title: John Maynard Keynes

text: These ideas were informed by events prior to the Great Depression whenin the opinion of Keynes and othersinternational lending, primarily by the US, exceeded the capacity of sound investment and so got diverted into non-productive and speculative uses, which in turn invited default and a sudden stop to the process of lending.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Influenced by Keynes, economics texts in the immediate post-war period put a significant emphasis on balance in trade. For example, the second edition of the popular introductory textbook, "An Outline of Money", devoted the last three of its ten chapters to questions of foreign exchange management and in particular the "problem of balance". However, in more recent years, since the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, with the increasing influence of monetarist schools of thought in the 1980s, and particularly in the face of large sustained trade imbalances, these concernsand particularly concerns about the destabilising effects of large trade surpluseshave largely disappeared from mainstream economics discourse and Keynes's insights have slipped from view. They are receiving some attention again in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–08.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes's early romantic and sexual relationships were exclusively with men. Keynes had been in relationships while at Eton and Cambridge; significant among these early partners were Dilly Knox and Daniel Macmillan. Keynes was open about his affairs, and from 1901 to 1915 kept separate diaries in which he tabulated his many sexual encounters. Keynes's relationship and later close friendship with Macmillan was to be fortunate, as Macmillan's company first published his tract "Economic Consequences of the Peace".


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Attitudes in the Bloomsbury Group, in which Keynes was avidly involved, were relaxed about homosexuality. Keynes, together with writer Lytton Strachey, had reshaped the Victorian attitudes of the Cambridge Apostles: "since [their] time, homosexual relations among the members were for a time common", wrote Bertrand Russell. The artist Duncan Grant, whom he met in 1908, was one of Keynes's great loves. Keynes was also involved with Lytton Strachey, though they were for the most part love rivals, not lovers. Keynes had won the affections of Arthur Hobhouse, and as with Grant, fell out with a jealous Strachey for it. Strachey had previously found himself put off by Keynes, not least because of his manner of "treat[ing] his love affairs statistically".


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Political opponents have used Keynes's sexuality to attack his academic work. One line of attack held that he was uninterested in the long-term ramifications of his theories because he had no children.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes's friends in the Bloomsbury Group were initially surprised when, in his later years, he began pursuing affairs with women, demonstrating himself to be bisexual. Ray Costelloe (who later married Oliver Strachey) was an early heterosexual interest of Keynes. In 1906, Keynes had written of this infatuation that, "I seem to have fallen in love with Ray a little bit, but as she isn't male I haven't [been] able to think of any suitable steps to take."


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: In 1921, Keynes wrote that he had fallen "very much in love" with Lydia Lopokova, a well-known Russian ballerina and one of the stars of Sergei Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes". In the early years of his courtship, he maintained an affair with a younger man, Sebastian Sprott, in tandem with Lopokova, but eventually chose Lopokova exclusively. They were married in 1925, with Keynes's former lover Duncan Grant as best man. "What a marriage of beauty and brains, the fair Lopokova and John Maynard Keynes" was said at the time. Keynes later commented to Strachey that beauty and intelligence were rarely found in the same person, and that only in Duncan Grant had he found the combination. The union was happy, with biographer Peter Clarke writing that the marriage gave Keynes "a new focus, a new emotional stability and a sheer delight of which he never wearied". The couple hoped to have children but this did not happen.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Among Keynes's Bloomsbury friends, Lopokova was, at least initially, subjected to criticism for her manners, mode of conversation and supposedly humble social originsthe last of the ostensible causes being particularly noted in the letters of Vanessa and Clive Bell, and Virginia Woolf. In her novel "Mrs Dalloway" (1925), Woolf bases the character of Rezia Warren Smith on Lopokova. E. M. Forster later wrote in contrition about "Lydia Keynes, every whose word should be recorded": "How we all used to underestimate her".


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes thought that the pursuit of money for its own sake was a pathological condition, and that the proper aim of work is to provide leisure. He wanted shorter working hours and longer holidays for all.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes was interested in literature in general and drama in particular and supported the Cambridge Arts Theatre financially, which allowed the institution to become one of the major British stages outside London.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes's interest in classical opera and dance led him to support the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and the Ballet Company at Sadler's Wells. During the war, as a member of CEMA (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts), Keynes helped secure government funds to maintain both companies while their venues were shut. Following the war, Keynes was instrumental in establishing the Arts Council of Great Britain and was its founding chairman in 1946. From the start, the two organisations that received the largest grants from the new body were the Royal Opera House and Sadler's Wells.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes built up a substantial collection of fine art, including works by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Amedeo Modigliani, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and Georges Seurat (some of which can now be seen at the Fitzwilliam Museum). He enjoyed collecting books; he collected and protected many of Isaac Newton's papers. In part on the basis of these papers, Keynes wrote of Newton as "the last of the magicians."


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes, like other members of the Bloomsbury Group, was greatly influenced by the philosophy of G. E. Moore, which in 1938 he described as "still my religion under the surface". According to Moore, states of mind were the only valuable things in themselves, the most important being "the pleasures of human intercourse and the enjoyment of beautiful objects". Virginia Woolf's biographer tells an anecdote of how Virginia Woolf, Keynes and T. S. Eliot discussed religion at a dinner party, in the context of their struggle against Victorian era morality.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes may have been confirmed, but according to Cambridge University he was clearly an agnostic, which he remained until his death. According to one biographer, "he was never able to take religion seriously, regarding it as a strange aberration of the human mind" but also added that he came to "value it for social and moral reasons" later in life. Another biographer writes that he "broke the family faith and became a 'ferocious agnostic during his time at Eton. One Cambridge acquaintance remembered him as "an atheist with a devotion to King's chapel". At Cambridge, he was strongly associated with the Cambridge Heretics Society, an avowed atheist group which promoted secularism and humanism.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes was ultimately a successful investor, building up a private fortune. His assets were nearly wiped out following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which he did not foresee, but he soon recouped. At Keynes's death, in 1946, his net worth stood just short of £500,000equivalent to about £20.5 million ($27.1 million) in 2018. The sum had been amassed despite lavish support for various charities and philanthropies and despite his ethical reluctance to sell on a falling market in cases where he saw such behaviour as likely to deepen a slump.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes managed the endowment of King's College, Cambridge starting in the 1920s, initially with an unsuccessful strategy based on market timing but later shifting to focus in the publicly traded stock of small and medium-size companies that paid large dividends. This was a controversial decision at the time, as stocks were considered high-risk and the centuries-old endowment had traditionally been invested in agricultural land and fixed income assets like bonds. Keynes was granted permission to invest a small minority of assets in stocks, and his adroit management resulted this portion of the endowment growing to become the majority of the endowment's assets. The active component of his portfolio outperformed a British equity index by an average of 6% to 8% a year over a quarter century, earning him favourable mention by later investors such as Warren Buffett and George Soros.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Joel Tillinghast of Fidelity Investments describes Keynes as an early practitioner of value investing, a school of thought formalised in the US by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd at Columbia Business School during the 1920s and 1930s. However, Keynes is believed to have developed his ideas independently. Keynes also regarded as a pioneer of financial diversification as he recognised the importance of holding assets with "opposed risks" as he wrote "since they are likely to move in opposite directions when there are general fluctuations"; and also as an early international investor who avoided home country bias by investing substantially in stocks outside the United Kingdom. Ken Fisher characterised Keynes as an exception to the rule that economists usually make horrible investors.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes was a lifelong member of the Liberal Party, which until the 1920s had been one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, and as late as 1916 had often been the dominant power in government. Keynes had helped campaign for the Liberals at elections from about 1906, yet he always refused to run for office himself, despite being asked to do so on three separate occasions in 1920. From 1926, when Lloyd George became leader of the Liberals, Keynes took a major role in defining the party's economic policy, but by then the Liberals had been displaced into third-party status by the growing workers-oriented Labour Party.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: In 1939 Keynes had the option to enter Parliament as an independent MP with the University of Cambridge seat. A by-election for the seat was to be held due to the illness of an elderly Tory, and the master of Magdalene College had obtained agreement that none of the major parties would field a candidate if Keynes chose to stand. Keynes declined the invitation as he felt he would wield greater influence on events if he remained a free agent.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes was a proponent of eugenics. He served as director of the British Eugenics Society from 1937 to 1944. As late as 1946, shortly before his death, Keynes declared eugenics to be "the most important, significant and, I would add, genuine branch of sociology which exists."


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes once remarked that "the youth had no religion save communism and this was worse than nothing." Marxism "was founded upon nothing better than a misunderstanding of Ricardo", and, given time, he (Keynes) "would deal thoroughly with the Marxists" and other economists to solve the economic problems their theories "threaten to cause".


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Keynes was a firm supporter of women's rights and in 1932 became vice-chairman of the Marie Stopes Society which provided birth control education. He also campaigned against job discrimination against women and unequal pay. He was an outspoken campaigner for reform of the laws against homosexuality.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Throughout his life, Keynes worked energetically for the benefit both of the public and his friends; even when his health was poor, he laboured to sort out the finances of his old college. Helping to set up the Bretton Woods system, he worked to institute an international monetary system that would be beneficial for the world economy. In 1946, Keynes suffered a series of heart attacks, which ultimately proved fatal. They began during negotiations for the Anglo-American loan in Savannah, Georgia, where he was trying to secure favourable terms for the United Kingdom from the United States, a process he described as "absolute hell". A few weeks after returning from the United States, Keynes died of a heart attack at Tilton, his farmhouse home near Firle, East Sussex, England, on 21 April 1946, at the age of 62. Against his wishes (he wanted his ashes to be deposited in the crypt at King's), his ashes were scattered on the Downs above Tilton.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: Both of Keynes's parents outlived him: his father John Neville Keynes (1852–1949) by three years, and his mother Florence Ada Keynes (1861–1958) by twelve. Keynes's brother Sir Geoffrey Keynes (1887–1982) was a distinguished surgeon, scholar and bibliophile. His nephews include Richard Keynes (1919–2010), a physiologist, and Quentin Keynes (1921–2003), an adventurer and bibliophile. Keynes had no children; his widow, Lydia Lopokova, died in 1981.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: In John Buchan's novel "Island of Sheep" (1936) the character of the financier Barralty is based on Keynes.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: In the BBC series about the Bloomsbury Group, "Life in Squares", Keynes was portrayed by Edmund Kingsley.


title: John Maynard Keynes

text: "Love Letters", based on the correspondence of Keynes and Lydia Lopokova, was performed by Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham-Carter at Charleston in 2021.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The Lockheed A-12 is a high-altitude, Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed's Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. The aircraft was designated A-12, the 12th in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. In 1959, it was selected over Convair's FISH and Kingfish designs as the winner of Project GUSTO, and was developed and operated under Project Oxcart.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The CIA's representatives initially favored Convair's design for its smaller radar cross-section, but the A-12's specifications were slightly better and its projected cost was much lower. The companies' respective track records proved decisive. Convair's work on the B-58 had been plagued with delays and cost overruns, whereas Lockheed had produced the U-2 on time and under budget. In addition, Lockheed had experience running a "black" project.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The A-12 was produced from 1962 to 1964 and flew from 1963 to 1968. It was the precursor to the twin-seat U.S. Air Force YF-12 prototype interceptor, M-21 launcher for the D-21 drone, and the SR-71 Blackbird, a slightly longer variant able to carry a heavier fuel and camera load. The A-12 began flying missions in 1967 and its final mission was in May 1968; the program and aircraft were retired in June. The program was officially revealed in the mid-1990s.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: A CIA officer later wrote, "Oxcart was selected from a random list of codenames to designate this R&D and all later work on the A-12. The aircraft itself came to be called that as well." The crews named the A-12 the "Cygnus", suggested by pilot Jack Weeks to follow the Lockheed practice of naming aircraft after celestial bodies.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: With the failure of the CIA's Project Rainbow to reduce the radar cross-section (RCS) of the U-2, preliminary work began inside Lockheed in late 1957 to develop a follow-on aircraft to overfly the Soviet Union. Designer Kelly Johnson said, "In April 1958 I recall having long discussions with [CIA Deputy Director for Plans] Richard Bissell over the subject of whether there should be a follow-on to the U-2 aircraft. We agreed ... that there should be one more round before satellites would make aircraft reconnaissance obsolete for covert reconnaissance."


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Under Project Gusto the designs were nicknamed "Archangel", after the U-2 program, which had been known as "Angel". As the aircraft designs evolved and configuration changes occurred, the internal Lockheed designation changed from Archangel-1 to Archangel-2, and so on. These names for the evolving designs soon simply became known as "A-1", "A-2", etc. The CIA program to develop the follow-on aircraft to the U-2 was code-named "Oxcart".


title: Lockheed A-12

text: These designs had reached the A-11 stage when the program was reviewed. The A-11 was competing against a Convair proposal called Kingfish, of roughly similar performance. However, the Kingfish included a number of features that greatly reduced its RCS, which was seen as favorable to the board. Lockheed responded with a simple update of the A-11, adding twin canted fins instead of a single right-angle one, and adding a number of areas of non-metallic materials. This became the A-12 design. On 26 January 1960, the CIA ordered 12 A-12 aircraft.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Because the A-12 was well ahead of its time, many new technologies had to be invented specifically for the Oxcart project with some remaining in use in present day. One of the biggest problems that engineers faced at that time was working with titanium.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: In his book "Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed", Ben Rich stated, "Our supplier, Titanium Metals Corporation, had only limited reserves of the precious alloy, so the CIA conducted a worldwide search and using third parties and dummy companies, managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world's leading exporters – the Soviet Union. The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland."


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Before the A-12, titanium was used only in high-temperature exhaust fairings and other small parts directly related to supporting, cooling, or shaping high-temperature areas on aircraft like those subject to the greatest kinetic heating from the airstream, such as wing leading edges. The A-12, however, was constructed mainly of titanium. Titanium is quite rigid and difficult to machine, which made it difficult to form into curves given available techniques. This made it difficult to form the leading edges of the wing and similar surfaces. The solution was found by machining only small "fillets" of the material with the required shape and then gluing them onto the underlying framework which was more linear. A good example is on the wing; the underlying framework of spars and stringers formed a grid, leaving triangular notches along the leading edge that were filled with fillets.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: With the move to the A-12, another improvement in RCS was made by replacing the fillets with new radar-absorbing composite materials made from iron ferrite and silicon laminate, both combined with asbestos to absorb radar returns and make the aircraft more stealthy.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: After development and production at the Skunk Works, in Burbank, California, the first A-12 was transferred to Groom Lake test facility (Area 51). On 25 April 1962 it was taken on its first (unofficial and unannounced) flight with Lockheed test pilot Louis Schalk at the controls. The first official flight took place on 30 April and subsequent supersonic flight on 4 May 1962, reaching speeds of Mach 1.1 at .


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The first five A-12s, in 1962, were initially flown with Pratt & Whitney J75 engines capable of thrust each, enabling the J75-equipped A-12s to obtain speeds of approximately Mach 2.0. On 5 October 1962, with the newly developed J58 engines, an A-12 flew with one J75 engine, and one J58 engine. By early 1963, the A-12 was flying with J58 engines, and during 1963 these J58-equipped A-12s obtained speeds of Mach 3.2. Also, in 1963, the program experienced its first loss when, on 24 May, "Article 123" piloted by Kenneth S. Collins crashed near Wendover, Utah.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Collins safely ejected and was wearing a standard flight suit, avoiding unwanted questions from the truck driver who picked him up. He called Area 51 from a highway patrol office. The reaction to the crash illustrated the secrecy and importance of the project. The CIA called the aircraft a Republic F-105 Thunderchief in news articles and official records. Two nearby farmers were told that the aircraft was carrying atomic weapons to dissuade them from approaching the crash site; and local law enforcement and a passing family were strongly warned to keep quiet about the crash. Each was also paid $25,000 in cash to do so; the project often used such cash payments to avoid outside inquiries into its operations. The project received ample funding; contracted security guards were paid $1,000 monthly with free housing on base, and chefs from Las Vegas were available 24 hours a day for steak, Maine lobster, or other requests.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: In June 1964, the last A-12 was delivered to Groom Lake, from where the fleet made a total of 2,850 test flights. A total of 18 aircraft were built through the program's production run. Of these, 13 were A-12s, three were prototype YF-12A interceptors for the U.S. Air Force (not funded under the OXCART program), and two were M-21 reconnaissance drone carriers. One of the 13 A-12s was a dedicated trainer aircraft with a second seat, located behind the pilot and raised to permit the instructor pilot to see forward. The A-12 trainer, known as "Titanium Goose", retained the J75 power plants for its entire service life.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Three more A-12s were lost in later testing. On 9 July 1964, "Article 133" crashed while making its final approach to the runway when a pitch-control servo device froze at an altitude of and airspeed of causing it to begin a smooth steady roll to the left. Lockheed test pilot Bill Park could not overcome the roll. At about a 45-degree bank angle and altitude he ejected and was blown sideways out of the aircraft. Although he was not very high off the ground, his parachute opened and he landed safely.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: On 28 December 1965, the third A-12 was lost when "Article 126" crashed 30 seconds after takeoff when a series of violent yawing and pitching actions was followed very rapidly with the aircraft becoming uncontrollable. Mele Vojvodich was scheduled to take aircraft number 126 on a performance check flight which included a rendezvous beacon test with a KC-135 tanker and managed to eject safely above the ground. A post-crash investigation revealed that the primary cause of the accident was a maintenance error; a flight-line electrician had mistakenly swapped the connections of the wiring harnesses linking the yaw- and pitch-rate gyroscopes of the Stability Augmentation System to the control-surface servos, meaning that control inputs commanding pitch changes counterintuitively caused the aircraft to yaw and control inputs commanding left or right yaw instead changed the aircraft's pitch angle. The investigation criticised the electrician's negligence, but also noted as contributory causes failures in the supervision of maintenance activity and the fact that the aircraft's design allowed for the swapped connection in the first place.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The first fatality of the Oxcart program occurred on 5 January 1967, when "Article 125" crashed, killing CIA pilot Walter Ray when the aircraft ran out of fuel while on its descent to the test site. No precise cause could be established for the loss and it was considered most probable that a fuel gauging error led to fuel starvation and engine flameout from the base. Ray ejected successfully, but was unable to separate from the seat and was killed on impact. Urban explorers installed a small monument to Ray near at the crash site in the Nevada desert.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Although originally designed to succeed the U-2 overflying the Soviet Union and Cuba, the A-12 was never used for either objective. After a U-2 was shot down in May 1960, the Soviet Union was considered too dangerous to overfly except in an emergency (and overflights were no longer necessary, thanks to reconnaissance satellites) and, although crews trained for flights over Cuba, U-2s continued to be adequate there.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The Director of the CIA decided to deploy some A-12s to Asia. The first A-12 arrived at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa on 22 May 1967. With the arrival of two more aircraft on 24 May, and 27 May this unit was declared to be operational on 30 May, and it began Operation Black Shield on 31 May. Mel Vojvodich flew the first Black Shield operation, over North Vietnam, photographing surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites, flying at , and at about Mach 3.1. During 1967 from the Kadena Air Base, the A-12s carried out 22 sorties in support of the Vietnam War. During 1968 further Black Shield operations were conducted in Vietnam. Additional sorties were also carried out during the Pueblo Crisis with North Korea.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Operations and maintenance at Kadena AB began with the receipt of an alert notification. Both a primary aircraft and pilot and a back-up aircraft and pilot were selected. The aircraft were given thorough inspection and servicing, all systems were checked, and the cameras equipped. Pilots received a detailed route briefing in the early evening prior to the day of flight. On the morning of the flight a final briefing occurred, at which time the condition of the aircraft and its systems was reported, last-minute weather forecasts reviewed, and other relevant intelligence communicated, together with any amendments or changes in the flight plan. Two hours prior to take-off the primary pilot had a medical examination, got into his suit, and was taken to the aircraft. If any malfunctions developed on the primary aircraft, the back-up could execute the mission one hour later.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: A typical route profile for a mission over North Vietnam included a refueling shortly after take-off, south of Okinawa, the planned photographic pass or passes, withdrawal to a second aerial refueling in the Thailand area, and return to Kadena. Its turning radius of was such, however, that on some mission profiles it might intrude into Chinese airspace during the turn.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Once landed, the camera film was removed from the aircraft, boxed, and sent by special aircraft to the processing facilities. Film from earlier missions was developed at the Eastman Kodak plant in Rochester, New York. Later an Air Force Center in Japan carried out the processing in order to place the photointelligence in the hands of American commanders in Vietnam within 24 hours of completion of a mission.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: There were a number of reasons leading to the retirement of the A-12, but one major concern was the growing sophistication of Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites that it had to contend with over mission routes. In 1967, the vehicle was tracked with acquisition radar over North Vietnam, but the SAM site was unsuccessful with the Fan Song guidance radar used to home the missile to the target. On 28 October, a North Vietnamese SAM site launched a single, albeit unsuccessful, missile. Photography from this mission documented the event with photographs of missile smoke above the SAM firing site, and with pictures of the missile and of its contrail. Electronic countermeasures equipment appeared to perform well against the missile firing.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: During a flight on 30 October 1967, pilot Dennis Sullivan detected radar tracking on his first pass over North Vietnam. Two sites prepared to launch missiles but neither did. During the second pass, at least six missiles were fired, each confirmed by missile vapor trails on mission photography. Looking through his rear-view periscope, Sullivan saw six missile contrails climb to about before converging on his aircraft. He noted the approach of four missiles, and although they all detonated behind him, one came within of his aircraft. Post-flight inspection revealed that a piece of metal had penetrated the lower right wing fillet area and lodged against the support structure of the wing tank. The fragment was not a warhead pellet but may have been a part of the debris from one of the missile detonations observed by the pilot.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The SA-2 'Guideline' was an early missile design intended to counter lower-flying and slower aircraft such as the B-52 and B-58. In response to faster, higher-flying designs like the B-70, the Soviets had begun development of greatly improved missile systems, notably the SA-5 'Gammon'. The Soviet Air Defence Forces ("Protivo-Vozdushnaya Oborona", PVO) cleared the SA-5 for service in 1967; if deployed to Vietnam, it would have provided an additional risk to the A-12.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The final Black Shield mission over North Vietnam and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was flown on 8 March 1968. Good quality photography was obtained of Khe Sanh and the Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnamese border areas. No usable photography was obtained of North Vietnam due to adverse weather conditions. There was no indication of a hostile weapons reaction and no ECM systems were activated.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: In 1968, three missions were flown over North Korea. The first mission occurred during a very tense period following seizure of the Navy intelligence ship "Pueblo" on 23 January. The aim was to discover whether the North Koreans were preparing any large scale hostile move following this incident and to actually find where the "Pueblo" was hidden. The ship was found anchored in an inlet in Wonsan Bay attended by two North Korean patrol boats and guarded by three Komars. Chinese tracking of the flight was apparent, but no missiles were fired at the Oxcart.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The second mission on 19 February 1968, was also the first two-pass mission over North Korea. The Oxcart vehicle photographed 84 primary targets plus 89 bonus targets. Scattered clouds covered 20 percent of the area, concealing the area in which the USS "Pueblo" was photographed on the previous mission. One new SA-2 site was identified near Wonsan.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Even before the A-12 became operational, its intended purpose of replacing the U-2 in overflights of the Soviet Union had become less likely. Soviet radar systems increased their blip-to-scan ratios, which rendered the A-12 vulnerable. In any event, President Kennedy had stated publicly that the United States would not resume such missions. By 1965, moreover, the photoreconnaissance satellite programs had progressed to the point that manned flights over the Soviet Union were unnecessary to collect strategic intelligence.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The A-12 program was ended on 28 December 1966 – even before Black Shield began in 1967 – due to budget concerns and because of the SR-71, which began to arrive at Kadena in March 1968. The twin-seat SR-71 was heavier and flew slightly lower and slower than the A-12.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: Ronald L. Layton flew the 29th and final A-12 mission on 8 May 1968, over North Korea. On 4 June 1968, just weeks before the fleet's retirement, an A-12 from Kadena, piloted by Jack Weeks, was lost over the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines while conducting a functional check flight after the replacement of one of its engines. Frank Murray made the final A-12 flight on 21 June 1968, to Palmdale, California, storage facility.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: On 26 June 1968, Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor, the deputy director of Central Intelligence, presented the CIA Intelligence Star for valor to Weeks' widow and pilots Collins, Layton, Murray, Vojvodich, and Dennis B. Sullivan for participation in Black Shield.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The deployed A-12s and the eight non-deployed aircraft were placed in storage at Palmdale. All surviving aircraft remained there for nearly 20 years before being sent to museums around the U.S. On 20 January 2007, despite protests by Minnesota's legislature and volunteers who had maintained it in display condition, the A-12 preserved in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was sent to CIA headquarters to be displayed there.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The A-12 training variant (60-6927 "Titanium Goose") was a two-seat model with two cockpits in tandem with the rear cockpit raised and slightly offset. In case of emergency, the variant was designed to allow the flight instructor to take control.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The YF-12 program was a limited production variant of the A-12. Lockheed convinced the U.S. Air Force that an aircraft based on the A-12 would provide a less costly alternative to the recently canceled North American Aviation XF-108, since much of the design and development work on the YF-12 had already been done and paid for. Thus, in 1960 the Air Force agreed to take the seventh to ninth slots on the A-12 production line and have them completed in the YF-12A interceptor configuration.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The "M-21", a two-seat variant, carried and launched the Lockheed D-21, an unmanned, faster and higher-flying reconnaissance drone. The M-21 had a pylon on its back for mounting the drone and a second cockpit for a Launch Control Operator/Officer (LCO) in the place of the A-12's Q bay. The D-21 was autonomous; after launch, it would fly over the target, travel to a predetermined rendezvous point, eject its data package, and self-destruct. A C-130 Hercules would catch the package in midair.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The M-21 program was canceled in 1966 after a drone collided with the mother ship at launch. The crew safely ejected, but LCO Ray Torick drowned when his flight suit filled with water after landing in the ocean.


title: Lockheed A-12

text: The D-21 lived on in the form of a B-model launched from a pylon under the wing of the B-52 bomber. The D-21B performed operational missions over China from 1969 to 1971, but was not particularly successful.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: The year 2038 problem (also known as Y2038, Y2K38, or the Epochalypse) is a time formatting bug in computer systems with representing times after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: The problem exists in systems which measure Unix time – the number of seconds elapsed since the "Unix epoch" (00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970) – and store it in a signed 32-bit integer. The data type is only capable of representing integers between −(2) and 2 − 1, meaning the latest time that can be properly encoded is 2 − 1 seconds after epoch (03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038). Attempting to increment to the following second (03:14:08) will cause the integer to overflow, setting its value to −(2) which systems will interpret as 2 seconds "before" epoch (20:45:52 UTC on 13 December 1901). The problem is similar in nature to the year 2000 problem.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Computer systems that use time for critical computations may encounter fatal errors if the Y2038 problem is not addressed. Some applications that use future dates have already encountered the bug. The most vulnerable systems are those which are infrequently or never updated, such as legacy and embedded systems. There is no universal solution to the problem, though many modern systems have been upgraded to measure Unix time with signed 64-bit integers which will not overflow for 292 billion years.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Many computer systems measure time and date as Unix time, an international standard for digital timekeeping. Unix time is defined as the number of seconds elapsed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970 (an arbitrarily chosen time), which has been dubbed the "Unix epoch".


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Unix time has historically been encoded as a signed 32-bit integer, a data type composed of 32 binary digits (bits) which represent an integer value, with 'signed' meaning that the number is stored in Two's complement format. Thus, a signed 32-bit integer can only represent integer values from −(2) to 2 − 1 inclusive. Consequently, if a signed 32-bit integer is used to store Unix time, the latest time that can be stored is 2 − 1 (2,147,483,647) seconds after epoch, which is . Systems that attempt to increment this value by one more second to 2 seconds after epoch (03:14:08) will suffer integer overflow, inadvertently flipping the sign bit to indicate a negative number. This changes the integer value to −(2), or 2 seconds "before" epoch rather than "after", which systems will interpret as 20:45:52 on Friday, 13 December 1901. From here, systems will continue to count up, towards zero, and then up through the positive integers again. As many computer systems use time computations to run critical functions, the bug may introduce fatal errors.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Any system using data structures with 32-bit time representations has an inherent risk to fail. A full list of these data structures is virtually impossible to derive, but there are well-known data structures that have the Unix time problem:


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Embedded systems that use dates for either computation or diagnostic logging are most likely to be affected by the Y2038 problem. Despite the modern 18–24 month generational update in computer systems technology, embedded systems are designed to last the lifetime of the machine in which they are a component. It is conceivable that some of these systems may still be in use in 2038. It may be impractical or, in some cases, impossible to upgrade the software running these systems, ultimately requiring replacement if the 32-bit limitations are to be corrected.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Many transportation systems from flight to automobiles use embedded systems extensively. In automotive systems, this may include anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC/ESP), traction control (TCS) and automatic four-wheel drive; aircraft may use inertial guidance systems and GPS receivers. Another major use of embedded systems is in communications devices, including cell phones and Internet-enabled appliances ( e.g. routers, wireless access points, IP cameras) which rely on storing an accurate time and date and are increasingly based on Unix-like operating systems. For example, the Y2038 problem makes some devices running 32-bit Android crash and not restart when the time is changed to that date.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: However, this does not imply that all embedded systems will suffer from the Y2038 problem, since many such systems do not require access to dates. For those that do, those systems which only track the difference between times/dates and not absolute times/dates will, by the nature of the calculation, not experience a major problem. This is the case for automotive diagnostics based on legislated standards such as CARB (California Air Resources Board).


title: Year 2038 problem

text: In May 2006, reports surfaced of an early manifestation of the Y2038 problem in the AOLserver software. The software was designed with a kludge to handle a database request that should "never" time out. Rather than specifically handling this special case, the initial design simply specified an arbitrary time-out date in the future. The default configuration for the server specified that the request should time out after one billion seconds. One billion seconds (just over 31 years, 251 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes and 40 seconds) after 01:27:28 UTC on 13 May 2006 is beyond the 2038 cutoff date. Thus, after this time, the time-out calculation overflowed and returned a date that was actually in the past, causing the software to crash. When the problem was discovered, AOLServer operators had to edit the configuration file and set the time-out to a lower value.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: There is no universal solution for the Year 2038 problem. For example, in the C language, any change to the definition of the codice_2 data type would result in code-compatibility problems in any application in which date and time representations are dependent on the nature of the signed 32-bit codice_2 integer. For example, changing codice_2 to an unsigned 32-bit integer, which would extend the range to 2106 (specifically, 06:28:15 UTC on Sunday, 7 February 2106), would adversely affect programs that store, retrieve, or manipulate dates prior to 1970, as such dates are represented by negative numbers. Increasing the size of the codice_2 type to 64 bits in an existing system would cause incompatible changes to the layout of structures and the binary interface of functions.


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit codice_2 integers. Using a signed 64-bit value introduces a new wraparound date that is over twenty times greater than the estimated age of the universe: approximately 292 billion years from now. The ability to make computations on dates is limited by the fact that codice_7 uses a signed 32-bit integer value starting at 1900 for the year. This limits the year to a maximum of 2,147,485,547 (2,147,483,647 + 1900).


title: Year 2038 problem

text: Alternative proposals have been made (some of which are already in use), such as storing either milliseconds or microseconds since an epoch (typically either 1 January 1970 or 1 January 2000) in a signed 64-bit integer, providing a minimum range of 300,000 years at microsecond resolution. In particular, Java's use of 64-bit long integers everywhere to represent time as "milliseconds since 1 January 1970" will work correctly for the next 292 million years. Other proposals for new time representations provide different precisions, ranges, and sizes (almost always wider than 32 bits), as well as solving other related problems, such as the handling of leap seconds. In particular, TAI64 is an implementation of the International Atomic Time (TAI) standard, the current international real-time standard for defining a second and frame of reference.


title: Radhika Apte

text: Radhika Apte (born 7 September 1985) is an Indian actress. She works predominantly in Hindi films, and has appeared in a few Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, and English-language films. She began acting in theatre and made her film debut with a brief role in the Hindi fantasy, "Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!" (2005).


title: Radhika Apte

text: Apte's first lead role was in the 2009 Bengali social drama, "Antaheen". She gained attention for her supporting roles in three of her 2015 Bollywood productions: "Badlapur", the comedy "Hunterrr", and the biographical film "Manjhi - The Mountain Man". Her leading roles in the 2016 independent films "Phobia" and "Parched" earned her acclaim. In 2018, Apte starred in three Netflix productionsthe anthology film "Lust Stories", the thriller series "Sacred Games", and the horror mini series "Ghoul". She was nominated for an International Emmy Award for her work in the first of these. She has since starred in the Netflix films "Raat Akeli Hai" (2020) and "Monica, O My Darling" (2022), and portrayed Noor Inayat Khan in the American film "A Call to Spy" (2019).


title: Radhika Apte

text: In addition to her work in independent films, Apte has also played the leading lady in mainstream films, such as the Tamil action film "Kabali" (2016), the Hindi biographical film "Pad Man" (2018), and the Hindi black comedy "Andhadhun" (2018), all of which were commercially successful. She has been married to London-based musician, Benedict Taylor, since 2012.


title: Radhika Apte

text: Radhika Apte was born in a Marathi speaking family on 7 September 1985 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Her parents were studying and working as doctors at the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore when she was born. Her father Dr. Charudutt Apte subsequently became a neurosurgeon and chairman of Sahyadri Hospital, Pune. She is an Economics and Mathematics graduate from Fergusson College, Pune. In Pune, she initially studied in a regular school, and then was home schooled along with four friends by their parents living in the same building, who did not want their children to go through the regular schooling system. Apte found this experience liberating, as it boosted her self confidence. While growing up in Pune, Apte trained under Kathak exponent, Rohini Bhate, for eight years. It was during this time that Apte became involved in theater in Pune, and decided to go to Mumbai to join films. However, a few months later, Apte got discouraged by her experience in Mumbai and returned to her family in Pune. Apte recounted these times in an interview with Scoop Whoop in 2018, as a learning yet demoralizing experience, wherein she managed with a salary of 8,000 to 10,000 from theater roles and having to put up with odd house owners and roommates in Goregaon, where she lived as a paying guest. During this time, Apte acted in her first film, a Marathi film called "Gho mala asala hawa" (2009). This was followed by her first Hindi film, Shor in the city, after which she acted in Rakta Charitra, Rakta Charitra 2, and "I am".


title: Radhika Apte

text: On returning to Pune, Apte made an overnight decision of going to London for a year, where she studied contemporary dance at London's Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for a year. Apte said her experience in London was life-changing, as she was exposed to a completely different and liberating way of working professionally. There she met her future husband Benedict, who subsequently moved to Pune with her, travelling regularly to Mumbai for his work while Apte still did not want to return to Mumbai because of her earlier experience. After a year, she finally agreed to move to Mumbai, and her second experience in Mumbai was far more positive, as she no longer felt alone.


title: Radhika Apte

text: Apte first appeared with a small role in the Hindi film "Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!" in 2005, a project she did "just for fun" while still being in college. Actor Rahul Bose, who had seen Apte perform in Anahita Oberoi's play "Bombay Black", suggested her name to director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury who cast her in his National award-winning Bengali film "Antaheen" along with Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose. She played the role of Brinda Roy Menon, a TV journalist, in "Antaheen". Riddhima Seal, writing for "The Times of India", called Apte a "revelation", further adding "With eyes that speak a thousand words, her passion for work and the loneliness of her heart as she waits to chat every night with that special stranger just strikes the right chord".


title: Radhika Apte

text: In 2009, Apte had her first Indian release, KBC productions' "Gho Mala Asla Hava" by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, in which she appeared as Savitri, a village girl. She later collaborated with Bhave and Sukthankar again on the Hindi docufiction "Mor Dekhne Jungle Mein". It was in that year that she also worked on Jatin Wagle's "Ek Indian Manoos", Akash Khurana's "Life Online", about "a bunch of youngsters working in a BPO" and Amol Palekar's Indian film, "Samaantar". In 2010, she was seen in Maneej Premnath's thriller "The Waiting Room" and later, appeared in a significant role in Ram Gopal Varma's "Rakta Charitra" and its sequel. On returning from London, Apte was offered a role in a large blockbuster production Hindi film, but was (in her words) kicked out of it, because they felt she was too fat to be in that film.


title: Radhika Apte

text: In 2011, Apte appeared in the anthology film "I Am" and in "Shor in the City" under Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures. She worked for the third time with the Bhave-Sukthankar duo on "Ha Bharat Majha" (2012), a film inspired by Anna Hazare's movement that was shot in 14 days and screened at various film festivals. Her two other 2012 releases were "Tukaram" in Marathi and "Dhoni", her maiden Tamil film. For her performance in the latter she was nominated for SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.


title: Radhika Apte

text: In 2013, she was seen in the Bengali film "Rupkatha Noy". About her character she said, "I play Sananda, an IT engineer, who is a single mother of a three-year-old child. Sananda had a dreadful past, which keeps haunting her". Apte's first four 2014 releases were "Postcard", "Pendulum", "Legend" and "Vetri Selvan" in three languages – Bengali, Telugu and Tamil, respectively—after which another film of hers, "Lai Bhaari", released. "Pendulum", which was described by Apte as a "story on magic realism which takes you through multiple layers of parallel realities, or apparent realities", had her playing a working woman in relationship with a younger man, while in "Vetri Selvan", she had played the role of a lawyer. "Legend" and "Lai Bhaari" were commercial success, the latter breaking the opening weekend box office record and becoming the highest grossing Marathi film of all time.


title: Radhika Apte

text: In 2015, Apte gained wider recognition for her roles in six feature films released in the first eight months. In the year's first release, Sriram Raghavan's "Badlapur", she had a minor supporting role, for which she shot for six days. Despite appearing only briefly in the latter part of the film, she was widely recognized and appreciated for her performance, with several critics stating that she stood out in the ensemble cast. Rediff's Raja Sen, in particular, wrote that she was "sensational" and featured in "possibly the film's finest" moment. Following a Malayalam release, "Haram", her first in the language, and a Telugu release, "Lion", she had her next Hindi release, the sex comedy "Hunterrr" directed by Harshvardhan Kulkarni. Although the film opened to mixed reviews, Apte again earned praise for her performance. While Shubha Shetty-Saha from mid-day.com described her as "excellent in an absolutely realistic role", Filmfare's Rachit Gupta wrote, "While you're at it, hand one (award) to Radhika Apte...She really comes into her own, in a character that's unconventional and full of surprises". With "Badlapur" and "Hunterrr" both achieving commercial success and winning Apte critical acclaim, she grew in popularity, breaking into the mainstream Bollywood scene, with the media dubbing her the "latest sensation of Bollywood", Bollywood's new "go-to girl" and the "new constant in Indian cinema". HuffPost India wrote, "Radhika Apte is on her way to stardom, whether she likes it or not". In late August, two more Hindi films of her, Ketan Mehta's critically acclaimed biogeographical film "Manjhi - The Mountain Man", based on Dashrath Manjhi, featuring Apte as Manjhi's wife Falguni Devi, and "Kaun Kitne Paani Mein", a satire on water scarcity featuring Apte as an agriculture graduate, released a week apart. Her next film was the Tamil gangster-drama "Kabali", in which she was featured as the wife of Rajinikanth. Upon the release, her performance received positive feedback from critics, and the film proved to be a major commercial success as well.


title: Radhika Apte

text: In 2018, Apte co-starred with Akshay Kumar in R. Balki's comedy-drama "Pad Man", based on a short story in Twinkle Khanna's book, "The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad". It is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham from Tamil Nadu, who campaigned for menstrual hygiene in rural India. Apte's role was that of a shy homemaker whose husband (Kumar) invents low-cost sanitary napkins. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote, "Radhika Apte is, as always, a scene-stealer. She contributes majorly to ensuring that the exchanges between the protagonist and his wife do not veer into corniness."


title: Radhika Apte

text: Apte made her directorial debut with "The Sleepwalkers," starring Gulshan Devaiah and Shahana Goswami. "The Sleepwalkers" is in competition at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2020, under the Best Midnight Short category.


title: Radhika Apte

text: Among Apte's upcoming films are three Hindi language projects, "The Field", the feature debut of Rohit Karn Batra, Leena Yadav's "Parched", a U.S.-Indian co-production, and "Bombairiya", an Indo – British production and a Tamil project, "Ula".


title: Radhika Apte

text: Apte is actively involved with theatre and has been part of several stage plays, mostly in Hindi language. She is associated with Mohit Takalkar's theatre troupe "Aasakta Kalamanch" in her hometown and has acted in plays like "Tu", "Purnaviram", "Matra Ratra" and Samuel Beckett's "That Time" with Rehan Engineer. She also performed a commercial Hindi play, "Kanyadaan", and an English play named "Bombay Black". In 2013, she was part of an Indian play named "Uney Purey Shahar Ek", which was an adaptation of Girish Karnad's "Benda Kaalu on Toast" ("Baked Beans of Toast"). She has also stated that she plans to do an English play in London. Apte has said that she prefers to work in experimental theatre.


title: Radhika Apte

text: Radhika Apte has also acted in a number of short films, including "Darmiyan", in which she played a college girl, Ekta, and "Vakratunda Swaha", which was filmed by "Ashish Avikunthak" over a period of 12 years. She played one of the lead roles in Anurag Kashyap's film on eve teasing, "That Day After Everyday", which released on YouTube in 2012. She has played the title role in Sujoy Ghosh's 2015 Bengali short film "Ahalya".


title: Radhika Apte

text: Apte met Benedict Taylor in 2011 in London during her year-long sabbatical when she had gone to learn contemporary dance. Director Sarang Sathaye, a friend of Radhika, in October 2012, said that the two had been living together since a long time and that a registered marriage took place a month before the official ceremony was said to be held in March 2013.


title: Radhika Apte

text: Apte has spoken out against sexual harassment in the Indian film industry. She supported the MeToo movement in India, stating that she was hopeful that it could bring about a change if enough major industry figures were to participate.


title: Pat Smear

text: Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles-based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guitarist for the rock band Nirvana, which he joined as a touring guitarist in 1993, and Foo Fighters, with whom he has recorded six studio albums. After Nirvana disbanded following the suicide of its frontman Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl went on to become the frontman of rock band Foo Fighters, with Pat soon joining on guitar. He left Foo Fighters in 1997, before rejoining as a touring guitarist in 2005, and has been a full-time member since 2010.


title: Pat Smear

text: Georg Ruthenberg was born and raised in West Los Angeles, California to a mother of African-American and Native American descent and a Jewish German immigrant father. His parents enrolled him in piano lessons at a young age, and a few years later, he began teaching himself to play the guitar. Before becoming a musician, he was a very religious child and at age 13 left home to join a commune. Later, he attended Innovative Program School (IPS), an alternative school within University High School in Los Angeles. It was there that he met vocalist Darby Crash, alongside whom he would play in the Germs in the late 1970s. Smear and Crash were both expelled from IPS due to concerns they were inciting unruly behavior among the students.


title: Pat Smear

text: Smear lists his influences as Joan Jett, Brian James, Brian May, and Steve Jones. He also stated that "all the guitar playing" of John McKay on Siouxsie and the Banshees's first album "really inspired me" and that Yes guitarist Steve Howe is "the best guitarist ever". As a teenager in 1976, Smear and Darby Crash formed the Germs with bassist Lorna Doom and drummer Dottie Danger (the pseudonym of Belinda Carlisle who went on to front The Go-Go's). Smear was the only band member who had any musical knowledge or proficiency at the time. For most of his time in the Germs, Smear reported that he didn't own a guitar but rather "just borrowed from whoever we were playing with".


title: Pat Smear

text: Carlisle was soon replaced by Don Bolles and, in 1979, the band released their first album, "(GI)", produced by Joan Jett. The record is now regarded as a milestone in the history of punk rock, with Smear earning praise for his guitar work: "Smear has an equal claim to being the album's star [alongside Darby], though, and for good reason – not only did he co-write everything, his clipped, catchy monster riffing was as pure punk in the late-'70s sense as anything, wasting no time on anything extraneous."


title: Pat Smear

text: The Germs, along with Smear, appeared in the punk documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization" (1981), directed by Penelope Spheeris. Darby Crash died before the film was released, leading to the band breaking up.


title: Pat Smear

text: Following the demise of the Germs, Smear played in 1981 with the ex-Screamers keyboardist Paul Roessler and his sister Kira Roessler in Twisted Roots. Although short-lived, the band was the toast of the Hollywood punk scene. Smear would go on to play with Nina Hagen and make two solo albums of his own, "Ruthensmear" (also recorded with Roessler), and "So You Fell in Love with a Musician..." Smear also had a brief stint as a member of punk band the Adolescents in 1981.


title: Pat Smear

text: During this time, he also worked as an actor in bit parts, appearing in the television shows "Quincy, M.E." and "CHiPs", and in the films "Blade Runner", "Breakin'" and "Howard the Duck". While working on "Breakin", Smear became friends with Courtney Love. He also appeared as an extra in the music video for Prince and the Revolution's single "Raspberry Beret," sitting in front of Lisa Coleman's piano.


title: Pat Smear

text: Smear was briefly in deathrock band 45 Grave with Don Bolles (the former drummer for the Germs). During this stint, they recorded a 7" titled "Black Cross" and other tracks that would later appear on 45 Grave's 1987 compilation album, "Autopsy".


title: Pat Smear

text: In 1993, he received a call from Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain, asking him to join the band as a second guitarist for an upcoming tour. At first, Smear thought his friend, Carlos "Cake" Nunez, was pranking him; however, Courtney Love had told Smear a few days prior that Cobain was going to call him. Smear accepted immediately and played his first show with Nirvana on "Saturday Night Live" on September 25, 1993. He toured with Nirvana for about six months. Smear appeared on their live albums "MTV Unplugged in New York", "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah", as well as on material for the compilations "Nirvana" and "With the Lights Out" and the concert DVD "Live and Loud".


title: Pat Smear

text: Following Cobain's death, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl formed a band to support his self-titled album, which would ultimately become known as Foo Fighters. Smear joined the group from its inception in late October 1994, but because their first album was a collection of demos recorded solely by Grohl, Smear did not appear on a Foo Fighters album until "The Colour and the Shape" (1997).


title: Pat Smear

text: Shortly after the release of "The Colour and the Shape", Smear quit the band. As Smear later explained, he quit mainly due to exhaustion from the band's relentless touring schedule. Smear's departure was also related to inner-band tensions that sprung up around Grohl's divorce from his first wife, Jennifer Youngblood, who was a close friend of Smear. Grohl explained that he "begged" Smear to stay and Smear agreed to remain in Foo Fighters temporarily due to scheduled touring obligations, but only until a replacement guitarist could be recruited. Grohl eventually invited Franz Stahl, his former bandmate from Scream, to fill the lead guitarist slot.


title: Pat Smear

text: Smear announced his departure from Foo Fighters during a live performance at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards; he played partway through the set, then introduced Stahl who completed the gig.


title: Pat Smear

text: Smear kept a fairly low profile during his absence from Foo Fighters. He produced the debut album for the band Harlow and made scattered television appearances. He was employed as a creative consultant in a motion picture about the Germs and Darby Crash, entitled "What We Do Is Secret", named after one of the band's best-known songs. The film was released at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 23, 2007, and had a limited theatrical release in 2008 and now available on DVD. In the film, Smear is depicted by actor Rick Gonzalez. In 2005, he began performing reunion shows with the Germs, including actor Shane West, who portrays Darby Crash in the film, filling in as lead vocalist.


title: Pat Smear

text: In late 2005, Smear began performing select shows with Foo Fighters again. He continued to play intermittently with the group, often not for the entirety of a concert, before fully rejoining in 2010 and participating in the recording of what would become the album "Wasting Light". He went on to record with the rest of the band on their 8th studio album, "Sonic Highways".


title: Pat Smear

text: During the Foo Fighters' Friday night performance at Bumbershoot Festival on August 29, 1997, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic joined his former bandmates Dave Grohl and Pat Smear on stage for the Foo's encore to salute the late Kurt Cobain. Grohl took his position on drums, Novoselic played bass, and Smear accompanied on guitar. A spotlight encompassed the microphone stand to honor Cobain, who died by suicide on April 5, 1994. They performed a cover of Prince's "Purple Rain", after which a roadie for the Foo Fighters joined them on stage and sang a version of Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown".


title: Pat Smear

text: On December 22, 2010, the remaining members of Nirvana played together during a Foo Fighters show at Paladino's in Tarzana, California, which was recorded for a documentary.


title: Pat Smear

text: On December 12, 2012, Smear, Novoselic and Grohl reunited again for a televised "" benefit. This time, they were fronted by Paul McCartney. They performed "Cut Me Some Slack", the first track from the film soundtrack for "Sound City".


title: Pat Smear

text: On December 15, 2012, they performed "Cut Me Some Slack" on "Saturday Night Live", once again fronted by McCartney.


title: Pat Smear

text: On July 19, 2013, Smear, Novoselic and Grohl reunited on-stage, again with Paul McCartney, during both the first and second encores of McCartney's "Out There" tour stop at Safeco Field, Seattle. They performed "Cut Me Some Slack", as well as numerous Beatles' songs.


title: Pat Smear

text: On April 11, 2014, Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though Smear was not inducted, he joined Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic on stage for performances of Nirvana songs along with Joan Jett, Lorde, St. Vincent and Kim Gordon.


title: Pat Smear

text: The surviving Nirvana members reunited yet again with Joan Jett, Deer Tick's John McCauley, as well as The Distillers' Brody Dalle for a six-song encore set to close out Cal Jam 18 on Saturday, October 6, 2018, at Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino, Calif.


title: Pat Smear

text: Smear was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as a member of the Foo Fighters. His former band mate from The Germs, Dottie Danger (Belinda Carlisle), was inducted the same year as a member of The Go-Go's.


title: Pat Smear

text: Smear for a long span of his career almost exclusively used Hagström guitars, after buying one late during his time in the Germs and went on to collaborate on a signature guitar with the company. Smear now primarily uses Gibson guitars. He can be seen with classic models such as a White SG Custom or a Les Paul but mostly custom shop variations on the rare Johnny A model. Smear also uses a Gibson Barney Kessel model guitar while playing with the Foo Fighters.


title: Pat Smear

text: For the "MTV Unplugged in New York" performance, Smear used a "Buck Owens American" acoustic guitar, which belonged to Krist Novoselic.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and has made appearances in film and television such as "Trailer Park Boys" and "Gilmore Girls". He continues his music career as a solo artist.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach was born in the Bahamas and was raised in Peterborough, Ontario. He is one of eight children. His brother Zac Bierk is a retired ice hockey player.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: His father, David Bierk (d. 2002), was a noted painter. He painted one of Skid Row's album covers and inside cover art on another band album, and an album cover for one of Bach's solo records, and inside art for another solo effort.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach became confident of his ability to sing partly from listening to his mother and aunt sing informally at home and feeling joyful when he heard them.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: He also joined a church choir when he was eight years old, and found much joy in singing "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" with them. He knew while singing the hymn that he would sing for the rest of his life.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: The members of Kid Wikkid were based in Peterborough, Ontario. Upon hearing of the band and unaware of their ages, 14-year-old Bach auditioned for the group, and was hired by guitar player and band leader Jason Delorme. Kid Wikkid moved back to Toronto, and Bach's dad eventually allowed Bach to move in with an aunt.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Skid Row initially formed in the mid-1980s with lead vocalist Matt Fallon fronting the group, and they began playing at various clubs around the New Jersey area. Fallon left the band in 1987, leaving Skid Row in search of a lead vocalist. Bach was spotted singing at rock photographer Mark Weiss's wedding by Jon Bon Jovi's parents, who subsequently approached him and suggested he get in touch with their son's friend, Dave Sabo, who was looking for a lead vocalist for his band. Bach was wary of joining another US-based band after briefly being a member of Detroit's Madam X. Upon hearing Skid Row's demo tapes, however, Bach flew to New Jersey to audition and became the up-and-coming band's lead vocalist in early 1987.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Skid Row achieved commercial success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with its first two albums "Skid Row" (1989) and "Slave to the Grind" (1991) certified multi-platinum, the latter of which reached number one on the "Billboard" 200. The band's third album "Subhuman Race" (1995) was also critically acclaimed.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach has received criticism for a photo, taken in 1989, in which he is wearing a T-shirt reading "AIDS Kills Fags Dead", a play on the tagline at the time for the insecticide Raid, "Raid Kills Bugs Dead". In a 2003 interview, he stated about the controversy, "That was really stupid and wrong for me to wear that for one-half hour in my life. What nobody brings up is in 2000, when I was in 'Jekyll & Hyde,' and at an auction for Broadway Cares, I donated $12,000 of my own money to fight AIDS."


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Following disagreements over musical material and infuriating Bolan, Bach was fired from the band in 1996. However, rumors circulated that he had left the band due to his other band-mates believing they should not play as an opening act for Kiss. Band-mate Rachel Bolan also had a side project, a punk band Prunella Scales who were playing at the same time as the planned Kiss show. The rift between Bach and the other band members subsequently led to his leaving Skid Row. Four years later, Skid Row was one of the opening acts for the 2000 Kiss Farewell Tour, without Bach.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 1993, Bach shortly toured with Triumph after the release of their album "Edge of Excess", providing lead vocals up until the band broke up later the same year.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 1996, Bach joined The Last Hard Men, an alternative rock supergroup formed by Breeders lead guitarist Kelley Deal, which also included Frogs guitarist Jimmy Flemion and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The group recorded a full-length self-titled album for Atlantic Records, who then opted not to release it. In 1998 it was released on Kelley Deal's label, Nice Records, with no fanfare and a very limited pressing of 1,000 CDs. The band also recorded a cover of the Alice Cooper song "School's Out" for the soundtrack album of the 1996 film "Scream".


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 1999, Bach released his debut solo album "Bring 'Em Bach Alive!", his first release after his departure from Skid Row. Mainly a live album of Bach's Skid Row songs, it also presented five new studio recordings, including the single "Superjerk, Superstar, Supertears".


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 2000, Bach began performing in Broadway productions. He made his Broadway debut with the title role(s) in "Jekyll & Hyde" in April 2000. He also appeared as Riff Raff in "The Rocky Horror Show" in 2001. On November 28, 2001 Bach appeared at New York Steel, a benefit concert held in response to 9/11.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In early 2002, he became the host of "VH1's Forever Wild". In October of that year, Bach was signed to perform in the national touring production of "Jesus Christ Superstar", playing the title role alongside "JCS" veteran Carl Anderson.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: A DVD video of live performances called "Forever Wild" was released in June 2004. That same year, he reprised the title role(s) in another showing of "Jekyll & Hyde".


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 2003, Bach tried out for Velvet Revolver before the band found Scott Weiland, but was turned down because, according to Slash, "We sounded like Skid Roses!" From 2003 to 2007, Bach had a recurring role on the WB television show "Gilmore Girls" as "Gil", the lead guitarist in Lane Kim's band, "Hep Alien". Members of Bach Tight Five (a project initiated by Bach in 2004, but dissolved shortly thereafter) lived with Bach and his family as documented on VH1's "I Married ...Sebastian Bach", one of the "I Married ..." series. In 2005, Bach collaborated with Henning Pauly to be the singer on the Frameshift album called "An Absence of Empathy", released in April 2005. He was recommended to Henning by Dream Theater's James LaBrie.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: On May 12 and 14, 2006, at the Guns N' Roses' warmup show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Bach joined Axl Rose on stage for the song "My Michelle"... He joined Rose and the rest for a third time the following night (May 15) to sing "My Michelle" once again. He also joined them for their Pre-Download Festival show in the Apollo Hammersmith, London, singing My Michelle. Rose introduced Bach by saying that the two had rekindled their friendship in the previous week after 13 years of not speaking. On June 4, 9 & 11 he again joined Rose on stage at the 2006 Gods of Metal Festival (Milan), Download Festival in RDS Dublin and in Donington, respectively. On September 23, 2006, he joined Axl on stage once again at KROQ-FM's Inland Invasion festival in California for a rendition of "My Michelle".


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach starred in the 2006 VH1 reality show "Supergroup", in which he, along with Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, Jason Bonham and Evan Seinfeld, were tasked with forming a heavy metal supergroup, with Bach as the lead vocalist. The seven-episode series was filmed during a twelve-day period when the musicians all lived together in a mansion in Las Vegas. The resulting band, originally called "Fist", was eventually named Damnocracy; both names were Bach's ideas. Damnocracy had no recorded output.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 2007, Bach announced a partnership record label with EMI to jointly create a label owned by him, including his album "Angel Down", which was released on November 20, 2007. Bach also recorded backing vocals for the track "Sorry" on Guns N' Roses' long-delayed "Chinese Democracy", which was released in November 2008. He spent the summer of 2008 playing with Poison and Dokken.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach was the winner of the second season of the CMT reality show "Gone Country", which aired in 2008.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach toured as an opening act for Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy Tour" 2009–2010, and performed "My Michelle" with Axl Rose in Quebec City on February 1, 2010. On January 5, 2011, he was featured on NBC's Jimmy Fallon Show in a live performance and a subsequent video of "We Are The Ducks", a power ballad written for University of Oregon Ducks, set to play in the BCS national championship game Monday, January 10, 2011. In 2011, Bach was interviewed by British metalcore band Asking Alexandria in the March/April issue of "Revolver". The band are fans of Skid Row and covered two of their songs the preceding year of the interview. The same year, Bach performed "Youth Gone Wild" with the band live at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and Rock on the Range. Bach was also filmed in their music video "Closure".


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Bach provided the voice of Prince Triton, King Neptune's rebellious son, in the "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode, "SpongeBob and the Clash of Triton" in 2010. On June 15, 2011, Bach revealed the title of his upcoming solo album would be "Kicking & Screaming". On July 8, 2011 track list, cover art and title of the first single were revealed. It was released September 27, 2011 for North America and worldwide and September 23, 2011 for Europe on Frontiers Records. On August 13, 2012, Nick Sterling was fired by Bach after refusing to sign an agreement to appear on an undisclosed TV show.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: Formed in 2007, Big Noize was an All-Star band consisting in founder member and drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven & Hell) plus other "monsters" such as guitarist Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot), later replaced by George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), bassist Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne) and vocalist Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow). Turner was replaced by Bach for the Kavarna Rock festival on July 14, 2012 and for a tour to South America, starting in Chile on July 9, 2013.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: On April 30, 2013, Bach confirmed via Twitter that a new studio album was in the works. He went on to say that Bob Marlette would be returning as producer. Bach had collaboration work for the upcoming album with John 5, Duff McKagan, and Steve Stevens. On January 13, 2014, "Give 'Em Hell" was announced with a prospective release date of April 22, 2014. He also appeared in two "Trailer Park Boys" episodes from their 2014 season. In 2014, Bach completed his Give 'Em Hell tour and in 2015, Bach went on another tour titled the "18 and LIVE" tour.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In 2019, Bach toured behind the 30th anniversary of Skid Row's self-titled debut album, playing it live in its entirety. On July 20, 2021, it was announced that Bach would be doing a tour in the fall for the 30th anniversary of Skid Row's "Slave to the Grind".


title: Sebastian Bach

text: At one time, Bach lived in Red Bank, New Jersey. In August 2011, his New Jersey home was damaged by Hurricane Irene and declared uninhabitable. Several Kiss and Skid Row artifacts (including Skid Row master tapes) were in the house, but none were damaged. His father's art, comic books, and the Kiss gargoyles from their 1979 tour were also salvaged.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In the mid-1980s, Bach began dating Maria Aquinar. The couple had a son, Paris, in 1988. Bach and Aquinar married in July 1992 and had another son, London, in 1994 and a daughter, Sebastiana, born in 2007. Bach and Aquinar split up in April 2010.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: In December 2010, Bach began dating model Minnie Gupta. They were engaged in April 2012 but ended their engagement in late 2014.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: On December 28, 2014, Bach became engaged to Suzanne Le after two months of dating. They married in August 2015 and currently live in Los Angeles.


title: Sebastian Bach

text: On July 13, 2017, Bach underwent "singing-related" hernia surgery. He started to recover a month later and then explained that the operation was needed, "because [he] literally screamed [his] guts out."


title: Luís Figo

text: Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-time record that has since been bettered by Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo and João Moutinho. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.


title: Luís Figo

text: Renowned for his vision and creativity, his 106 assists are the second-most in La Liga history, behind Lionel Messi. He won the 2000 Ballon d'Or, 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2004 Pelé named him in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. Figo is one of the few football players to have played for both Spanish rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. His controversial transfer in 2000 from Barcelona to Real Madrid set a world record fee of €62 million.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo had a successful career highlighted by several trophy wins, including the Portuguese Cup, four La Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, one UEFA Champions League title, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, four Serie A titles, one Italian Cup and three Italian Super Cups. At international level, he scored 32 goals for Portugal, representing the nation at three European Championships and two World Cups, helping them reach the final but finish as runners-up at Euro 2004.


title: Luís Figo

text: The only child of António Caeiro Figo and Maria Joana Pestana Madeira who moved from Alentejo to Lisbon in the early 1970s, Figo grew up in the working-class district of Cova da Piedade, Almada. He began his career as a street footballer at U.F.C. Os Pastilhas, before joining the academy of Sporting Clube de Portugal at the age of 12. In his youth, Figo played futsal from which he learned a lot of skills that helped him later in his career.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo started his career at Sporting CP, making his league debut on 1 April 1990 during the 1989–90 season as a substitute for Marlon Brandão in a 1–0 home win against Marítimo. On 7 December 1991, Figo scored his first goal against Torreense in the 1991–92 season, equalising as Sporting won 2–1. He won his first senior international cap in 1991. Prior to that, he won the 1991 FIFA Under-20 World Championships and Under-16 European Championships with Portugal junior sides alongside Rui Costa and João Pinto. He was also a significant part of Portugal's "Golden Generation". In his final season at Sporting he won the 1994–95 Portuguese Cup.


title: Luís Figo

text: In 1995, Figo looked poised to join one of the big clubs of Europe, but a dispute between Italian clubs Juventus and Parma, with Figo having signed contracts with both clubs, resulted in an Italian two-year transfer ban on him. Eventually, Figo made a move to Spanish giants Barcelona for a £2.25 million fee, being loaned back for the remainder of the season due to a rule prohibiting Portuguese players from signing for foreign clubs outside a fixed period. This rule had prevented Figo from joining English club Manchester City, where he had been recommended by his former Sporting manager Malcolm Allison for a fee of around £1.2 million.


title: Luís Figo

text: It was with Barcelona that Figo's career really took off, winning the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, starring alongside Ronaldo, followed by successive Primera División titles where he was part of a formidable attack that included Rivaldo and Patrick Kluivert. In total, Figo appeared 172 times in the league for Barcelona, scoring 30 goals. He was revered in Barcelona because his presence had given Catalonia a sense of external approval.


title: Luís Figo

text: In July 2000, Figo made a surprising and controversial €62 million move to Barcelona's bitter rivals Real Madrid. Real Madrid met the buyout clause in Figo's contract at Barcelona, a new world record fee, and his arrival at Madrid signalled the beginning of Florentino Pérez's "Galáctico era" of global stars signed by the club every year. Figo became the new focus of the Barcelona–Real Madrid rivalry, with Barcelona fans feeling betrayed by his transfer and turning against him. His move to Madrid was significant due to his status as a star player at Barcelona, reliable, and always committed to the cause as a team leader. One of his Barcelona teammates stated, "Our plan was simple: give the ball to Luís. He never, ever hid". Although now wearing the white shirt of Real Madrid, he won the Ballon d'Or award in November 2000, largely for what he did for Barcelona, where he became the best in the world.


title: Luís Figo

text: When Figo returned to Barcelona for the first time in a Real Madrid shirt on 21 October 2000, the noise at Camp Nou was deafening. There were banners hung around the stadium with words like "Traitor", "Judas", "Scum", and "Mercenary". Figo was mercilessly taunted throughout, and when he came out of the tunnel and ran onto the field the jeers of almost 98,000 Barcelona fans escalated, with a visibly shocked Figo putting his fingers to his ears. When "El Clásico" started, each time Figo got the ball the noise rose with insults and missiles flying such as oranges, bottles, cigarette lighters and mobile phones. The regular corner taker for Madrid, Figo did not take any corners at the Camp Nou to avoid being in close proximity to the fans. Barcelona were victorious, winning 2–0, and Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez stated after the match, "The atmosphere got to us all." Madrid defender Iván Campo commented,


title: Luís Figo

text: In his first season with Madrid, Figo won the 2001 La Liga title, scoring 14 goals in all competitions. For his performances at Real, he was designated the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year. He would be joined at the club by Zinedine Zidane in the middle of 2001, and in the following season Madrid won the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League. He missed two fixtures against Barcelona through injury and suspension.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo's second game back at the Camp Nou, on 23 November 2002, produced one of the defining images of the Barcelona–Real Madrid rivalry. There was no sign of the hatred or the hurt subsiding, and every time he came within range of the Barcelona fans, beer cans, lighters, bottles and golf balls flew. Figo commented, "I was worried that some madman might lose his head." This time, Figo had decided that he would take corners, as well as throw-ins, and midway through the second half Madrid won a corner. Amid a shower of flying objects, it took Figo two minutes to take it. Another corner followed on the other side, and as Figo walked across, he slowed to pick up the missiles and as he prepared to take the corner he moved away some of the debris while giving an ironic thumbs-up and smiling. Every time he began his run-up to take the corner, another missile would land which was repeated over and over, until the referee Luis Medina Cantalejo suspended the game for almost 20 minutes. During the break in play, the defining image of the rivalry, a pig's head, was picked up on camera, which was in among the debris near the corner flag.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo would spend five seasons at Madrid, with his final success being the 2003 La Liga title. In April 2013, Figo was named by the sports newspaper "Marca" as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history".


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo left Real Madrid to join the Italian club Inter Milan in the middle of 2005 on a free transfer after his contract with Madrid had expired. This meant that Figo would finally be able to play for a club in Italy, something he had the chance to do before his move to Barcelona, but was scuppered due to a dispute between the two clubs interested, Juventus and Parma. During the middle of 2008, Figo's compatriot José Mourinho joined Inter as manager. This has been said to please Figo, as he would have several Portuguese teammates during the remainder of his stay at Inter. On 16 May 2009, Figo announced his retirement from football, the same day Inter won the 2008–09 title, and re-confirmed this on 30 May; his final game was on 31 May against Atalanta at the San Siro. At Javier Zanetti's insistence, Figo captained the side for his last match. He received a standing ovation from the crowd as he was substituted by Davide Santon. The free-kick he scored in extra time against Roma during the Supercoppa Italiana was his most memorable moment in Italy.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo said, "I am leaving football, not Inter." He was interviewed by Inter Channel after his last game against Atalanta and also said, "I hope to be able to help this club to become even greater also after my retirement. I will certainly work for Inter in the future on the club board. I never imagined that I was going to remain here for such a long time. What I will never forget is the love that I have received since my first day here from my teammates and president Massimo Moratti. I will never forget it; Inter has given me the chance to start a winning cycle with some extraordinary people." Figo was on the sidelines when Inter won the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League on 22 May 2010.


title: Luís Figo

text: The leader of Portugal's "Golden Generation", Figo won a FIFA World Youth Championship in 1991, the same year he made his senior debut against Luxembourg on 16 October 1991, in a friendly match that ended 1–1 when he was only 18 years old. His first goal equalised in a 2–1 friendly victory over Bulgaria in Paris on 11 November 1992. Figo scored three goals in eight qualifying games for UEFA Euro 1996, as his country reached the continental tournament for the first time in 12 years. In the final group game at the tournament, against Croatia at the City Ground in Nottingham, Figo opened a 3–0 victory with a fourth-minute strike; the result sent Portugal into the quarter-finals as group winners ahead of their opponents.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo featured in all ten of Portugal's qualifiers for the next European Championship, scoring three times in the process. On 12 June 2000, in their opening game of the tournament in Eindhoven, he scored Portugal's first goal as they came from behind to beat England 3–2, again advancing as group winners to be eliminated in the semi-finals. He was rested by Humberto Coelho for the final group match against Germany in Rotterdam, breaking a chain of 32 consecutive international appearances. His only hat-trick for the national team came on 15 August 2001, when he netted all of the goals in a 3–0 friendly victory over Moldova at the Estádio de São Luís in Faro.


title: Luís Figo

text: With six goals in nine matches, Figo helped Portugal qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup; on 2 June 2001, in the qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at Lansdowne Road, he served as captain for the first time on his 74th cap and scored the equaliser for a 1–1 draw. In their first World Cup since 1986, Portugal suffered group stage elimination while Figo failed to score a goal.


title: Luís Figo

text: On 18 February 2004, Figo earned his 100th cap in a 1–1 friendly draw with England at the Estádio Algarve, playing as captain despite regular skipper Fernando Couto being in the starting line-up. Later that year at the European Championship on home soil, he captained the side after Couto was dropped. He announced his retirement from international football following the Euro 2004 final upset-defeat by Greece due to an alleged rift between him and national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, although this was denied. In June 2005, he reversed his decision and returned for the 2006 World Cup qualifying wins against Slovakia and Estonia under Scolari.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo captained the squad during the 2006 World Cup, leading the team to the semi-finals. With three wins, Portugal finished top of their group and qualified for the knock-out rounds with Mexico. They advanced past the Netherlands in the last 16, and defeated England on penalties in the quarter-final. Figo did not take part in the shootout, having been substituted for Hélder Postiga. In the semi-final, Portugal was beaten by France courtesy of a penalty from his former club-mate and French captain Zinedine Zidane. This was Portugal's best finish in 40 years. The third-place playoff caused some controversy as Figo did not start; Pauleta captained the team in his place. However, Portugal fell behind 2–0 to hosts Germany and Figo replaced Pauleta in the 77th minute, who handed him back the captain's armband to cheers from both Portuguese and German fans. Although Germany scored another goal shortly after Figo's entrance, he ended his final cap for his country on a high note by setting up Nuno Gomes to head in an 88th-minute consolation goal, thus passing his number 7 jersey down to his successor, Cristiano Ronaldo.


title: Luís Figo

text: Despite having no trophies to show for the "Golden Generation", Figo managed to captain the team to their best World Cup performance since the Eusébio era in 1966, as well as helping Portugal to their best-ever result in the UEFA European Championship until they won it in 2016. He finished his international career with 127 caps and scoring 32 goals, and held the record until June 2016 for most appearances with the Portugal national team; he is also Portugal's fourth-highest all-time goalscorer.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and one of the greatest Portuguese players of all time. At his physical peak, Figo was a quick, agile, physically strong, elegant, highly skillful player with close control, fluidity, grace, acceleration, agility, quick feet, balance, flair and a dribbling ability that allowed him to frequently take on and beat defenders in one on one situations. He would often employ feints or tricks to beat opponents, such as stepovers. Technically one of the most accomplished players of all time, he possessed an excellent first touch. Although naturally right-footed, he was capable of using either foot. Figo was usually deployed as a winger in his early career, where he was capable of providing several assists, due to his ability to provide curling crosses to teammates from the right flank, or cut inside, drift onto the left, or link-up with midfielders, and create goalscoring opportunities. He has made the second-most assists in La Liga history behind Lionel Messi.


title: Luís Figo

text: As he lost speed and mobility with age as his career advanced, he was deployed in a playmaking role as an attacking midfielder, in particular during his time with Inter, where he excelled with his vision, intelligence and varied passing ability. Although he primarily served as a creative player, he was also capable of contributing offensively with goals due to his powerful striking ability from distance, as well as his accuracy from free-kicks and penalties. In addition to his football ability, Figo was also highly regarded for his leadership throughout his career.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo has appeared in commercials for the sportswear company Nike. In 1996, he starred in a Nike commercial titled "Good vs Evil" in a gladiatorial game set in a Roman amphitheatre. Appearing alongside football players from around the world, including Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini, Ian Wright, Eric Cantona, Patrick Kluivert and Jorge Campos, they defend "the beautiful game" against a team of demonic warriors, before it culminates with Cantona striking the ball and destroying evil.


title: Luís Figo

text: In a global Nike advertising campaign in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Figo starred in a "Secret Tournament" commercial (branded by Nike as "Scorpion KO") directed by Terry Gilliam, appearing alongside football players such as Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti, Roberto Carlos and Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament "referee".


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo features in EA Sports' "FIFA" video game series; he was named in the Ultimate Team Legends in "FIFA 14". In 2015, the arcade game company Konami announced that Figo would feature in their football video game "Pro Evolution Soccer 2016" as one of the new myClub Legends. In 2018, Figo was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in "FIFA 19".


title: Luís Figo

text: He has also taken part in several Iranian television shows such as Navad TV during the 2018 World Cup draw, together with Hamid Estili and former Hamburg player Mehdi Mahdavikia.


title: Luís Figo

text: In August 2022, Netflix launched "El Caso Figo" ("The Figo Affair"), a documentary about Figo's transfer from Barcelona to Real Madrid.


title: Luís Figo

text: On 28 January 2015, Figo announced his intention to run against incumbent Sepp Blatter for the position of FIFA president. His endorsers included José Mourinho and David Beckham. In his manifesto, Figo mentioned his support for expanding the World Cup to 48-team finals tournaments, and promised greater investment in grassroots football and national federations. Considered an outsider compared to Blatter and the other two candidates – Michael van Praag and Prince Ali bin Hussein – Figo withdrew from the election campaign on 21 May, stating that he did not want to be given "absolute power".


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo is married to Swedish model Helen Svedin. They have three daughters – Daniela (born in 1999), Martina (born in 2002), and Stella (born in 2004).


title: Luís Figo

text: Along with his countryman, former Portugal national team manager and former youth team coach Carlos Queiroz, Figo was briefly joint seat holder for A1 Team Portugal, in A1 Grand Prix, during the 2005–06 season. He owns an upscale bar in the Algarve region of Portugal.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo is an ambassador for the Stop TB Partnership in the fight against tuberculosis. He works closely with Inter Milan, serving as an ambassador for the club at functions across Europe. He is also a board member of the Inter Campus charity project run by Inter Milan.


title: Luís Figo

text: Figo is the founder of Network90, a private members' networking site for the Professional Football Industry. Figo is fluent in five languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French. He has also congratulated his wife on her birthday on Instagram in Swedish, although he has never spoken the language in media appearances.


title: Vikrant Rona

text: Vikrant Rona is a 2022 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Anup Bhandari, produced by Jack Manjunath and co-produced by Alankar Pandian. It stars Sudeepa in the title role with Nirup Bhandari, Neetha Ashok, and Jacqueline Fernandez. The story revolves around Inspector Vikrant Rona, who arrives at a remote village in the middle of a tropical rainforest where he starts witnessing a series of unexplainable events which are attributed to the supernatural.


title: Vikrant Rona

text: "Vikrant Rona" was released theatrically in 3D on 28 July 2022, and digitally in ZEE5 on 2 September 2022. The film received negative reviews from critics but positive reviews from audience and thus became the third highest-grossing Kannada film at the time of its release.


title: Vikrant Rona

text: In the village of Kamarottu, which is situated in Karnataka, Janardhan Gambira is a short-tempered landlord who lives with his wife Santha "Shaku" and his brother Eknath. Janardhan's friend's son, Vishwanath Ballal, arrives at the village with his wife and two children, Aparna "Panna" and Mohanchandra "Munna". Vishwanath tells Janardhan that Panna is engaged to Rakesh and that he wants to arrange the marriage in their ancestral Kamarottu house, but Janardhan refuses, as the house is haunted by the brahmarakshasa. This is due to his son, Sanjeev "Sanju", having stolen jewels from the village's temple, 28 years ago. At night, Sanju arrives at the village, from London where he meets Panna, who along with him, finds the beheaded corpse of a cop named Suresh Krishna, in the house well.


title: Vikrant Rona

text: After this incident, Inspector Vikrant Rona arrives at the village to investigate, where an attempt is made to kill him, but Vikrant manages to escape. Upon taking charge, Vikrant reaches the Kamarottu house, where after inspecting the well, he finds the dead cop's purse with a note in it. Vikrant heads to the forest to find the culprit, where another attempt is made to kill him, but he manages to defeat the attackers, who escape. Vikrant tries to capture them, but finds a child hanging at a tree, and a watch, belonging to Suresh Krishna. After inspecting the corpse, Vikrant finds a parchment, which has: "Gara Gara Gara Gaggara Jarba, Pira Nalkuri Netthara Parba" written on it and weird make-up on the face of the corpse. Vikrant learns that 14 children were also killed in the same manner and are linked to the local school in the village, which is being run by P.E. teacher, Lawrence Pinto. At a time Vikrant meets Rakamma for the information of drug dealer.At a time they have feeling attraction and they have sex .