title: Gulf Air

text: Gulf Air is state-owned. The airline's sole shareholder is the Gulf Air Group Holding Company, which holds the aviation assets of Bahrain Mumtalakat, the sovereign wealth fund of the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain.


title: Gulf Air

text: The Gulf Air Group is also the sole shareholder of the Bahrain Airport Company and Gulf Aviation Academy, and also holds shares in other aviation sector entities, including Bahrain Airport Services, Bahrain Duty Free Company and Gulf Handling Company.


title: Gulf Air

text: Gulf Air continues to be loss-making. In 2011, due largely to political unrest in the state of Bahrain, Gulf Air lost BHD95 million, and the loss grew to BHD196 million in 2012. A decision was taken in 2013 to implement a turnaround plan that involved reducing the airline's fleet, number of staff and number of destinations, and the losses reduced - and in 2015, the loss reported was BHD24.1 million, an 88% reduction from 2012. Efforts to become profitable have continued; in January 2019, the carrier announced a "boutique business model" as part of its business plans for 2019, as it aims to turn around its fortunes.


title: Gulf Air

text: Few business figures are released on a regular basis, but those available are shown below (as at year ending 31 December):


title: Gulf Air

text: Gulf Air sponsors events, of which the most prestigious is the Bahrain Grand Prix. This is usually the first, second, third, or fourth race of the Formula One season, and is held in March or April. Gulf Air was also the first ever shirt sponsor of Chelsea F.C. in 1983 and 1984. More recently, it was shirt sponsor of Queens Park Rangers F.C. from 2008 to 2011. It also sponsors the Bahrain International Airshow.


title: Gulf Air

text: As of March 2021, Gulf Air flies to 55 international destinations in 30 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe from its hub at Bahrain International Airport. Gulf Air's own Falcon Gold lounge can be found at the airports of Bahrain, Dubai and London–Heathrow.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Green Street (also known as Green Street Hooligans and Hooligans) is a 2005 crime drama film about football hooliganism in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Lexi Alexander and stars Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Two sequels followed in the form of direct-to-video releases. The first, "", was released on various dates around the world between March 2009 to July 2010. The second, "", was released in the UK on 21 October 2013.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Journalism major Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) is expelled from Harvard University after cocaine is discovered in his room. Though it belongs to his roommate Jeremy, Matt is afraid to speak up because Jeremy comes from a powerful family, and is offered $10,000 for taking the blame. Matt reluctantly accepts the money and uses it to visit his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani), her husband Steve (Marc Warren) and their son Ben in London.


title: Green Street (film)

text: There, Matt meets Steve's brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam), a teacher and football coach who leads the local football hooligan firm – Green Street Elite (GSE). Steve asks Pete to take Matt to a football match. Though Pete is reluctant to take a "Yank" to a football match, he decides to take Matt to the game, thinking he might "learn something."


title: Green Street (film)

text: Matt meets Pete's friends and his firm in their local pub and they befriend Matt, with the exception of Pete's stubborn right-hand man Bovver who takes an immediate dislike to Matt. A few pints in and they head to the match. Afterward, Pete, Bovver, and the other firm members go off to fight some Birmingham City fans, but Matt decides that it is not for him and heads to the train home. On his way back, Matt is jumped by three Birmingham fans but is rescued by some GSE members. Though grossly outnumbered, the GSE manage to fight off the Birmingham firm until reinforcements chase them off. Matt does well in his first true fight, is inducted into the GSE, and moves in with Pete.


title: Green Street (film)

text: The GSE firm then head to an away game against Manchester United. Matt ends up sneaking onto the train to help when they are warned that 40 Manchester United firm members are waiting for them at the station. Bovver pulls the train's emergency stop handle and at Matt's initiative the firm persuades a van driver to take them into Manchester, posing as a moving equipment van for a film production. When past them, the GSE charge out to attack the United firm members. They win the fight and leave, taunting the United firm.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Jealous of Matt's rise in the ranks, Bovver talks to Tommy Hatcher (Geoff Bell), the head of GSE's rival firm, the NGO. After one of the members of the GSE sees Matt meeting his father, a journalist for "The Times", for lunch, they assume Matt is a "journo" as well. Bovver informs Pete of this. Steve goes to the Abbey to warn Matt and discovers that Steve is the founder and former leader of the GSE, "The Major", who retired from football hooliganism after witnessing the death of Tommy's twelve-year-old son in a fight. Bovver secretly informs Tommy and the Millwall firm of Steve's presence.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Pete angrily confronts Matt in the bathroom over his identity as a "journo". The Millwall firm crashes the Abbey and petrol-bomb the bar. Tommy confronts Steve and stabs him in the neck with a broken bottle, telling him that if he dies tonight then they are both even. Bovver, who had been knocked unconscious by Tommy's right-hand man upon arriving, helps get Steve to the hospital where Pete slams Bovver for his betrayal. Shannon decides to return to the United States to ensure the safety of her family.


title: Green Street (film)

text: The two firms meet near the Millennium Dome the next day for a final brawl. Matt and Bovver show up to fight for the GSE, but Shannon turns up with Ben and is subsequently attacked in her car by Tommy's right-hand man. Matt and Bovver come to their rescue. Pete notices that Tommy is approaching the car and goads him by saying Tommy is to blame for his son's death by having failed to protect him. Tommy snaps and tackles Pete to the ground, eventually beating him to death. Everyone on both sides gathers around Pete's dead body in shock.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Matt returns home to the United States and confronts the now wealthy and successful Jeremy in a restaurant, who is snorting cocaine. Jeremy admits to being the cocaine stash's owner and, as he is about to leave, Matt pulls out a tape recorder. Horrified that Matt has declared his confession as a "ticket back to Harvard", Jeremy lunges at him, but Matt fends Jeremy off with ease. As a victorious Matt walks down the street outside the restaurant, he sings "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", the anthem of the GSE and their associated club, West Ham United.


title: Green Street (film)

text: The name of the firm in the film, the Green Street Elite, refers to Green Street in the London Borough of Newham, where West Ham's old home stadium, Upton Park was located. West Ham is supported by one of Britain's notorious hooligan firms: the Inter City Firm (ICF).


title: Green Street (film)

text: The film received mixed reviews on release. It scored 47% on the film website Rotten Tomatoes and 55% on the website Metacritic. Roger Ebert gave the film a very favourable review, while the BBC described it as "calamitous". E! Online reviewed it as "saddled with a predictable storyline and such feckless dialogue that you can't help but view the whole thing as an exercise in stupidity". Lead star Hunnam's attempted Cockney accent was derided by many critics as the worst in film history.


title: Green Street (film)

text: Green Street won several awards including Best Feature at the LA Femme Film Festival, Best of the Fest at the Malibu Film Festival and the Special Jury Award at the SXSW Film Festival.


title: Green Street (film)

text: The film was nominated for the William Shatner Golden Groundhog Award for Best Underground Movie. Other nominated films were Neil Gaiman's and Dave McKean's "MirrorMask", the award-winning baseball documentary "Up for Grabs" and "Opie Gets Laid".


title: Green Street (film)

text: "" was released straight-to-DVD in March 2009. The film does not star most of the main cast of the first film but rather focuses on Ross McCall, who played Dave in the first film. The plot has Dave, who was caught at the fight at the end of the first film, in a prison where he must fight to survive.


title: Green Street (film)

text: "" was released straight-to-DVD in the UK on 21 October 2013, starring Scott Adkins from "The Expendables 2". Danny Harvey (Adkins) has spent all of his life fighting - in the playground, on the football pitch, and then heading up the West Ham firm the Green Street Elite (GSE). After having turned his back from violence fourteen years prior, Danny is thrust back into the GSE. Younger brother Joey, played by Billy Cook, is killed in an organised fight against a rival firm and Danny is desperate to seek revenge for his brother's death. Danny returns to the GSE and his past, the only way he knows to find out who killed his younger brother.


title: Palmistry

text: Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice palmistry are generally called "palmists", "hand readers", "hand analysts", or "chirologists".


title: Palmistry

text: There are many—and often conflicting—interpretations of various lines and palmar features across various teachings of palmistry. Palmistry is practiced by the Hindu Brahmins, and is also indirectly referenced in the Book of Job. The contradictions between different interpretations, as well as the lack of evidence for palmistry's predictions, have caused palmistry to be viewed as a pseudoscience by academics.


title: Palmistry

text: Palmistry is a practice common to many different places on the Eurasian landmass; it has been practiced in the cultures of Sumeria, Babylonia, Arabia, Canaan, Persia, India, Nepal, Tibet and China.


title: Palmistry

text: The acupuncturist Yoshiaki Omura describes its roots in Hindu astrology (known in Sanskrit as "jyotish"), Chinese "Yijing" ("I Ching"), and Roma fortune tellers. Several thousand years ago, the Hindu sage Valmiki is thought to have written a book comprising 567 stanzas, the title of which translates in English as "The Teachings of Valmiki Maharishi on Male Palmistry". From India, the art of palmistry spread to China, Tibet and to other countries in Europe.


title: Palmistry

text: Palmistry also progressed independently in Greece where Anaxagoras practiced it. Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) reportedly discovered a treatise on the subject of palmistry on an altar of Hermes, which he then presented to Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.E.), who took great interest in examining the character of his officers by analyzing the lines on their hands. A chapter of a 17th-century sex manual, misattributed to Aristotle, is occasionally incorrectly cited as being the treatise in question. The text it is not contained in his canonical works.


title: Palmistry

text: Palmistry is indirectly referenced in the Book of Job, which is dated by scholars to between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE.


title: Palmistry

text: In Renaissance magic, palmistry (known as "chiromancy") was classified as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with necromancy, geomancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, hydromancy, and spatulamancy (scapulimancy). During the 16th century the art of palmistry was actively suppressed by the Catholic Church. Both Pope Paul IV and Pope Sixtus V issued papal edicts against various forms of divination, including palmistry.


title: Palmistry

text: Palmistry experienced a revival in the modern era starting with Captain Casimir Stanislas D'Arpentigny's publication "La Chirognomie" in 1839.


title: Palmistry

text: The Chirological Society of Great Britain was founded in London by Katharine St. Hill in 1889 with the stated aim to advance and systematise the art of palmistry and to prevent charlatans from abusing the art. Edgar de Valcourt-Vermont (Comte C. de Saint-Germain) founded the American Chirological Society in 1897.


title: Palmistry

text: A pivotal figure in the modern palmistry movement was the Irish William John Warner, known by his sobriquet, Cheiro. After studying under gurus in India, he set up a palmistry practice in London and enjoyed a wide following of famous clients from around the world, including famous celebrities like Mark Twain, W. T. Stead, Sarah Bernhardt, Mata Hari, Oscar Wilde, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Edison, the Prince of Wales, General Kitchener, William Ewart Gladstone, and Joseph Chamberlain. So popular was Cheiro as a "society palmist" that even those who were not believers in the occult had their hands read by him. The skeptical Mark Twain wrote in Cheiro's visitor's book that he had "exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy".


title: Palmistry

text: Edward Heron-Allen, an English polymath, published various works including the 1883 book, "Palmistry – A Manual of Cheirosophy", which is still in print. There were attempts at formulating some sort of scientific basis for the art, most notably in the 1900 publication "The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading" by William Gurney Benham.


title: Palmistry

text: In 1970, Parker Brothers published a game designed by Maxine Lucille Fiel called "Touch-Game of Palmistry" which allowed players have "palm reading and analysis" through selecting cards that matched designated palm features.


title: Palmistry

text: Criticism of palmistry often rests with the lack of empirical evidence supporting its efficacy. Scientific literature typically regards palmistry as a pseudoscientific or superstitious belief. Psychologist and noted skeptic Ray Hyman has written:


title: Palmistry

text: I started reading palms in my teens as a way to supplement my income from doing magic and mental shows. When I started I did not believe in palmistry. But I knew that to "sell" it I had to act as if I did. After a few years I became a firm believer in palmistry. One day the late Stanley Jaks, who was a professional mentalist and a man I respected, tactfully suggested that it would make an interesting experiment if I deliberately gave readings opposite to what the lines indicated. I tried this out with a few clients. To my surprise and horror my readings were just as successful as ever. Ever since then I have been interested in the powerful forces that convince us, reader and client alike, that something is so when it really isn't.


title: Palmistry

text: Skeptics often include palmists on lists of alleged psychics who practice cold reading. Cold reading is the practice that allows readers of all kinds, including palmists, to appear psychic by using high-probability guessing and inferring details based on signals or cues from the other person.


title: Palmistry

text: Although some Christians condemn palmistry as a form of divination, Jewish and Christian traditions are largely ambivalent about divination in general. While some specific practices such as necromancy and astrology are condemned by biblical authors, other practices such as dream interpretation, casting of lots, and the use of Urim and Thummim are not. During the 16th century the Catholic Church condemned the practice of palmistry. However, there is a long tradition of practicing palmistry within both Jewish and Christian mysticism, and some practitioners, such as Comte C. de Saint-Germain, have argued that the Bible does not oppose it.


title: Palmistry

text: However, Islam strongly condemns divination in all forms and considers palmistry haram (forbidden). The Quran states that "You are also forbidden to seek knowledge of your fate by divining arrows." Those that practice such divination are explicitly called "angels".


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about 62% of Arizona's population, making Arizona one of the most centralized states in the nation. The county seat is Phoenix, the state capital and fifth-most populous city in the United States.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Maricopa County is the central county of the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Office of Management and Budget renamed the metropolitan area in September 2018. Previously, it was the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale metropolitan area, and in 2000, that was changed to Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Maricopa County was named after the Maricopa Native Americans. Five Native American Reservations are located in the county. The largest are the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (east of Scottsdale) and the Gila River Indian Community (south of Chandler).


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (0.3%) are covered by water. Maricopa County is one of the largest counties in the United States by area, with a land area greater than that of four other US states. From west to east, it stretches , and from north to south. It is by far Arizona's most populous county, encompassing well over half of the state's residents. It is the largest county in the United States to have a capital city.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Maricopa county has 14 regional parks, namely Adobe Mountain Desert Park, Chaparral Lake, Estrella Mountain Regional Park,


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Hassayampa River Preserve , Indian Mesa, Lake Pleasant Regional Park, Litchfield Park, Arizona , Manistee Ranch, McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, Papago Park, Phoenix Mountains Preserve , Sahuaro Ranch, San Tan Mountain Regional Park, White Tank Mountain Regional Park.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: From 2009-2011, an inventory of all vascular plants growing along the Salt River (Arizona), Gila River, New River and Agua Fria River and their tributaries in the Phoenix metropolitan area was done.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: In October 2022, Maricopa County Environmental Services Department detected Dengue virus in mosquitoes they had trapped; in November the first locally transmitted case of dengue fever was reported in the County and Arizona state as a whole - previous dengue cases in Maricopa County had been related to travel.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: As of the census of 2000, 3,072,149 people, 1,132,886 households, and 763,565 families were living in the county. The population density was 334 people/sq mi (129/km). The 1,250,231 housing units averaged of 136/sq mi (52/km). The racial makeup of the county was 77.4% White, 3.7% African American, 1.9% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 12.0% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. About 29.5% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. About 19.1% reported speaking Spanish at home.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Of the 1,132,886 households, 33.0% had children under 18 living with them, 51.6% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.6% were not families. About 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.67, and the average family size was 3.21.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The age distribution in the county was 27.0% under 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.10 males.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the county was $45,358, and for a family was $51,827. Males had a median income of $36,858 versus $28,703 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,251. About 8.0% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.4% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: As of the 2010 census, 3,817,117 people, 1,411,583 households, and 932,814 families were living in the county. The population density was . The 1,639,279 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 73.0% white (58.7% non-Hispanic white), 5.0% African American, 3.5% Asian, 2.1% American Indian, 0.2% Pacific islander, 12.8% from other races, and 3.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 29.6% of the population. The largest ancestry groups were:


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Of the 1,411,583 households, 35.1% had children under 18 living with them, 47.8% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.9% were not families, and 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.25. The median age was 34.6 years.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the county was $55,054 and the median income for a family was $65,438. Males had a median income of $45,799 versus $37,601 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,816. About 10.0% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.8% of those under age 18 and 7.0% of those age 65 or over.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: According to data provided by the United States Census Bureau in October 2015 and collected from 2009 to 2013, 73.7% of the population aged five years and over spoke only English at home, while 20.3% spoke Spanish, 0.6% spoke Chinese, 0.5% Vietnamese, 0.4% Tagalog, 0.4% Arabic, 0.4% German, 0.3% French, 0.3% Navajo, 0.2% Korean, 0.2% Hindi, 0.2% Italian, 0.1% Persian, 0.1% Russian, 0.1% Serbo-Croatian, 0.1% Telugu, 0.1% Polish, 0.1% Syriac, 0.1% Japanese, 0.1% spoke Romanian, and 0.1% spoke other Native North American languages at home.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: In 2010 statistics, the largest religious group in Maricopa County was the Diocese of Phoenix, with 519,950 Catholics worshipping at 99 parishes, followed by 242,732 LDS Mormons with 503 congregations, 213,640 non-denominational adherents with 309 congregations, 93,252 AG Pentecostals with 120 congregations, 73,207 SBC Baptists with 149 congregations, 35,804 Christian churches and churches of Christ Christians with 29 congregations, 30,014 ELCA Lutherans with 47 congregations, 28,634 UMC Methodists with 55 congregations, 18,408 LCMS Lutherans with 34 congregations, and 15,001 PC-USA Presbyterians with 42 congregations. Altogether, 39.1% of the population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, the county had 1,177 religious organizations, the fifth most out of all US counties.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The governing body of Maricopa County is its board of supervisors. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors consists of five members chosen by popular vote within their own districts. Currently, the board consists of four Republicans and one Democrat. Each member serves a four-year term, with no term limits.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office provides court protection, administers the county jail, and patrols the unincorporated areas of the county plus incorporated towns by contract.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: For much of the time after World War II, Maricopa County was one of the more conservative urban counties in the United States. While the city of Phoenix has been evenly split between the two major parties, most of the rest of the county was strongly Republican. Until 2020, every Republican presidential candidate since 1952 had carried Maricopa County. This includes the 1964 presidential run of native son Barry Goldwater, who would not have carried his own state had it not been for a 21,000-vote margin in Maricopa County. Until 2020, it was the largest county in the country to vote Republican. From 1968 to 2016, Democrats held the margin within single digits only three times–in 1992, 1996, and 2016. In 2020, Joe Biden became the first Democrat in 72 years to win the county, which flipped Arizona to the Democratic column for the first time since 1996 and only the second time since 1948. Furthermore, Biden became the first presidential candidate to win more than one million votes in the county. This makes Maricopa County the third county in American history to cast more than one million votes for a presidential candidate. The county is also a statewide bellwether, voting for the statewide winning candidate in all elections except 1996.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Despite its consistent Republican allegiance since 1952, its fast-growing Hispanic population and influx of conservative retirees and Mormons, which were traditionally conservative voting blocs but were increasingly skeptical of President Donald Trump, signaled that it was a crucial bellwether in the 2020 election.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Despite its political leanings at the time, Maricopa County voted against Proposition 107 in the 2006 election. This referendum, designed to ban gay marriage and restrict domestic partner benefits, was rejected by a 51.6–48.4% margin within the county, and statewide by a similar margin. Two years later, however, a majority of county residents voted to pass a successful state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The amendment was later invalidated by the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in "Obergefell v. Hodges", which declared that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right in the United States.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Unlike cities and towns in Arizona, counties are politically and legally subordinate to the state and do not have charters of their own. The county Board of Supervisors acts under powers delegated by state law, mainly related to minor ordinances and revenue collection. With few exceptions, these powers are narrowly construed.The chairperson of the board presides for a one-year term, selected by the board members during a public hearing.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The County Sheriff, County Attorney, County Assessor, County Treasurer, Superintendent of Schools, County Recorder, Constables, Justices of the Peace, and Clerk of the Superior Court are elected by the people. Retention of Superior Court Judges is also determined by popular vote.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The county's dominant political figure for over two decades (from 1993 to 2017) was Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who called himself "America's Toughest Sheriff" and gained national notoriety for his flamboyant and often controversial practices and policies.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Maricopa County is home to 62 percent of the state's population and therefore dominates Arizona's politics. For example, in the 2018 Senate election, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema carried the county en route to becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Arizona since 1988. She won the county by over 60,000 votes, more than enough for the victory; she won statewide by 55,900 votes. All but one of the state's nine congressional districts include part of the county, and five of the districts have their population center located there. Most of the state's prominent elected officials live in the county. Further underlining Maricopa County's political dominance, Biden's margin of 45,109 votes was more than enough to carry the state; he only won Arizona by 10,457 votes.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: The 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th districts are all centered in Maricopa County. The 1st and 4th are centered in rural Arizona, while the 2nd is primarily Tucson-based.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: School districts with territory in the county (no matter how slight, even if the administration and schools are in other counties) include:


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: In terms of freight rail, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad serve the county.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: In terms of passenger rail, greater Phoenix is served by a light rail system. The county has no other passenger rail transport as Amtrak's Sunset Limited, which served Phoenix until June 2, 1996, has its closest stop in Maricopa in neighboring Pinal County. The train connects Maricopa to Tucson, Los Angeles, and New Orleans three times a week. However it does not stop in Phoenix itself.


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2019 the employment of Maricopa County in the following sectors was:


title: Maricopa County, Arizona

text: Maricopa produces far more "Brassica" than anywhere else in the state, including far more cabbage, collards, and mustard greens, and far more eggplant and greenhouse production of tomato. Slightly more kale is grown here than Yavapai, and a close second to Yuma for broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach, and to Yavapai for field tomato. The county is top for parsley and is tied with Pima for other fresh herbs. Some of the state's melon, okra, and bell pepper are also grown here.