title: Classical liberalism

text: The view that modern liberalism is a continuation of classical liberalism is not universally shared. James Kurth, Robert E. Lerner, John Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge and several other political scholars have argued that classical liberalism still exists today, but in the form of American conservatism. According to Deepak Lal, only in the United States does classical liberalism continue to be a significant political force through American conservatism. American libertarians also claim to be the true continuation of the classical liberal tradition.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Central to classical liberal ideology was their interpretation of John Locke's "Second Treatise of Government" and "A Letter Concerning Toleration", which had been written as a defence of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Although these writings were considered too radical at the time for Britain's new rulers, they later came to be cited by Whigs, radicals and supporters of the American Revolution. However, much of later liberal thought was absent in Locke's writings or scarcely mentioned and his writings have been subject to various interpretations. For example, there is little mention of constitutionalism, the separation of powers and limited government.


title: Classical liberalism

text: James L. Richardson identified five central themes in Locke's writing: individualism, consent, the concepts of the rule of law and government as trustee, the significance of property and religious toleration. Although Locke did not develop a theory of natural rights, he envisioned individuals in the state of nature as being free and equal. The individual, rather than the community or institutions, was the point of reference. Locke believed that individuals had given consent to government and therefore authority derived from the people rather than from above. This belief would influence later revolutionary movements.


title: Classical liberalism

text: As a trustee, government was expected to serve the interests of the people, not the rulers; and rulers were expected to follow the laws enacted by legislatures. Locke also held that the main purpose of men uniting into commonwealths and governments was for the preservation of their property. Despite the ambiguity of Locke's definition of property, which limited property to "as much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can use the product of", this principle held great appeal to individuals possessed of great wealth.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Locke held that the individual had the right to follow his own religious beliefs and that the state should not impose a religion against Dissenters, but there were limitations. No tolerance should be shown for atheists, who were seen as amoral, or to Catholics, who were seen as owing allegiance to the Pope over their own national government.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", published in 1776, was to provide most of the ideas of economics, at least until the publication of John Stuart Mill's "Principles of Political Economy" in 1848. Smith addressed the motivation for economic activity, the causes of prices and the distribution of wealth and the policies the state should follow to maximise wealth.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Smith wrote that as long as supply, demand, prices and competition were left free of government regulation, the pursuit of material self-interest, rather than altruism, would maximise the wealth of a society through profit-driven production of goods and services. An "invisible hand" directed individuals and firms to work toward the public good as an unintended consequence of efforts to maximise their own gain. This provided a moral justification for the accumulation of wealth, which had previously been viewed by some as sinful.


title: Classical liberalism

text: He assumed that workers could be paid wages as low as was necessary for their survival, which was later transformed by David Ricardo and Thomas Robert Malthus into the "iron law of wages". His main emphasis was on the benefit of free internal and international trade, which he thought could increase wealth through specialisation in production. He also opposed restrictive trade preferences, state grants of monopolies and employers' organisations and trade unions. Government should be limited to defence, public works and the administration of justice, financed by taxes based on income.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Smith's economics was carried into practice in the nineteenth century with the lowering of tariffs in the 1820s, the repeal of the Poor Relief Act that had restricted the mobility of labour in 1834 and the end of the rule of the East India Company over India in 1858.


title: Classical liberalism

text: In addition to Smith's legacy, Say's law, Thomas Robert Malthus' theories of population and David Ricardo's iron law of wages became central doctrines of classical economics. The pessimistic nature of these theories provided a basis for criticism of capitalism by its opponents and helped perpetuate the tradition of calling economics the "dismal science".


title: Classical liberalism

text: Jean-Baptiste Say was a French economist who introduced Smith's economic theories into France and whose commentaries on Smith were read in both France and Britain. Say challenged Smith's labour theory of value, believing that prices were determined by utility and also emphasised the critical role of the entrepreneur in the economy. However, neither of those observations became accepted by British economists at the time. His most important contribution to economic thinking was Say's law, which was interpreted by classical economists that there could be no overproduction in a market and that there would always be a balance between supply and demand. This general belief influenced government policies until the 1930s. Following this law, since the economic cycle was seen as self-correcting, government did not intervene during periods of economic hardship because it was seen as futile.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Malthus wrote two books, "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (published in 1798) and "Principles of Political Economy" (published in 1820). The second book which was a rebuttal of Say's law had little influence on contemporary economists. However, his first book became a major influence on classical liberalism. In that book, Malthus claimed that population growth would outstrip food production because population grew geometrically while food production grew arithmetically. As people were provided with food, they would reproduce until their growth outstripped the food supply. Nature would then provide a check to growth in the forms of vice and misery. No gains in income could prevent this and any welfare for the poor would be self-defeating. The poor were in fact responsible for their own problems which could have been avoided through self-restraint.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Ricardo, who was an admirer of Smith, covered many of the same topics, but while Smith drew conclusions from broadly empirical observations he used deduction, drawing conclusions by reasoning from basic assumptions While Ricardo accepted Smith's labour theory of value, he acknowledged that utility could influence the price of some rare items. Rents on agricultural land were seen as the production that was surplus to the subsistence required by the tenants. Wages were seen as the amount required for workers' subsistence and to maintain current population levels. According to his iron law of wages, wages could never rise beyond subsistence levels. Ricardo explained profits as a return on capital, which itself was the product of labour, but a conclusion many drew from his theory was that profit was a surplus appropriated by capitalists to which they were not entitled.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Utilitarianism provided the political justification for implementation of economic liberalism by British governments, which was to dominate economic policy from the 1830s. Although utilitarianism prompted legislative and administrative reform and John Stuart Mill's later writings on the subject foreshadowed the welfare state, it was mainly used as a justification for "laissez-faire".


title: Classical liberalism

text: The central concept of utilitarianism, which was developed by Jeremy Bentham, was that public policy should seek to provide "the greatest happiness of the greatest number". While this could be interpreted as a justification for state action to reduce poverty, it was used by classical liberals to justify inaction with the argument that the net benefit to all individuals would be higher.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Classical liberals following Mill saw utility as the foundation for public policies. This broke both with conservative "tradition" and Lockean "natural rights", which were seen as irrational. Utility, which emphasises the happiness of individuals, became the central ethical value of all Mill-style liberalism. Although utilitarianism inspired wide-ranging reforms, it became primarily a justification for "laissez-faire" economics. However, Mill adherents rejected Smith's belief that the "invisible hand" would lead to general benefits and embraced Malthus' view that population expansion would prevent any general benefit and Ricardo's view of the inevitability of class conflict. "Laissez-faire" was seen as the only possible economic approach and any government intervention was seen as useless and harmful. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 was defended on "scientific or economic principles" while the authors of the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 were seen as not having had the benefit of reading Malthus.


title: Classical liberalism

text: However, commitment to "laissez-faire" was not uniform and some economists advocated state support of public works and education. Classical liberals were also divided on free trade as Ricardo expressed doubt that the removal of grain tariffs advocated by Richard Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League would have any general benefits. Most classical liberals also supported legislation to regulate the number of hours that children were allowed to work and usually did not oppose factory reform legislation.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Despite the pragmatism of classical economists, their views were expressed in dogmatic terms by such popular writers as Jane Marcet and Harriet Martineau. The strongest defender of "laissez-faire" was "The Economist" founded by James Wilson in 1843. "The Economist" criticised Ricardo for his lack of support for free trade and expressed hostility to welfare, believing that the lower orders were responsible for their economic circumstances. "The Economist" took the position that regulation of factory hours was harmful to workers and also strongly opposed state support for education, health, the provision of water and granting of patents and copyrights.


title: Classical liberalism

text: "The Economist" also campaigned against the Corn Laws that protected landlords in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports of cereal products. A rigid belief in "laissez-faire" guided the government response in 1846–1849 to the Great Famine in Ireland, during which an estimated 1.5 million people died. The minister responsible for economic and financial affairs, Charles Wood, expected that private enterprise and free trade, rather than government intervention, would alleviate the famine. The Corn Laws were finally repealed in 1846 by the removal of tariffs on grain which kept the price of bread artificially high, but it came too late to stop the Irish famine, partly because it was done in stages over three years.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Several liberals, including Smith and Cobden, argued that the free exchange of goods between nations could lead to world peace. Erik Gartzke states: "Scholars like Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Richard Cobden, Norman Angell, and Richard Rosecrance have long speculated that free markets have the potential to free states from the looming prospect of recurrent warfare". American political scientists John R. Oneal and Bruce M. Russett, well known for their work on the democratic peace theory, state:


title: Classical liberalism

text: In "The Wealth of Nations", Smith argued that as societies progressed from hunter gatherers to industrial societies the spoils of war would rise, but that the costs of war would rise further and thus making war difficult and costly for industrialised nations:


title: Classical liberalism

text: Cobden believed that military expenditures worsened the welfare of the state and benefited a small, but concentrated elite minority, summing up British imperialism, which he believed was the result of the economic restrictions of mercantilist policies. To Cobden and many classical liberals, those who advocated peace must also advocate free markets. The belief that free trade would promote peace was widely shared by English liberals of the 19th and early 20th century, leading the economist John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), who was a classical liberal in his early life, to say that this was a doctrine on which he was "brought up" and which he held unquestioned only until the 1920s. In his review of a book on Keynes, Michael S. Lawlor argues that it may be in large part due to Keynes' contributions in economics and politics, as in the implementation of the Marshall Plan and the way economies have been managed since his work, "that we have the luxury of not facing his unpalatable choice between free trade and full employment". A related manifestation of this idea was the argument of Norman Angell (1872–1967), most famously before World War I in "The Great Illusion" (1909), that the interdependence of the economies of the major powers was now so great that war between them was futile and irrational; and therefore unlikely.


title: Classical liberalism

text: Although general libertarian, liberal-conservative and some right-wing populist political parties are also included in classical liberal parties in a broad sense, but only general classical liberal parties such as Germany's FDP, Denmark's Liberal Alliance and Thailand Democrat Party should be listed.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Altered Carbon is an American cyberpunk television series created by Laeta Kalogridis and based on the 2002 novel of the same title by English author Richard K. Morgan. In a world where consciousness can be transferred to different bodies, Takeshi Kovacs, a former soldier turned investigator, is released from prison in order to solve a murder. The first season consists of ten episodes and premiered on Netflix on February 2, 2018. On July 27, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season of eight episodes, which was released on February 27, 2020, with an anime film set before the first season released on March 19, 2020. Though the series received generally positive reviews, it was canceled after two seasons.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: The series starts over 360 years in the future, with most episodes of the first season set in the year 2384 in a futuristic metropolis known as Bay City. In the future, a person's memories and consciousness (termed digital human freight, or DHF) are recorded onto a disk-shaped device called a "cortical stack", which is implanted in the vertebrae at the back of the neck. These storage devices are of alien design and have been reverse-engineered and mass-produced but can only be made from the material on Harlan's World. Physical human or synthetic bodies are called "sleeves" and stacks can be transferred to new bodies after death, but a person can still be killed if their stack is destroyed and there is no backup. Only the wealthiest, known as "Meths" in reference to Methuselah, have the means to change bodies through clones and remote storage of their consciousness in satellites, so they never have to die of old age before being resleeved.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Takeshi Kovacs, a political operative with mercenary skills, is the sole surviving soldier of the Envoys, a rebel group defeated in an uprising against the new world order. In the first season, set 250 years after the Envoys are destroyed, his stack is pulled out of prison by 300-year-old Meth Laurens Bancroft, one of the wealthiest men in the settled worlds. Bancroft offers him the chance to solve a murder—Bancroft's own—to get a new shot at life. The second season takes place in the early 2410s, set 30 years after the first season: Kovacs, now in a new sleeve, continues to search for his lost love and Envoy leader Quellcrist Falconer.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Netflix ordered the series in January 2016, fifteen years after Laeta Kalogridis optioned the novel with the intent of making a feature film. According to Kalogridis, the complex nature of the novel and its R-rated material meant that it was a tough sell for studios before Netflix ordered the series. The show was one of a number of dramas commissioned in short order by Netflix, which had committed to spending $5 billion on original content.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Kalogridis wrote the script and served as executive producer and showrunner. Steve Blackman served as co-showrunner. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross of Skydance Television also served as producers, as well as Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt of Kalogridis' Mythology Entertainment. Miguel Sapochnik directed the pilot episode. Morgan served as a consultant during the show's production.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: The series was reportedly the most expensive Netflix production to date. The production costs were not disclosed but Kinnaman said it had "bigger budget than the first three seasons of "Game of Thrones"".


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Ann Foley served as costume designer. The production crew fitted about 2,000 costumers and custom made at least 500 pieces for the show, and emphasized "grounded" looks for future fashion but figured in specific details, such as a unique palette for Meth characters and subtle costume changes when different people are inhabiting the same sleeve.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Laurens Bancroft's gardens was filmed in University of British Columbia Rose Garden and the lobby of the Marine Building served as Bancroft's home. The old Canada Post building was used as the location of The Wei Clinic, where Kovacs was tortured. Scenes with the Envoys were filmed on the Sea to Sky Gondola suspension bridge, in Squamish. Other Vancouver locations include the Convention Centre's West Building, the visitor centre at VanDusen Botanical Garden, the UBC Museum of Anthropology and The Qube.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: The series contains references to several earlier cyberpunk classics, such as "Blade Runner" and "Ghost in the Shell", as well as several literary works, such as the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: "Altered Carbon" was renewed for a second season in July 2018. Anthony Mackie took over the lead role of Takeshi Kovacs, replacing the first season lead star Joel Kinnaman. Additionally, Alison Schapker joined the series as co-showrunner alongside Laeta Kalogridis. On May 23, 2019, it was announced that Schapker would be the primary showrunner for the series, replacing Laeta Kalogridis who is still credited as an executive producer.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: On August 26, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after two seasons. The decision had been made in April and was not related to COVID-19, but a result of the standard process used by Netflix to calculate the viewership versus the renewal costs.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: The first season is based on Richard Morgan's 2002 novel "Altered Carbon". While most of the major plot points in the book are retained, the adaptation featured several major changes for characters and organizations. In the novel, the Envoys are elite soldiers of the United Nations Protectorate based on Earth, quite the opposite of the freedom-fighting rebels of the show, originating from Harlan's World, where Kovacs was born.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: In the book, Kovacs was imprisoned for his freelance work after leaving the Envoys, while in the show, Kovacs is a captured rebel. The character of Reileen Kawahara in the novel was merely Kovacs' ruthless underworld boss and had no blood relation with him, in contrast to their sibling relationship in the show. The Envoy who trained Kovacs in the book was Virginia Vidaura. The show's Vidaura is only a minor character. Instead, his trainer is given the name and backstory of Quellcrist Falconer, who in book three is the historical messiah-like figure. Falconer's rebellion occurred not during Kovacs' training, as in the show, but long before Kovacs was born in the books.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: The Hendrix is an AI character in the novel; it runs the hotel and takes the form of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix's estate declined to license his image for the television series because of its violence. Instead, showrunner Kalogridis chose the likeness of Edgar Allan Poe and a Victorian era hotel for the replacement Poe character and said it would juxtapose well with the futuristic Bay City.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: On November 7, 2018, Netflix announced a spin-off anime film serving to "expand the universe" of the series and new elements of the story mythology was in active development. Titled "Altered Carbon: Resleeved", the feature uses character designs by manga artist Yasuo Ōtagaki, is written by Dai Satō and Tsukasa Kondo, directed by Takeru Nakajima and Yoshiyuki Okada, produced by Anima, and features an original music score by Keigo Hoashi Kinuyiki Takahashi from Monaca. The film was released on March 19, 2020.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Altered Carbon: Resleeved" has an approval rating of 60% based on reviews from 5 critics. David Griffin of "IGN" gave it 6 out of 10, called it "a diverting entry in the Takeshi Kovacs saga that excels in the action department while neglecting to fully develop its main characters in a way that makes a lasting impact." John Serba of "Decider.com" wrote: ""Resleeved" won’t knock anyone’s socks off, but it effectively pleases newcomers and hardcores alike." Paul Tassi of "Forbes" said "Altered Carbon: Resleeved" was "not worth watching, even for fans" comparing it to a video game but without the interactivity.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Human-machine interface, gender identity, technology and society, cyberspace and objective reality, hyper-urbanization that passes up urban planning, artificial intelligence, paranoia.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 68% based on 95 reviews, and an average rating of 6.59/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Altered Carbon" leans hard into its cyberpunk roots, serving up an ambitiously pulpy viewing experience that often overwhelms, but never bores." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: David Griffin of IGN said the show "gets almost everything right" as a "cyberpunk fantasyland." Griffin praised the visuals and the complexity of the plot, as well as the acting, such as Chris Conner's performance as the AI hotel manager Poe. He also wrote of the show's problems, such as the intricacies of the murder often got "in the way of the show's momentum" and the murder plot "loses steam" early on. He ultimately gave it a score of 8.8 out of 10, summarizing it as "A visual titan with a less than stellar story." Michael Rougeau of GameSpot made a point of calling it "hardcore" science fiction, as a "noir sci-fi/gumshoe thriller bursting with the trappings of both genres, from murdered prostitutes and holographic billboard ads to AIs who flit between the real world and some convoluted cyberspace." The review praised how deeply the show examined and explored the cortical stack, the central concept. Catherine Pearson of "Digital Spy" said the visuals were magnificent and the themes fascinating, but that it had flaws; for example, the characters "mumbling their way through long expository dialogue."


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: "The Vancouver Sun" summarized that the reaction of professional critics was mixed, and that the critics' conclusion was that the "murder mystery takes a back seat to the show's futuristic visuals." "Entertainment Weekly" also summarized reviews, saying the consensus was that the visuals were spectacular, but the violence against women raised questions. Darren Franich of "Entertainment Weekly" gave it a "B−" grade and wrote that the "show tackles race, gender, and class with all the subtlety of a blowtorch." "Forbes" criticized other critics for speaking negatively of the show and called it "terrific" and one of the best science fiction shows on television. Andrew Liptak of "The Verge" called it engrossing, but criticized the lack of focus on the relationships between the characters.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Robert Lloyd of the "Los Angeles Times" gave it a mixed review, but particularly praised Kinnaman, even if the fight scenes were described as tedious in a way. Jen Chaney of "Vulture" said the show was "ambitious, convoluted, violent, derivative, and somehow simultaneously grimy and glossy," but ultimately gave it a negative review, saying "the visual candy and philosophical subtext of "Altered Carbon" may wash over me, but none of it gets absorbed in any lasting way." "Radio Times" wrote that the "drama tries to find its groove by shifting erratically from noir detective drama to war epic to soap opera, ultimately failing to meet its own lofty ambitions: it's a thunderous haymaker that only manages to graze its target." The review noted that the show takes on too much, and that much of the story could have been left for a second season. Benjamin Lee at "The Guardian" gave the series 3/5, praising the "sheer ambitious scale of it all" and "it's an impressive step up from what we're usually offered." Lee compared it to the work of Paul Verhoeven only lacking the social commentary. He concludes "it's refreshing to see a show so unashamed about its pulpiness. The spectacle might grow stale but for now, the flash is blinding."


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: Many critics focused on the show's violence. Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of "The Daily Dot" wrote that the show seemed to use "the dystopian setting as an excuse for sexualized violence," and that the focus on dead, naked women's bodies "was a massive distraction from the show's stronger points, like the well-choreographed fight scenes and Takeshi Kovacs' backstory." "Digital Spy" defended the level of violence, arguing it accurately reflected the books, and was "the point" of the franchise, as "without showing brutal, unremitting violence, "Altered Carbon" would fail to fully explore the dystopian reality it aims to present." Kimberly Roots of TVLine also criticized the scenes of violence and nudity, and also said the story suffered from uneven pacing. However, she noted that the investigation part "clicks along smartly," and that the fight sequences were "sophisticated". She gave it a "B−" grade.


title: Altered Carbon (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 83% based on 35 reviews, and an average rating of 7.16/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While not quite there yet, a clearer sense of purpose and more defined characters help "Altered Carbon" sophomore season step closer to the brilliance of its source material." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Rob Halford

text: Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has been noted for his powerful and wide ranging operatic vocal style and trademark leather-and-studs image, both of which have become iconic in heavy metal. He has also been involved with several side projects, including Fight, Two, and Halford.


title: Rob Halford

text: AllMusic said of Halford, "There have been few vocalists in the history of heavy metal whose singing style has been as influential and instantly recognizable... able to effortlessly alternate between a throaty growl and an ear-splitting falsetto." He was ranked at No. 33 on the list of greatest voices in rock by Planet Rock listeners in 2009. He has also been nicknamed "Metal God" by fans. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Judas Priest in 2022, via the Award for Musical Excellence.


title: Rob Halford

text: Robert John Arthur Halford was born on 25 August 1951 in Sutton Coldfield. He grew up in nearby Walsall, where he was raised on the Beechdale housing estate, which was also home to Noddy Holder.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford was introduced to Judas Priest bassist and co-founder Ian Hill by his sister Sue, who was dating Hill at the time. Halford, a manager of a men's clothing store, joined the band as singer, bringing with him drummer John Hinch from his previous band Hiroshima. Halford and Hinch played their first show with Judas Priest in May 1973 at the Townhouse in Wellington. The show was recorded and part of it released in 2019 on the compilation "Downer-Rock Asylum" on the Audio Archives label.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 1974, he made his recording debut on the band's first album "Rocka Rolla". He continued to front Judas Priest throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990, Halford emerged with all-new tattoos, including a bent Judas Priest cross on his right arm and ring around his other, as well as a few on his shoulders. He also began shaving his head.


title: Rob Halford

text: On the last date of the tour for "Painkiller" in August 1991 at a show in Toronto, Halford rode onstage on a large Harley-Davidson motorcycle, dressed in motorcycle leathers, as part of the show. The stage riser malfunctioned and he collided with a half-raised drum riser and fell off it, breaking his nose in the process. He was left unconscious for a short time while the band was performing the first song. After regaining consciousness, Halford returned and finished the show. Halford had been wanting to do a solo project and had the blessing of his band members to do so. A studio exec told him he would have to technically 'resign' from Judas Priest in order to do so and he wrote a statement citing his interest in a solo project. The letter was leaked and taken out of context in that he was quitting the band. Due to personal challenges with conflict, he was unable to clarify what happened and it was over ten years before he reconnected with the band and rejoined.


title: Rob Halford

text: Shortly after Halford's departure, he formed the band Fight with Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis, bassist Jack "Jay Jay" Brown and guitarists Brian Tilse and Russ Parrish. The first album "War of Words" was released in 1993, followed by the "Mutations" EP in 1994. A tour took place in support of the album in 1994. The second album "A Small Deadly Space" was released in 1995, with a tour taking place in support of that album as well. While "War of Words" was a straightforward, tough and solid metal record, "A Small Deadly Space" had a grungier sound, making it less appealing to fans who had developed a taste for "War of Words". As the band were preparing to begin work on the third album, they split-up, thus ending their business with their label Epic Records. A brief reunion with half of the original members took place on 20 December 1997 for a one-off performance before disbanding once again. In a 2015 interview, Halford contemplated Fight's reformation.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 1997, Halford collaborated with guitarist John Lowery to form an industrial-influenced project called 2wo. They released their only album "Voyeurs" in 1998, which was released on Trent Reznor's Nothing Records label.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 1999, Halford returned to his metal roots and formed a solo band. The album "Resurrection" was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. The band embarked on a tour with Iron Maiden and Queensrÿche to support the album. A live album titled "Live Insurrrection" was released in 2001. It was followed up by the second album "Crucible" in 2002. In 2010, Halford released a live DVD titled "Live in Anaheim" and the fourth studio album "".


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford's reunion with Judas Priest came about from years of speculation about when he was no longer in the line-up, at least since the release of the "Resurrection" album, which some critics claimed sounded more like Judas Priest than the band's previous album "Jugulator" (1997). Halford initially ruled it out, but then reconsidered, stating in 2002 that "Gut instinct tells me that at some point it will happen".


title: Rob Halford

text: In July 2003, Halford returned to Judas Priest and embarked on a tour in 2004 in celebration of his return. The band released "Angel of Retribution" in 2005. A world tour accompanied the release and marked the band's 30th anniversary. In 2008, "Nostradamus" was released.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 2011, Judas Priest embarked upon what was billed as their final world tour as a group, titled the "Epitaph" tour. Subsequent to the tour's announcement, Halford stated that he would continue to move forward with his solo band.


title: Rob Halford

text: Despite the "final tour" announcement in 2011, Halford and Judas Priest (minus K. K. Downing, who left the group prior to the Epitaph tour) recorded another album, "Redeemer of Souls", which was released in 2014, the album supported by a concert tour.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 2017, Judas Priest began to work on another studio album with Halford. The album "Firepower" was released 9 March 2018.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford performed as the vocalist for Black Sabbath for three shows. He replaced Ronnie James Dio for two nights in November 1992, when Dio elected not to open a show for Ozzy Osbourne. Halford also filled in for Osbourne in Black Sabbath on 26 August 2004 (one day after Halford's 53rd birthday) at an Ozzfest show in Camden, New Jersey, since Osbourne could not perform due to bronchitis.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford joined Sum 41 on stage in 2001 for a televised concert for MTV's 20th anniversary with drummer Tommy Lee to perform "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" as the final song a medley.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford joined Metallica on stage three times where they performed the song "Rapid Fire"; in 1994 on the last date of the Shit Hits the Sheds Tour, in 2011 at The Fillmore for the band's 30th anniversary celebration and in 2013 at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods awards in Los Angeles.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford joined Pantera on stage twice. The first performance was in 1992 where he sang on the songs "Metal Gods" and "Grinder", and again in 1997 where he sang on "Grinder".


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford joined queercore band Pansy Division on stage in July 1997 to perform the song "Breaking the Law".


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford joined Babymetal on stage on 18 July 2016 at the Alternative Press Music Awards in Cleveland where they performed a medley of "Painkiller" and "Breaking the Law".


title: Rob Halford

text: In 2006, Halford split with Sanctuary Records and founded Metal God Entertainment to produce and license any future material. All Fight and Halford material were released in remastered format, which also includes DVDs from both bands.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford provided voice-over for the characters General Lionwhyte and the leader of the Fire Barons on the 2009 video game "Brütal Legend". The Baron's appearance and personality is based on Halford.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford developed the clothing line Metal God Apparel with plans to develop retail sales through 2010.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 2019, Halford was working on an autobiography. The autobiography, titled "Confess", was originally announced to be published in October 2020, but received its official date for 29 September 2020 via Hachette Books. In August 2020, Halford confirmed that he had completed an audiobook version of the publication, to be made available at the same time as the physical release.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford has appeared as himself, representing the character Kevin's conscience, in the 2022 American teen comedy-drama "Metal Lords".


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford owns a 1970s Aston Martin DBS, a Chevrolet Corvette, and a Mercury Cougar. He did not get a driver's license until the age of 38. In 2010, he said that his main car was a 2006 Cadillac DTS.


title: Rob Halford

text: In 1998, Halford publicly revealed his homosexuality on MTV. He broke down in tears saying, "It's a wonderful moment when you walk out of the closet. Now I've done that and I've freed myself. It's a great feeling for me to finally let go and make this statement—especially to "The Advocate", because this magazine has brought me so much comfort over the years. Obviously this is just a wonderful day for me." Halford later explained that he did not have a plan or an agenda when coming in to do his interview with MTV. He mainly spoke about and promoted the "Voyeurs" album he made with ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, when he slipped out his sexuality after being asked a question from the studio's producer. He cited it being "kind of a big leap forward."


title: Rob Halford

text: At the time Halford revealed his sexuality, he was concerned that he would lose his fanbase as a result. He explained that he cannot return to certain places of the world in fear of lapidation. He described the 1970s and 1980s as "incredibly difficult", but not counting it as important music-wise. Halford jokingly claimed that he cannot be replaced by a straight man, bringing up late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury, saying that "if Freddie hadn't have been gay, Queen would've been a totally different band. But that's a really important part of my life that I have to get down on paper at some point."


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford describes himself as "the stately homo of heavy metal", and said that his announcement was "the greatest thing I could have done for myself." He also explained that he did not announce it sooner due to the fear that it was going to be troublesome for himself.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford speaks negatively about the discrimination that the LGBT community still faces in some parts of the world. He recalled that his announcement came as a surprise, and questioned if he would've told the members of Judas Priest while he was in the band. Halford said that after he completed his interview, he began to fear negative reactions, but was quickly inundated with messages of support from his colleagues and fans.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford says that society has not changed as much as he hoped since his announcement, "You'd think there would have been some kind of change and people would have moved on after such a long time. Now that I'm moving through my OAP heavy metal years (laughs), I thought a lot of it would be gone by now. And it's a shame. We don't really get to spend a lot of time on this planet together, so there's no point in wasting it being divided."


title: Rob Halford

text: The subject matter of his lyrics had not changed since his coming out, and he avoided addressing it in Judas Priest's lyrics. However, the song "Raw Deal" from the 1977 album "Sin After Sin" speaks about Fire Island. He felt that the lyrics were "just too much", but was approved by the other members of the band. "But you listen to that song, it really is almost like a coming-out experience for me. And it never really registered. [Laughs] It's only been in recent years that people have picked up on that song." he said.


title: Rob Halford

text: In September 2020, Halford revealed that in 1992, he had a 'George Michael moment,’ where he was arrested for solicitation of a male undercover police officer. The Beverly Hills Police Department decided to keep the news under wraps, because some of the officers were fans of Judas Priest.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford has previously spoken about the level of acceptance of his sexuality within the metal community, calling it accepting and inclusive.


title: Rob Halford

text: In the "Behind the Music" documentary series, Halford said that hiding his sexuality during Judas Priest's career caused him a lot of depression and isolation which led to his alcohol and drug abuse.


title: Rob Halford

text: During the making of the band's 1986 album "Turbo", Halford struggled with increasing substance abuse and violent feuds with his romantic partner. The singer entered rehab in January 1986 following a painkiller overdose and even managed to stay sober after his partner died by suicide. He says that he has been clean and sober since then. He made an energetic recovery and his live performances during the subsequent Fuel for Life Tour were described as some of his strongest ever.


title: Rob Halford

text: He was born and raised in a Christian household, and said that his upbringing "has become more important since I became clean and sober on 6 January 1986. That was 25 years ago and I think that's probably more important to me now, on a daily basis."


title: Rob Halford

text: When asked in 2016 what part sobriety has played in the band's longevity, he responded, "Without it? Oh, I'd be dead. Literally, I would be dead."


title: Rob Halford

text: Despite being clean and sober since 1986, he confessed that he did have the desire to "have a drink" and "have a smoke and do a line. I wish I could do all that, but I can't. I've done all that. I've done all that and it nearly killed me. I wish I could do that because when I'm with my friends and they're having a good time and there's this little devil on your shoulder, 'Just have a quick shot. Do a shot of Jack. He pointed out to those who are recovering from their abuse about dealing with the "little devil on your shoulder or the monkey on your back", and that being clean and sober was "the greatest gift I was given. It was a gift. I can't do this by myself. There's another source helping. That's just a thrill to share with the music at this point."


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford battled prostate cancer during the COVID-19 lockdowns after experiencing symptoms in 2017. He underwent prostatectomy in July 2020. After more cancer was found, he went through radiation treatments in April and May that year and was cleared in June before traveling to England to visit family. He also had an appendectomy after a tumor was discovered in his appendix.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford possesses a powerful voice with a wide vocal range which is marked by his high-pitched screams and strong vibrato. However, with age, his lower range has matured and become more powerful. Along with Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson, Halford is one of the pioneers of the operatic vocal style later to be adopted by power metal vocalists and regularly appears near the top in lists of the greatest metal vocalists/front-men of all time.


title: Rob Halford

text: Halford describes himself as "a huge Queen fan" since they began and saw their very early shows. He has called Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of the band, his "ultimate hero" and expressed regret that he never got to know him.


title: Rob Halford

text: As a vocalist, Halford was influenced by Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin and Robert Plant. He was also influenced by the music of Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, King Crimson, the Rolling Stones, John Mayall, and Alice Cooper.


title: NBA Finals

text: The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, which replaced the original Walter A. Brown Trophy in 1977, though under the same name.


title: NBA Finals

text: The series was initially known as the BAA Finals prior to the 1949–50 season when the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the NBA. The competition oversaw further name changes to NBA World Championship Series from 1950 to 1985, as well as a brief stint as the Showdown, before settling on NBA Finals in 1986. Since 2018, it has been officially known as the "NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV" for sponsorship reasons.


title: NBA Finals

text: The NBA Finals was initially structured in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. In 1985, to ease the amount of cross-country travel, it was changed to a 2–3–2 format, in which the first two and last two games of the series were played at the arena of the team who earned home-court advantage by having the better record during the regular season. In 2014, the 2–2–1–1–1 format was restored. This team hosts the first two games and the other team hosts the next two games. If needed, the remaining three are played at each team's home arena alternately.


title: NBA Finals

text: A total of 19 franchises have won the NBA Finals, with the Golden State Warriors winning the most recent title in 2022. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics hold the record for the most victories, having both won the competition 17 times. The Boston Celtics also won the most consecutive titles, winning eight in a row from 1959 to 1966. The Los Angeles Lakers have competed in the NBA Finals the most times, with 32 appearances. The Eastern Conference has provided the most champions, with 38 wins from 10 franchises; the Western Conference has 35, from nine franchises.


title: NBA Finals

text: The beginning era of modern professional basketball was dominated by the Minneapolis Lakers, who won half of the first ten titles. The Philadelphia Warriors also won multiple championships, including the inaugural title in 1947 and another in 1956 to bookend the NBA's first decade.


title: NBA Finals

text: After being founded in 1946, the Basketball Association of America completed its inaugural season in April 1947 with the Philadelphia Warriors defeating the Chicago Stags in five games. The following season the Warriors would again reach the Finals, however they would fall short to the now defunct Baltimore Bullets. To date the Baltimore Bullets are the only defunct team to win a championship.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1948 the Minneapolis Lakers would win the championship of the rival National Basketball League before joining the BAA. Led by future Hall of Famer George Mikan, the Lakers would win the third and final BAA championship in 1949 over the Red Auerbach coached Washington Capitals. The BAA would merge with the NBL to become the National Basketball Association before the 1949–50 season. The Lakers would win the inaugural NBA championship in 1950 to become the first team to repeat as champions.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1951 the Rochester Royals defeated the New York Knicks in the only Finals contested between two teams from the same state. This would be the first of three consecutive losses in the Finals for the Knicks, as they would lose the 1952 and 1953 Finals to the Lakers. The Lakers would win again in 1954 to become the first team to three-peat. This would be the fifth championship in six years for the Lakers and their last title won in Minneapolis. In 1955 the Syracuse Nationals would win their only title before becoming the Philadelphia 76ers, and in 1956 the Warriors won their second and last title in Philadelphia before eventually moving to California.


title: NBA Finals

text: Of the five franchises to win a championship from 1947 to 1956, one would fold and the other four would all relocate by 1964.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Boston Celtics went 11–1 in the NBA Finals during 13 seasons (1956–57 to 1968–69), including eight straight NBA championships from 1959 through 1966. During this time the St. Louis Hawks also captured their only title before eventually moving to Atlanta, the Philadelphia 76ers won their first title since relocating from Syracuse, and the Lakers and Warriors returned to the Finals for the first time in California.


title: NBA Finals

text: With the establishment of the Celtics dynasty in 1957, spearheaded by center Bill Russell, the team saw great success. Despite encountering some difficulty when up against teams led by Wilt Chamberlain, for most of the late 1950s and 1960s, the Celtics and Russell managed to have an upper hand on Chamberlain's teams.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1964, Chamberlain, who had moved to the state of California alongside his team, led the San Francisco Warriors to a Western Conference championship, but again failed to conquer the Celtics. The following season, he returned to the Eastern Conference to join the Philadelphia 76ers, who were the former Syracuse Nationals that had relocated to the city to cover the vacancy created with the departure of the Warriors.


title: NBA Finals

text: The first clash between the two stars in the playoffs was in 1966, with Boston winning the series 4–1. In the following season, Philadelphia coach Alex Hannum instructed Chamberlain to provide an increased focus on playing a team game, to avoid drawing the double-teams that troubled Chamberlain during the Finals. This tactical change brought the team to a new record of 68 wins the following season, as well as defeating the Celtics before winning the 1967 Finals. In 1968, Boston overcame a 3–1 deficit against Philadelphia to once again arrive in the Finals. They went on to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals to again become NBA champions.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1969, the Celtics faced great difficulty entering the postseason, as they had an aging team and multiple injuries to a number of players. They qualified for the playoffs as the fourth and final seed in the East, while the Lakers, who had added Chamberlain in the off-season to join stars Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, won the West and were prohibitive favorites to become champions for the first time since relocating to Los Angeles. Despite holding a 2–1 advantage going into Game 4, the Lakers led 87–86 and had the ball with 10 seconds to play. But after a turnover, Sam Jones scored to give the Celtics a narrow 88–87 win and tying the series. The series was eventually tied 3–3 going into Game 7 in Los Angeles, with Lakers owner Jack Cooke hanging balloons in the arena in anticipation of a Lakers victory. West also picked up injuries to his thigh and hamstring during the series, but returned to play for the final game. Russell utilized this newly lacking mobility in West to organize fast breaks at every opportunity for the Celtics, which allowed them to gain an early lead. They held off a furious Lakers comeback to win 108–106 and win the series, and win their eleventh championship in 13 years.


title: NBA Finals

text: As many stars either declined or retired following this win, it is largely recognized as the last NBA Finals conducted by the Celtics dynasty.


title: NBA Finals

text: The 1970s saw ten different teams reach the Finals and eight different teams win a championship, the most of any decade in the NBA, with the Celtics and New York Knicks winning twice.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1970, a classic final featured the Knicks against the Lakers. In the waning moments of Game 3, with the series tied, Jerry West hit a basket from 60 feet to tie the game, a shot which became one of the most famous ever. However, the Knicks won in overtime and continued their momentum for a 4–3 win, becoming the first team after the Celtics dynasty to win an NBA championship. The Milwaukee Bucks also won their first title, defeating the Baltimore Bullets in 1971.


title: NBA Finals

text: Two seasons after losing in the Finals, the Lakers won 33 straight games, the longest such streak in NBA history. By season's end, they broke the record for most wins in a season with 69, one more than the 1966–67 Philadelphia 76ers, before taking home the championship for the first time since relocating to Los Angeles. The Knicks returned to win the Finals again a season later, their second championship.


title: NBA Finals

text: Following the success of the Lakers, the 1970s were characterized by a major breakthrough of the league's western franchises. In 1975, after compiling a 48–34 regular season record, the Golden State Warriors swept the Washington Bullets 4–0 in the 1975 NBA Finals. In 1976, the Phoenix Suns, after only eight years of existence as a franchise, overcame a losing record early in the season to build a remarkable win streak to finish 42–40. They achieved upset victories over the Seattle SuperSonics and the Warriors, before facing Boston in the Finals. The teams split the first four games, before Game 5 went into three overtimes and Boston won 128–126. The Celtics quickly managed to secure their 13th championship, defeating the Suns 87–80 in Game 6.


title: NBA Finals

text: Other franchises that won their first titles in the 1970s included the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977, and the Washington Bullets, who defeated the SuperSonics in 1978. The SuperSonics managed to exact revenge on the Bullets the following season, as they won their first title in 1979.


title: NBA Finals

text: The 1980s were mostly known for the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, who combined to win eight titles in the decade. The rivalry unofficially began at the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game, featuring Magic Johnson's Michigan State University team facing off against Larry Bird's Indiana State University team, which attracted the largest TV rating ever for an NCAA Championship game, as 38 percent of all television viewers that night tuned in. Bird and Johnson both entered the league in 1979, leading their respective teams to dazzling heights.


title: NBA Finals

text: Rookie Magic Johnson led the Showtime Lakers to the 1980 NBA Finals against the 76ers, which were also led by NBA superstar Julius Erving. The Lakers took a 3–2 lead, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could not play in Game 6 due to injury. Johnson, a natural point guard, was shifted to center, and ended up playing every position on the court during the game, scoring 42 points, while also attaining 15 rebounds and 7 assists to win his first championship while being awarded his first NBA Finals MVP; a remarkable performance in the annals of the sport.


title: NBA Finals

text: Boston reached the 1981 NBA Finals led by the "Big Three" of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish. Considered to be one of the best front courts of all time, all three players later made the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They met the Houston Rockets in the 1981 Finals, practically single-handedly carried by Moses Malone, who upset the Lakers and Johnson in the first round. The Rockets were only the second team in NBA history to make the Finals after posting a losing record in the regular season, and the Celtics had an NBA best record of 62–20. The Celtics won the Finals in 6 games.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Lakers returned to the NBA Finals in 1982, this time led by new coach Pat Riley, in a rematch against the 76ers. The 76ers defeated the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals in a 7-game series, but were defeated by Lakers in 6 games, with Johnson being named Finals MVP. Upon losing their past three NBA Finals appearances, the 76ers decided that they needed one more piece to become champions, and on September 15, 1982, they traded for Malone, who was also the league's reigning MVP. With the new duo of Malone and Erving, the 76ers won the 1983 NBA Finals, losing only once in the entire playoffs, including a sweep of the Lakers.


title: NBA Finals

text: The 1984 NBA Finals was contested by the Celtics and Lakers, who faced each other for the first time since 1969. After an inspired performance from Bird, the Celtics toppled the Lakers 4–3. The final game of this series attracted the largest ever TV audience for an NBA game, and the second-largest ever for a basketball game, with only the game between the two stars played five years earlier having a larger audience. It was the last NBA Finals played in the 2–2–1–1–1 format until 2014.


title: NBA Finals

text: In the 1985 NBA Finals, the Lakers avenged their previous loss by defeating the Celtics in six games. Although the Lakers lost the first game by 34 points in the Memorial Day Massacre, they won 4 of the next 5 games, including Game 6 at the Boston Garden. These finals were the first to be played in the 2–3–2 format, which was suggested by Boston coach Red Auerbach to NBA commissioner David Stern, as he hoped to cut back on the frequent traveling from Boston to Los Angeles.


title: NBA Finals

text: The 1986 NBA Finals saw the Celtics face off against the Rockets, with Boston winning in six games, securing their 16th title. Bird was named Finals MVP for the second time. In 1987, the Lakers and Celtics met again. The Lakers won the first two games, but Boston won Game 3. In Game 4, Johnson hit a hook shot with two seconds left to give the Lakers a 107–106 win and a 3–1 series lead. The Lakers lost Game 5, but eventually won Game 6 to clinch the series, and a 2–1 win against the Celtics. Johnson was named Finals MVP for the third time.


title: NBA Finals

text: In the following two seasons, the aging Celtics failed to reach the Finals, becoming overshadowed by the rise of the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers managed to defend their title in the 1988 Finals, winning the series in 7 games against the Pistons. They then became the first team to win back-to-back NBA titles since 1969. Seeking a three-peat in 1989, the Lakers were swept by the Pistons in a rematch of the previous year's Finals. In 1990, the Pistons then went back-to-back after defeating the Clyde Drexler-led Portland Trail Blazers in five games, attaining the nickname "Bad Boys" due to their rough, physical play led by a Hall of Fame back court in Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas and a rugged front court in Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer.


title: NBA Finals

text: The majority of the 1990s was marked by the supremacy of the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls, led by head coach Phil Jackson and star players Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, won six titles in six Finals appearances from 1991 to 1998. The only other team to win a title during this time was the Houston Rockets who won titles in 1994 and 1995.


title: NBA Finals

text: The first championship came at the expense of the Los Angeles Lakers, which also saw the last appearance in the Finals for Magic Johnson. Billed as a showdown between the aging Johnson and the upstart Jordan, the Lakers won the first game, 93–91. For the rest of the series, Pippen guarded Johnson, allowing Jordan to primarily focus on scoring, and Chicago won the next four games. The Bulls returned to the Finals the next year, pitted against Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers. Throughout the 1991–1992 season, Jordan and Drexler led their teams to the best records in their respective conferences, leading to several comparisons between the two players in anticipation of a postseason match-up. Chicago defeated the Trail Blazers in Game 1 by 33 points, a game notable for Jordan breaking the record for the most three-pointers in a first half, with six. Game 2 went into overtime, with the Trail Blazers outscoring the Bulls 18–7 in the final period to win the game, even with Drexler fouling out in the 4th quarter. Games 3 and 4 were split between Chicago and Portland, respectively, but the Bulls won the final two games, clinching their second championship.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1993, Jordan was matched against close friend Charles Barkley, who was the league's reigning MVP of the Phoenix Suns. The Bulls won the first two games in Phoenix, 100–92 and 111–108. The Suns, rallying behind Barkley, won Game 3, 129–121 in Chicago in triple overtime. The Bulls won Game 4, 111–105, with Jordan scoring 55 points and tying Rick Barry for the second-most points in an NBA Finals game. The Suns won Game 5, 108–98, sending the series back to Phoenix. Chicago clinched the series in Game 6, 99–98, on John Paxson's three-pointer, as the Bulls became the third team in history to three-peat. After this win, Jordan retired from basketball to pursue a career in baseball.


title: NBA Finals

text: Following Jordan's departure, the Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, won the 1994 and 1995 NBA titles. During this time, Olajuwon became the only player in history to win the NBA MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP awards in the same season. That was the only year that both the NBA and NHL Finals went to seven games, with the Rockets facing the New York Knicks in 1994. With their win in Game 7, the Rockets denied New York from winning both the NBA and NHL titles in the same year, as the New York Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. After trading for Clyde Drexler midseason, the Rockets later swept an Orlando Magic team consisting of Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway in the 1995 Finals; Olajuwon was again named Finals MVP, and the Rockets became the fifth franchise to win back-to-back titles and became the first 6th-seeded team to win the title without enjoying home court advantage on any of their playoff series. The Houston Rockets also beat teams with at least 50 regular season wins in every round of the playoffs, with "Road Court" advantage. No other team in NBA History has done that. The Houston Rockets were down 3 games to 1 to the Phoenix Suns in the Semi-Finals and won 2 out of 3 games on the road, including game 7 to advance to the Conference Finals.


title: NBA Finals

text: After his short stint with baseball, Jordan returned to basketball late in the 1994–95 season. Although he did not lead the Bulls to the Finals for that season, he returned to pre-retirement form the next season while the team acquired perennial rebounding champion Dennis Rodman. The 1995–96 Bulls finished the regular season 72–10, attaining, at the time, the best regular season record in NBA history. They dominated in the playoffs, with series records of 3–0, 4–1 and 4–0, before facing the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Finals. After the Bulls took a 3–0 series lead, Seattle won the next two games after point guard Gary Payton asked his coach George Karl to be switched onto Jordan, leading to a sixth game. Jordan altered his game to deal with Payton, and the Bulls won Game 6 to win their fourth title.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 1997 and 1998, the Bulls met the Utah Jazz in the Finals twice. Led by Dream Team Olympians John Stockton and Karl Malone, the Jazz were defeated in both Finals by the Bulls in six games. In both series, Chicago won by hitting winning shots in the sixth game, the first by Steve Kerr in 1997 in Chicago, and the second by Jordan in Utah in 1998. This saw Chicago winning their sixth NBA championship, and winning their second three-peat. Before the lockout shortened 1998–99 season, Jackson decided to retire, which set off a chain reaction that resulted in most of the team, including Jordan and Pippen, leaving the Bulls. With no foundation of youth to build upon, the Bulls became a lottery-bound team for the next six seasons.


title: NBA Finals

text: Between 1999 and 2014, the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, or San Antonio Spurs appeared in every Finals, winning a combined 13 championships over 16 seasons.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Spurs were responsible for winning five championships during this time, in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. In the 1999 NBA playoffs, the Spurs finished with a 15–2 mark, including sweeps of the Blazers and Lakers. With a defensive squad led by David Robinson and Tim Duncan, San Antonio's 84.7 points allowed per game was the fewest average points allowed in the postseason in the last 30 years. In the Finals that year, the Spurs held the New York Knicks, the first #8 seed team to reach the finals in NBA history, to an average of 79.8 points per game. During the 2003 NBA Finals, the Spurs defeated the New Jersey Nets in 6 games, which also marked the first championship contested between two former ABA teams. In Game 6, Duncan was two blocks short of recording the first quadruple-double in NBA Finals history, finishing with 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks. The Spurs also defeated the Detroit Pistons 4–3 in 2005, and swept the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007. Duncan won the Finals MVP in 1999, 2003 and 2005, while Tony Parker won in 2007, becoming the first European-born player to do so.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Lakers also won five championships in this period, including a three-peat from 2000 to 2002, led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Their first championship came at the expense of the Indiana Pacers, whom the Lakers defeated in 6 games. During their 2001 postseason run, the Lakers swept their first 3 series and won the Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games, finishing with an unprecedented 15–1 record, the best postseason record in NBA history at the time. In 2002, the Lakers swept the New Jersey Nets, leading almost the entire time in each game. O'Neal won the finals MVP all three times.


title: NBA Finals

text: In the 2003 off-season, veteran stars Gary Payton and Karl Malone signed with the Lakers. Along with Bryant and O'Neal, they formed what many expected to be one of the best teams in NBA history, and were the favorites to win the championship in 2004. However, the Detroit Pistons, under coach Larry Brown, defeated the Lakers in 5 games. Chauncey Billups was named the Finals MVP. Now established as one of the powerhouses of the East, the Pistons returned to the NBA Finals the following year, before losing to the Spurs in seven games.


title: NBA Finals

text: O'Neal was traded from the Lakers to the Miami Heat in 2004, where he teamed up with young phenom Dwyane Wade. Together they led the Heat to the 2006 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, who won the first two games at home, but Miami won the next four straight after multiple fourth quarter comebacks led by Wade, who won the Finals MVP award.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Lakers returned to the Finals in 2008 against the Boston Celtics, renewing the teams' rivalry with the 11th Finals matchup between them. The Celtics defeated the Lakers 4–2, led by their "Big Three" superstars of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Finals MVP Paul Pierce. The Lakers bounced back from the loss and returned to the Finals in 2009, where they defeated the Orlando Magic, led by Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard, in five games. The Lakers met the Celtics once again in 2010, trailing 3–2 before winning the last two at home, marking the first time in history that the Celtics lost a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. Kobe Bryant was named Finals MVP both years, as head coach Phil Jackson surpassed Red Auerbach's record for most NBA titles of all time with eleven.


title: NBA Finals

text: During the 2010 off-season, the Miami Heat re-signed team captain Dwyane Wade and added free agents LeBron James and Chris Bosh to form a new Big Three. The Heat were subsequently considered heavy title favorites and appeared in the next four Finals, starting in 2011 against the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch from five years earlier. Despite being heavy underdogs on paper, the Mavericks won the series 4–2, with Dirk Nowitzki being named the Finals MVP. The Heat returned to the Finals in the following year against a young Oklahoma City Thunder team featuring future MVPs Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Kevin Durant. After the Thunder won Game 1 at home, the Heat won four straight games to win the series 4–1, becoming the first team to win a championship after trailing in three playoff series. James won his first championship and was unanimously named NBA Finals MVP.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Heat repeated as champions in 2013, this time over the San Antonio Spurs, with the finals being the first since 1987 to feature four former Finals MVPs in the Finals (Duncan, Parker, Wade and James). The Spurs went up 3–2 in the series, but the Heat bounced back with a historic Game 6 victory, notable for a game-tying three-pointer by Ray Allen in the closing seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime. The Heat won Game 7 to clinch the title, and James was named Finals MVP for the second straight year. Miami sought a three-peat in the 2014 NBA Finals in a rematch with the Spurs, but this time San Antonio prevailed in five games, winning their first title since 2007 and the fifth and final title of Duncan's career. Kawhi Leonard was named Finals MVP, becoming the third-youngest Finals MVP after Duncan and Magic Johnson.


title: NBA Finals

text: The Golden State Warriors appeared in six Finals between 2015 and 2022, winning four championships in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.


title: NBA Finals

text: In the 2014 off-season, LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers where he teamed up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to form a new "Big Three" in Cleveland. The Cavaliers would appear in the next four straight Finals against the Golden State Warriors, known for their unconventional small-ball, three-point shooting offense implemented by coach Steve Kerr and spearheaded by two-time MVP Stephen Curry. They became the first two teams to play in more than two consecutive Finals against one another.


title: NBA Finals

text: In the 2015 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers took a 2-1 series lead, but lost stars Irving and Love to injury. The Warriors came back to win the series in six games, with Andre Iguodala winning NBA Finals MVP for his efforts in containing LeBron James on defense. The following season, the Warriors broke the record for most regular season wins with a record of 73–9 and Curry won his second straight MVP award by unanimous vote, shattering his own record for three-pointers made in a single season. The Warriors and Cavaliers met once again in the 2016 NBA Finals, where the Warriors opened up a 3–1 series lead, but James and Irving led the Cavaliers to two straight victories to force a deciding Game 7. In a key sequence with two minutes remaining in Game 7, LeBron James made a memorable chase-down block on Iguodala to keep the game tied, while Irving hit a 3-point shot a minute later to take the lead. Cleveland held on to win the title and end the city's championship drought, with James earning his third Finals MVP honor.


title: NBA Finals

text: In the 2016 off-season, the Warriors acquired Kevin Durant through free agency. After finishing 67–15 (the first team to win 67+ games in three straight seasons), they returned to the Finals with a 12–0 sweep of the West, the first team to do so since 2001. The Cavaliers slipped to the second seed going into the playoffs, but they only lost one game en route to the 2017 NBA Finals, setting up a third straight match with the Warriors. The Warriors started strong with a 3–0 lead over the Cavaliers, eventually winning the series in five games with Durant being named Finals MVP. The Warriors set a playoff record of 15 consecutive wins and a 16–1 final record, as well as a 13.5-point differential in the Finals. The Cavaliers traded away Kyrie Irving in the 2017 off-season and continued to change their roster throughout the season, while the Warriors largely remained intact. Neither Cleveland nor Golden State earned the top playoff seed in the 2017–18 season, and both teams fell to 3–2 deficits in the Conference Finals, but both came back to win the series and ensure a fourth consecutive Finals matchup in 2018. The Warriors swept the Cavaliers 4–0, and Durant was again named Finals MVP.


title: NBA Finals

text: In 2018, James left the Cavaliers and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Without James, the Cavaliers struggled and did not return to the playoffs. The Warriors continued their success and reached their fifth straight Finals in 2019, becoming the first team since the 1960s Celtics and the first Western Conference team ever to do so. However, after injuries to stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, the Warriors were defeated by the Toronto Raptors 4–2, resulting in the Raptors' first championship and the first NBA title for a team based outside the United States. Toronto's Kawhi Leonard was named Finals MVP, becoming the first player to win the award while representing teams from both conferences, having previously won it with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.


title: NBA Finals

text: The 2019–20 NBA season was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed on a shortened schedule in July 2020 inside the NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida. LeBron James returned to his tenth Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers against the Miami Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals, marking the first time in NBA history that two teams that missed the playoffs the year before met in the Finals. The Lakers won the series 4–2, claiming their 17th title to tie the Boston Celtics' franchise record; LeBron James was named Finals MVP for the fourth time in his career, becoming the first player to win the award with three different franchises.


title: NBA Finals

text: The 2021 NBA Finals saw the Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Phoenix Suns in the first Finals since 1971 to feature no players who had previously won a championship. Two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo earned Finals MVP honors.


title: NBA Finals

text: After missing the playoffs two years in a row, the Warriors returned to the 2022 Finals for their sixth appearance in the last eight seasons. They defeated the Boston Celtics in six games for their fourth championship in eight seasons, and Curry won his first NBA Finals MVP award unanimously.


title: NBA Finals

text: As part of a multiyear partnership that began in 2018, the internet television service YouTube TV became the presenting sponsor of the NBA Finals.


title: NBA Finals

text: The statistics below refer to series wins and losses, not individual games won and lost. For individual game statistics, scroll further downwards.


title: NBA Finals

text: (*) As a result of the original franchise's relocation to New Orleans, the NBA team in Charlotte suspended operations for the 2002–03 and the 2003–04 seasons, before a new team, named the Bobcats, was established for the 2004–05 season. In 2014, the original Hornets were renamed the Pelicans and obtained the records during their time in New Orleans and Oklahoma City from 2002 to 2013. The Bobcats became the second incarnation of the Charlotte Hornets, and retained the history and records of the Hornets organization from 1988 to 2002.


title: Brandi Love

text: Tracey Lynn Livermore, known professionally as Brandi Love, is an American pornographic actress. She is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame.


title: Brandi Love

text: Livermore was born in Dearborn, Michigan and raised in Plymouth, Michigan. She attended Central Michigan University. She is the great granddaughter of stock trader Jesse Livermore. She is married to Chris Potoski and they live in Wake Forest, North Carolina with their daughter.


title: Brandi Love

text: In 2006, she and husband Chris Potoski collaborated with Falcon Foto to form Naked Rhino Media, a multimedia company creating niche pornographic content.


title: Brandi Love

text: In 2013, it was announced that Kelly Madison Media was developing a new website for Love and would take part in the production of new content.


title: Brandi Love

text: In 2008 Love released her book, "Getting Wild Sex from Your Conservative Woman", and appeared on an episode of "" titled "".


title: Brandi Love

text: Throughout her career as an adult film performer, she became known for her appearances in MILF and hot wife–themed productions.


title: Brandi Love

text: Love is a self-described conservative and Republican who supported Donald Trump and "voted for Bill Clinton back in the day". She has written articles for "The Federalist", a conservative online magazine.


title: Brandi Love

text: In July 2021, Love was expelled from a Florida conference by the conservative student organization Turning Point USA after attending several panels. Conservatives, following a group of white nationalists known as Groypers, denounced Love being admitted to a conference with minors, while "Federalist" co-founder Ben Domenech criticized the ban. Love denounced the ban as an example of "cancel culture".


title: Brandi Love

text: She later told "Newsweek" that she would support a presidential campaign by Florida governor Ron DeSantis in 2024 if Trump declined to run again.


title: Stanley Kubrick filmography

text: Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) directed thirteen feature films and three short documentaries over the course of his career. His work as a director, spanning diverse genres, is widely regarded as being extremely influential.


title: Stanley Kubrick filmography

text: Kubrick made his directorial debut in 1951 with the documentary short "Day of the Fight", followed by "Flying Padre" later that year. In 1953, he directed his first feature film, "Fear and Desire". The anti-war allegory's themes reappeared in his later films. His next works were the film noir pictures "Killer's Kiss" (1955) and "The Killing" (1956). Critic Roger Ebert praised "The Killing" and retrospectively called it Kubrick's "first mature feature". Kubrick then directed two Hollywood films starring Kirk Douglas: "Paths of Glory" (1957) and "Spartacus" (1960). The latter won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. His next film was "Lolita" (1962), an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel of the same name. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His 1964 film, the Cold War satire "Dr. Strangelove" featuring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, received the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Along with "The Killing", it remains the highest rated film directed by Kubrick according to Rotten Tomatoes.


title: Stanley Kubrick filmography

text: In 1968, Kubrick directed the space epic "". Now widely regarded as among the most influential films ever made, "2001" garnered Kubrick his only personal Academy Award for his work as director of special effects. His next project, the dystopian "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), was an initially X-rated adaptation of Anthony Burgess' 1962 novella. After reports of crimes inspired by the film's depiction of "ultra-violence", Kubrick had the film withdrawn from distribution in the United Kingdom. Kubrick then directed the period piece "Barry Lyndon" (1975), in a departure from his two previous futuristic films. It did not perform well commercially and received mixed reviews, but won four Oscars at the 48th Academy Awards. In 1980, Kubrick adapted a Stephen King novel into "The Shining", starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. Although Kubrick was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director, "The Shining" is now widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made. Seven years later, he released the Vietnam War film "Full Metal Jacket". It remains the highest rated of Kubrick's later films according to Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. In the early 1990s, Kubrick abandoned his plans to direct a Holocaust film titled "The Aryan Papers". He was hesitant to compete with Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" and had become "profoundly depressed" after working extensively on the project. His final film, the erotic thriller "Eyes Wide Shut" starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, was released posthumously in 1999. An unfinished project that Kubrick referred to as "Pinocchio" was completed by Spielberg as "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001).


title: Stanley Kubrick filmography

text: In 1997, the Venice Film Festival awarded Kubrick the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. That same year, he received a Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award, then called the D.W. Griffith Award. In 1999, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) presented Kubrick with a Britannia Award. After his death, BAFTA renamed the award in his honor: "The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film". He was posthumously awarded a BAFTA Fellowship in 2000.


title: Fire

text: Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.


title: Fire

text: At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. The "flame" is the visible portion of the fire. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's intensity will be different.


title: Fire

text: Fire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems.


title: Fire

text: Its negative effects include hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination. If fire removes protective vegetation, heavy rainfall may lead to an increase in soil erosion by water. Also, when vegetation is burned, the nitrogen it contains is released into the atmosphere, unlike elements such as potassium and phosphorus which remain in the ash and are quickly recycled into the soil. This loss of nitrogen caused by a fire produces a long-term reduction in the fertility of the soil, but this fecundity can potentially be recovered as molecular nitrogen in the atmosphere is "fixed" and converted to ammonia by natural phenomena such as lightning and by leguminous plants that are "nitrogen-fixing" such as clover, peas, and green beans.


title: Fire

text: Fire is one of the four classical elements and has been used by humans in rituals, in agriculture for clearing land, for cooking, generating heat and light, for signaling, propulsion purposes, smelting, forging, incineration of waste, cremation, and as a weapon or mode of destruction.


title: Fire

text: Fire is a chemical process in which a fuel and an oxidizing agent react, yielding carbon dioxide and water. This process, known as a combustion reaction, does not proceed directly and involves intermediates. Although the oxidizing agent is typically oxygen, other compounds are able to fulfill the role. For instance, chlorine trifluoride is able to ignite sand.


title: Fire

text: Fires start when a flammable or a combustible material, in combination with a sufficient quantity of an oxidizer such as oxygen gas or another oxygen-rich compound (though non-oxygen oxidizers exist), is exposed to a source of heat or ambient temperature above the flash point for the fuel/oxidizer mix, and is able to sustain a rate of rapid oxidation that produces a chain reaction. This is commonly called the fire tetrahedron. Fire cannot exist without all of these elements in place and in the right proportions. For example, a flammable liquid will start burning only if the fuel and oxygen are in the right proportions. Some fuel-oxygen mixes may require a catalyst, a substance that is not consumed, when added, in any chemical reaction during combustion, but which enables the reactants to combust more readily.


title: Fire

text: Once ignited, a chain reaction must take place whereby fires can sustain their own heat by the further release of heat energy in the process of combustion and may propagate, provided there is a continuous supply of an oxidizer and fuel.


title: Fire

text: If the oxidizer is oxygen from the surrounding air, the presence of a force of gravity, or of some similar force caused by acceleration, is necessary to produce convection, which removes combustion products and brings a supply of oxygen to the fire. Without gravity, a fire rapidly surrounds itself with its own combustion products and non-oxidizing gases from the air, which exclude oxygen and extinguish the fire. Because of this, the risk of fire in a spacecraft is small when it is coasting in inertial flight. This does not apply if oxygen is supplied to the fire by some process other than thermal convection.


title: Fire

text: Fire can be extinguished by removing any one of the elements of the fire tetrahedron. Consider a natural gas flame, such as from a stove-top burner. The fire can be extinguished by any of the following:


title: Fire

text: In contrast, fire is intensified by increasing the overall rate of combustion. Methods to do this include balancing the input of fuel and oxidizer to stoichiometric proportions, increasing fuel and oxidizer input in this balanced mix, increasing the ambient temperature so the fire's own heat is better able to sustain combustion, or providing a catalyst, a non-reactant medium in which the fuel and oxidizer can more readily react.


title: Fire

text: A flame is a mixture of reacting gases and solids emitting visible, infrared, and sometimes ultraviolet light, the frequency spectrum of which depends on the chemical composition of the burning material and intermediate reaction products. In many cases, such as the burning of organic matter, for example wood, or the incomplete combustion of gas, incandescent solid particles called soot produce the familiar red-orange glow of "fire". This light has a continuous spectrum. Complete combustion of gas has a dim blue color due to the emission of single-wavelength radiation from various electron transitions in the excited molecules formed in the flame. Usually oxygen is involved, but hydrogen burning in chlorine also produces a flame, producing hydrogen chloride (HCl). Other possible combinations producing flames, amongst many, are fluorine and hydrogen, and hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Hydrogen and hydrazine/UDMH flames are similarly pale blue, while burning boron and its compounds, evaluated in mid-20th century as a high energy fuel for jet and rocket engines, emits intense green flame, leading to its informal nickname of "Green Dragon".


title: Fire

text: The glow of a flame is complex. Black-body radiation is emitted from soot, gas, and fuel particles, though the soot particles are too small to behave like perfect blackbodies. There is also photon emission by de-excited atoms and molecules in the gases. Much of the radiation is emitted in the visible and infrared bands. The color depends on temperature for the black-body radiation, and on chemical makeup for the emission spectra. The dominant color in a flame changes with temperature. The photo of the forest fire in Canada is an excellent example of this variation. Near the ground, where most burning is occurring, the fire is white, the hottest color possible for organic material in general, or yellow. Above the yellow region, the color changes to orange, which is cooler, then red, which is cooler still. Above the red region, combustion no longer occurs, and the uncombusted carbon particles are visible as black smoke.


title: Fire

text: The common distribution of a flame under normal gravity conditions depends on convection, as soot tends to rise to the top of a general flame, as in a candle in normal gravity conditions, making it yellow. In micro gravity or zero gravity, such as an environment in outer space, convection no longer occurs, and the flame becomes spherical, with a tendency to become more blue and more efficient (although it may go out if not moved steadily, as the CO from combustion does not disperse as readily in micro gravity, and tends to smother the flame). There are several possible explanations for this difference, of which the most likely is that the temperature is sufficiently evenly distributed that soot is not formed and complete combustion occurs. Experiments by NASA reveal that diffusion flames in micro gravity allow more soot to be completely oxidized after they are produced than diffusion flames on Earth, because of a series of mechanisms that behave differently in micro gravity when compared to normal gravity conditions. These discoveries have potential applications in applied science and industry, especially concerning fuel efficiency.


title: Fire

text: In combustion engines, various steps are taken to eliminate a flame. The method depends mainly on whether the fuel is oil, wood, or a high-energy fuel such as jet fuel.


title: Fire

text: The adiabatic flame temperature of a given fuel and oxidizer pair is that at which the gases achieve stable combustion.


title: Fire

text: Every natural ecosystem has its own fire regime, and the organisms in those ecosystems are adapted to or dependent upon that fire regime. Fire creates a mosaic of different habitat patches, each at a different stage of succession. Different species of plants, animals, and microbes specialize in exploiting a particular stage, and by creating these different types of patches, fire allows a greater number of species to exist within a landscape.


title: Fire

text: Fire science is a branch of physical science which includes fire behavior, dynamics, and combustion. Applications of fire science include fire protection, fire investigation, and wildfire management.


title: Fire

text: The ability to control fire was a dramatic change in the habits of early humans. Making fire to generate heat and light made it possible for people to cook food, simultaneously increasing the variety and availability of nutrients and reducing disease by killing organisms in the food. The heat produced would also help people stay warm in cold weather, enabling them to live in cooler climates. Fire also kept nocturnal predators at bay. Evidence of cooked food is found from , Although there is some evidence that fire may have been used in a controlled fashion about 1 million years ago, other sources put the date at 400,000 years ago. Evidence becomes widespread around 50 to 100 thousand years ago, suggesting regular use from this time; interestingly, resistance to air pollution started to evolve in human populations at a similar point in time. The use of fire became progressively more sophisticated, as it was used to create charcoal and to control wildlife from 'tens of thousands' of years ago.


title: Fire

text: Fire has also been used for centuries as a method of torture and execution, as evidenced by death by burning as well as torture devices such as the iron boot, which could be filled with water, oil, or even lead and then heated over an open fire to the agony of the wearer.


title: Fire

text: By the Neolithic Revolution, during the introduction of grain-based agriculture, people all over the world used fire as a tool in landscape management. These fires were typically controlled burns or "cool fires", as opposed to uncontrolled "hot fires", which damage the soil. Hot fires destroy plants and animals, and endanger communities. This is especially a problem in the forests of today where traditional burning is prevented in order to encourage the growth of timber crops. Cool fires are generally conducted in the spring and autumn. They clear undergrowth, burning up biomass that could trigger a hot fire should it get too dense. They provide a greater variety of environments, which encourages game and plant diversity. For humans, they make dense, impassable forests traversable. Another human use for fire in regards to landscape management is its use to clear land for agriculture. Slash-and-burn agriculture is still common across much of tropical Africa, Asia and South America. "For small farmers, it is a convenient way to clear overgrown areas and release nutrients from standing vegetation back into the soil", said Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez, an ecologist at the Earth Institute’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation. However, this useful strategy is also problematic. Growing population, fragmentation of forests and warming climate are making the earth's surface more prone to ever-larger escaped fires. These harm ecosystems and human infrastructure, cause health problems, and send up spirals of carbon and soot that may encourage even more warming of the atmosphere – and thus feed back into more fires. Globally today, as much as 5 million square kilometres – an area more than half the size of the United States – burns in a given year.


title: Fire

text: There are numerous modern applications of fire. In its broadest sense, fire is used by nearly every human being on earth in a controlled setting every day. Users of internal combustion vehicles employ fire every time they drive. Thermal power stations provide electricity for a large percentage of humanity by igniting fuels such as coal, oil or natural gas, then using the resultant heat to boil water into steam, which then drives turbines.


title: Fire

text: The use of fire in warfare has a long history. Fire was the basis of all early thermal weapons. Homer detailed the use of fire by Greek soldiers who hid in a wooden horse to burn Troy during the Trojan war. Later the Byzantine fleet used Greek fire to attack ships and men. In the First World War, the first modern flamethrowers were used by infantry, and were successfully mounted on armoured vehicles in the Second World War. In the latter war, incendiary bombs were used by Axis and Allies alike, notably on Tokyo, Rotterdam, London, Hamburg and, notoriously, at Dresden; in the latter two cases firestorms were deliberately caused in which a ring of fire surrounding each city was drawn inward by an updraft caused by a central cluster of fires. The United States Army Air Force also extensively used incendiaries against Japanese targets in the latter months of the war, devastating entire cities constructed primarily of wood and paper houses. The use of napalm was employed in July 1944, towards the end of the Second World War; although its use did not gain public attention until the Vietnam War. Molotov cocktails were also used.


title: Fire

text: Setting fuel aflame releases usable energy. Wood was a prehistoric fuel, and is still viable today. The use of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal, in power plants supplies the vast majority of the world's electricity today; the International Energy Agency states that nearly 80% of the world's power came from these sources in 2002. The fire in a power station is used to heat water, creating steam that drives turbines. The turbines then spin an electric generator to produce electricity. Fire is also used to provide mechanical work directly, in both external and internal combustion engines.


title: Fire

text: The unburnable solid remains of a combustible material left after a fire is called "clinker" if its melting point is below the flame temperature, so that it fuses and then solidifies as it cools, and "ash" if its melting point is above the flame temperature.


title: Fire

text: Deftly controlling a fire to optimize its size, shape, and intensity is generally called "fire management", and the more advanced forms of it, as traditionally (and sometimes still) practiced by skilled cooks, blacksmiths, ironmasters, and others, are highly skilled activities. They include knowledge about selecting which types of wood, charcoal, or mineral coal to burn; how to arrange the fuel; how to stoke the fire both in early phases and in maintenance phases; how to modulate the amount of heat, flames, and smoke as suited to the desired application; how best to bank a fire to be revived later; how to choose, design, or modify woodstoves, coalstoves, bakery ovens, and industrial furnaces; and so on. Detailed expositions of fire management are available in various books about blacksmithing, about skilled camping or military scouting, and about the domestic arts in previous centuries.


title: Fire

text: Wildfire prevention programs around the world may employ techniques such as "wildland fire use" and "prescribed or controlled burns". "Wildland fire use" refers to any fire of natural causes that is monitored but allowed to burn. "Controlled burns" are fires ignited by government agencies under less dangerous weather conditions.


title: Fire

text: Fire fighting services are provided in most developed areas to extinguish or contain uncontrolled fires. Trained firefighters use fire apparatus, water supply resources such as water mains and fire hydrants or they might use A and B class foam depending on what is feeding the fire.


title: Fire

text: Fire prevention is intended to reduce sources of ignition. Fire prevention also includes education to teach people how to avoid causing fires. Buildings, especially schools and tall buildings, often conduct fire drills to inform and prepare citizens on how to react to a building fire. Purposely starting destructive fires constitutes arson and is a crime in most jurisdictions.


title: Fire

text: Model building codes require passive fire protection and active fire protection systems to minimize damage resulting from a fire. The most common form of active fire protection is fire sprinklers. To maximize passive fire protection of buildings, building materials and furnishings in most developed countries are tested for fire-resistance, combustibility and flammability. Upholstery, carpeting and plastics used in vehicles and vessels are also tested.


title: Fire

text: Where fire prevention and fire protection have failed to prevent damage, fire insurance can mitigate the financial impact.


title: Parsec

text: The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (au), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and is defined as the distance at which 1 au subtends an angle of one arcsecond ( of a degree). This corresponds to astronomical units, i.e. formula_1. The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about from the Sun. Most stars visible to the naked eye are within a few hundred parsecs of the Sun, with the most distant at a few thousand.