title: I'm on Fire

text: In it, Springsteen plays a working class automobile mechanic with an attractive, married, very well-to-do, mostly unseen female customer who brings her vintage Ford Thunderbird in for frequent servicing, always requesting that he does the work. She leaves a small bunch of keys with him when she leaves in her car, possibly including house keys implying that she wishes to start an affair with him, but declines his offer to bring the car out to her house when it's ready. Later that night, he drives the car up to her mansion high in the hills above the city. He looks to a second floor window with the light on and is about to ring the bell, when he thinks better of it and drops her keys in the mailbox next to the door. He smiles wistfully and walks away down towards the city lights below.


title: I'm on Fire

text: The video began airing in mid-April, received extensive MTV airplay, and later in the year won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.


title: I'm on Fire

text: The B-side of the single, "Johnny Bye Bye" - Just before he was sentenced to three years for violating the Mann Act in 1962, Chuck Berry wrote "Bye Bye Johnny", a sequel to "Johnny B. Goode", where a mother sent her musician son off to Hollywood to be a star. "She drew out all her money from the Southern Trust, and put her little boy aboard the Greyhound Bus." It was not a big hit for Berry, but Springsteen decided to use those lines in 1981, for a new song that used most of the lyrics from "Come On Let's Go Tonight", calling it "Johnny Bye-Bye". Springsteen had first started performing it in 1981 at the tail end of The River Tour. It was then recorded in April 1982 during the "Electric Nebraska" sessions. The official version was recorded on January 4, 1983, at Thrill Hill West, Los Angeles, CA, and one of the mixes was released on February 6, 1985, as the B-side to "I'm On Fire". The song appeared on preliminary song lists for inclusion on what would become "Born in the U.S.A." but was ultimately left off the final album.


title: I'm on Fire

text: "I'm on Fire" was performed only sporadically at the start of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, but a couple of months later, it settled into a regular place in the middle of the second set. It was usually preceded by a long musical introduction, during which Springsteen spoke about not being able to sleep at night when he was young and his parents were struggling and the house was cold. The song was also given an extended coda of Springsteen's moans against waves of synthesizer. Such a rendition from an August 19, 1985, performance at Giants Stadium is included on the "Live/1975-85" box set, but with the spoken part of the introduction edited out.


title: I'm on Fire

text: In some cases, red lighting from stage floor focused on Springsteen's face was used to further accentuate the song. On the Tunnel of Love Express, the song was still a regular. On the Human Rights Now! Tour, Springsteen conducted crowd sing-alongs during the chorus and coda parts. After some appearances on the "Other Band" Tour, the song went into a long retirement, not emerging again until occasional performances on 2005's solo Devils & Dust Tour, when he performed it on banjo with the red lighting back.


title: I'm on Fire

text: Between 1999 and 2008, the song was only performed on eight occasions with the E Street Band: once on the Reunion Tour (June 17, 1999, Bremen), once on The Rising Tour (April 18, 2003, Ottawa) and six times on the Magic Tour. The song has made surprise return on a semi-regular basis during the European leg of the 2009 Working on a Dream tour. As of November 2009, it has been performed live 245 times.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Harriet (formerly Harry; – 23 June 2006) was a Galápagos tortoise ("Chelonoidis niger", specifically a western Santa Cruz tortoise "C. n. porteri") who had an estimated age of 175 years at the time of her death in Australia. Harriet is one of the longest-lived known tortoises, behind Tu'i Malila, who died in 1965 at the age of 188, Jonathan, who remains alive at an age of about , and possibly Adwaita, who died in 2006 at an estimated age of between 150 and 255 years. At the time of her death, she lived at the Australia Zoo which was owned by Steve and Terri Irwin.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Harriet was reportedly collected by Charles Darwin during his 1835 visit to the Galápagos Islands as part of his round-the-world survey expedition, transported to England, and then taken to her final home, Australia, by John Clements Wickham, the retiring captain of the "Beagle". However, some doubt was cast on this story by the fact that Darwin had never visited the island that Harriet originally came from.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: In August 1994, a historian from Mareeba published a letter in the local newspaper about two tortoises he remembered at the Botanic Gardens in 1922 and that the keepers of the time were saying that the tortoises had arrived at the Gardens in 1860 as a donation from John Clements Wickham, who was the first lieutenant (and later captain) of under Fitzroy during the voyage of the "Beagle" in 1835.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Wickham actually brought three tortoises (named Tom, Dick and Harry) to Australia when he arrived after retiring from the Royal Navy in 1841; these lived at Newstead House from 1841 to 1860. Records show that the tortoises were donated to the Botanic Gardens in 1860 when Wickham retired as Government Resident of Moreton Bay (now Brisbane) and left Australia for Paris.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Some researchers claim that Wickham was in Australia in 1841 and did not visit England that year to pick up the tortoises. This differs from information published by Dr. C.G. Drury Clarke and others, who list him as being in England in 1841. Furthermore, the British Hydrographic Department published maps of Wickham's surveys in 1841, indicating that he was in London that year. In addition, John Lort Stokes, who assumed command of "Beagle" after Wickham, explicitly states in his book "Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2" that Wickham departed to England after resigning his position as captain.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: There is evidence from letters that Charles Darwin was aware that Wickham had these tortoises, as he sent a letter to Huxley in 1860 informing him that he should speak with Wickham in Paris about the last of the tortoises from the 1835 expedition because he had them. This makes it at least possible that the three tortoises at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens were personally collected by Darwin.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: It is thought that as many as 40 tortoises were stowed aboard "Beagle". Some were slaughtered for food, others were kept as souvenirs by crew members, a few as scientific specimens. Once "Beagle" returned to England, the care of these large creatures became burdensome, so they were adopted by a local museum. There is no evidence that Darwin kept any of them as a pet in his home.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: That the species Harriet represents was not from one of the islands visited by Darwin is not actually problematic. Darwin definitely collected tortoises on San Cristobal, San Salvador, and Santa Maria; however, the species on Santa Maria ("C. n. niger") was, in fact, already nearing extinction when Darwin visited the islands, having been killed and eaten by prisoners on the prison colony there. Yet Darwin still collected tortoises on Santa Maria: the tortoises he found had been retrieved by the prisoners from other islands for food and Darwin collected some of these before they reached the stewpot. Hence they were a mixture of subspecies from a number of islands. Harriet, as a "C. n. porteri", is from Santa Cruz. One of the other tortoises (Tom) is still in the Queensland Museum and has been identified as a "C. n. chathamensis" (from San Cristobal).


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: An initial analysis of Harriet's DNA was unable to identify her subspecies in a cross section of 900 animals representing 26 extant and extinct populations. After reanalysis she was assigned to "C. n. porteri". However, her genetic diversity and other factors in her DNA sequence data indicated she was most likely at least two generations removed from the oldest specimens of her species in the dataset. The oldest "C. n. porteri" in the dataset were collected as adults in 1907 and, hence, this would require Harriet to be hatched by 1860.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: This dating rules out many alternate possibilities for Harriet as, prior to 1900, Australia was a very difficult place to get to. There were only two imports of Galápagos tortoises prior to 1900, and four of the five animals involved have been accounted for and are still represented by museum material. The suggestion in some quarters that Harriet was collected by whalers and brought to Australia is not likely, as Australia had its own whaling industry and whaling ships from South America did not visit Australia.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: The tortoises collected by Darwin were all recorded in Fitzroy's journals of the voyage, including their measurements. As they averaged in length, and this represented an approximate age of 5 years for the species, Harriet's year of birth was estimated by Scott Thomson to 1830, with a margin of error of two years, in the 1995 paper describing the events of Harriet's life and the results of the research.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Some also believe that Harriet was left with the Yabsley family of Coraki who were also on the "Beagle".


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Harriet was thought to be male for many years and was actually named Harry after Harry Oakman, the creator of the zoo at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, but this was corrected in the 1960s by a visiting director of Hawaii's Honolulu Zoo (as it happens, Tom, the specimen in the Queensland Museum, was also a female).


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: On 15 November 2005, her much-publicized 175th birthday was celebrated at Australia Zoo. This event was attended by Scott Thomson (the researcher on Harriet's history), three generations of the Fleay family, Robin Stewart (author of "Darwin's Tortoise"), and many hundreds of others who knew this tortoise during the latter part of her life.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Harriet was said to be very good-natured. She loved the attention of humans and enjoyed it when people patted her on the scutes (plates which make up the carapace, or upper shell). Harriet spent a majority of her day napping at her home pond. Her favourite food was hibiscus flowers.


title: Harriet (tortoise)

text: Harriet's story was told in Robin Stewart's book "Darwin's Tortoise: The Amazing True Story of Harriet, the World's Oldest Living Creature". She appears as one of the protagonists in the "Curious Science Quest" series of children's time-travel adventures co-written by Julia Golding which explore the history of science.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp (born 13 May 1966) is an English musician and record producer, known as the vocalist of English electronic music duo Goldfrapp.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp was born on 13 May 1966, in Enfield, London, the youngest of six children. Her mother, Isabella Barge, was a nurse. Her father, Nicholas Goldfrapp, had been an army officer, and worked in advertising. Goldfrapp's surname is of German origin. While Goldfrapp was growing up, her family moved frequently, eventually settling in Alton, Hampshire, where Goldfrapp attended the independent Alton Convent School. She sang in a choir at the school and has said that she loved being in a school with nuns. However, she was forced to leave at age 11 after failing the senior exam, and attended the local comprehensive school, Amery Hill School. She moved into a squat in London aged 16. At 24 years old, she attended Middlesex University where she studied fine art and mixed media.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: In 1994, she featured on the Orbital album "Snivilisation" and recorded songs "The Good" and "The Bad" with trip reggae outfit Dreadzone, for their 'best of' album "The Best of Dreadzone – The Good The Bad and the Dread". Performing with them live resulted in two songs on the limited edition "Performance" album released in 1994. In the same year, Goldfrapp featured on trip hop artist Tricky's 1995 song "Pumpkin" and collaborated with Stefan Girardet on two songs on the soundtrack to the 1995 film "The Confessional".


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp was introduced to composer Will Gregory in 1999 after he had listened to her vocal contribution for "Pumpkin"; they then formed Goldfrapp and signed to Mute Records.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: In 2000, she was a featured vocalist on the songs "The Time Of The Turning" and "The Time of the Turning (Reprise)/The Weaver's Reel" from the release "OVO", Peter Gabriel's soundtrack album to the London Millennium Dome Show.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: The pair began recording their debut album over a six-month period, beginning in September 1999, in a rented bungalow in the Wiltshire countryside. The band's debut album "Felt Mountain" was released in 2000 and featured Goldfrapp's synthesized vocals over cinematic soundscapes. Goldfrapp released their second album "Black Cherry" in 2003. The band recorded the album in Bath, England. This album focused more heavily on dance music and glam rock-inspired synths than its predecessor. "Black Cherry" peaked at number nineteen on the UK Albums Chart and sold 52,000 copies in the US.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: "Supernature", Goldfrapp's third album, was released in 2005. The album comprises pop and electronic dance music prominently featured on "Black Cherry", but focuses more on subtle hooks instead of the large choruses that made up its predecessor. It has sold one million copies worldwide and earned the duo two nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording for the song "Ooh La La".


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: "Seventh Tree", Goldfrapp's fourth album, was released in 2008 and debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart. The album is a departure from the pop and electronic dance music featured on "Supernature", featuring ambient and downtempo music. The band were inspired by an acoustic radio session they had performed, which led the duo to incorporate acoustic guitars into their music to create "warm" and "delicate" sounds.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp have released seven albums, most recently "Silver Eye" in 2017. Hits include "Strict Machine", "Ooh La La", "Lovely Head" and "A&E". The multi-platinum selling band have been nominated for the Mercury Prize, multiple Grammy Awards and won an Ivor Novello for "Strict Machine".


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: In recent years, Goldfrapp has dedicated more time to her role as a photographer and director. She created and photographed the album artwork for "Silver Eye" and directed videos for singles "Systemagic", "Everything Is Never Enough" and "Ocean".


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: In September 2021, Goldfrapp were awarded the Ivor Novello 'Inspiration Award' which celebrates "peer recognition for the excellence of the Goldfrapp songwriting catalogue and in particular how it has inspired the creative talent of other creators".


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp has an expansive soprano vocal range. She is noted for her operatic abilities, particularly on the group's debut album "Felt Mountain" and prominently on the songs "Utopia" and "Pilots". Her delivery in a more contemporary voice has been described as "breathy", "sultry", "ethereal" and "startling".


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp has been commended for her vocal versatility, morphing her voice to fit various genres such as folk, pop, classical, dance, trip hop and electronica throughout her career. Goldfrapp has used a Korg MS20 Audio Envelope follower to manipulate her vocals, such as the song "Lovely Head" in which her voice is altered to resemble a theremin. Vocally, Goldfrapp has been compared to Marlene Dietrich, Siouxsie Sioux, Björk, Kate Bush and Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp produces and writes most of her material alongside bandmate Will Gregory. She draws inspiration from a range of artists and musical genres. As a teenager she listened to Kate Bush, T. Rex, Donna Summer, Joan Jett, Marc Bolan, David Cassidy, and Iggy Pop and The Stooges, and discovered Serge Gainsbourg while working in Belgium. While travelling through Europe in the early 1990s, she began listening to Polish disco music and cabaret music from the Weimar Republic. Other media, including film, have influenced Goldfrapp who cites Roman Polanski's 1966 psychological thriller "Cul-de-sac", the 1973 cult film "The Wicker Man" and the James Bond franchise as influences. She draws inspiration from surrealism and nature, all of which appear in Goldfrapp's album artwork, which she designs in collaboration with Big Active. Goldfrapp believes that "music is a visual experience" and therefore visualises her lyrics before writing them. While writing, Goldfrapp uses her vocals to create melodies and drumbeats. Her songwriting is characterised by its use of animals to describe human emotions and status.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: While touring in 2004, sections of the group's stage show featured Goldfrapp in a white dress wearing a horse tail and dancers with deer heads, which were inspired by her interest in animals and mythology.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: The artwork for Goldfrapp's album "Seventh Tree" featured her dressed as a Pierrot. Her new image, inspired by paganism, featured her dressed in white or natural-coloured flowing gowns with loose curly blonde hair.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: During 2010, Goldfrapp took on several new images to fit with their forthcoming album "Head First". The music on this album was more '80s-influenced, reflected in the artwork featured on the album's first single, "Rocket", which features Goldfrapp in a pink jumpsuit. For their live shows, she wore spangly black leggings and a jacket covered in VHS tape which was blown about by two electric fans placed at front centre-stage. The shine of the plastic reflected the colourful stage lighting.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: In 2013, Goldfrapp was invited by the Lowry, Salford, to curate an exhibition as part of their ‘Performer as Curator’ annual series. The exhibition was a collection of photography and paintings inspired by ideas of metamorphosis and fairytales.


title: Alison Goldfrapp

text: Goldfrapp confirmed she was dating film editor Lisa Gunning in a February 2010 interview with "The Sunday Times" saying, "I think of everything as being about a person and a relationship, and I am in a wonderful relationship with a wonderful person. It just happens to be with a lady... It's something I've thought about for a long time and it concurs with my philosophy on life and sexuality. I don't think it can or should be pigeonholed. I've thought about this since I was a teenager. I've always found it claustrophobic to think about having to put things into categories like that. My sexuality is the same as my music and my life. Why does it need a label?" Goldfrapp's relationships before this were with men.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: Quantum of the Seas is a currently operated by Royal Caribbean International and is the lead ship of her class. At her time of delivery in 2014, "Quantum of the Seas" was the third largest cruise ship in the world by gross tonnage. She is currently deployed to serve the Alaskan cruise market.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: On 11 February 2011, Royal Caribbean announced that it had ordered the first of a new class of ships from the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, scheduled to be delivered by Fall 2014. At the time, the project was code-named "Project Sunshine". Later that year, two 20.5-megawatt ABB Azipod XO propulsion units were ordered for the ship.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: Meyer Werft performed the steel cutting for the ship on 31 January 2013, the same day it was announced that the new ship would be named "Quantum of the Seas", making her the lead vessel of the "Quantum" class.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: "Quantum of the Seas" had her keel laid down on 2 August 2013. She was floated out from the shipyard on 9 August 2014. Her River Ems conveyance began on 21 September 2014 and her sea trials began three days later, on 24 September.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: "Quantum of the Seas" was delivered to Royal Caribbean on 28 October 2014, at a cost of US$935 million (). The ship was christened by Kristin Chenoweth on 14 November 2014 at Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: "Quantum of the Seas" spent her inaugural 2014–2015 season sailing from Cape Liberty on 7-to-12-night itineraries to the Caribbean and Bahamas before she was re-deployed to China. She embarked on her 53-day eastward re-positioning cruise from Cape Liberty to Shanghai in May 2015. In June 2015, the ship commenced operating cruises from Shanghai on 3-to-8-night itineraries to Japan and South Korea year-round until moving to Tianjin upon the arrival of "Spectrum of the Seas" in Shanghai in mid-2019. Beginning in November 2019, "Quantum of the Seas" was scheduled to operate seasonally in Southeast Asia from Singapore for six months each year until 2024 and rotate between homeporting in Tianjin and Singapore year-round. However, in March 2020, Royal Caribbean announced a re-deployment of "Quantum of the Seas" to Alaska for summer 2021, sailing week-long itineraries from Seattle, marking her debut in the Western United States.


title: Quantum of the Seas

text: In 2020, due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, sailings were suspended, on various dates in the various regions, by all cruise lines. As of 12 January 2021, a report indicated that all Royal Caribbean sailings had been suspended until 30 April, except for "Quantum of the Seas". This vessel had resumed sailing in Singapore in December 2020, "with the local government's CruiseSafe Certification ... [that meets] the comprehensive health and safety requirements developed by the Singapore government".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: "Macross" () features mechanical designs by Kazutaka Miyatake and Shoji Kawamori (both of Studio Nue) and character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto of Artland. "Macross" also created one of the first anime idols Lynn Minmay, turning her voice actress Mari Iijima into an instant celebrity, and launching her musical career. Most of its animation (with edited content and revised dialogue) was adapted in the US for the first saga of "Robotech".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In 1999, a city-sized alien spacecraft crashes in South Ataria Island on Earth. Over the course of 10 years the military organization U.N. Spacy reverse-engineers its technology and rebuilds the spacecraft, naming it the SDF-1 "Macross". In 2009 at the launch ceremony of the "Macross", a young civilian pilot, Hikaru Ichijyo, comes to visit the "Macross" upon U.N. Spacy pilot Roy Focker's request. During the launch ceremony, a space war fleet from an alien race of humanoid giants arrives into the solar system and identifies the "Macross" as a former battleship used by their enemies, the Supervision Army. As the aliens, known as the Zentradi, approach the "Macross", the original systems override the crew's commands and fire its main cannon, wiping out the advance alien scouts and starting a war. While Hikaru takes the new VF-1 Valkyrie on a test flight the aliens retaliate. He then encounters Lynn Minmay and rescues her from the aliens. The "Macross" crew attempts to use the experimental "Fold System" (faster-than-light drives) to escape to the Moon's orbit, but instead it accidentally takes the "Macross" and South Ataria Island to the edge of the solar system. The people from the "Macross" salvage everything they can, including the city surrounding the ship and its civilians (who have survived in special safety shelters, which were transported along intact), and attach two aircraft carriers to the ship. Since the fold systems have vanished after the jump, the "Macross" is forced to make its way back to Earth by conventional power.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: The Zentradi suspect the humans might be their creators, the Protoculture. Under the command of Britai Kridanik and Exsedol Folmo, they plot ways to understand them. Fearful of their old combat directives of not interfering with Protoculture, the Zentradi perform attacks to test their theories about the people on board the "Macross", and even have their Zentradi soldiers "micloned" (miniaturized) to learn more about their culture. The Zentradi capture several "Macross" personnel, including Officer Misa Hayase and Hikaru, to study. Boddole Zer, Supreme Commander of the Zentradi, is puzzled over things such as relationships amongst males and females. He confirms that the Miclones "are" Protoculture during a demonstrated kiss between Hayase and Hikaru. After escaping, Hikaru and the others report their findings to their superiors, who have trouble accepting the reasons behind the Zentradi attacks as well as the huge forces the aliens possess.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: After much difficulty returning to Earth, the UN Spacy refuses to allow the "Macross" and the civilian passengers to return to land. Minmay's cousin, Lynn Kaifun, decides to join the "Macross" to see his parents and also look after Minmay. Because of Kaifun's relationship and constant contact with Minmay, the pair eventually enter a romantic relationship. After deliberation, the UN Spacy orders the "Macross" to leave Earth as a means to get the Zentradi away from them. During all these events, a female Zentradi ace fighter pilot, Milia Fallyna, is micloned and attempts to assassinate Maximilian Jenius, an ace UN Spacy pilot. Attempting to kill him during a knife duel, Milia is defeated and falls in love with Max, and the two are subsequently married. Their wedding aboard the "Macross" is broadcast to the Zentradi as a message that aliens and humans can co-exist. Since the Zentradi's exposure to culture and to Lynn Minmay's songs, some of them become eager to join the humans. Believing the "miclone contamination" is becoming a threat to all Zentradi forces, Boddole Zer orders his entire army to exterminate the human race and all those Zentradi previously exposed to human culture. Because Britai Kridanik was "contaminated" as well, he works with the humans to defeat the main Zentradi forces.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: The resulting battle culminates in the large scale devastation of Earth, but the people of the SDF-1 survive. After Boddole Zer is killed and his armada defeated, the surviving humans and their Zentradi allies begin rebuilding Earth.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Two years after the end of the first Space War the transition into the Human ways becomes difficult to some Zentradi who cannot stand the idea of a pacified life. Quamzin Kravshera constantly incites conflicts towards the civilians. He repairs a damaged Zentradi warship to return to his old ways and attacks the new Macross City built around the SDF-1. Moments before the final Zentradi attack, Misa Hayase tells Hikaru Ichijyo of her feelings for him and her decision to leave to space in a colonization mission to preserve human culture across the galaxy. Lynn Minmay, who was left by Kaifun and now loves Hikaru, does not want him to leave to join the fight. However, Hikaru still goes to defend the city anyway. Eventually Quamzin is killed. After a long emotional conflict Hikaru finally decides to be with Misa and join the colonization mission, but the two remain good friends with Minmay in the end.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: The series title uses the name of the main spacecraft (which is usually shortened to "SDF-1 Macross" as it is Earth's first "Super Dimension Fortress"). The original name for the "Macross" project was "Battle City Megaload" (or "Battle City Megaroad", as the Japanese transliteration to either or gives the title a double meaning in reference to the story line: "Megaload", referring to the spacecraft containing an entire city of people; and "Megaroad", referring to the long journey through space back to Earth). However, the director of Big West, one of the later sponsors of the project, was a fan of Shakespeare and wanted the series and the spacecraft to be named "Macbeth" (). A compromise was made with the title "Macross" () due to its similar pronunciation to "Macbeth" in Japanese and because it still contained connotations to the original title. The word "Macross" also comes from a wordplay combination of the prefix "macro" in reference to its massive size (though when compared with the alien ships in the series, it is only a relatively small capital ship) and the distance they must cross.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: "Super Dimension Fortress" prefix ("Chō Jikū Yōsai") is a wordplay on an intermediary working title for the series, which was originally "Super Dreadnought Fortress Macross" ("Chō Dokyū Yōsai Makurosu").


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Originally proposed in 1980 and greatly inspired by "Mobile Suit Gundam" (1979-1980), the show created by Studio Nue (from an original concept by newcomer member Shoji Kawamori) was initially sponsored by a group called the "Wiz" ("Uizu") Corporation that was prepared to fund a 48-episode run. "Wiz" wanted to produce the Sci-Fi show as an outer space comedy, but this clashed with Studio Nue's original idea of a more serious and epic "space opera" storyline. The resulting animosity between both companies made the initial pre-production of the series very difficult and full of delays.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: However, by 1981 Wiz had gone out of business and the "Megaload/Megaroad" ("Macross") project seemed to be in permanent hiatus. Studio Nue bought the rights of the show from "Wiz" and searched for a sponsor with no avail. Big West, an advertising agency looking to branch out into animation sponsorship, approached Studio Nue about the project and agreed to sponsor it. Big West insisted on a leaner budget, not convinced that the show would pan out as profitable and pared the episode count to 27 episodes (meaning the show would have ended with the battle against Boddole Zer's fleet). Even then, Big West found that the show was going to run more expensive than it had bargained for, and to secure more money, entered into a partnership with animation studio Tatsunoko Production which included international distribution (what would culminate in the creation of the "Robotech" adaptation a few years later).


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: When Macross debuted on 3 October 1982 (with only three episodes made so far) its stunning success among Japanese television audiences convinced Big West to approve an extension to 36 episodes, allowing the staff to end with the "two years after" story arc.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Animation work was contracted out to a number of sub-contracting studios, including Artland (Haruhiko Mikimoto's employer), the nascent AIC and Gainax studios, as well as the Tatsunoko-supplied AnimeFriend and Star Pro. AnimeFriend and Star Pro are infamously notorious among fans of the show for having brought in very spotty, off-model and continuity error-laden animation work.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: There were plans for a splashy ending to the series, one that would have shown major characters Misa Hayase and Hikaru Ichijo blasting off in the colonization ship "SDF-2 Megaroad-01", but the sequence was scrapped due to lack of time and budget. However, due to fan demand this sequence was later used in the "Macross Flashback 2012" OVA released in 1987.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" was produced as the first of the three "Super Dimension" mecha anime television series in Japan. It was followed by "Super Dimension Century Orguss" (1983) and "Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross" (1984). These shows were related in name only.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In 1984, Harmony Gold licensed the first "Macross" series from Tatsunoko and planned to dub the series on home video. In 1985, Harmony Gold edited and rewrote the series with "The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross" and "Genesis Climber Mospeada", collectively releasing them as "Robotech", to syndicate on weekday television and to promote a Revell model line. "Robotech"'s credits listed only the English adaptation's production crew and two Tatsunoko producers. In 1999, Harmony Gold asserted it had exclusive rights to the "distribution of the Macross television series and the right to create and authorize the sale of merchandise based on such series" outside Japan, and began sending cease-and-desist letters to import toy dealers, temporarily barring "Macross"-related merchandise from North America.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: The merchandise has since been imported again by the same toy dealers in direct sales, and Harmony Gold has sublicensed additional material for North American retail distribution.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In 2000, Big West and Studio Nue took Tatsunoko Productions to the Tokyo District Court over who had the rights to the first "Macross" series, due to Harmony Gold's attempt to bar Japanese Macross merchandise in North America the previous year. During production, Big West entered into a partnership with Tatsunoko to assist in the production of the series in a deal where it acquired the license to distribute the show worldwide (i.e., outside Japan), as well as earning some royalties to the merchandise. Tatsunoko then sub-licensed "Macross" to Harmony Gold USA in 1984. In 2002, the Tokyo District Court ruled that Big West/Studio Nue is the sole owner of the original character and mecha designs for the first series,


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In the autumn of 1984, Harmony Gold released the first English-language version of "Macross": an English-dubbed VHS video release containing unedited video footage of the first three episodes with a new English theme song, adapted dialogue scripts, and several name changes (which were later used in "Robotech", aside from Rick Yamada/Hikaru Ichijyo, who became Rick Hunter). This release was canceled after one volume when production of the "Robotech" adaptation began. The first episode of this 1984 English dubbing was later released as an extra in the "Robotech Legacy Collection 5" and "Robotech Protoculture Collection" DVD releases, and is also included in the first volume of ADV Films' 2006 release of "Macross".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Streamline Pictures then released "Robotech Perfect Collection: Macross" on VHS in the summer of 1994, combining two English subtitled episodes of "Macross" and the corresponding dubbed episodes of the "Robotech" adaptation in each volume. This was the first English subtitling for "Macross", but it contained unedited video footage with incomplete and mistranslated English subtitles and was cancelled after eight volumes and 16 episodes.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: The series was originally licensed in North America by AnimEigo, who restored the series and released it unedited on DVD with Japanese audio and English subtitles. At first a limited edition pre-order boxset across nine discs was released on 21 December 2001. Preorders were available on AnimEigo's web store. Three smaller boxsets, each comprising three discs, were released from 10 September 2002. Finally, AnimEigo released nine individual volumes. In 2003 Madman Entertainment released a six-disc PAL format version of this edition entitled "Macross Ultimate Collection".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In the summer of 2005, ADV Films announced that it would be releasing an English dub of "Macross" on 10 January 2006. This is the first uncut, unedited English dub for "Super Dimension Fortress Macross", and featured Mari Iijima returning to reprise the role of Lynn Minmay. However, the voice actors used in the dub were not the same as those used in the 1985 "Robotech" adaptation. This version was released by Hulu for online streaming in the United States in February 2010 and was removed in February 2013.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: On 25 July 2014, Lionsgate Home Entertainment announced that they would release a new "Robotech" DVD collection entitled "Robotech: The Classic Collection" exclusively through Amazon.com. Volume 1 contains the first 18 episodes of "Robotech: The Macross Saga" as it was originally broadcast, and the first 18 episodes of "Macross", completely uncut and presented in both Japanese with English subtitles and the ADV English dub.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: On October 21, 2019, Funimation announced that they have licensed the "Robotech" series only, which excludes "Macross".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Four manga adaptations of the TV series by different artists were serialized in 1982. A new manga adaptation called began releasing in Japan in 2009. It is a comic format alternate telling of the events in "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" (with modern character and mecha designs) that was serialized in the "Macross Ace" manga magazine until its cancellation, being moved to "Newtype Ace" manga magazine until its cancellation, then to "ComicWalker" online magazine, and then to Cygames "Psychomi" online magazine. It was collected into six volumes. The artist for the new manga series is Haruhiko Mikimoto, who was the character designer for the original "Macross".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: A game based on the TV series called "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" was released for the Japanese Nintendo Family Computer console in 1985 by video game company Namco.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Years later Bandai released "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" 3D shooting game in October 2003 in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 console. This game had levels based in both the TV series and its .


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: More recently, a new 3D shooting game called "Macross Ace Frontier" included several elements from the original series. It was developed by Artdink for the Sony PSP and was released in 2008.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In the "Anime Encyclopedia", authors Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy called the series "One of the three unassailable pillars of anime sci-fi, pioneering the tripartite winning formula of songs, battling robot-planes and tense relationships".


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" was the basis for two different animated franchises, "Macross" in Japan and "Robotech" in North America. In Japan, "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" spawned an animated film adaptation, "" (1984), and a number of sequels, including "Macross Plus" (1994), "Macross 7" (1994), "Macross Frontier" (2007) and "Macross Delta" (2015). In North America, "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" was adapted into the first saga of the "Robotech" television series (19851986), called "The Macross Saga", which spawned the "Robotech" franchise. "Robotech" was influential in the Western world, helping to introduce the anime medium to North America. In 1996, "Hyper" magazine reviewed "The Macross Saga", rating it 10 out of 10.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: "Macross" popularized the concept of transforming mecha, which can transform between a standard vehicle (such as a fighter plane or transport truck) and a fighting mecha robot. Shōji Kawamori introduced the concept with "Diaclone" in 1980 and then popularized it with "Macross". Kawamori then went on to design transforming mecha for "Transformers" (1986). The transforming mecha concept became popular in the mid-1980s, with "Macross: Do You Remember Love?" and "Zeta Gundam" (1985) in Japan, and with "Robotech" and "Transformers" in the West. "Transformers" went on to influence the Hollywood movie industry.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: In contrast to earlier mecha anime which focused on combatants, "Macross" portrayed a mecha conflict from the perspective of non-combatant civilians, such as the fictional singer Lynn Minmay. She went on to become the first virtual idol. Voiced by Mari Iijima, Minmay was the first fictional idol singer to garner major real-world success, with the theme song "Do You Remember Love?" (from the film "Macross: Do You Remember Love?") reaching number seven on the Oricon music charts in Japan. This was later further explored in "Macross Plus" with the virtual idol Sharon Apple, an artificial intelligence (AI) computer program who takes the form of an intergalactic pop star, and in "Macross 7" with the virtual band Fire Bomber who became a commercial success and spawned multiple CDs released in Japan. "Macross" set the template for later virtual idols in the early 21st century, such as Hatsune Miku and Kizuna AI.


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: Another innovative character concept in "Macross" was the role of Misa Hayase in "Macross" (called Lisa Hayes in "Robotech"), who was one of the main commanders of the Macross battleship. She was the boss and commanding officer of the fighter pilot protagonist Hikaru Ichijyo (called Rick Hunter in "Robotech"), and later his love interest. This was a scenario Kawamori came up with which he had not seen in any Hollywood movies before. A similar scenario, however, later appeared in the Hollywood movie "Top Gun" (1986). According to Kawamori, "Many people pointed out that later films like "Top Gun" copied that idea and setting, as well as including the combination of many songs and fighters too."


title: Super Dimension Fortress Macross

text: For the video game "Devil May Cry 4", motion and voice actor Reuben Langdon was told to be cockier than his younger persona, albeit more mature. Despite the staff's concerns for the difficulties of such a portrayal, Langdon had no issues after choosing Roy Focker from "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" as his character model and noting he had almost the same age as Dante during the production of the game.


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: The bicarbonate buffer system is an acid-base homeostatic mechanism involving the balance of carbonic acid (HCO), bicarbonate ion (HCO), and carbon dioxide (CO) in order to maintain pH in the blood and duodenum, among other tissues, to support proper metabolic function. Catalyzed by carbonic anhydrase, carbon dioxide (CO) reacts with water (HO) to form carbonic acid (HCO), which in turn rapidly dissociates to form a bicarbonate ion (HCO ) and a hydrogen ion (H) as shown in the following reaction:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: As with any buffer system, the pH is balanced by the presence of both a weak acid (for example, HCO) and its conjugate base (for example, HCO) so that any excess acid or base introduced to the system is neutralized.


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: Failure of this system to function properly results in acid-base imbalance, such as acidemia (pH < 7.35) and alkalemia (pH > 7.45) in the blood.


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: In tissue, cellular respiration produces carbon dioxide as a waste product; as one of the primary roles of the cardiovascular system, most of this CO is rapidly removed from the tissues by its hydration to bicarbonate ion. The bicarbonate ion present in the blood plasma is transported to the lungs, where it is dehydrated back into CO and released during exhalation. These hydration and dehydration conversions of CO and HCO, which are normally very slow, are facilitated by carbonic anhydrase in both the blood and duodenum. While in the blood, bicarbonate ion serves to neutralize acid introduced to the blood through other metabolic processes (e.g. lactic acid, ketone bodies); likewise, any bases (e.g. urea from the catabolism of proteins) are neutralized by carbonic acid (HCO).


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: As calculated by the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation, in order to maintain a normal pH of 7.4 in the blood (whereby the pK of carbonic acid is 6.1 at physiological temperature), a 20:1 ratio of bicarbonate to carbonic acid must constantly be maintained; this homeostasis is mainly mediated by pH sensors in the medulla oblongata of the brain and probably in the kidneys, linked via negative feedback loops to effectors in the respiratory and renal systems. In the blood of most animals, the bicarbonate buffer system is coupled to the lungs via respiratory compensation, the process by which the rate and/or depth of breathing changes to compensate for changes in the blood concentration of CO. By Le Chatelier's principle, the release of CO from the lungs pushes the reaction above to the left, causing carbonic anhydrase to form CO until all excess protons are removed. Bicarbonate concentration is also further regulated by renal compensation, the process by which the kidneys regulate the concentration of bicarbonate ions by secreting H ions into the urine while, at the same time, reabsorbing HCO ions into the blood plasma, or "vice versa", depending on whether the plasma pH is falling or rising, respectively.


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: A modified version of the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation can be used to relate the pH of blood to constituents of the bicarbonate buffer system:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: When describing arterial blood gas, the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation is usually quoted in terms of pCO, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, rather than HCO. However, these quantities are related by the equation:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: Combining these equations results in the following equation relating the pH of blood to the concentration of bicarbonate and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: The Henderson–Hasselbalch equation, which is derived from the law of mass action, can be modified with respect to the bicarbonate buffer system to yield a simpler equation that provides a quick approximation of the H or HCO concentration without the need to calculate logarithms:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: Since the partial pressure of carbon dioxide is much easier to obtain from measurement than carbonic acid, the Henry's law solubility constant – which relates the partial pressure of a gas to its solubility – for CO in plasma is used in lieu of the carbonic acid concentration. After solving for H and applying Henry's law, the equation becomes:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: where "K’" is the dissociation constant of carbonic acid, which is equal to 800 nmol/L (since "K’" = 10 = 10 ≈ 8.00×10 mol/L = 800 nmol/L).


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: After multiplying the constants (800 × 0.03 = 24) and solving for HCO, the equation is simplified to:


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: The bicarbonate buffer system plays a vital role in other tissues as well. In the human stomach and duodenum, the bicarbonate buffer system serves to both neutralize gastric acid and stabilize the intracellular pH of epithelial cells via the secretion of bicarbonate ion into the gastric mucosa. In patients with duodenal ulcers, "Helicobacter pylori" eradication can restore mucosal bicarbonate secretion and reduce the risk of ulcer recurrence.


title: Bicarbonate buffer system

text: The tears are unique among body fluids in that they are exposed to the environment. Much like other body fluids, tear fluid is kept in a tight pH range using the bicarbonate buffer system. The pH of tears shift throughout a waking day, rising "about 0.013 pH units/hour" until a prolonged closed-eye period causes the pH to fall again. Most healthy individuals have tear pH in the range of 7.0 to 7.7, where bicarbonate buffering is the most significant, but proteins and other buffering components are also present that are active outside of this pH range.


title: Cam Neely

text: Cameron Michael Neely (born June 6, 1965) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. Neely played right wing for the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 1996. Nicknamed "'Bam-Bam Cam", he was one of the most dominant power forwards of his generation.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. He currently serves as the president of the Bruins.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely played hockey with the Ridge Meadows Hockey Association for the majority of his minor career and has been named to the Maple Ridge honourable people list. With the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League he led the team to the Memorial Cup Championship, becoming the first US-based team to claim the Cup. Neely was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks ninth overall in the 1983 entry draft and played three seasons with them.


title: Cam Neely

text: On his 21st birthday in June 1986, Neely was traded along with Vancouver's first pick, third overall in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft (used to take Glen Wesley) to the Boston Bruins for Barry Pederson. Canucks head coach Tom Watt was not impressed with Neely's defence, and that was what made him tradeable. Neely said "I was playing behind Stan Smyl and Tony Tanti, so I didn't see a lot of ice time, and, certainly not on the power plays."


title: Cam Neely

text: Almost immediately, it became apparent that the Bruins had received the better of the deal. Neely stated that "I was surprised at the trade. I really didn't know what to expect once I got to Boston and had no idea that my career would turn out the way it did for those ten years. From Day One in training camp, I just wanted to get the opportunity to play. The coaches said, 'Let's see what he can do.' As time went by, I got more and more confidence. I never really thought I'd be a 50-goal scorer, but I was given a chance to contribute offensively, not just physically."


title: Cam Neely

text: In his first full season following the trade, Neely's 36 goals led the club, and his 72 points more than doubled his previous year's performance. In the same season, he also spent 143 minutes in the penalty box


title: Cam Neely

text: Mike Milbury said, 'I want you to think about what you're doing by putting yourself into the penalty box. If you're going to fight, make sure it's on your terms and not just because someone is challenging you.' He was trying to make me understand who I was going in the box with. He'd say, 'I don't want to take away from you dropping your gloves, but, I don't want you to think about not doing it. I just want you to think about how your reaction affects both their team and our team.' So it got me to thinking a little more about my role. Then, I began going with my instincts more and what felt right at that moment.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely's success stemmed largely from his hard, accurate shot, quick release, and his willingness to engage in the more physical aspects of the game. At 6 ft 1 in and 215 lb, Neely was as devastating with his body checks and fists as he was with his goal scoring exploits. He became the archetype of the power forward and earned the nickname "Bam-Bam Cam".


title: Cam Neely

text: On May 5, 1991, during Game 3 of the 1991 Prince of Wales Conference Finals, Neely was checked by Ulf Samuelsson, and injured on the play, and was hit again to the knee in game 6. Compounding the situation was the fact that Neely developed myositis ossificans in the injured area. The injury kept Neely out of all but 22 games of the next two seasons, and Neely would only play a total of 162 NHL games for the remainder of his career after the hit because of knee trouble.


title: Cam Neely

text: In the 1993–94 season, Neely scored his 50th goal in his 44th game; only Wayne Gretzky has scored 50 goals in fewer games. This milestone is unofficial as the 50 goals must be scored in the first 50 games the team plays, counting from the start of the season. Other players have also "unofficially" reached this milestone, such as Alexander Mogilny, Jari Kurri, and Bobby Hull. He was regularly listed as a healthy scratch in alternate games in order to rest his ailing knee, but it would be a degenerative hip condition that forced Neely to retire after the season at the age of 31.


title: Cam Neely

text: In one memorable incident in 1994, the tip of Neely's right pinky finger was cut off through his glove, requiring 10–15 stitches to repair. After sustaining the injury early in the second period, Neely received the stitches, and returned to the game later that period. Neely scored an assist, but the Bruins ultimately lost the game against the Devils 2–1.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely's intense efforts to come back time and again from his devastating injuries were recognized with his winning of the Masterton Trophy after the 1993–94 season. The Bruins have since retired #8 in his honor, making him the tenth player to have a number retired by the team. Despite his shortened career, he recorded some remarkable scoring feats. Only Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Brett Hull scored a better goals per game average over the course of an NHL season than Neely did with his 50-goals-in-49-games in the 1993–94 season (despite missing 35 games that season). Also, only ten players in NHL history scored a better goals per game average over their career than Neely. He reached the fifty goal mark three times, played in five All-Star games, and was named the league's Second Team All-Star at right wing in 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1994.


title: Cam Neely

text: As of June 1, 2021, Neely is the Boston Bruins' all-time leading playoff goal scorer with 55. He ranks tenth in playoff points for Boston with 87.


title: Cam Neely

text: In November 1998, Neely attempted a comeback after being out of hockey for two years. Neely said this in a 2008 interview about it:


title: Cam Neely

text: I wish that my lungs felt as good as my hip. If I last four days (of practice) in a row and my hip's barking at me, then that's all she wrote. I know how I felt when I had to retire and I know how I'm feeling now. It's not really how I want to feel. It was fun while I was out there but each day I skated, the pain just kind of lingered a lot longer than I would have liked. I was feeling really good and had started getting some different treatment. I practiced a few times with the Bruins but after some really hard practices, realized there was just no way I could continue.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. He said "To be honest, I never concerned myself too much with the Hall of Fame, just like I never concerned myself with numbers when I played," he said. "I just tried to do my best and work hard. Whether I played well or not was another story."


title: Cam Neely

text: On September 25, 2007, Neely was appointed vice president of the Boston Bruins, and was named president of the team on June 16, 2010. On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, Neely returned to British Columbia as the Bruins faced the Canucks in the first Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 in Bruins history and watched the Bruins win 4–0 to win their first Stanley Cup since 1972, allowing Neely to lift the Cup after it had eluded him as a player.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely also played in the Alumni Game of the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium against the Montreal Canadiens Alumni on a Bruins Alumni team including Bourque, Mark Recchi and Terry O'Reilly and coached by, among others, Mike Milbury, Lyndon Byers and Don "Grapes" Cherry.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely was born in Comox, British Columbia and grew up in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. Both of his parents died of cancer. Neely remains active in the Cam Neely Foundation run in conjunction with Tufts Medical Center, where patients and their families avail themselves of accommodation at the "Neely House" while undergoing cancer treatments. After his mother died of cancer in 1987 and his father in 1993, he founded the charity in 1995 and that same year asked Denis Leary if he were interested in orchestrating a Boston-based comedy benefit show, which became the annual Comics Come Home event.


title: Cam Neely

text: One of Neely's childhood friends is former Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Fame right fielder Larry Walker, who himself dreamed of an NHL career as a goaltender. Neely and Walker constantly played against one another to sharpen their skills.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely has been married to his wife Paulina Neely since 1996 and has two children, a son Jack who was born in 1998, and a daughter Ava who was born in 2000 . He sits on the board of directors of Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc., which was created by an IPO by Intrawest Corp. on November 1, 2010. Within that board, he is a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely has appeared on Denis Leary's series "Rescue Me", playing a hockey-playing firefighter who wreaks havoc during a NYPD vs. FDNY game. He made a cameo in the eighth-season opening episode of "Cheers", titled "The Improbable Dream," as a bar patron.


title: Cam Neely

text: Neely and Lyndon Byers had a cameo for Boston-based band Extreme in their video for the song "Hole Hearted" where they are seen playing a guitar alongside the band. Most famously, Neely portrayed the character of Sea Bass in the Jim Carrey films: "Dumb and Dumber"; "Me, Myself & Irene"; and "Dumb and Dumber To"; all directed by the Farrelly brothers. He had a small role as himself in the second film of the Mighty Ducks trilogy "".


title: Morgan Wallen discography

text: American country music singer Morgan Wallen has released two studio albums, three extended plays, twelve singles, and 13 music videos.


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt instrument, and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferred stocks are senior (i.e., higher ranking) to common stock but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim (or rights to their share of the assets of the company, given that such assets are payable to the returnee stock bond) and may have priority over common stock (ordinary shares) in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation. Terms of the preferred stock are described in the issuing company's articles of association or articles of incorporation.


title: Preferred stock

text: Like bonds, preferred stocks are rated by major credit rating agencies. Their ratings are generally lower than those of bonds, because preferred dividends do not carry the same guarantees as interest payments from bonds, and because preferred-stock holders' claims are junior to those of all creditors.


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred equity has characteristics similar to preferred stock, but the term is typically used for investments in real estate or other private investments where the common stock is not publicly traded, so private equity has no public credit rating.


title: Preferred stock

text: In general, preferred stock has "preference" in dividend payments. The preference does not assure the payment of dividends, but the company must pay the stated dividends on preferred stock before or at the same time as any dividends on common stock.


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred stock can be "cumulative" or "noncumulative". A cumulative preferred requires that if a company fails to pay a dividend (or pays less than the stated rate), it must make up for it at a later time in order to ever pay common-stock dividends again. Dividends accumulate with each passed dividend period (which may be quarterly, semi-annually or annually). When a dividend is not paid in time, it has "passed"; all passed dividends on a cumulative stock make up a dividend in arrears. A stock without this feature is known as a noncumulative, or "straight", preferred stock; any dividends passed are lost if not declared.


title: Preferred stock

text: The above list (which includes several customary rights) is not comprehensive; preferred shares (like other legal arrangements) may specify nearly any right conceivable. Preferred shares in the U.S. normally carry a call provision, enabling the issuing corporation to repurchase the share at its (usually limited) discretion.


title: Preferred stock

text: In addition to straight preferred stock, there is diversity in the preferred stock market. Additional types of preferred stock include:


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred stocks offer a company an alternative form of financing—for example through pension-led funding; in some cases, a company can defer dividends by going into arrears with little penalty or risk to its credit rating, however, such action could have a negative impact on the company meeting the terms of its financing contract. With traditional debt, payments are required; a missed payment would put the company in default.


title: Preferred stock

text: Occasionally, companies use preferred shares as means of preventing hostile takeovers, creating preferred shares with a poison pill (or forced-exchange or conversion features) that is exercised upon a change in control. Some corporations contain provisions in their charters authorizing the issuance of preferred stock whose terms and conditions may be determined by the board of directors when issued. These "blank checks" are often used as a takeover defense; they may be assigned very high liquidation value (which must be redeemed in the event of a change of control), or may have great super-voting powers.


title: Preferred stock

text: When a corporation goes bankrupt, there may be enough money to repay holders of preferred issues known as "senior" but not enough money for "junior" issues. Therefore, when preferred shares are first issued, their governing document may contain protective provisions preventing the issuance of new preferred shares with a senior claim. Individual series of preferred shares may have a senior, pari-passu (equal), or junior relationship with other series issued by the same corporation.


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred shares are more common in private or pre-public companies, where it is useful to distinguish between the control of and the economic interest in the company. Government regulations and the rules of stock exchanges may either encourage or discourage the issuance of publicly traded preferred shares. In many countries, banks are encouraged to issue preferred stock as a source of Tier 1 capital.


title: Preferred stock

text: A company may issue several classes of preferred stock. A company raising venture capital or other funding may undergo several rounds of financing, with each round receiving separate rights and having a separate class of preferred stock. Such a company might have "Series A Preferred", "Series B Preferred", "Series C Preferred", and corresponding shares of common stock. Typically, company founders and employees receive common stock, while venture capital investors receive preferred shares, often with a liquidation preference. The preferred shares are typically converted to common shares with the completion of an initial public offering or acquisition. An additional advantage of issuing preferred shares to investors but common shares to employees is the ability to retain a lower 409(a) valuation for common shares and thus a lower strike price for incentive stock options. This allows employees to receive more gains on their stock.


title: Preferred stock

text: In the United States there are two types of preferred stocks: "straight" preferreds and "convertible" preferreds. Straight preferreds are issued in perpetuity (although some are subject to call by the issuer, under certain conditions) and pay a stipulated dividend rate to the holder. Convertible preferreds—in addition to the foregoing features of a straight preferred—contain a provision by which the holder may convert the preferred into the common stock of the company (or sometimes, into the common stock of an affiliated company) under certain conditions (among which may be the specification of a future date when conversion may begin, a certain number of common shares per preferred share, or a certain price per share for the common stock).


title: Preferred stock

text: There are income-tax advantages generally available to "corporations" investing in preferred stocks in the United States. See Dividends received deduction.


title: Preferred stock

text: But for "individuals", a "straight" preferred stock, a hybrid between a bond and a stock, bears some disadvantages of each type of securities without enjoying the advantages of either. Like a bond, a straight preferred does not participate in future earnings and dividend growth of the company, or growth in the price of the common stock. However, a bond has greater security than the preferred and has a maturity date at which the principal is to be repaid. Like the common, the preferred has less security protection than the bond. However, the potential increase in the market price of the common (and its dividends, paid from future growth of the company) is lacking for the preferred. One advantage of the preferred to its issuer is that the preferred receives better equity credit at rating agencies than straight debt (since it is usually perpetual). Also, certain types of preferred stock qualify as Tier 1 capital; this allows financial institutions to satisfy regulatory requirements without diluting common shareholders. Through preferred stock, financial institutions are able to gain leverage while receiving Tier 1 equity credit.


title: Preferred stock

text: If an investor paid par ($100) today for a typical straight preferred, such an investment would give a current yield of just over six percent. If, in a few years, 10-year Treasuries were to yield more than 13 percent to maturity (as they did in 1981) these preferreds would yield at least 13 percent; since the rate of dividend is fixed, this would reduce their market price to $46, a 54-percent loss. The difference between straight preferreds and Treasuries (or any investment-grade Federal-agency or corporate bond) is that the bonds would move up to par as their maturity date approaches; however, the straight preferred (having no maturity date) might remain at these $40 levels (or lower) for a long time.


title: Preferred stock

text: Advantages of straight preferreds may include higher yields and—in the U.S. at least—tax advantages; they yield about 2 percent more than 10-year Treasuries, rank ahead of common stock in case of bankruptcy and dividends are taxable at a maximum rate of 15% rather than at ordinary-income rates (as with bond interest).


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred shares represent a significant portion of Canadian capital markets, with over C$11.2 billion in new preferred shares issued in 2016. Many Canadian issuers are financial organizations that may count capital raised in the preferred-share market as Tier 1 capital (provided that the shares issued are perpetual). Another class of issuer includes split share corporations. Investors in Canadian preferred shares are generally those who wish to hold fixed-income investments in a taxable portfolio. Preferential tax treatment of dividend income (as opposed to interest income) may, in many cases, result in a greater after-tax return than might be achieved with bonds.


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred shares are often used by private corporations to achieve Canadian tax objectives. For instance, the use of preferred shares can allow a business to accomplish an estate freeze. By transferring common shares in exchange for fixed-value preferred shares, business owners can allow future gains in the value of the business to accrue to others (such as a discretionary trust).


title: Preferred stock

text: The rights of holders of preference shares in Germany are usually rather similar to those of ordinary shares, except for some dividend preference and no voting right in many topics of shareholders' meetings. Preference shares in German stock exchanges are usually indicated with "V", "VA", or "Vz" (short for ')—for example, "BMW Vz"—in contrast to "St", "StA" (short for '), or "NA" (short for "") for standard shares. Preference shares with multiple voting rights (e.g., at RWE or Siemens) have been abolished.


title: Preferred stock

text: Preferred stock may comprise up to half of total equity. It is convertible into common stock, but its conversion requires approval by a majority vote at the stockholders' meeting. If the vote passes, German law requires consensus with preferred stockholders to convert their stock (which is usually encouraged by offering a one-time premium to preferred stockholders). The firm's intention to do so may arise from its financial policy (i.e. its ranking in a specific index). Industry stock indices usually do not consider preferred stock in determining the daily trading volume of a company's stock; for example, they do not qualify the company for a listing due to a low trading volume in common stocks.


title: Preferred stock

text: Perpetual non-cumulative preference shares may be included as Tier 1 capital. Perpetual cumulative preferred shares are Upper Tier 2 capital. Dated preferred shares (normally having an original maturity of at least five years) may be included in Lower Tier 2 capital.


title: Preferred stock

text: In the United States, the issuance of publicly listed preferred stock is generally limited to financial institutions, REITs and public utilities. Because in the U.S. dividends on preferred stock are not tax-deductible at the corporate level (in contrast to interest expense), the effective cost of capital raised by preferred stock is significantly greater than issuing the equivalent amount of debt at the same interest rate. This has led to the development of TRuPS: debt instruments with the same properties as preferred stock. With the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, TRuPS will be phased out as a vehicle for raising Tier 1 capital by bank holding companies. Outstanding TRuPS issues will be phased out completely by 2015.


title: Preferred stock

text: However, with a qualified dividend tax rate of 23.8% (compared to a top ordinary interest marginal tax rate of 40.8%), $1 of dividend income taxed at this rate provides the same after-tax income as approximately $1.30 in interest income. The size of the preferred stock market in the United States has been estimated as $100 billion (), compared to $9.5 trillion for equities and US$4.0 trillion for bonds. The amount of new issuance in the United States was $34.1 billion in 2016.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Kenneth James Noye (born 24 May 1947) is an English criminal who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Stephen Cameron in a road rage incident while on licence from prison in 1996. He was arrested in Spain two years later and convicted of the crime four years after it occurred.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: A former police informant, Noye was acquitted in 1985 for the murder of a police officer on the grounds of his home, and was convicted in 1986 of handling stolen goods from the Brink's-Mat robbery, serving eight years in prison of a 14-year sentence.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Noye was born in Bexleyheath, where his father ran a post office and his mother a dog racing track. His dishonesty began at a young age. At five, his mother caught him taking money from the till in a branch of Woolworths while she had been talking to a shop assistant. A bully while a pupil at Bexleyheath Boys' Secondary Modern School, he ran a protection racket with his fellow pupils. He left school at 15. For selling stolen bicycles after he had altered their appearance, and other crimes, he spent a year in a borstal. At this point he met a barrister's legal secretary who would later become his wife.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: A police informant for many years, Noye had begun a connection with corrupt officers by the time he was arrested for receiving stolen goods in 1977. He became a Freemason in January 1980, becoming a member of the Hammersmith Lodge in London after being proposed for admission by two police officers, giving his occupation as "Builder".


title: Kenneth Noye

text: The membership of the Lodge contained a sizeable proportion of police according to an April 2000 article in "The Independent". Noye's membership ceased in 1987 because he had failed to pay his subscriptions for two years in succession. He was subsequently expelled from the Freemasons when it was discovered that he had a criminal record, according to a letter from the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, published by "The Independent" in December 1996.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: One of Noye's police contacts persuaded a customs official not to target him, while his tip-offs to the Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad were reportedly a means to prevent competition from rival criminals. Meanwhile, he had built up a legitimate haulage business to use as cover. Having initially been refused planning permission for a mansion on a plot of land he owned, he was able to gain consent in a subsequent application shortly after his bungalow on the site was destroyed in a fire caused by an electrical fault.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Active as a fence, Noye was among those involved in laundering a huge quantity of stolen gold bullion taken during the Brink's-Mat robbery by six armed men on 26 November 1983. While he was being investigated for his involvement in the crime, Noye fatally stabbed Detective Constable John Fordham who was involved in the police surveillance of Noye in the grounds of his home. Acquitted of murder on the grounds of self-defence in December 1985, he was found guilty in July 1986 of handling some of the stolen gold, and of a conspiracy to evade VAT. After his conviction in court, he shouted to the jury "I hope you all die of cancer".


title: Kenneth Noye

text: The discovery of the bullion had surprised the gang as they expected to find £3 million in cash; their contacts had no experience of dealing with gold, let alone 6,800 bars worth £26 million in 1983. Mick McAvoy, one of the thieves, had asked Brian Perry to conceal the gold he had received, and it was Perry who brought in Noye and John Palmer, subsequently nicknamed "Goldfinger"; Palmer was acquitted in 1987 of knowingly handling gold from the robbery.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Noye had melted down much of the Brink's-Mat gold he had received, and mixed it with copper coins in an attempt to disguise its origins, although eleven gold bars from the robbery were found hidden at his home. Sentenced to 14 years, and fined £500,000 with £200,000 costs, he was released from prison in 1994, having served eight years. In a civil action brought by the loss adjusters of Brink's-Mat insurers, £3 million was recovered from Noye while he was incarcerated.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: On 19 May 1996, while on release from prison on licence, Noye was involved in an altercation with 21-year-old motorist Stephen Cameron on a slip road of the M25 motorway near Swanley in Kent during a road rage incident. During the fight, Noye stabbed Cameron to death with a 9-inch knife. Noye immediately fled the country, later revealed to have been assisted by Palmer, who later claimed to have barely known Noye, if at all. While Noye was on the run, Detective Constable John Donald was jailed for 11 years for passing on confidential information about police operations to Noye.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Police initially named the man they wanted to question in connection with the murder as Anthony Francis. However, by December 1996 this name was revealed to have been a false identity used by Noye, after a vehicle registered in his name was discovered to have been unloaded in Kyrenia, Cyprus, in July that year. The vehicle was a dark green L-registered Land Rover Discovery, which matched the description of the vehicle driven by the man who had fatally stabbed Stephen Cameron. However, Noye was not located in Cyprus, and due to Kyrenia's location in the Turkish occupied northern part of the country, Britain did not have the extradition treaties in place which would have allowed Noye to be extradited back to Britain if he had been tracked down to Northern Cyprus. It would be nearly two more years before Noye was finally located.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: A significant police hunt assisted by GCHQ led to Noye being located in Spain, where he was arrested in the resort of Barbate on 28 August 1998. Cameron's girlfriend Danielle Cable, who had witnessed the killing, was secretly flown out to positively identify him, which she did on 27 August. Noye was arrested the following day, and lost an appeal against his extradition from Spain seven months later. He was finally extradited to Britain in May 1999, nine months after his arrest, and went on trial 10 months later.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Despite the risk involved, Cable opted to testify against Noye. Noye claimed not to be a violent man at the trial, and again pleaded self-defence, explaining that he had fled because the police hated him and he feared not receiving a fair trial. Found guilty on 14 April 2000, after a trial held in conditions of high security, Noye was convicted of murder by the jury's majority verdict of 11–1 after their deliberations had lasted 8 hours and 21 minutes, and was given a life sentence by Lord Justice Latham. Despite evidence of his wealth, Noye’s legal aid costs amounted to about £250,000 for his defence at the trial (and he also received financial support for his initial appeal).


title: Kenneth Noye

text: After auditors in an official inquiry found the correct procedures in such cases had not been followed, one of the officials responsible for Noye's financial support in the Lord Chancellor's office resigned, while another was disciplined. Cable was given a new identity under the witness protection programme, having been praised by police for her courage in giving evidence in the presence of Noye and his associates.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: The judge at Noye's trial did not make any recommendation in open court on the tariff for how long Noye should serve, but made the then-conventional written report to the Lord Chief Justice and the Home Secretary recommending a tariff of 16 years. In 2002 the then-Home Secretary David Blunkett duly set the tariff, before Noye could apply for parole at 16 years as recommended. This tariff was subsequently upheld by Mr Justice Simon.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Another eyewitness in the Cameron murder, Alan Decabral, declined protection and was shot dead in his car in front of shoppers through his open window in Ashford, Kent, on 5 October 2000; police sources were in no doubt that Decabral was killed by a professional hitman. However, police sources stated that Decabral had himself been questioned about gun smuggling, had extensive criminal contacts, and his estranged wife later admitted that he had been a drug dealer who owed money to others. Although Noye was questioned by the police, they concluded that the still-unsolved murder had no proven connection with him and did not charge Noye. The location Decabral was killed at was the car park outside Sainsburys on Simone Weil Avenue in Ashford, and occurred in broad daylight at 1:30pm.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Decabral had testified at the trial of Noye at the Old Bailey that he saw the fight between Noye and Cameron on the motorway slip road, and told the jury that he saw Noye "lunging forward" with a knife and stabbing Cameron, testimony that would help convict him. The defence had attempted to discredit Decabral, saying he was an unreliable witness who created an "edifice of lies" in agreement with police. After Decabral's mysterious murder Noye's defence team, led my Michael Mansfield QC, continued to attempt to discredit him as a witness in order to win Noye's release. Before he died, Decabral had received death threats in relation to his involvement in the court case against Noye and himself said that he had been ordered by unknown gangsters to "shut up or we will shut you up. He also said that someone had pushed three bullets through his letterbox with a warning. After the trial he had notably said "I look over my shoulder every time I go into Sainsbury's" (the murder took place in Sainsbury's car park).


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Police investigated whether Decabral was killed as part of a fight between rival biker gangs over drugs. Witnesses to the murder in the retail park said they heard Decabral beg for his life before a young man in a woolly hat shot him.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: On 10 October 2001 and again in 2004, Noye appealed unsuccessfully against his conviction. He was represented in 2001 by Michael Mansfield, QC. In 2007 a legal challenge was made against the Criminal Cases Review Commission's decision not to refer his case to the Court of Appeal as "legally flawed".


title: Kenneth Noye

text: On 7 March 2008, on a new legal challenge, Lord Justice Richards and Mrs Justice Swift granted permission for a one-day judicial review hearing, covering the CCRC's October 2006 decision not to send Noye's case back to the Court of Appeal.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: On 25 June 2010, Noye's bid to have the minimum term he must serve for murder reduced was rejected. Mr Justice Simon, a High Court judge sitting at Newcastle, ordered that he must spend at least 16 years in jail before he could be considered for parole. On 14 October of that year, Noye was granted a fresh appeal against his conviction for Cameron's murder, but it was rejected on 22 March 2011. Noye was reported to have been moved from the Category A prison, HM Prison Whitemoor, to a Category B prison, at Lowdham Grange, in September 2011. Noye was formerly at Category C HM Prison Wayland in Griston, Norfolk. Another appeal, this time against the tariff, was dismissed on 12 March 2013.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: On 13 February 2015, BBC News reported that Noye had been granted a parole hearing. The Parole Board said the case had been referred by the secretary of state. Noye was refused permission to move to an open prison by Justice Secretary Michael Gove in October 2015 after such a move had been recommended by the parole board.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: However, in the High Court, Mr Justice Lavender accepted a legal challenge in February 2017 that Gove had "failed to give proper or adequate weight to the recommendation of the Parole Board". Edward Fitzgerald, QC, acting for Noye, said during the previous month's hearing that the board had "noted that he had made significant progress in changing his attitudes and tackling his behavioural problems". Counsel for the Justice Secretary, Tom Weisselberg, QC, said Gove had doubted Noye had reformed, and considered there was the risk he would escape because of his connections to Spain. it was announced in August 2017 that Gove's successor David Lidington had agreed Noye should be moved to open prison conditions. It was said by the parole board that this change was not in preparation for Noye's release.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Around March 2018, Noye was moved to HM Prison Standford Hill on the Isle of Sheppey, which is a low security prison with a day release provision for prisoners.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: In May 2019, the parole board announced that Noye was "suitable for return to the community" and would be released from prison within about three months.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: On 6 June 2019, then aged 72, Noye was released from prison after serving 20 years for the M25 attack. The parole board said that his release remained a risk due to "his readiness to carry and use weapons" and because Noye was "not being able to resolve arguments reasonably at key moments" as he "did not always control extreme emotions well”.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: In 2016, it was revealed that the leader of a gang who carried out the Hatton Garden heist was a former top lieutenant of Noye. The man, Brian Reader, had been charged alongside Noye for murdering the police officer in the grounds of Noye's home in 1985.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Noye's wife lives in the east Cornwall town of Looe. They have two sons, one of whom, Brett, was banned in 2013 from being a company director for 21 years for his part in a £2.4 million investor deception scheme involving a rat poison company.


title: Kenneth Noye

text: Noye's villa in Atlanterra, Spain, which was purchased for £200,000 cash in 1997, was reportedly sold for £500,000 in 2001.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A zebra crossing (British English) or a marked crosswalk (American English) is a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes (zebra markings). Normally, pedestrians are afforded precedence over vehicular traffic, although the significance of the markings may vary by jurisdiction. They are known as "zebra" crossings as the stripes resemble the coat of a zebra.


title: Zebra crossing

text: The first zebra crossing was installed in Slough, United Kingdom in 1951 to enhance pedestrian safety at new and already existing crossing points. Since then, zebra markings have been used at crossing points internationally to denote pedestrian crossings. Many have been replaced by various types of signalled crossing due to safety concerns.


title: Zebra crossing

text: Terminology and usage of the markings varies by country. In the UK and other Commonwealth countries, they are usually called zebra crossings, as the stripes resemble the striped coat of a zebra. In the UK, zebra markings are only found at unsignalised, standalone zebra crossings and must be accompanied with upright belisha beacons. In the US, they can be found at any type of crossing.


title: Zebra crossing

text: The origin of the zebra title is debated. It is generally attributed to British MP James Callaghan who, in 1948, visited the country's Transport and Road Research Laboratory which was working on a new idea for safe pedestrian crossings. On being shown a black and white design, Callaghan is said to have remarked that it resembled a zebra. Callaghan did not himself claim authorship of the term.


title: Zebra crossing

text: The first zebra crossing was introduced on Slough High Street in the United Kingdom on 31 October 1951. Pedestrian crossings with Belisha beacons had been in use in the UK since the 1930s, originally introduced under Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934. The Belisha beacon is an upright crossing marking, still required by zebra and parallel crossings in the UK, named after the Minister of Transport in 1934, Leslie Hore-Belisha.


title: Zebra crossing

text: However, with an increase of car traffic, the effectiveness of the beacons was waning; both pedestrians and drivers were ignoring the crossing. From 1949 to 1951, the then-named Ministry of Transport experimented with designs to improve visibility and increase usage, until the familiar black and white stripes were introduced. The zebra crossing was then trialed at 1,000 experimental sites across the UK at this time. The zebra markings are credited to physicist and traffic engineer George Charlesworth, who was the first head of the traffic section at the Road Research Laboratory.


title: Zebra crossing

text: The crossing is characterised by longitudinal stripes on the road, parallel to the flow of the traffic, alternately a light colour and a dark one. The similarity of these markings to those of a zebra gave rise to the crossing's name. The light colour is usually white and the dark colour may be painted – in which case black is typical – or left unpainted if the road surface itself is dark. The stripes are typically wide.


title: Zebra crossing

text: Sometimes, zebra crossings are placed on a speed bump, meaning the zebra crossing is level with the pavement. This is done to make it safer for pedestrians to cross, since drivers need to slow down to go over the speed bump. However, this is more expensive than a traditional zebra crossing, and can impede the flow of traffic and response times for emergency vehicles, especially on roads with higher speed limits.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In the United Kingdom, the crossing is marked with Belisha beacons, which are flashing amber globes on black and white posts on each side of the road, named after Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of Transport, who introduced them in 1934. Pedestrians have priority when they step onto the crossing: "The Highway Code" states that road traffic "MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing."


title: Zebra crossing

text: In other countries, such as the United States, zebra crossings are also used on pedestrian crossings controlled by traffic signals.


title: Zebra crossing

text: The lines of a zebra crossing are commonly laid down by a road marking machine. Because the width of crossing lines is wider than other traffic lines, the marking shoe of a zebra cross marking machine is accordingly wider. The machine is hand pushed.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In the United Kingdom, it is the law that all road users, including motorists, give way to pedestrians who have set foot on a zebra crossing. A fine of £100 and three licence penalty points is given to those failing to give way at the crossings. This penalty has attracted criticisms of leniency when compared to other countries which enforce fines of up to £2,000. For failing to give way at a zebra crossing patrolled by a school crossing patrol ("lollipop man/lady" as they are commonly called), however, the penalty rises to £1,000 and a minimum of three licence points, with the possibility even of disqualification. In the United Kingdom, motorists have to stop for a crossing patrol, even when it is not on a pedestrian crossing.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In the United Kingdom, lollipop men or women (school crossing patrols) frequently attend zebra crossings near schools, at the hours when schoolchildren arrive and leave. Their widely used nickname arose because of the warning sign they hold up as they stop traffic: the sign is a large round disc on a long pole and thus resembles a giant lollipop, although they were originally of a square design.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In Germany, Scandinavia, and most other European countries, pedestrians have right of way if they are still on the kerb but about to enter the crossing.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In Switzerland yellow stripes are used for pedestrian crossings. Unlike a yellow tiger crossing in the UK, however, cyclists are required to dismount to cross.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In Lebanon, striped crossings are the preferred pedestrian crossing type, though many other variations exist. Zebra crossings are painted mostly at signalised intersections and roundabouts. They are also widely used in school areas and stop sign regulated intersections. They provide priority and right of way to pedestrians under all circumstances.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In North America, pedestrian crossings are almost exclusively called crosswalks, but depending on the marking style, they can have different names.


title: Zebra crossing

text: Although zebra crossings exist in the US, the term is used to describe a type of diagonal crosswalk with two parallel lines painted over the stripes, similar but not identical to the ladder style. Instead, zebra crossings are called "continental crosswalks" and are the preferred style in many states because of its enhanced visibility compared to the other marking styles. In most areas of Canada, standard parallel lines markings are the preferred crosswalk style, except in Toronto where zebra markings are widely used.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In New Zealand, motorists are required to give way to pedestrians. Pedestrians wishing to cross the road within of a crossing facility (which includes zebra crossings) must use a crossing facility.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A 1998 Swedish study by A Várhelyi at Lund University found that the frequency of giving way at zebra crossings was 5% and drivers typically did not observe the law concerning speed behaviour at the zebra crossing. Speed behaviour in encounters (148 observations), non-encounters with pedestrian presence (642 observations) and situations without pedestrian presence (690 observations) were compared.


title: Zebra crossing

text: Three out of four drivers maintained the same speed or accelerated and only one out of four slowed down or braked. The study concluded that encounters between cars and pedestrians at the zebra crossing were critical situations in which the driver had to be influenced before he reached the decision zone at before the zebra crossing, in order to prevent "signalling by speed" behaviour.


title: Zebra crossing

text: The city of A Coruña in Galicia, Spain, has opted for spots rather than stripes at a pedestrian crossing, resembling a cow instead of a zebra. The reason for this option is to recognise the importance of the animal for the region's farming.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A tiger crossing is a variation used in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. It is painted yellow and black. In the United Kingdom, it allows cyclists to cross in a central area of the road without dismounting, and obliges motorists to give way to both cyclists and pedestrians. Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire experimented with tiger crossings during 2006–2007, but replaced them with toucan crossings. A tiger crossing was introduced in Portsmouth in 2019.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A number of countries have experimented with "three-dimensional" zebra crossings based on an optical illusion. The white stripes of the crossing appear to hover above the ground as though they were a physical barrier. Although intended to improve pedestrian safety on the crossings, they have also been popular with tourists who like to be photographed crossing them, appearing to hover above the ground. Such crossings can be found in Australia, Iceland, Malaysia, India, New Zealand and the United States.


title: Zebra crossing

text: Crossings can be combined with speed tables (i.e. raised sections of road designed to physically slow traffic down) as an additional safety measure.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A zebra crossing immediately outside the Russian Embassy in Helsinki was painted in summer 2013 with the colours of the rainbow to protest the Russian government's policy towards lesbian and gay people, the rainbow being one symbol of the LGBT culture.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A similar protest has also been made on a zebra crossing near the Russian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.


title: Zebra crossing

text: In 2018 in Paris, the authorities decided to paint some crossings with rainbow borders for the Pride; those were supposed to be temporary, but after homophobic vandalism, the municipality declared that the rainbow stripes would remain permanently.


title: Zebra crossing

text: A zebra crossing appears on the cover of The Beatles' "Abbey Road" album. The cover made the crossing a tourist attraction, and it has been incorporated into the Abbey Road Studios logo. Since the Abbey Road photo was taken, zigzag lines at the kerb and in the centre of the road have been added to all zebra crossings. English Heritage has given this crossing Grade II listed building status.


title: Zebra crossing

text: There is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to zebra crossings in the science-fiction comedy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by English author Douglas Adams, in reference to Man using the improbable creature called the Babel fish as proof of the "non"-existence of God; the novel says, "Man then goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed at the next zebra crossing."


title: Zebra crossing

text: The La Paz traffic zebras is a team of young people who dress in zebra costumes and dance in the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, in order to make drivers and pedestrians aware of traffic rules.


title: Japanese occupation of Malaya

text: The then British colony of Malaya was gradually occupied by the Japanese between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 16 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allies in 1945. The first Japanese garrison in Malaya to lay down their arms was in Penang on 2 September 1945 aboard .


title: Japanese occupation of Malaya

text: The concept of a unified East Asia took form based on an Imperial Japanese Army concept that originated with General Hachirō Arita, an army ideologist who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1936 to 1940. The Japanese Army said the new Japanese empire was an Asian equivalent of the Monroe Doctrine, especially with the Roosevelt Corollary. The regions of Asia, it was argued, were as essential to Japan as Latin America was to the U.S.


title: Japanese occupation of Malaya

text: The Japanese Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka formally announced the idea of the Co-Prosperity Sphere on 1 August 1940, in a press interview, but it had existed in other forms for many years. Leaders in Japan had long had an interest in the idea. The outbreak of World War II fighting in Europe had given the Japanese an opportunity to demand the withdrawal of support from China in the name of "Asia for Asiatics", with the European powers unable to effectively retaliate. Many of the other nations within the boundaries of the sphere were under colonial rule and elements of their population were sympathetic to Japan (as in the case of Indonesia), occupied by Japan in the early phases of the war and reformed under puppet governments, or already under Japan's control at the outset (as in the case of Manchukuo). These factors helped make the formation of the sphere while lacking any real authority or joint power, come together without much difficulty. The "sphere" would, according to imperial propaganda, establish a new international order seeking "co prosperity" for Asian countries which would share prosperity and peace, free from Western colonialism and domination under the umbrella of a benevolent Japan. ธิชาภัทร สมใจ(1987)