title: Heavy Traffic

text: Although "Heavy Traffic" received an X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, more theaters were willing to screen adult-oriented animated features because of the success of "Fritz the Cat", and thus "Heavy Traffic" was a box office success. Ralph Bakshi was the first person in the animation industry since Walt Disney to have two financially successful films back-to-back. The film was banned by the film censorship board in the Canadian province of Alberta when it was originally released.


title: Heavy Traffic

text: "Heavy Traffic" is considered to be Bakshi's biggest critical success. "Newsweek" wrote that the film contained 'black humor, powerful grotesquerie and peculiar raw beauty. Episodes of violence and sexuality are both explicit and parodies of flesh-and-blood porn ... a celebration of urban decay'. Roger Greenspun, of "The New York Times", wrote in his 1973 review: 'People who felt that his earlier feature, "Fritz the Cat", merely debased a cherished original, can now judge Bakshi's development of his own material. I think that development is as brilliant as anything in recent movies — as brilliant and, in its own improbable way, as lovely and as sad.' Charles Champlin wrote in the "Los Angeles Times" that the film was 'a further leaping step forward for American animation; at that, "Heavy Traffic" is, in its furious energy, uncomfortable to watch as often as it is hilarious'. Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three stars out of four, and wrote that 'by mixing live-action and animation, Bakshi generates a willingness in us to be moved in some 'aw, shucks' ways that are corny, but feel good'. "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "shocking, outrageous, offensive, sometimes incoherent, occasionally unintelligent; however, it is also an authentic work of movie art and Bakshi is certainly the most creative American animator since Disney". Vincent Canby ranked it among his "Ten Best Films of 1973". Gary Arnold, of "The Washington Post", was negative, calling the film 'ostentatiously ugly' with 'nothing pleasurable or liberating in [Bakshi's] style of mockery'. The film holds a score of 89% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews.


title: Heavy Traffic

text: Michael Barrier, an animation historian, described "Heavy Traffic" and "Fritz the Cat" as 'not merely provocative, but highly ambitious'. He described the films as an effort 'to push beyond what was done in the old cartoons, even while building on their strengths'.


title: Heavy Traffic

text: Warner Home Video released the film on VHS and Betamax in the 1980s, when "Hey Good Lookin" was released in theaters. It was rated R on the VHS slipcover, but the label said that it was an X-rated film. An R-rated version was released on VHS and Region 1 DVD by MGM Home Entertainment in 1999. On July 16, 2013, Shout! Factory and MGM released "Heavy Traffic" on Blu-ray for its 40th anniversary.


Thiruvananthapuram International Airport , is an international airport which serves Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the state of Kerala and fifth international airport of India, officially declared in 1991. It is the operating base of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and SpiceJet. Spread over an area of , the airport is approximately due west from the city centre and the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, from Kovalam beach, from Technopark and from the under construction Vizhinjam International Seaport. It shares a visible proximity to Shankumugham Beach making it the nearest airport to a sea in India, just about 0.6 miles (approx. 1 km) away from the sea.


title: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport

text: The airport is the eighth busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic and the twenty second–busiest overall. In fiscal year 2018–19, the airport handled more than 4.4 million passengers with a total of 33,093 aircraft movements.


text: In addition to civil operations, the airport headquarters the Southern Air Command (India) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Coast Guard for their operations. IAF have an exclusive apron to handle all their operations. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters to the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology which carries out pilot training activities. The airport hosts Air India's Narrow body Maintenance, repair and overhaul unit – MRO consisting of twin hangars for servicing Boeing 737 type aircraft, servicing mostly Air India Express aircraft.


text: The airport was established in 1932 as part of the Royal Flying Club under the initiative of Lt. Col. Raja Goda Varman, husband of Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi, the "Rani" of Attingal and of Travancore Kingdom. Raja Goda Varman, a trained pilot, felt the need of an airport to accommodate Travancore in the aviation map of India and requested the Travancore Durbar to initiate the process for establishing an aerodrome. A detailed report was made and presented to the King by Consort Prince in this regard. It may be mentioned that the King was the brother of Lt. Col. Raja's wife, and the colonel's own children were the heirs to the throne.


text: In 1935, on royal patronage of Maharaja Chithira Thirunal, Tata Airlines made its maiden flight to the airport using DH.83 Fox Moth aircraft under command of India's first pilot Nevill Vintcent carrying Jamshed Navoroji, a Tata company official, and Kanchi Dwarakadas, commercial agent of Travancore in Karachi, with a special mail from the Viceroy of British India, Lord Willingdon, wishing birthday greetings to the Maharaja.


text: The first flight took off on 1 November 1935, carrying mails of Royal Anchal (Travancore Post) to Bombay. In 1938, the Royal Government of Travancore acquired a Dakota as Maharaja's private aircraft and placed the first squadron of Royal Indian Air Force (Travancore) for protection of the state from aerial attacks. After Independence, the airstrip was used for domestic flights with the construction of a new domestic terminal, Terminal 1.


text: International operations were initiated by Air India to cities in the Arabian Peninsula in the late 1970s using Boeing 707. By early 80s, the then Indian Airlines started service to Colombo, followed by service to Male. Later, SriLankan Airlines (then Air Lanka) and Air Maldives (now Maldivian started operations. Followed by Indian Airlines, that started a service to Sharjah. On 1 January 1991, TIA was upgraded to an international airport, making it the fifth international airport of India after Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.


text: On 1 March 2011, the first flight operated from the new international terminal, Terminal 2. IX 536 (Air India Express) from Sharjah marked the first arrival. Air India Express operated the first departure to Dubai from this new terminal. IndianOil Skytanking is the company which introduced single man refuelling in India and started refuelling operations at Trivandrum in March 2016.


text: In November 2018, the Central Government cleared a proposal by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for leasing out six of its airports, including Trivandrum. The following month, AAI commenced an international competitive bidding process to award Operations, Management and Development (OMD) contracts for the six airports.


text: The Adani Group, GMR Group and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) participated in the bidding process which was won by the Adani Group.


text: Since some public interest litigations were filed with respect to the bidding process for the airport, the Union Cabinet give its approval for awarding the airport to Adani subject to the outcome of Writ Petition. Accordingly, AAI signed a letter of agreement with Adani in September 2020.


text: Adani Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Limited (ATIAL), floated by the Adani Group to run the airport, would operate, manage and develop the airport for a period of fifty years.


text: As per the agreement, ATIAL would get control of the airport only after a concession agreement was executed and the performance bank guarantee was paid and subject to clearance of legal hurdles.


text: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has a single -long runway, equipped to operate any type of aircraft. It has a -long parallel taxiway.


text: There are two terminals. Terminal 1 is for domestic flights (except Air India), and Terminal 2 is for all international flights as well as all domestic flights of Air India.


text: The international terminal ground operations are handled by Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. It is fully air-conditioned with WiFi facility. The terminal features spacious lounges, natural lighting with extensive use of glass roofing and better conveyance facilities for passengers. It has three baggage carousels and elaborate immigration/customs facilities. Flemingo, India's first privately owned duty-free operator is managing the duty-free shop at the international terminal.


text: The domestic terminal has basic amenities including cafés, a beer and wine bar, a book-seller, free local calls, Specialized baby care room and phone-recharging points. Into Plane Services fuelling operations handled by IndianOil Skytanking.


text: The domestic terminal was the first terminal of the airport inaugurated by Chief minister of Kerala EK Nayanar in 1992. It has an area of and can handle 400 passengers at a time. The terminal has two Aerobridges and two remote gates. All airlines except Air India are served by the domestic terminal.


text: The newly built Terminal 2 has three additional jetways and parking bays to accommodate 8 aircraft. The terminal is built opposite to the current terminal across the runway and is closer to the city side. The terminal, constructed by the AAI and designed by the UK firm, Pascall+Watson architects, is expected to provide impetus to the development of the IT sector and the tourism industry in the southern districts of Kerala.


text: The international terminal covers an area of . It is able to handle the passengers of three Airbus A340s and one Boeing 747 aircraft simultaneously (roughly 1500 passengers). The annual handling capacity of the terminal will be 1.8 million.


text: The check-in area has a floor area of and the arrival area . To enable the passengers to check in at any counter, a Common Users Terminal Equipment (CUTE) is installed. X-ray machines are attached to the side of the conveyor belts for faster clearance of baggage.


text: The entrance to the terminal is from the Chacka-Eenchakkal road. A bridge has been built across the Parvathy Puthanar canal to link the new terminal to the Kazhakuttam-Inchivila NH (National Highway) 47 bypass. The new terminal has a car park area that can accommodate about 600 cars.


text: There is a pre paid taxi service counter and foreign exchange (Thomas Cook India) counter on arrivals area.


text: Thiruvananthapuram Airport was included in Ministry of civil aviation strategic plan for 2010–2015 to upgrade as Category-A airport by developing to aerodrome CODE 4E/4F, construct parallel runway with taxiways alongside both runways and so forth.


text: The air traffic control (ATC) tower is tall. There are plans to build a new tall ATC tower for Thiruvananthapuram Airport near the new international terminal. The airport has a CAT-1 instrument landing system (ILS), DVOR and distance measuring equipment (DME). The airport is also equipped with a Mono-pulse Secondary Surveillance Radar, Air Route Surveillance Radar and an Airport Surveillance Radar which allows approach and area control of the airspace around the airport and nearby air routes.


text: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport hosts Air India's Narrow body Maintenance, repair and overhaul unit—MRO consisting of twin hangars for servicing Boeing 737 type aircraft, servicing mostly Air India Express aircraft. The Maintenance Repair Overhaul is set up on of land at a cost of Rs. 110 crores it was commissioned on 16 December 2011. The maintenance of two aircraft can be simultaneously done at the two hangars present at the MRO. The facility is state-of-the-art with of workshop, apron, electrically operated and vertically moving hangar door system, warehouse and office space. The Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility of Air India Charters Limited (AICL) at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport was given permission to carry out the crucial ‘C’ checks of their Boeing 737-800 fleet.


text: In addition to civil operations, Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters to IAF and Coast Guard for their strategical operations. IAF have an exclusive apron to handle all their operations. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also caters for Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology. The academy has it own hangar facility at the airport. The hangar facility can accommodate 10 trainer aircraft.


text: Further expansion of the airport has been planned with the AAI demanding 82 acres for the demolition of the existing domestic terminal and the construction of a newer one and other related facilities for Thiruvananthapuram Airport. The state government has agreed to acquire 18 acres for the construction of the domestic terminal. The AAI is planning to construct a new terminal of around 40,000 square metres, which would spruce up the city airport's total terminal area to 75,000-square-metres. Paper works, including drawing of plans, for the new terminal building have already begun at the AAI headquarters. The plan is to complete the construction of the new terminal within 18 to 24 months after the state government hands over the land to the Airport Authority of India. The elevation of new terminal would be identical to the existing Terminal 2.


text: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is listed among the major airports of India. Its safety and security are handled by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security through the Central Industrial Security Force#Airport security (CISF). In the past, the airport security was under the control of airport police (under the state government). However, following the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, the airport security was handed over to CISF. Thiruvananthapuram Airport also has advanced security equipment including X-RAY Baggage inspection (X-BIS), Explosive Trace Detection System (ETDS) and provision of an In-Line Baggage Screening system; at the NITB, state-of-the-art Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), Flight information Display System (fids) and Public Address (PA) systems, as well as an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for flight information, are there for passengers' convenience.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Eielson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field and redesignated Eielson Air Force Base on 13 January 1948. It has been a Superfund site since 1989. Eielson AFB was named in honor of polar pilot Carl Ben Eielson.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Its host unit is the 354th Fighter Wing (354 FW) assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces. The 354 FW's primary mission is to support RED FLAG-Alaska, a series of Pacific Air Forces commander–directed field training exercises for U.S. Forces, joint offensive counter-air, interdiction, close-air support, and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment. These exercises are conducted on the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex (JPARC) with air operations flown out of Eielson and its sister installation, Elmendorf Air Force Base.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Eielson projects to have 54 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft assigned to the installation, of which the first two aircraft arrived on 21 April 2020. The last of the aircraft arrived in April 2022. The planes come with an estimated 3,500 personnel, to include airmen and their families as well as civilian personnel. The F-35 program increases the number of military personnel at Eielson by about 50 percent, which is a significant change for a base once on the brink of closure.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: On 7 June 1943, the Western Defense Command ordered construction of a new airfield near present-day Fort Wainwright, then a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) airfield named after Major Arthur K. Ladd. Because of its hazard-free approaches and relatively flat terrain, surveyor reports indicated a site a little more than twenty-five miles southeast of Ladd Army Airfield to be the best in the vicinity for military aviation. The field became known as "Mile 26" because of its proximity to a United States Army Signal Corps telegraph station and a Richardson Highway milepost marker using the same designation.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: A month later, contractors and civilian crews from Ladd Field started laying out the new airfield. Actual construction began on 25 August 1943. Crews built two parallel runways, across and long. Other facilities included an operations building, housing for 108 officer and 330 enlisted personnel, and a ten-bed dispensary. The garrison and airfield totaled about . Completed on 17 October 1944, the 14-month project cost about eight-million dollars.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Operational uses of Mile 26 were few. Ladd Field served as the debarkation point for the Alaska-Siberia Ferry Route of the Lend-Lease program and was the hub of activity. Lend-lease aircraft would occasionally land at Mile 26, but there are no records to indicate any lend-lease aircraft ever used the airfield to take off for the Soviet Union. Mile 26 closed when the war ended.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The base reopened in September 1946, once again as a satellite of Ladd Field. The first USAAF operational unit assigned to Eielson was the 57th Fighter Group, equipped successively with P-38 Lightnings, P/F-51 Mustangs, F-80 Shooting Stars, and F-94 Starfire aircraft. The 57th FG was inactivated on 13 April 1953. On 1 December 1947 Strategic Air Command B-29 Superfortress bombers arrived at Mile 26 Field with the deployment of the 97th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, from Smoky Hill Air Force Base, Kansas. The wing reported to Fifteenth Air Force, Strategic Air Command (SAC), although the Yukon Sector of the Alaskan Air Command controlled its operations. At the end of the Alaskan deployment the wing returned to Kansas on 12 March 1948.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: A year later, however, Eielson moved from under the shadow of Ladd Field when the Alaskan Air Command assumed organizational control. Also in the fall of 1947, Colonel Jerome B. McCauley assumed duties as commander. The primary missions of Mile 26 were to support Arctic training for USAF tactical and strategic units, as well as defend the base itself.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Headquarters USAF General Order 2, dated 13 January 1948, redesignated Mile 26 as Eielson Air Force Base. It was named for Carl Ben Eielson, an Alaska aviation pioneer who was killed, along with his mechanic Earl Borland, in the crash of their Hamilton H-45 aircraft in 1929. Eielson and Borland were attempting a rescue flight to an icebound ship in the Bering Sea when they were killed. On 1 April 1948, the Eielson Air Force Base Wing (Base Complement) was formed. The host-unit subsequently would be dubbed the Eielson Air force Base Bomb Wing, and finally, in January 1949, the 5010th Wing. Colonel John L. Nedwed, the third commander of the base since it fell under Alaskan Air Command fifteen months before, became the first to head the 5010th.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: For the next 34 years, the 5010th (alternately known as the Wing, Composite Wing, Air Base Wing, and lastly, Combat Support Group) served as host-unit at Eielson. Construction boomed at Eielson during the 1950s. Many of the facilities still in use today were built at that time, including Amber Hall, the Thunderdome, Base Exchange, Gymnasium, Theater, some of the schools, and many of the dormitories.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The 720th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, equipped with F-86 Sabres, was deployed to Eielson during 1954–55. The 720th was a part of the 450th Fighter-Bomber Wing stationed at Foster Air Force Base, Texas. The 720th was replaced by the 455th Fighter-Bomber Squadron (323d FBW), stationed at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The Air Defense Command deployed interceptors to Eielson during the 1960s. Det. 3, 317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron from Elmendorf Air Force Base deployed F-102 Delta Daggers and F-106 Delta Darts to the base between 1960 and 1969.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, Eielson-based Lockheed U-2 pilot Charles Maultsby was allegedly blinded by the aurora borealis while collecting radiation from Soviet nuclear weapons tests over the North Pole and accidentally strayed 300 miles (480 km) into Soviet airspace, into Chukotka. Soviet MiG interceptors were sent to intercept the plane before he was escorted back to U.S. territory by nuclear-armed F-102 interceptors.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The Cold War saw the use of Eielson's expansive reservation as a maneuver area for the U.S. Army. The 1960s 171st Infantry Brigade (Separate) and 172nd Infantry Brigade (Separate) both trained here, both on a regular and extensive basis, not to mention units of the Alaska National Guard. Later in the 70s mid 80s the 172nd Infantry Brigade (the 171st Infantry Brigade was inactivated on 13 November 1972), followed by the 6th Infantry Division when the 172nd Infantry Brigade itself was deactivated on 15 April 1986 (it was reactivated in Alaska on 17 April 1998, and inactivated in Iraq on 14 December 2006)


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Today the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division and the 4th Brigade 25th Infantry Division can be found training there. Several important large scale winter field problems have been conducted here over the years as well, seeing large numbers of not only U.S. Army ground combat units from the Contiguous United States lower 48 states, but also U.S. Marine Corps units, and even Canadian Armed Forces troops.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The 375th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, from the 308th Bombardment Group at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, arrived at Eielson on 5 March 1949. The 308th flew WB-29 Superfortresses. The unit was redesignated the 58th Strategic Weather Squadron on 21 February 1951 as part of the 303d Bombardment Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: In July 1960, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) stationed the 4157th Combat Support Group (later Strategic Wing) at Eielson. The 6th Strategic Wing (6 SW) replaced the 4157 SW on 25 March 1967, relocating from Walker Air Force Base, New Mexico after its closure.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The 6th SW flew RC–135 strategic reconnaissance missions with an assigned squadron, and, with KC–135 Stratotankers deployed to Eielson from SAC, Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), and the Air National Guard (ANG), conducted Alaska Tanker Task Force (ATTF) missions to support reconnaissance and numerous exercises for the USAF and U.S. Navy.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: A new chapter for the base began 1 October 1981 when the 343d Composite Wing replaced the 5010th as Eielson's host unit. Flying squadrons assigned to the new wing included the 25th Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS) and the 18th Fighter Squadron (18 FS). The 25 TASS, at Eielson since 1971, flew O-2 Skymaster and OV-10 Bronco aircraft until its inactivation in 1989; the newly assigned 18 FS operated A-10 Thunderbolt IIs until it converted to F-16 Fighting Falcons in 1991.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: In 1984, the 343d Composite Wing was redesignated a Tactical Fighter Wing. Seven years later, in 1991, it was redesignated as the 343d Wing. Also that year, the 343d gained a second flying unit, the 11th Tactical Air Support Squadron (11 TASS), which flew OA-10 aircraft.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: On 20 August 1993, the 354 FW replaced the 343d Wing. No personnel or equipment were affected by the change. Prior to its shutdown, the 343d was the oldest surviving air combat unit in Alaska with a lineage dating back to the Aleutian Campaign. The 18 FS, whose history also dated back to World War II, remained active, but the 355 FS replaced the 11th TASS.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Another change involved the 3rd Fighter Training Squadron, which was replaced by the 353rd Fighter Squadron (later redesignated as a Combat Training Squadron).


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Within the first year of its arrival the 354 FW hosted an Arctic combat search and rescue exercise between the United States, Canada, and Russia. Ironically, these were the same countries that took part in the search and recovery efforts that followed the fatal crash of Carl Ben Eielson and his mechanic, Earl Borland, in 1930 as they were attempting to fly relief supplies to the Nanuk.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The 343d FW 3d Fighter Training Squadron was replaced by the 353d Fighter Training Squadron from the 354th FW. The 3d Fighter Training Squadron had its origins with the 3d Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, being formed in March 1973. The 3d TFS received its A-7D Corsair II aircraft from the then deployed 353d Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing, deployed to Korat from Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Eielson is home to the 354th Fighter Wing which is part of the Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) of the Pacific Air Forces. The 354th Fighter Wing mission is to "Prepare U.S. and partner forces for 21st century combat and to project and integrate Airpower in support of worldwide operations." The wing vision is "An elite team of pioneering Airmen forging Airpower's frontier through world-class training, engagement, and readiness for 21st century combat." The wing has six priorities, which are: "Strong Airmen and Families, Resilient Airfield and Infrastructure, Preparation for 2 x F-35 Combat Squadrons, Premier Joint/Air Exercises and Adversary Support, Synchronized Airpower into Army I Corps Ops, and OPLAN-Focused Readiness."


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Airmen who are stationed on Eielson commonly refer to themselves as "Icemen" due to the frigid Alaskan weather. Their wing motto is: "Ready to go at fifty below!"


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The 356th Fighter Squadron was reactivated on 10 October 2019 at Eielson Air Force Base, assigned to the 354th Operations Group. It is to be equipped with the F-35A Lightning II.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Units marked "GSU" are Geographically Separate Units, which although based at Eielson, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Eielson Air Force Base has several locomotives to transport coal in winter to the base's power station.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Eielson Air Force Base was proposed to be a Superfund site on 14 July 1989, and was officially designated as such on 21 November 1989.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The groundwater contains lead and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene, xylene, and toluene. Several areas of underground petroleum-contaminated soil and floating petroleum product are the sources of continuing groundwater contamination. Ingesting or coming into direct contact with contaminated groundwater or soil can pose a potential health threat. Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated fish were also found in the area. Construction of the superfund site was complete in 1998.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: In 2014, Eielson tested waters and soils for perfluorinated compounds around areas where aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) had been used for firefighting and training. In March 2015, the base changed its source of drinking water, because contamination had been found. In April 2015, wells near Moose Creek, Alaska, the community to the north, were tested and found contaminated. In July 2015, water from 132 Moose Creek wells, which serve more than 200 residences, was found to contain perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) above the health advisory level of 0.2 micrograms per liter by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The highest reading in Moose Creek was 2.09 micrograms per liter, and the highest level on Eielson reached 2,000 micrograms per liter at the site of a KC-135 aircraft fire in 1989. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said "contamination stretches 6.5 miles from the south of Eielson's runway to the north of Moose Creek and is found up to 100 feet deep". the extent of contamination was unknown and if there was one large plume or multiple small ones. The USAF has held meetings to discuss different solutions for providing affected homes with water. , between 145 and 150 homes had well water with PFOS above the EPA health advisory concentrations; with EPA's national water quality standard announced in May 2016, 15 more homes in the Moose Creek community were added. Work is now being done to connect the affected homes to water from the City of North Pole's public utilities.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: Eielson Air Force Base first appeared on the 1970 United States census as an unincorporated area. In 1980, it was made a census-designated place (CDP). It is located within Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 5,400 people, 1,448 households, and 1,414 families residing on the base. The population density was 40.1/km (103.8/mi). There were 1,531 housing units at an average density of 11.4/km (29.4/mi). The racial makeup of the base was 81.7% White, 9.4% Black or African American, 0.6% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 2.2% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races, and 5.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: There were 1,448 households, out of which 77.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 92.4% were married couples living together, 2.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 2.3% were non-families. 2.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 0.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.52 and the average family size was 3.55. At the base the population was spread out, with 40.8% under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 41.2% from 25 to 44, 1.2% from 45 to 64, and 0.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females there were 110.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.7 males.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: The median income for a household in the base was $35,938, and the median income for a family was $35,688. Males had a median income of $24,961 versus $21,432 for females. The per capita income for the base was $11,512. 6.0% of the population and 5.1% of families were below the poverty line. Of the total population, 7.5% under the age of 18 years and 0.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


title: Eielson Air Force Base

text: On 13 May 2005, The United States Department of Defense proposed a major realignment of the base as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program.


title: Elisha Otis

text: Elisha Graves Otis (August 3, 1811 – April 8, 1861) was an American industrialist, founder of the Otis Elevator Company, and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails.


title: Elisha Otis

text: Otis was born in Halifax, Vermont, to Stephen Otis and Phoebe Glynn. He moved away from home at the age of 19, eventually settling in Troy, New York, where he lived for five years employed as a wagon driver. In 1834, he married Susan A. Houghton. They had two children, Charles and Norton. Later that year, Otis suffered a terrible case of pneumonia which nearly killed him, but he earned enough money to move his wife and three-year-old son to the Vermont Hills on the Green River. He designed and built his own gristmill, but did not earn enough money from it, so he converted it into a sawmill, yet still did not attract customers. Now having a second son, he started building wagons and carriages, at which he was fairly skilled. His wife later died, leaving Otis with two sons, one age 8 and the other in infancy.


title: Elisha Otis

text: At 34 years old and hoping for a fresh start, he married and moved to Albany, New York. He worked as a doll maker for Otis Tingly. Skilled as a craftsman and tired of working all day to make only twelve toys, he invented and patented a robot turner. It could produce bedsteads four times as fast as could be done manually (about fifty a day). His boss gave him a bonus. Otis then started his own business. At his leased building, he started designing a safety brake that could stop trains instantly and an automatic bread baking oven. He was put out of business when the stream he was using for a power supply was diverted by the city of Albany for its fresh water supply.


title: Elisha Otis

text: In 1851, he first moved to Bergen City, New Jersey (now part of Jersey City), to work as a mechanic, then to Yonkers, New York, as a manager of an abandoned sawmill which he was supposed to convert into a bedstead factory.


title: Elisha Otis

text: At the age of 40, while he was cleaning up the factory, he wondered how he could get all the old debris up to the upper levels of the factory. He had heard of hoisting platforms, but these often broke, and he was unwilling to take the risks. He and his sons, who were also tinkerers, designed their own "safety elevator" and tested it successfully. He initially thought so little of it he neither patented it nor requested a bonus from his superiors for it, nor did he try to sell it. After having made several sales, and after the bedstead factory declined, Otis took the opportunity to make an elevator company out of it, initially called Union Elevator Works and later Otis Brothers & Co.


title: Elisha Otis

text: No orders came to him over the next several months, but soon after, the 1853 New York World's Fair offered a great chance at publicity. At the New York Crystal Palace, Otis amazed a crowd when he ordered the only rope holding the platform on which he was standing to be cut. The rope was severed by an axeman, and the platform fell only a few inches before coming to a halt. The safety locking mechanism had worked, and people gained greater willingness to ride in traction elevators; these elevators quickly became the type in most common usage and helped make present-day skyscrapers possible.


title: Elisha Otis

text: After the World's Fair, Otis received continuous orders, doubling each year. He developed different types of engines, like a three-way steam valve engine, which could transition the elevator between up and down, and quickly stop it.


title: Elisha Otis

text: In his spare time, he designed and experimented with his old designs of bread-baking ovens and train brakes, and patented a steam plow in 1857, a rotary oven in 1858, and, with Charles, the oscillating steam engine in 1860. The plough was not commercialy successful.


title: Elisha Otis

text: Otis contracted diphtheria and died on April 8, 1861, at age of 49, He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers, NY.


title: Elisha Otis

text: An Otis Elevator Company worker coined the term "escalator" to refer to continuous-loop moving staircases that could either ascend or descend. The company was acquired by United Technologies in 1976.


title: Elisha Otis

text: Again in April 2020, Otis Elevators Company is spun off from United technology to be an independent elevator company.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Karapet "Karo" Parisyan (; born August 28, 1982) is an Armenian-American mixed martial artist, who last competed in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 1999, Parisyan is a former WEC Welterweight Champion and has also competed for the UFC, Bellator, and Impact FC.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR (today Armenia). His family migrated to America when he was six years old. Parisyan started training in judo when he was nine years old under fellow Armenian Gokor Chivichyan. Parisyan stated that his father began taking him to judo lessons because he beat up on his sisters and judo would be an effective outlet for Parisyan to take out his anger. In a book he published, however, Parisyan wrote that his father introduced him to judo to cure his laziness. By age ten, Parisyan was training his Judo under both Chivichyan and Gene LeBell.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: For more than thirteen years, Parisyan developed under the Hayastan Grappling System (aka Hayastan Wrestling), a style developed by Gokor Chivichyan and Gene LeBell, which blends elements of Judo, Sambo, Catch wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling and Freestyle wrestling. Parisyan continued to train at the Hayastan Academy under Gokor and Gene until late 2005. In early 2012, Karo mentioned in an interview that he has returned to the Hayastan Academy.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan has six Junior National belts to his credit and competed in the Olympic Judo trials ahead of the 2004 games in Athens. He wrote that going to the Olympics was his dream and that mixed martial arts was only an outlet for his boredom. During the trials, he received a call from UFC management and was invited to compete. He accepted because he needed money. But after the fight against Dave Strasser, his ribs needed recovery and he decided to give up on the trials.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: He lost his first fight to Sean Sherk by a controversial decision. In an immediate rematch, Parisyan was unable to come out of his corner, and later explained he had been suffering from a stomach virus.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan made his UFC debut on September 23, 2003, beating Dave Strasser by kimura. In his next fight, Parisyan fought Georges St-Pierre and lost via unanimous decision. During the fight, Parisyan attempted two kimuras, however Parisyan failed to secure them as St-Pierre defended both attempts. Parisyan became the first fighter to go the distance with St-Pierre. He then went on to win the WEC welterweight title, defeating Shonie Carter. He then returned to the UFC, where he won consecutive decision victories over Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle and Matt Serra.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan's next fight was to take place at "UFC 56: Full Force", where he would challenge UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes. However, Parysian suffered a hamstring injury and was forced to pull out. Joe Riggs took his place.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan then fought Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night 6. He lost via unanimous decision. The fight was chosen as the 2006 Fight of the Year by "Wrestling Observer Newsletter".


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Following the loss to Sanchez, Parisyan won three consecutive victories over Drew Fickett, Josh Burkman and Ryo Chonan, all via unanimous decision.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan lost via TKO to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13 in the second round. Alves showed good resistance against Parisyan's grappling offense and finished Parisyan with a knee from the clinch, followed by strikes.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was scheduled to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88: Breakthrough, but a back injury forced him to drop out of the fight right before the weigh-ins.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: After recovering from his back injury, Parisyan returned at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009 in Las Vegas against Dong Hyun Kim. Parisyan defeated Kim in a controversial split decision. Following the fight, Parisyan tested positive for banned painkillers hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxymorphone. Parisyan has stated that he has a prescription for the medications due to a severe back / hamstring injury. Parisyan was suspended pending a full hearing in mid-March. On March 17, 2009, the NSAC suspended Parisyan for nine months and ruled his decision victory a "no contest".


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was scheduled to fight Dustin Hazelett at UFC 106, but pulled out of the fight on November 19, the day before weigh-ins. UFC President Dana White responded to the situation on his Twitter stating that Parisyan will "not be fighting Saturday or ever again in the UFC!!" White also stated that he had "a laundry list of excuses." Later that day, Neil Melanson, a longtime friend and training partner of Parisyan's, divulged to MMA news site Five Ounces Of Pain that Parisyan has been battling an addiction to painkillers dating back to an injury suffered while training for a fight.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan entered into talks with Strikeforce, looking to continue his mixed martial arts career in the USA, but it proved unsuccessful.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan's return fight took place on July 10, 2010 for Impact FC 1. He was initially scheduled to face Luis Dutra Jr., but Dutra would end up being forced off the card with a torn bicep. Parisyan's new opponent was Ben Mortimer, who Parisyan would go on to defeat via rear-naked choke at 4:18 of the second round.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: On September 2, 2010, it was announced that Karo would be returning to the UFC. He faced Dennis Hallman at UFC 123 in November. Hallman defeated Parisyan via TKO due to punches at 1:47 in the first round. In a discussion with journalist Ariel Helwani following UFC 123, UFC President Dana White stated he believes Parisyan is through fighting in the UFC.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Karo fought highly touted Canadian prospect Ryan Ford on May 19, 2011 in the MMA Live 1 show in London, Ontario, Canada. He was able to neutralize Ford's strength and power by applying his takedowns, as it seemed that the first and second rounds were in favor of Parisyan, but was caught in the third round by a vicious knee to the head which resulted in a cut over Karo's left eye that would end the fight via TKO due to a doctor's stoppage.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan fought Jordan Smith on September 14 in Brazil, Amazon Forest Combat 1. After a long hard battle going the distance, Parisyan came up short, losing the fight by split decision.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: He was expected to fight Dave Menne on March 31, 2012, but Menne was forced out of the bout with an injury. Parisyan instead fought Thomas Denny. He won via unanimous decision.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was scheduled to fight Shamar Bailey in the main event of ShoFIGHT 20 in Springfield, Missouri for the vacant welterweight title on June 16, 2012. However, Bailey was forced off the card due to an injury and replaced by fellow UFC veteran John Gunderson. After being stunned by a knee from Gunderson, which resulted in a broken cheek bone, Parisyan was caught in a guillotine choke and lost the fight by submission. Parisyan said after the fight that he tapped due to the pressure on his cheekbone and he wasn't being choked.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was expected to fight David Bielkheden in Malmo, Sweden on October 6, 2012 but pulled out of the fight due to personal reasons and was replaced by Marcus Davis. Parisyan said at the time: "Everyone knows that it has been a rough road for me over the past couple years. I've tried to just refocus myself and get back to throwing people on their heads, but it hasn't been the same. Not to take anything away from my opponent, but my last fight was devastating for me. My manager and I had a long talk, and he set me up with a sports psychologist. At this point, I need to listen to my doctor and refocus on my life -- not fighting. God willing, fighting will be back in my life at some point, but for now I need to only focus on Karo getting back to Karo."


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan defeated Tiger Bonds via first round armbar on September 29, 2012 at a Gladiator Challenge event.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan's first Bellator fight was against fellow judoka Rick Hawn at Bellator 95. Parisyan and Hawn had faced off twice in judo competitions previously, with Hawn winning both their matches at the Judo U.S. Open. In their Bellator bout, Parisyan lost via TKO in the second round.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was expected to face competitor Cristiano Souza at Bellator 106, but pulled out due to injury.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan faced Ron Keslar on April 11, 2014 at Bellator 116. He won the fight via knockout in the second round, marking the first KO victory of his MMA career.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan faced Bellator newcomer and former sparring partner Phil Baroni on July 25, 2014 at Bellator 122. He won the fight by TKO in the first round.


title: Karo Parisyan

text: Parisyan was expected to face Marius Žaromskis at Bellator 127 on October 3, 2014. However, Žaromskis was pulled from the bout to fight at another date. Fernando Gonzalez stepped in as a replacement. Parisyan lost the fight via TKO in the first round. However, Gonzalez later failed a drug test and was subsequently fined and given a one-month suspension.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The Boeing AGM-69 SRAM (Short-Range Attack Missile) was a nuclear air-to-surface missile. It had a range of up to , and was intended to allow US Air Force strategic bombers to penetrate Soviet airspace by neutralizing surface-to-air missile defenses.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The SRAM was designed to replace the older AGM-28 Hound Dog standoff missile which was tasked with the same basic role. The Hound Dog was a very large missile that could only be carried in pairs by the B-52, so some aircraft were tasked with suppressing Soviet missile and radar sites while others would carry on to strike their strategic targets. The SRAM was so much smaller that a number could be carried along with other weapons, allowing a single aircraft to blast a nuclear path through to its targets.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The SRAM entered service in 1972 and was carried by a number of aircraft, including the B-52, FB-111A, and the B-1B. In September 1980 a ground fire raised concerns about the safety of the warhead, and in 1990 they were temporarily removed from service while safety checks were carried out. These revealed a number of the missile's rocket motors had developed cracks that could have resulted in them exploding when launched.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The SRAM was removed from service in 1993. The weapon was to be replaced by the AGM-131 SRAM II and the new W89 warhead, but the program was terminated at the end of the Cold War.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The Air Force had been considering the idea of a medium-range missile to attack air defense sites since the mid-1950s. This concept became more important with the Soviet introduction of the SA-2 missile, which presented a serious threat to the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command's (SAC) bomber fleet. The first attempt to address this role led to the GAM-67 Crossbow, which flew for the first time in 1956. However, the Crossbow's subsonic speed meant it could not get far enough ahead of the bomber to be useful. A supersonic development, the Longbow, was under development, but ultimately cancelled as well.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The role was finally filled by the AGM-28 Hound Dog, a much larger supersonic missile. The Hound Dog served the dual purpose of attacking defense sites as well as being a stand-off missile to use against strategic targets so that the bombers did not have to approach them. However, Hound Dog was so large that only two could be carried by a B-52, and only if it removed all other weapons. A more practical system specifically for the counter-defense role was highly desirable.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The requirement for the weapon was issued by the Strategic Air Command in 1964, and the resultant AGM-69A SRAM contract was awarded to Boeing in 1966. After delays and technical flaws during testing, it was ordered into full production in 1971 and entered service in August 1972. It was carried by the B-52, FB-111A, and, for a very short period starting in 1986, by B-1Bs based at Dyess AFB in Texas. SRAMs were also carried by the B-1Bs based at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota, Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota, and McConnell AFB in Kansas up until late 1993.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: SRAM had an inertial navigation system as well as a radar altimeter which enabled the missile to be launched in either a semi-ballistic or terrain-following flight path. The SRAM was also capable of performing one "major maneuver" during its flight which gave the missile the capability of reversing its course and attacking targets that were behind it, sometimes called an "over-the-shoulder" launch. The missile had a circular error probable (CEP) of about and a maximum range of . The SRAM carried the W69 warhead with an estimated yield of .


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The SRAM missile was completely coated with of soft rubber, used to absorb radar energy and also dissipate heat during flight. The three fins on the tail were made of a phenolic material, also designed to minimize any reflected radar energy. All electronics, wiring, and several safety devices were routed along the top of the missile, inside a raceway.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: On the B-52 SRAMs were carried externally on two wing pylons (six missiles on each pylon) and internally on an eight-round rotary launcher mounted in the bomb bay; maximum load-out was 20 missiles. The capacity of the B-1B was eight missiles on up to three rotary launchers (one in each of its three stores bays) for a maximum loadout of 24 missiles, all internal. The smaller FB-111A could carry two missiles internally and four more missiles under the aircraft's swing-wing. The externally mounted missiles required the addition of a tailcone to reduce aerodynamic drag during supersonic flight of the aircraft. Upon rocket motor ignition, the missile tailcone was blown away by the exhaust plume.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: About 1,500 missiles were built at a cost of about $592,000 each by the time production ended in 1975. The Boeing Company sub-contracted with the Lockheed Propulsion Company for the propellants, which subsequently closed with the end of the SRAM program.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: An upgraded AGM-69B SRAM was proposed in the late 1970s, with an upgraded motor to be built by Thiokol and a W80 warhead, but it was cancelled by President Jimmy Carter (along with the B-1A) in 1978. Various plans for alternative guidance schemes, including an anti-radar seeker for use against air defense installations and even a possible air-to-air missile version, came to nothing.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: A new weapon, the AGM-131 SRAM II, began development in 1981, intended to arm the resurrected B-1B, but it was cancelled in 1991 by President George Bush, along with most of the U.S. Strategic Modernization effort (including Peacekeeper Mobile (Rail) Garrison, Midgetman small ICBM and modernization) in an effort by the U.S. to ease nuclear pressure on the disintegrating Soviet Union.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: In June 1990, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney ordered the missiles removed from bombers on alert pending a safety inquiry. A decade earlier in September 1980, A B-52H on alert status at Grand Forks AFB in northeastern North Dakota experienced a wing fire that burned for three hours, fanned by evening winds of . The wind direction was parallel to the fuselage, which likely had SRAMs in the main bay. Eight years later, weapons expert Roger Batzel testified to a closed U.S. Senate hearing that a change of wind direction could have led to a conventional explosion and a widespread scattering of radioactive plutonium.


title: AGM-69 SRAM

text: The AGM-69A was retired in 1993 over growing concerns about the safety of its warhead and rocket motor. There were serious concerns about the solid rocket motor, when several motors suffered cracking of the propellant, thought to occur due to the hot/cold cycling year after year. Cracks in the propellant could cause catastrophic failure once ignited.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The House of Lorraine () originated as a cadet branch of the House of Metz. It inherited the Duchy of Lorraine in 1473 after the death without a male heir of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine. By the marriage of Francis of Lorraine to Maria Theresa of Austria in 1736, and with the success in the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the House of Lorraine was joined to the House of Habsburg and became known as the House of Habsburg‑Lorraine (). Francis, his sons Joseph II and Leopold II, and his grandson Francis II were the last four Holy Roman emperors from 1745 until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. The House of Habsburg-Lorraine inherited the Habsburg Empire, ruling the Austrian Empire and then Austria-Hungary until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1918.


title: House of Lorraine

text: Although its senior agnates are the dukes of Hohenberg, the house is currently headed by Karl von Habsburg (born 1961), grandson of the last emperor Charles I.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The Etichonid origin was unanimously recognized from the 18th until the 20th century. For this reason, the marriage between Maria Theresa of Austria and Francis of Lorraine was seen at the time as the reunion of the two branches of the dynasty. The main proponents of this theory have been: Dom Calmet (1672 † 1757), Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais (1773 † 1842) and more recently Michel Dugast Rouillé (1919 † 1987) and Henry Bogdan.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The main proponents of the Gerardide-Matfriding theory are: Eduard Hlawitschka, George Poull and partially the "Europäische Stammtafeln" (which however does not take into account the kinship with the Girardides).


title: House of Lorraine

text: The Renaissance dukes of Lorraine tended to arrogate to themselves claims to Carolingian ancestry, as illustrated by Alexandre Dumas, père in the novel "La Dame de Monsoreau" (1846); in fact, so little documentation survives on the early generations that the reconstruction of a family tree for progenitors of the House of Alsace involves a good deal of guesswork.


title: House of Lorraine

text: What is more securely demonstrated is that in 1048 Emperor Henry III gave the Duchy of Upper Lorraine first to Adalbert of Metz and then to his brother Gerard whose successors (collectively known as the House of Alsace or the House of Châtenois) retained the duchy until the death of Charles the Bold in 1431.


title: House of Lorraine

text: After a brief interlude of 1453–1473, when the duchy passed in right of Charles's daughter to her husband John of Calabria, a Capetian, Lorraine reverted to the House of Vaudemont, a junior branch of House of Lorraine, in the person of René II who later added to his titles that of Duke of Bar.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The French Wars of Religion saw the rise of a junior branch of the Lorraine family, the House of Guise, which became a dominant force in French politics and, during the later years of Henri III's reign, was on the verge of succeeding to the throne of France. Mary of Guise, mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, also came from this family.


title: House of Lorraine

text: Under the Bourbon monarchy the remaining branch of the House of Guise, headed by the duc d'Elbeuf, remained part of the highest ranks of French aristocracy, while the senior branch of the House of Vaudemont continued to rule the independent duchies of Lorraine and Bar. Louis XIV's imperialist ambitions (which involved the occupation of Lorraine in 1669–97) forced the dukes into a permanent alliance with his archenemies, the Holy Roman Emperors from the House of Habsburg.


title: House of Lorraine

text: After Emperor Joseph I and Emperor Charles VI failed to produce a son and heir, the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 left the throne to the latter's yet unborn daughter, Maria Theresa. In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Francis of Lorraine who agreed to exchange his hereditary lands for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (as well as Duchy of Teschen from the Emperor).


title: House of Lorraine

text: At Charles's death in 1740 the Habsburg holdings passed to Maria Theresa and Francis, who was later elected (in 1745) Holy Roman Emperor as Francis I. The Habsburg-Lorraine nuptials and dynastic union precipitated, and survived, the War of the Austrian Succession. Francis and Maria Theresa's daughters Marie Antoinette and Maria Carolina became Queens of France and Naples-Sicily, respectively, while their sons Joseph II and Leopold II succeeded to the imperial title.


title: House of Lorraine

text: Apart from the core Habsburg dominions, including the triple crowns of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, several junior branches of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine reigned in the Italian duchies of Tuscany (until 1860), Parma (until 1847) and Modena (until 1859). Another member of the house, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, was Emperor of Mexico (1863–67).


title: House of Lorraine

text: In 1900, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (then heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne) contracted a morganatic marriage with Countess Sophie Chotek. Their descendants, known as the House of Hohenberg, have been excluded from succession to the Austro-Hungarian crown, but not that of Lorraine, where morganatic marriage has never been outlawed. Nevertheless, Otto von Habsburg, the eldest grandson of Franz Ferdinand's younger brother, was universally regarded as the head of the house until his death in 2011. It was at Nancy, the former capital of the House of Vaudemont, that the former crown prince married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen in 1951.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The following is a list of ruling heads (after 1918 pretenders) of the house of Ardennes-Metz and its successor houses of Lorraine and Habsburg-Lorraine, from the start of securely documented genealogical history in the 11th century.


title: House of Lorraine

text: Charles II died without male heir, the duchy passing to Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine, consort of Naples by marriage to Duke René of Anjou. The duchy passed to their son John II (r. 1453–1470), whose son Nicholas I (r. 1470–1473) died without heir. The title now went to Nicholas' aunt (sister of John II) Yolande.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The House of Lorraine was formed by Yolande's marriage to Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont (1428–1470), who was descended


title: House of Lorraine

text: from John I (Yolande's great-grandfather) via his younger son Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont (1346–1390), Antoine, Count of Vaudémont (c. 1395–1431) and Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont (1417–1470). René inherited the title of Duke of Lorraine upon his marriage in 1473.


title: House of Lorraine

text: The heir of Franz Joseph, Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, committed suicide in 1889. Franz Joseph was succeeded by his grandnephew, Charles I, son of Archduke Otto Francis, the son of Archduke Karl Ludwig, a younger brother of Franz Joseph.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: The Greg Kihn Band is an American band that was started by frontman Greg Kihn and bassist Steve Wright. Their most successful singles include "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" ("Billboard" Hot 100 #15) and "Jeopardy" ("Billboard" Hot 100 #2). The band's musical style and genres comprise rock, pop rock and power pop.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: Greg Kihn began his career as a singer-songwriter in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. He started writing songs and playing coffee houses while still in high school in the Baltimore area. When he was 17 his mother submitted a tape of one of his original songs to the talent contest of local Top 40 radio station WCAO, in which he took first prize and won a typewriter, a stack of records, and a Vox electric guitar.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: He moved to San Francisco in 1972 and worked painting houses, singing in the streets, and working behind the counter at a Berkeley record store with future bandmate and Earth Quake keyboardist Gary Phillips. The following year, he was signed to Matthew "King" Kaufman's Beserkley Records. Along with Jonathan Richman, Earth Quake, and The Rubinoos, Kihn helped to develop the label's sound.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: In 1976, after his debut on the compilation album "Beserkley Chartbusters Vol. 1", Kihn formed the Greg Kihn Band, with Steve Wright on bass. Wright became the most influential member of the Greg Kihn band, co-writing Kihn's songs. Kihn recorded his first album, "Greg Kihn", with his own band, now named The Greg Kihn Band, consisting of Wright, Robbie Dunbar on guitar, and Larry Lynch on drums.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: Dunbar, already a member of Earth Quake, was replaced by Dave Carpender in time to record their second album, "Greg Kihn Again". The lineup of Kihn, Wright, Lynch, and Carpender lasted until 1982 (changing to a quintet in 1981 with the addition of Phillips). Guitarist Greg Douglass replaced Carpender before the band's 1983 "Kihnspiracy" album.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: Throughout the 1970s, Kihn released an album each year and became better known during promotional touring, becoming Beserkley's biggest seller. In 1981, Kihn earned a Top 20 single, "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)," from the "RocKihnRoll" album.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: Kihn continued in a more commercial vein through the 1980s with a series of pun-titled albums: "Kihntinued" (1982), "Kihnspiracy" (1983), "Kihntagious" (1984), and "Citizen Kihn" (1985). His second successful single was 1983's "Jeopardy" (rising to number two) from the "Kihnspiracy" album. "Jeopardy" was spoofed by "Weird Al" Yankovic as "I Lost on Jeopardy" on Yankovic's album ""Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D". Kihn made a cameo appearance in the music video. In 1983, the groundbreaking "Jeopardy" video became an MTV favorite.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: In 1985, Kihn broke with Beserkley Records and signed with EMI. Matthew Kaufman continued to produce Kihn's albums. "Lucky" (1985) broke the top thirty and a video sequel was made to the original "Jeopardy" video. In 1986 Joe Satriani replaced Greg Douglass on lead guitar, Tyler Eng replaced Larry Lynch on drums, and Pat Mosca replaced Gary Phillips on keyboards. This is the lineup that went into the studio to record the 1986 album "Love and Rock & Roll". Satriani left the band to pursue his solo career in 1987 and was replaced by former Eddie Money lead guitarist Jimmy Lyon. Greg Kihn returned to Baltimore to record a pair of solo acoustic albums at the studios of his friend Jack Heyrman for Clean Cuts Records, "Mutiny" in 1994 and "Horror Show" in 1996.


title: The Greg Kihn Band

text: The Greg Kihn Band continues to play with a lineup consisting of Greg's son Ry Kihn on lead guitar, Dave Danza (from Eddie Money) on drums, Dave Medd (from The Tubes) on keyboards, and Robert Berry (from Hush) on bass. Every year KFOX hosts a concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, called the "Kihncert" featuring The Greg Kihn Band. The Kihncert has always featured Greg Kihn as the show opener and sometime emcee, along with other KFOX FM air personalities. In addition to the Kihncert, Greg Kihn performs private, public, charity and KFOX FM-sponsored or promoted events.


title: MEKO 200

text: The MEKO 200 is a frigate design by the Blohm + Voss shipyard of Germany, as part of the MEKO family of warships.


title: MEKO 200

text: Ten MEKO 200 frigates were built to the "Anzac"-class design: eight for the Royal Australian Navy, and two for the Royal New Zealand Navy.


title: MEKO 200

text: The Australian Department of Defence decided to upgrade their "Anzac"s even before all ships were completed. The upgraded configuration includes RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles fitted in two quad launchers, Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles quad-packed in VLS enabling 32 missiles to be carried, four Nulka active missile decoy bays, and the TSM 5424 Petrel mine and obstacle avoidance sonar system. All upgrades and new builds are scheduled for completion by 2006.


title: MEKO 200

text: In 2004 Tenix, Saab, and the Australian Department of Defence formed a Private Public Partnership to upgrade the anti-ship missile defence capability of the "Anzac" class. This upgrade will include Sagem Vampir NG IRST (infra-red search and track) capability, Saab 9LV Combat Management System upgrade and CEA Technologies PAR 3D E/F band fixed active phased array radar and illuminator. A new main mast will be constructed to incorporate the CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT systems and maintain the existing 2D radar and electronic surveillance capabilities.


title: MEKO 200

text: The two RNZN frigates have been upgraded under the Future Systems Upgrade Program at Seaspan Shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The upgrades included the MBDA Sea Ceptor SAM (20 missiles), new soft kill self defence systems, Lockheed Martin Canada's CMS 330 Combat Management System, new sonar processing systems and an underwater communications system.


title: MEKO 200

text: The Turkish variant, MEKO 200TN, is a modified MEKO 200 type multirole frigate. The first order for the Turkish Navy was signed during April 1983 with two MEKO 200TN built in Germany and two built in the Gölcük shipyards in Turkey. The vessels are also known as MEKO 200TN Track I or , after the lead ship of the family. Two more orders followed, each known as Track IIA and Track IIB. The "Yavuz"-class frigates have adopted the CODAD propulsion method with 4 MTU 20V Diesel engines, which require a substantial amount of maintenance. There were also questions over the selection of the Swiss manufactured Sea Zenith, an advanced CIWS system that was never previously used on any naval platform, but there have been no negative reports regarding the system's performance from the Turkish Navy. The later Track IIA frigates have incorporated major improvements including the CODOG propulsion method with two MTU 16V diesel engines and two LM2500-30 gas turbines, a greater displacement of 3,350 tons (full load) and the replacement of the older Mk-29 Sea Sparrow launcher with the Mk-41 Mod 8 VLS.


title: MEKO 200

text: These frigates are considered to be used not for naval superiority but rather as sea-denying assets that will try to inflict maximum damage to the enemy, while trying to keep friendly casualties low. MEKO200TN Track I/IIA/IIBs have a maximum speed of 27/31+ knots, with a range of at a speed of 20/22 knots. Their armament includes the FMC Mk 45 127 mm/54 caliber gun, eight RGM-84 Harpoons, two triple-mounted Mk 32 324 mm torpedo tubes, and 8/16 RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles. Electronic equipment includes the DA 08/ AWS-9 surface/air surveillance radar, the WM 25/ AWS 6 tracking radar, the TM 1226/ 2690BT ARPA navigation radar, and STACOS TU/FD Tactical Command and Control System. The Turkish frigates are also equipped with WM25/ COSYS DDWCS Fire Control System, a DE1160 sonar, and Link 11/14 VESTA CDL2, MCS2002 communication systems.


title: MEKO 200

text: The , a development of the MEKO 200 PN German concept, are major surface ships of the Portuguese Navy. Portugal operates three ships of this class, which were built in Kiel by Blohm + Voss and later by HDW, using modular construction techniques. These vessels are unique in the MEKO 200 family as they are the only ones equipped with the French 100mm naval gun as their main gun.


title: MEKO 200

text: The project for the construction of three frigates of this class was authorized by the Portuguese Government in 1985, five years after the request of the Portuguese Navy for the acquisition of new surface ships.


title: MEKO 200

text: The MEKO frigates have high-level specifications for shock resistance, stiffness requirements for the fire control and radar systems, and blast and gas pressure resistance to retain the integrity of the on-board weapon systems. The hull is constructed of high tensile steel with a yield strength of S355 N/mm² 'structural steel grades'.


title: MEKO 200

text: The ship is divided into twelve self-sufficient watertight sections, which function almost independently of each other. Each compartment also has independent data transfer to the ship’s Naval Automation System, Nautos.


title: MEKO 200

text: The four s of the Hellenic Navy of Greece are 3200-ton frigates of the MEKO 200HN design. The first of the four, "Hydra" was built by Blohm + Voss in Hamburg and commissioned in 1992. The other three were constructed at the Hellenic Shipyards Co. at Skaramagas. "Spetsai" was commissioned in 1996, "Psara" in 1998 and "Salamis" in 1999. Three "Hydra"-class frigates were deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 2002–2003.


title: MEKO 200

text: The improved A-200SAN design incorporates new signature reduction measures. The combat management system is sourced from Thales. Two SuperLynx 300, one Atlas Oryx, two AgustaWestland AW109, one Rooivalk or various UAVs can be accommodated.


title: MEKO 200

text: The Algerian Navy operates two MEKO A-200AN frigates, "Erradii" (910) and "El Moudamir" (911). The MEKO A-200AN is based on the MEKO A-200SAN. The ships were ordered from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; construction was subcontracted to the ADM Kiel shipyard. There was an option for two more in 2014 but as of 2021 the number of ships in service was two.


title: MEKO 200

text: In 2016, "Navy Recognition" reported that the MEKO A-200AN was expected to use the CODAG-WARP (WAter jet and Refined Propellers) propulsion like the MEKO A-200SAN, with the MEKO A-200AN having a water-jet drive and two propellers.


title: MEKO 200

text: In December 2021, the German government approved the sale of 3 frigates to Egypt. This order was increased to 4 then to the current 6 frigates with some to be built in Egypt. The first vessel was handed over in October 2022.


title: Alan Schaaf

text: Alan Schaaf (born October 21, 1987) is an American entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and CEO of the image sharing app and website Imgur.


title: Alan Schaaf

text: Schaaf was born in Granville, Ohio. He attended Ohio University and received a bachelor's degree in computer science.


title: Alan Schaaf

text: Schaaf founded Imgur when he was an undergraduate at Ohio University in 2009. Imgur started as a simple image-sharing website and evolved into the largest image-sharing community in the world with more than 150 million monthly active users in 2015. Under Schaaf's leadership, Imgur was bootstrapped and profitable for five years, scaling organically to millions of users before receiving $40 million in investment from Andreessen Horowitz in 2014.


title: De La Rue

text: De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printed products) for central banks and currency issuing authorities. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.


title: De La Rue

text: The company was founded by Thomas de la Rue, who moved from Guernsey to London in 1821 and set up in business as a 'Leghorn' straw hat maker, then as a stationer and printer. In 1831 he secured his business a Royal Warrant to produce playing cards. In 1855 it started printing postage stamps and in 1860 banknotes. The company's first banknotes were made for Mauritius. In 1896, the family partnership was converted into a private company.


title: De La Rue

text: In 1921, the de la Rue family sold their interests. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1947. Then called "Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited", it changed its name in 1958 to "The De La Rue Company Limited". A takeover bid for De La Rue was made by the Rank Organisation in 1968, but this was rejected by the Monopolies commission as being against the public interest. In 1991 the company's name was changed again – this time to De La Rue plc.


title: De La Rue

text: In 1965 De La Rue established a joint venture with the Italian printer and inventor Gualtiero Giori called De La Rue Giori. Based in Switzerland, the company specialized in building banknote printing equipment. The company printed banknotes for the Central Bank of Iran during the 1960s.


title: De La Rue

text: In 1995, the company acquired Portals Limited which had been listed on the London stock market since 1904. For almost 300 years Portals had been one of the leading banknote paper manufacturers in the world, having manufactured banknote paper for the Bank of England since 1724.


title: De La Rue

text: In 1997, De La Rue acquired Harrison and Sons, the stamp and banknote printers based in High Wycombe. The factory closed permanently in 2003.


title: De La Rue

text: In early 2002, De La Rue purchased Sequoia Voting Systems, a California based company that was a large provider of electronic voting systems in the United States, from Jefferson Smurfit plc for $23 million. After losing money for three years in a business way out of the company's traditional lines, in March 2005 Sequoia was sold to Smartmatic, a multi-national technology company which had developed advanced election systems, voting machines included.


title: De La Rue

text: Following the Panama Papers leak, it was revealed that from 2002 until 2010, De La Rue had secretly contracted New Delhi businessman Somendra Khosla to obtain contracts in exchange for a 15% commission.


title: De La Rue

text: In 2003, the company acquired the Debden based banknote printing operations of the Bank of England. In 2003 and 2004 the company supplied banknotes to Iraq.


title: De La Rue

text: The company was recognised by Hermann Simon as a role model for other small- to medium-sized businesses in his book "Hidden Champions".


title: De La Rue

text: The Highest Perfection, a history of De La Rue was published in 2011. Written by Peter Pugh for De La Rue, it covered the years 1712–2003.


title: De La Rue

text: In August 2014, the company announced the appointment of Martin Sutherland (formerly of BAE Systems Applied Intelligence) as chief executive officer.


title: De La Rue

text: In 2016, the Cash Handling division (Cash Processing Systems) was sold to Privet Capital. In December 2016, the company announced it had purchased the DuPont Authentication division.


title: De La Rue

text: In March 2018, the company sold the paper business. De La Rue retained a 10% share in the new business, Portals International Limited. In April 2018, the company decided to appeal against the decision of the British government to manufacture passports in France. It subsequently decided against appealing.


title: De La Rue

text: On 26 July 2019, the Serious Fraud Office opened an investigation into De La Rue plc for suspected corruption in South Sudan. They later decided to close the case.


title: De La Rue

text: In 1843, De La Rue established its first overseas trade, as De La Rue's brother Paul travelled to Russia to advise on the making of playing cards. Thomas de la Rue's designs for playing cards are the basis for the modern standard design. The playing card business was sold to John Waddington in 1969.


title: De La Rue

text: The company has also printed postage stamps for the United Kingdom and some of its colonies, for Italy and for the Confederate States of America. Some famous stamps such as the Cape of Good Hope triangulars were printed by De La Rue & Co. after Perkins Bacon fell out of favour with the postal authorities of the time. The first 50 years of postage stamp production were chronicled in John Easton's "The De La Rue History of British and Foreign Postage Stamps 1855–1901" (Faber & Faber, London, 1958).


title: De La Rue

text: De La Rue claims to have developed the first practical fountain pen in 1881 and was a leading manufacturer of fountain pens in Britain. Products were marketed under the "Onoto" brand. Production of fountain pens by De La Rue ceased in Britain in 1958 but continued for a few more years in Australia.


title: De La Rue

text: During the 1930s De La Rue created a number of board games. These included a cricket game, "Stumpz", which was produced in a number of different editions, and "Round The Horn", a game which re-created the then annual race of grain-laden, square-rigged sailing cargo ships from Australia to London. The games consisted of high quality components and used playing cards as part of the component set.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: Michael Clarke (born Michael James Dick; June 3, 1946 – December 19, 1993) was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group the Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: Clarke was born in Spokane, Washington. His father was a pipefitter and his mother was an amateur musician. Clarke left home when he was 17 years old and hitchhiked to California to become a musician. In legend, Clarke was said to have been discovered by Byrds' founder David Crosby while playing bongos on a beach. In fact he was discovered by singer-songwriter Ivan Ulz, in North Beach, San Francisco, and was introduced to other group members by Ulz.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: Clarke was not an accomplished musician prior to joining the Byrds but he did have previous experience of drumming in his younger years before joining the group. He had played the drums before but, after joining the Byrds, not having a drum set, practiced on a makeshift kit of cardboard boxes and a tambourine, but he did have real drum sticks. According to lead guitarist Roger McGuinn's web site, Clarke was hired by McGuinn and Gene Clark (no relation) for his resemblance to Rolling Stones' guitarist Brian Jones. Clarke's strength as a drummer is considered to be illustrated by his jazz-oriented playing on the Byrds' "Eight Miles High", on the "Fifth Dimension" album.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: Unlike the other members of the Byrds, Clarke was not a prolific songwriter. His compositional contributions with the band encompass co-writing credits for the songs "Captain Soul", an instrumental from the "Fifth Dimension" album (based on Lee Dorsey's "Get Out Of My Life, Woman"), and "Artificial Energy" from "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". He was also given an arrangement co-credit for two traditional songs that appeared on "Fifth Dimension": "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley" (although the latter is credited to Bob Gibson and songwriter/arranger Ricky Neff on the album itself).


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: In August 1967, during the recording sessions for "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album, Clarke walked out on the Byrds and was temporarily replaced by session drummers Jim Gordon and Hal Blaine. Clarke had recently become dissatisfied with his role in the band and didn't particularly like the new material that the songwriting members were providing. However, Clarke continued to honor his live concert commitments, appearing at a handful of shows during late August and early September 1967. Clarke returned from his self-imposed exile in time to contribute drums to the song "Artificial Energy" in early December 1967, but was subsequently fired from the band by McGuinn and bass player Chris Hillman once "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album was completed.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: After a short stint in Hawaii working in the hotel business and pursuing his interest in painting, Clarke played briefly with Gene Clark in Dillard and Clark, before following Hillman and Gram Parsons to country-rock pioneers The Flying Burrito Brothers, after their first album had been recorded. Clarke served with the Burritos between early 1969 and 1972, appearing with the band at the infamous Altamont Free Concert in California, headlined by The Rolling Stones, in December 1969. During the 1974-1980 period, Clarke was a member of Firefall, followed by a period as the drummer for Jerry Jeff Walker, ending in 1982.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: Between 1983 and 1985, Clarke joined former Byrds' singer Gene Clark in The Firebyrds, a touring band which had been put together to promote Gene Clark's 1984 solo album "Firebyrd". In 1985, following the breakup of The Firebyrds, Clarke and Clark again joined forces for a series of controversial shows billed as a "20th Anniversary Tribute to The Byrds". Among the other musicians involved in this project were John York, another ex-Byrd from the late 1960s line-up of the group, ex-Burritos and Firefall singer Rick Roberts, ex-member of The Beach Boys early 1970s line-up Blondie Chaplin, and Rick Danko, formerly of The Band. Many nightclubs simply shortened the billing to "The Byrds," and the pair soon found themselves involved in acrimonious court battles with Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman over use of the group's name.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: The Byrds set aside their differences long enough to appear together at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in January 1991, where the original lineup played three songs together: "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better". Gene Clark died less than five months later, of a heart attack, on May 24, 1991.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: From 1987 until his death in 1993, Clarke toured as The Byrds featuring Michael Clarke. Skip Battin and John York, who had played with Roger McGuinn in later versions of the Byrds, also played at various points in The Byrds featuring Michael Clarke. Following the failure of McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman to obtain an injunction against Clarke, it was generally accepted that Clarke's continuing usage of the name was tantamount to ownership, particularly when not used by any other group member and where other group members, particularly Roger McGuinn, had repeatedly denied any interest in performing again under the Byrds name. Roger McGuinn later acknowledged that ownership of the Byrds name had likely passed to Michael Clarke's estate upon Clarke's death, but David Crosby secured the rights to the band's name in 2002.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: By the late 1980s, Clarke's health had declined from a lifetime of hard drinking, resulting in a number of hospital stays. He died of liver failure at the age of 47 at his Treasure Island, Florida, condominium on December 19, 1993. Billy Moore, who had organized a New Year's Eve concert at a resort where Clarke and his band were scheduled to perform, stated that at the time of his death, Clarke had recently learned that he had become terminally ill due to his liver problems.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: During his final days, Clarke had expressed a wish to appear on television in the hope of alerting children to the dangers of alcoholism. Following his wishes, Clarke's girlfriend Susan Paul started a foundation in Clarke's name, called the Campaign for Alcohol-Free Kids.


title: Michael Clarke (musician)

text: In 1994, a year after his death, Clarke's paintings were published in Dick Gautier and Jim McMullan's book, "Musicians As Artists."


title: Fürth

text: Fürth (; East Franconian: ; ) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division ("Regierungsbezirk") of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only apart.


title: Fürth

text: Fürth is one of 23 "major centres" in Bavaria. Fürth, Nuremberg, Erlangen and some smaller towns form the "Middle Franconian Conurbation", which is one of the 11 German metropolitan regions.


title: Fürth

text: The historic centre of the town is to the east and south of the rivers Rednitz and Pegnitz, which join to form the Regnitz to the northwest of the Old Town. To the west of the town, on the far side of the Main-Danube Canal, is the Fürth municipal forest ("Fürther Stadtwald"). To the east of Fürth, at roughly the same latitude, lies Nuremberg, and to the north is the fertile market-gardening area known as the "Knoblauchsland" (garlic country), some of which is within the borders of the urban district of Fürth. To the south of the town is an area consisting of wide roads, the canal, and meadows.


title: Fürth

text: The following towns and municipalities share borders with Fürth; they are listed in clockwise order, starting in the north:


title: Fürth

text: Erlangen and Nuremberg, which are independent urban districts; Stein, Oberasbach, Zirndorf, Cadolzburg, Seukendorf, Veitsbronn, and Obermichelbach, which are municipalities within the rural district ("Landkreis") of Fürth.


title: Fürth

text: Founded as a Franconian settlement in the mid-8th century AD, the first historical mention of Fürth was in a document dated 1 November 1007, in which the Emperor Heinrich II donated his property in Fürth to the newly created Bishopric of Bamberg. The name "Fürth" derives from the German word for "ford", as the first settlements originated around a ford. In the following years, Fürth was granted market privileges, but these were later lost to the neighbouring Nuremberg, under Heinrich III. From 1062 onward, Fürth was again permitted to have a market, but by that time Nuremberg was already the more important town.


title: Fürth

text: In the following centuries, the town was under varying authority, involving the Bishopric of Bamberg, the Principality of Ansbach and the City of Nuremberg. For a long time, the character of the settlement remained largely agricultural, and in 1600 the population was probably still only between 1000 and 2000.


title: Fürth

text: In the Thirty Years War, the village was almost completely destroyed by fire, in military actions leading up to the September 1632 Battle of Fürth.


title: Fürth

text: Throughout the Cold War, Fürth had a significant NATO presence, especially the U.S. Army, due to its proximity to both the East German and Czechoslovak borders.


title: Fürth

text: In the course of time, a number of municipalities or other administrative divisions were integrated into the urban district of Fürth:


title: Fürth

text: In the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the population of Fürth grew slowly, owing to the numerous wars, epidemics and famines. In the Thirty Years War, the town lost about half its population. When Croatian soldiers set fire to Fürth in 1634, it burned for several days, and was almost completely destroyed. At the end of the war, the population was a mere 800. In 1685, Reformed Christians from France, or Huguenots, settled in Fürth. By 1700 the restoration of the town had been completed, and the population rose to about 6000.


title: Fürth

text: With the beginning of industrialization in the 19th century, the population began to increase rapidly. In 1800 Fürth had a population of 12,000; by 1895 it had multiplied fourfold to 47,000. In 1950 the population of the town exceeded 100,000, making it a "Großstadt". At the end of 2005, as recorded by the Bavarian Statistical Office ("Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung"), the population (based on principal residence) was 113,076, a historical record. This makes Fürth the second largest town in Middle Franconia, after Nuremberg, and the seventh largest town in Bavaria. As of 2015, the proportion of foreign nationals in Fürth is about 18 percent.


title: Fürth

text: The following table shows the population of Fürth over time. Up to 1818 the figures are mainly estimates; after that they are mostly based on census results (¹) or official projections from the appropriate statistical offices or the town administration itself.


title: Fürth

text: The population of Fürth was originally under the Bishopric of Würzburg and from 1007 it belonged to the Bishopric of Bamberg. In 1524, as part of the Reformation, it became a Protestant town like Nuremberg, and it remained so for many years. However, because of the connections with Bamberg, there were always some Catholics in the town.


title: Fürth

text: After 1792, the Protestant congregations in Fürth were under the authority of the Prussian Ansbach Consistory, and when Brandenburg-Ansbach was ceded to Bavaria they became part of the Bavarian Protestant Church, which initially comprised Lutheran and Reformed congregations. The congregations later belonged to the Deanery of Zirndorf. In 1885, Fürth became a deanery ("Dekanat"), subsidiary to Nuremberg.


title: Fürth

text: Beside the Bavarian Protestant Church there are also Protestant congregations of free churches in Fürth, e. g. a small congregation of the United Methodist Church.


title: Fürth

text: From the 18th century or earlier, the number of Catholics rose, and in 1829 the first Catholic church since the Reformation was consecrated: the Church of Our Lady. St. Michael was originally a Catholic church until taken by the Protestants during the Reformation. In 1961, Fürth became a Catholic Deanery within the Archdiocese.


title: Fürth

text: The position enjoyed by Jews in Fürth (compared with other towns) led to the sobriquet "Franconian Jerusalem", though this is based on an older, pejoratively intended reference to Fürth.


title: Fürth

text: Jewish residents are mentioned as early as 1440; in 1528 the Margrave of Ansbach, George the Pious, permitted two Jews, Perman and Uriel, to settle in Fürth (in return for high taxes), and from then on the number of Jewish residents increased.


title: Fürth

text: By the 17th century, there was a local Yeshiva (Talmudic academy) of considerable repute, and in 1617, a synagogue was built. In 1653, the first Jewish hospital in Germany (and Fürth's first hospital) was built.


title: Fürth

text: When Emperor Leopold I deported the Viennese Jews in 1670, many upper-class Jewish families moved to Fürth, and by 1716 there were about 400 Jewish families in the town. In 1807, the proportion of Jews in the overall population was about 19%. Following the Mediatization and the Bavarian "Judenedikt" (Jewish Edict) of 1813, there were more restrictions on Jews. In particular, the "Matrikelparagraph" provisions prevented Jewish immigration. In 1824, the Talmudic academy was closed. The Bavarian "Judenedikt" of 1813, with its restrictions on Jewish life and Jewish immigration was rescinded by the law of 29 June 1851, and further laws dated 16 April 1868, and 22 April 1871, which led to further emancipation of the Jews, and restrictions on residence were removed. By 1840, there were 2535 Jews living in Fürth, more than half of all Bavarian Jews.


title: Fürth

text: In 1862, a Jewish primary school was founded, followed by a secondary school in 1882. The highest number of Jewish residents was reached in 1880, at about 3,300.


title: Fürth

text: In 1933, there were 1,990 Jews in Fürth. By early 1938 after the rise of the Nazis, there were 1,400 Jews in Fürth. In November 1938, there were about 1,200 when the synagogue was destroyed in the Kristallnacht pogroms, and 132 Jews were deported to Dachau. All except a handful of those who remained in Fürth after Kristallnacht either fled while they still could (abroad or to other areas in Germany) or were deported to concentration camps and/or death camps; virtually all those who remained in Germany were deported to their deaths. By 1944, perhaps 23 Jews were left in Furth. Overall, 1,068 Jews from Furth were murdered in the Holocaust.


title: Fürth

text: After the end of the Second World War, a Displaced persons camp for Jewish Holocaust survivors was established in Fürth (Finkenschlag). In 1945 it housed 850 inhabitants; it was shut down in July 1950.


title: Fürth

text: There is a memorial to the Jewish community in the Geleitsgasse square, just off Königstrasse. Archaeologists discovered a Mikvah (ritual bath) in a house in the centre of Fürth. This building now houses the Jewish Museum of Franconia, which opened in 1998.


title: Fürth

text: The old Jewish cemetery (Weiherstraße), which was established in 1607, is one of the oldest in Germany. It suffered considerable destruction and desecration during the Nazi regime and the Second World War, but was restored in 1949 and is now one of the best-preserved Jewish cemeteries in Germany. A new Jewish cemetery was consecrated in 1880, which has been in use from 1906 to the present day.


title: Fürth

text: The "Nature Trail for Urban Ecology" was established in 1999 (, 10 stops) and expanded in 2003 to include a second route (, 10 stops). Both tours begin at the Stadthalle underground railway station. Along the nature trail, different habitats and their importance for the flora and fauna of the area are explained (e.g. the churchyard of St. Michael's Church, the municipal cemetery, Scherbsgraben stream). The trail references the designation of some areas as protected areas, and explains problems of measures that affect the environment, such as river regulation.


title: Fürth

text: The Gustav-Adolf natural spring, near Weikershof, by the River Rednitz was restored in 2000 and a pavilion was erected. Until the 1980s, the spring water, which comes out of the ground at , was used for a swimming pool.


title: Fürth

text: The Fürth coat of arms depicts a green trefoil (three-leaved clover) on a white (argent) background. The town colours are green and white. The trefoil first appeared on a seal of the governor of the city for the Bamberg Diocese, which depicted a trefoil held by a hand and between two crescents. Its origin is unclear, but the trefoil probably represents the three powers responsible for Fürth during the Middle Ages as well as being a symbol of the Trinity. From 1792 onward, there were three trefoils on a triple hill. In 1818, the town acquired a new coat of arms depicting a green trefoil surrounded by an oak branch (acorned). This coat of arms was retained for over 100 years. However, in 1939, the oak branch was removed. At that time, a new flag was introduced; it had two green stripes on a green background and the coat of arms on a green background on the upper part. Later, however, the flag was simplified to the colours white (below) and green (above).


title: Fürth

text: Until the end of the 18th century, the administration of Fürth was in the hands of a representative of the Diocese of Bamberg. Fürth was transferred to Bavaria in 1806; in 1808 it was made a "class II" city and was under the direct authority of the state. From 1818 Fürth became a "class I" city; this meant that it was responsible for its own administration.


title: Fürth

text: The toy industry is a major employer in the Fürth economy, with a variety of toy-makers ranging from small crafts to large industrial enterprises.


title: Fürth

text: Brewing was once important in Fürth. The five large breweries were Humbser, Geismann, Grüner, Evora & Meyer, and Berg Bräu. Around the turn of the 19th century, Fürth was more important than Munich as a "beer town".


title: Fürth

text: Quelle, once the largest mail-order company in Europe, was based in Fürth before its insolvency and liquidation in 2009.


title: Fürth

text: Fürth is also a centre of solar technology. An average of two megawatt of electricity are fed into the grid on sunny days by Infra Fürth, the local energy utility, using photovoltaic technology. A ground-based plant in Atzenhof located on a former landfill produces 1 MW, the largest individual share.


title: Fürth

text: A new pumping station was built in 2003 near the confluence of the Pegnitz and Rednitz rivers. It provides artificial irrigation to the "Knoblauchsland" market garden area to the north-east of the city.


title: Fürth

text: In 1914, an aerodrome was built at Atzenhof for the Third Bavarian Army Corps, which was extended in the following years. After the First World War, it became "Fürth–Nuremberg" international airport, which saved it from being completely dismantled. Fürth-Nuremberg Airport was the eighth largest of the 88 German airports. The importance of the airport increased further when Junkers transferred first its central repair workshop, and then the final assembly line for its aircraft from Dessau to Fürth.


title: Fürth

text: Under the Nazis, the airport at Atzenhof was expanded and used as a flying school. After Fürth was occupied by Allied troops, the US Army used the site as a barracks, until 1993 (Monteith Barracks Army Heliport). The US Army built the "Monteith Barracks" golf course on the site and maintained the historic buildings.


title: Fürth

text: In 1928, the city of Nuremberg took over the main share of the airport's operations. Until civil aviation operations ended in 1933, the airport was called " Flughafen Nuremberg-Fürth".


title: Fürth

text: There was a second airport built at Fürth-Hardhöhe by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik, later called Industrieflughafen. It existed from 1919 until 6. April 1955. 1919-1938 Gothaer Waggonfabrik, 1939-1945 Bachmann, v.Blumenthal, 1945-1949 U.S. Army Airfield R-30 and 1949-1955 "International Airport Nürnberg-Fürth".


title: Fürth

text: The first railway line with steam trains in Germany was between Fürth and Nuremberg, and opened on December 7, 1835. The locomotive, named "Adler" (Eagle) was built in Newcastle by Stephenson, the builder of the famous Rocket.


title: Fürth

text: Nuremberg and Fürth are joined by an underground railway (subway) connection. In Fürth there are currently seven underground stations: Stadtgrenze (partly in Fürth), Jakobinenstraße, Fürth Hauptbahnhof, Rathaus, Stadthalle, Klinikum, and Hardhöhe.


title: Fürth

text: A canal between Bamberg and Nuremberg started operation in 1843. There was a port at Poppenreuth. A new canal with a port in Fürth, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, was completed in 1992, creating a navigable connection from the Rhine delta in Rotterdam to the Danube Delta on the Black Sea.


title: Fürth

text: The "Fürther Nachrichten" is published daily. It was first published in 1946 as a local page in Nürnberger Nachrichten; today it is a separate newspaper but is in fact the same newspaper as "Nürnberger Nachrichten" with some additional sections for the town and the rural district of Fürth, respectively.


title: Fürth

text: The mail-order business Quelle, now merged with Karstadt to form KarstadtQuelle, was founded by Gustav Schickedanz on 26 October 1927. KarstadtQuelle Versicherungen, an insurance arm, was created in 1984.