title: Dollar

text: The Joachimsthaler of the 16th century was succeeded by the longer-lived Reichsthaler of the Holy Roman Empire, used from the 16th to 19th centuries. The Netherlands also introduced its own dollars in the 16th century: the Burgundian Cross Thaler ("Bourgondrische Kruisdaalder"), the German-inspired "Rijksdaalder", and the Dutch liondollar ("leeuwendaalder"). The latter coin was used for Dutch trade in the Middle East, in the Dutch East Indies and West Indies, and in the thirteen colonies of North America.


title: Dollar

text: For the English North American colonists, however, the Spanish peso or "piece of eight" has always held first place, and this coin was also called the "dollar" as early as 1581. Spanish dollars or "pieces of eight" were distributed widely in the Spanish colonies in the New World and in the Philippines.


title: Dollar

text: The sign is first attested in business correspondence in the 1770s as a scribal abbreviation "p", referring to the Spanish American peso, that is, the "Spanish dollar" as it was known in British North America. These late 18th- and early 19th-century manuscripts show that the "s" gradually came to be written over the "p" developing a close equivalent to the "$" mark, and this new symbol was retained to refer to the American dollar as well, once this currency was adopted in 1785 by the United States.


title: Dollar

text: By the time of the American Revolution, the Spanish dólar gained significance because they backed paper money authorized by the individual colonies and the Continental Congress. Because Britain deliberately withheld hard currency from the American colonies, virtually all the non-token coinage in circulation was Spanish (and to a much lesser extent French and Dutch) silver, obtained via illegal but widespread commerce with the West Indies. Common in the Thirteen Colonies, Spanish dólar were even legal tender in one colony, Virginia.


title: Dollar

text: On April 2, 1792, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton reported to Congress the precise amount of silver found in Spanish dollar coins in common use in the states. As a result, the United States dollar was defined as a unit of pure silver weighing 371 4/16th grains (24.057 grams), or 416 grains of standard silver (standard silver being defined as 371.25/416 in silver, and balance in alloy). It was specified that the "money of account" of the United States should be expressed in those same "dollars" or parts thereof. Additionally, all lesser-denomination coins were defined as percentages of the dollar coin, such that a half-dollar was to contain half as much silver as a dollar, quarter-dollars would contain one-fourth as much, and so on.


title: Dollar

text: In an act passed in January 1837, the dollar's weight was reduced to 412.5 grains and alloy at 90% silver, resulting in the same fine silver content of 371.25 grains. On February 21, 1853, the quantity of silver in the lesser coins was reduced, with the effect that their denominations no longer represented their silver content relative to dollar coins.


title: Dollar

text: Various acts have subsequently been passed affecting the amount and type of metal in U.S. coins, so that today there is no legal definition of the term "dollar" to be found in U.S. statute. Currently the closest thing to a definition is found in United States Code Title 31, Section 5116, paragraph b, subsection 2: "The Secretary [of the Treasury] shall sell silver under conditions the Secretary considers appropriate for at least $1.292929292 a fine troy ounce."


title: Dollar

text: Silver was mostly removed from U.S. coinage by 1965 and the dollar became a free-floating fiat money without a commodity backing defined in terms of real gold or silver. The US Mint continues to make silver $1-denomination coins, but these are not intended for general circulation.


title: Dollar

text: There are two quotes in the plays of William Shakespeare referring to dollars as money. Coins known as "thistle dollars" were in use in Scotland during the 16th and 17th centuries, and use of the English word, and perhaps even the use of the coin, may have begun at the University of St Andrews This might be supported by a reference to the sum of "ten thousand dollars" in "Macbeth" (act I, scene II) (an anachronism because the real Macbeth, upon whom the play was based, lived in the 11th century). In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Man with the Twisted Lip" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1891, an Englishman posing as a London beggar describes the shillings and pounds he collected as dollars.


title: Dollar

text: In 1804, a British five-shilling piece, or crown, was sometimes called "dollar". It was an overstruck Spanish eight real coin (the famous "piece of eight"), the original of which was known as a Spanish dollar. Large numbers of these eight-real coins were captured during the Napoleonic Wars, hence their re-use by the Bank of England. They remained in use until 1811. During World War II, when the U.S. dollar was (approximately) valued at five shillings, the half crown (2s 6d) acquired the nickname "half dollar" or "half a dollar" in the UK.


title: Dollar

text: Chinese demand for silver in the 19th and early 20th centuries led several countries, notably the United Kingdom, United States and Japan, to mint trade dollars, which were often of slightly different weights from comparable domestic coinage. Silver dollars reaching China (whether Spanish, trade, or other) were often stamped with Chinese characters known as "chop marks", which indicated that that particular coin had been assayed by a well-known merchant and deemed genuine.


title: Dollar

text: Prior to 1873, the silver dollar circulated in many parts of the world, with a value in relation to the British gold sovereign of roughly $1 = 4s 2d (21p approx). As a result of the decision of the German Empire to stop minting silver "thaler" coins in 1871, in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War, the worldwide price of silver began to fall. This resulted in the U.S. Coinage Act (1873) which put the United States onto a 'de facto' gold standard. Canada and Newfoundland were already on the gold standard, and the result was that the value of the dollar in North America increased in relation to silver dollars being used elsewhere, particularly Latin America and the Far East. By 1900, value of silver dollars had fallen to 50 percent of gold dollars. Following the abandonment of the gold standard by Canada in 1931, the Canadian dollar began to drift away from parity with the U.S. dollar. It returned to parity a few times, but since the end of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates that was agreed to in 1944, the Canadian dollar has been floating against the U.S. dollar. The silver dollars of Latin America and South East Asia began to diverge from each other as well during the course of the 20th century. The Straits dollar adopted a gold exchange standard in 1906 after it had been forced to rise in value against other silver dollars in the region. Hence, by 1935, when China and Hong Kong came off the silver standard, the Straits dollar was worth 2s 4d (11.5p approx) sterling, whereas the Hong Kong dollar was worth only 1s 3d sterling (6p approx).


title: Dollar

text: The term "dollar" has also been adopted by other countries for currencies which do not share a common history with other dollars. Many of these currencies adopted the name after moving from a £sd-based to a decimalized monetary system. Examples include the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, the Jamaican dollar, the Cayman Islands dollar, the Fiji dollar, the Namibian dollar, the Rhodesian dollar, the Zimbabwe dollar, and the Solomon Islands dollar.


title: Landed gentry

text: The landed gentry, or the "gentry", is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, their economic base in land was often similar, and some of the landed gentry were wealthier than some peers. Many gentry were close relatives of peers, and it was not uncommon for gentry to marry into peerage. It is the British element of the wider European class of gentry. With or without noble title, owning rural land estates often brought with it the legal rights of lord of the manor, and the less formal name or title of "squire", in Scotland laird.


title: Landed gentry

text: Generally lands passed by primogeniture, and the inheritances of daughters and younger sons were in cash or stocks, and relatively small. Typically the gentry farmed some of their land, as well as exploiting timber, minerals such as coal, and owning mills and other sources of income, but leased most of the land to tenant farmers. Many heads of families also had careers in politics or the military, and the younger sons of the gentry provided a high proportion of the clergy, military officers, and lawyers.


title: Landed gentry

text: The decline of the gentry largely stemmed from the 1870s agricultural depression; however, there are still many hereditary gentry in the UK to this day.


title: Landed gentry

text: The designation "landed gentry" originally referred exclusively to members of the upper class who were landlords but also commoners in the British sense—that is, they did not hold peerages—but usage became more fluid over time. By the late 19th century, the term was also applied to peers such as the Duke of Westminster who lived on landed estates.


title: Landed gentry

text: Successful burghers often used their accumulated wealth to buy country estates, with the aim of establishing themselves as landed gentry.


title: Landed gentry

text: The term "landed gentry", although originally used to mean nobility, came to be used of the lesser nobility in England around 1540. Once identical, eventually nobility and landed gentry became complementary, in the sense that their definitions began to fill in parts of what the other lacked. The historical term gentry by itself, so Peter Coss argues, is a construct that historians have applied loosely to rather different societies. Any particular model may not fit a specific society, yet a single definition nevertheless remains desirable. The phrase "landed gentry" referred in particular to the untitled members of the landowning upper class. The most stable and respected form of wealth has historically been land, and great prestige and political qualifications were (and to a lesser extent still are) attached to land ownership.


title: Landed gentry

text: All of the first group, and very many of the last three, were "armigerous", having obtained the right to display a coat of arms. In many Continental societies, this was exclusively the right of the nobility, and at least the upper clergy. In France this was originally true but many of the landed gentry, burghers and wealthy merchants were also allowed to register coats of arms and become "armigerous".


title: Landed gentry

text: The primary meaning of "landed gentry" encompasses those members of the land-owning classes who are not members of the peerage. It was an informal designation: one belonged to the landed gentry if other members of that class accepted one as such. A newly rich man who wished his family to join the gentry (and they nearly all did so wish), was expected not only to buy a country house and estate, but often also to sever financial ties with the business which had made him wealthy in order to cleanse his family of the "taint of trade", depending somewhat on what that business was. However, during the 18th and 19th centuries, as the new rich of the Industrial Revolution became more and more numerous and politically powerful, this expectation was gradually relaxed. From the late 16th-century, the gentry emerged as the class most closely involved in politics, the military and law. It provided the bulk of Members of Parliament, with many gentry families maintaining political control in a certain locality over several generations (see List of political families in the United Kingdom). Owning land was a prerequisite for suffrage (the civil right to vote) in county constituencies until the Reform Act 1832; until then, Parliament was largely in the hands of the landowning class.


title: Landed gentry

text: Members of the landed gentry were upper class (not middle class); this was a highly prestigious status. Particular prestige was attached to those who inherited landed estates over a number of generations. These are often described as being from "old" families. Titles are often considered central to the upper class, but this is certainly not universally the case. For example, both Captain Mark Phillips and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, the first and second husbands of the Princess Anne, lacked any rank of peerage, yet could scarcely be considered anything other than upper class.


title: Landed gentry

text: The agricultural sector's middle class, on the other hand, comprise the larger tenant farmers, who rent land from the landowners, and yeoman farmers, who were defined as "a person qualified by possessing free land of forty shillings annual [feudal] value, and who can serve on juries and vote for a Knight of the Shire. He is sometimes described as a small landowner, a farmer of the middle classes." Anthony Richard Wagner, Richmond Herald wrote that "a Yeoman would not normally have less than 100 acres" (40 hectares) and in social status is one step down from the gentry, but above, say, a husbandman. So while yeoman farmers owned enough land to support a comfortable lifestyle, they nevertheless farmed it themselves and were excluded from the "landed gentry" because they worked for a living, and were thus "in trade" as it was termed. Apart from a few "honourable" professions connected with the governing elite (the clergy of the established church, the officer corps of the British Armed Forces, the diplomatic and civil services, the bar or the judiciary), such occupation was considered demeaning by the upper classes, particularly by the 19th century, when the earlier mercantile endeavours of younger sons were increasingly discontinued. Younger sons, who could not expect to inherit the family estate, were instead urged into professions of state service. It became a pattern in many families that while the eldest son would inherit the estate and enter politics, the second son would join the army, the third son go into law, and the fourth son join the church.


title: Landed gentry

text: Persons who are closely related to peers are also more correctly described as gentry than as nobility, since the latter term, in the modern British Isles, is synonymous with "peer". However, this popular usage of "nobility" omits the distinction between titled and untitled nobility. The titled nobility in Britain are the peers of the realm, whereas the untitled nobility comprise those here described as gentry.


title: Landed gentry

text: David Cannadine wrote that the gentry's lack of titles "did not matter, for it was obvious to contemporaries that the landed gentry were all for practical purposes the equivalent of continental nobles, with their hereditary estates, their leisured lifestyle, their social pre-eminence, and their armorial bearings". British armigerous families who hold no title of nobility are represented, together with those who hold titles through the College of Arms, by the Commission and Association for Armigerous Families of Great Britain at CILANE.


title: Landed gentry

text: In the 18th and 19th centuries, the names and families of those with titles (specifically peers and baronets, less often including those with the non-hereditary title of knight) were often listed in books or manuals known as "Peerages", "Baronetages", or combinations of these categories, such as the "Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage". As well as listing genealogical information, these books often also included details of the right of a given family to a coat of arms. They were comparable to the Almanach de Gotha in continental Europe. Novelist Jane Austen, whose family were not quite members of the landed gentry class, summarised the appeal of these works, particularly for those included in them:


title: Landed gentry

text: Equally wryly, Oscar Wilde referred to the "Peerage" as "the best thing in fiction the English have ever done".


title: Landed gentry

text: In the 1830s, one peerage publisher, John Burke, expanded his market and his readership by publishing a similar volume for people without titles, which was called "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank", popularly known as "Burke's Commoners. Burke's Commoners" was published in four volumes from 1833 to 1838.


title: Landed gentry

text: Subsequent editions were re-titled "A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry; or, Commons of Great Britain and Ireland" or "Burke's Landed Gentry."


title: Landed gentry

text: "Burke's Landed Gentry" continued to appear at regular intervals throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, driven, in the 19th century, principally by the energy and readable style of the founder's son and successor as editor, Sir John Bernard Burke (who generally favoured the romantic and picturesque in genealogy over the mundane, or strictly correct).


title: Landed gentry

text: The last three-volume edition of "Burke's Landed Gentry" was published between 1965 and 1972. A new series, under new owners, was begun in 2001 on a regional plan, starting with "Burke's Landed Gentry; The Kingdom in Scotland". However, these volumes no longer limit themselves to people with any connection, ancestral or otherwise, with land, and they contain much less information, particularly on family history, than the 19th and 20th century editions.


title: Landed gentry

text: The popularity of "Burke's Landed Gentry" gave currency to the expression "Landed Gentry" as a description of the untitled upper classes in England (although the book also included families in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, where, however, social structures were rather different).


title: Landed gentry

text: Families were arranged in alphabetical order by surname, and each family article was headed with the surname and the name of their landed property, e.g. "Capron of Southwick Hall". There was then a paragraph on the owner of the property, with his coat of arms illustrated, and all his children and remoter male-line descendants also listed, each with full names and details of birth, marriage, death, and any matters tending to enhance their social prestige, such as school and university education, military rank and regiment, Church of England cures held, and other honours and socially approved involvements. Cross references were included to other families in "Burke's Landed Gentry" or in "Burke's Peerage and Baronetage": thus encouraging browsing through connections. Professional details were not usually mentioned unless they conferred some social status, such as those of civil service and colonial officials, judges and barristers.


title: Landed gentry

text: After the section dealing with the current owner of the property, there usually appeared a section entitled "Lineage" which listed, not only ancestors of the owner, but (so far as known) every male-line descendant of those ancestors.


title: Landed gentry

text: The Great Depression of British Agriculture at the end of the 19th century, together with the introduction in the 20th century of increasingly heavy levels of taxation on inherited wealth, put an end to agricultural land as the primary source of wealth for the upper classes. Many estates were sold or broken up, and this trend was accelerated by the introduction of protection for agricultural tenancies, encouraging outright sales, from the mid-20th century.


title: Landed gentry

text: So devastating was this for the ranks formerly identified as being of the landed gentry that "Burke's Landed Gentry" began, in the 20th century, to include families historically in this category who had ceased to own their ancestral lands. The focus of those who remained in this class shifted from the lands or estates themselves, to the stately home or "family seat" which was in many cases retained without the surrounding lands. Many of these buildings were purchased for the nation and preserved as monuments to the lifestyles of their former owners (who sometimes remained in part of the house as lessees or tenants) by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. The National Trust, which had originally concentrated on open landscapes rather than buildings, accelerated its country house acquisition programme during and after the Second World War, partly because of the widespread destruction of country houses in the 20th century by owners who could no longer afford to maintain them. Those who retained their property usually had to supplement their incomes from sources other than the land, sometimes by opening their properties to the public.


title: Landed gentry

text: In the 21st century, the term "landed gentry" is still used, as the landowning class still exists, but it increasingly refers more to historic than to current landed wealth or property in a family. Moreover, the deference which was once automatically given to members of this class by most British people has almost completely dissipated as its wealth, political power and social influence have declined, and other social figures such as celebrities have grown to take their place in the public's interest.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Cynthia Leigh Wilson (born February 28, 1957) is an American musician and one of the vocalists, songwriters and founding members of new wave rock band the B-52's. She is noted for her distinctive contralto voice and also plays percussion during live shows. She is the younger sister of the late guitarist Ricky Wilson (1953–1985), who was also a founding member of the band.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: In addition to her work with the B-52's, Wilson has released two solo EPs, "Sunrise" (2016) and "Supernatural" (2017). In late 2017, she released her debut solo album, "Change", via the independent label Kill Rock Stars.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Wilson was born February 28, 1957 in Athens, Georgia. She had one elder brother, Ricky. When Ricky was 19 years old, he began learning to play guitar, and invited Cindy to harmonize along with his instrumentation.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: The B-52's were formed when Wilson, her brother Ricky, keyboardist and backing vocalist Kate Pierson, drummer and percussionist Keith Strickland, and lead vocalist Fred Schneider played an impromptu musical jam session after sharing a tropical Flaming Volcano drink at a local Chinese restaurant. Prior, Ricky Wilson and Strickland had considered forming a band after taking a post-college vacation of Europe. The band played their first concert in 1977 at a Valentine's Day party for their friends in Athens. Wilson, then 19 years old, was the youngest member of the band.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: The group recorded and released their debut album "The B-52's" in 1979, released through Warner Bros. Records, which yielded the charting singles "Rock Lobster" and "Planet Claire" and launched the band into stardom. The album peaked at number 7 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200, and was also especially popular in Australia. "[The record companies] were looking for new wave punk, and we fit the bill because they thought we were very original," Wilson recalled. "We got some money to support us, and then we could concentrate on growing our shows a little more and writing more music." From their inception, the band drew attention for their flamboyant stage attire, which included Wilson and Pierson donning beehive hairdos and go-go boots.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: The band released their second album, "Wild Planet", in 1980, during which time they pooled their income together to purchase a house in upstate New York, where they all lived together and recorded material. Their third studio album, "Whammy!", was released in 1983, also through Warner Bros. Records.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: On April 21, 1985, Wilson married Keith Bennett, a successful advertiser who was a longtime friend of the band and Ricky's guitar tech on tour. Her brother, Ricky, died later that year of an AIDS-related illness, leaving her devastated. She recalled of his illness and death:


title: Cindy Wilson

text: The band had recorded the bulk of their fourth release, "Bouncing Off the Satellites" (1986) prior to Ricky Wilson's death. The group subsequently took a hiatus, returning three years later with their fifth album, "Cosmic Thing" (1989), which featured drummer Keith Strickland assuming the role of lead guitarist in Ricky Wilson's absence. The album featured several highly-successful singles, including "Roam" and "Love Shack", both of which went on to become the band's signature tracks.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Wilson took a sabbatical from the band in 1990 to concentrate on raising a family of two children, during which time the B-52's recorded and released the album "Good Stuff" as a trio of Pierson, Schneider and Strickland. During the live tour to promote "Good Stuff" in 1992 and 1993, Julee Cruise sang as a replacement for Wilson.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Wilson rejoined the B-52's in 1994. In 1998, she took part in recordings for two new songs to be included with the band's hit singles on the album "". Wilson then took maternity leave in 1999 (being replaced on tour by Gail Ann Dorsey), later rejoining the band in 2001 for regular touring of their greatest hits.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: The B-52's completed the album "Funplex" in 2007, and it was released in March 2008. Wilson co-wrote every song on the album with the three other band members. In all, she has co-written much of the band's catalog, including "Dance This Mess Around", "Private Idaho" and all of the "Cosmic Thing" album, including hit singles "Love Shack" and "Roam".


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Wilson self-released an EP of new material, "Sunrise", in September 2016. February 2017 saw the self-release of another EP of new material, "Supernatural". Wilson released her debut solo record, "Change", in December 2017 through the independent label Kill Rock Stars.


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Wilson's vocal efforts include the typical B-52's "call-and-response" vocals with Schneider and/or Pierson, as well as her harmonies with Pierson on the band's all-female songs such as "Roam", "52 Girls", "Cake", "Legal Tender", "Summer of Love" and "Juliet of the Spirits". One of the band's signature elements is the setup among the three vocalists. However, Wilson sings the greatest number of solo performances in the band, especially on their earlier albums. Examples of Cindy's solo vocal performances in the B-52's include "Hero Worship", "Loveland", "Nip It in the Bud", "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland", "Ain't It a Shame", "She Brakes for Rainbows" and "Give Me Back My Man".


title: Cindy Wilson

text: Wilson plays the bongos on live favorites like "Planet Claire", "Mesopotamia", "Pump" and "Party Out of Bounds" as well as other songs such as "6060-842" and "Big Bird". She also has played acoustic guitar in The Cindy Wilson Band, made electric guitar contributions (with her brother Ricky) on the songs "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)" from the B-52's first album, and played the guitar solo for "Nip It In the Bud" during the band's 1982 "Mesopotamia" tour. She has stated that she was encouraged to play guitar by her brother, but experienced finger pain.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: The 6.8mm Remington Special Purpose Cartridge (6.8 SPC, 6.8 SPC II or 6.8×43mm) is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate rifle cartridge that was developed by Remington Arms in collaboration with members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit and United States Special Operations Command to possibly replace the 5.56 NATO cartridge in short barreled rifles (SBR) and carbines. Based on the .30 Remington cartridge, it is midway between the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO in bore diameter. It uses the same diameter bullet (usually not the same mass) as the .270 Winchester hunting cartridge.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: The 6.8mm SPC cartridge was designed to address the deficiencies of the terminal ballistics of the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge currently in service with the armed forces of all NATO-aligned countries. The cartridge was the result of the Enhanced Rifle Cartridge Program. The 6.8 SPC (6.8×43mm) was initially developed by Master Sergeant Steve Holland and Chris Murray, a United States Army Marksmanship Unit gunsmith, to offer superior downrange lethality over the 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington in an M16-pattern service rifle with minimal loss of magazine capacity and a negligible increase in recoil.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: The program started the design by using a .30 Remington case, which was modified in length to fit into magazines that would be accommodated by the magazine wells of the M16 family of rifles and carbines that are currently in service with the U.S. Armed Forces.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: In tests comparing various caliber bullets using a .30 Remington parent case, Holland and Murray determined that a 6.5 mm caliber projectile had the best accuracy and penetration, with historical data going back for decades of US Army exterior and terminal ballistic testing, but a 7 mm projectile had the best terminal performance. The combination of the cartridge case, powder load, and projectile easily outperformed the 7.62×39mm and 5.45×39mm Soviet cartridges, with the new cartridge's muzzle velocity proving to be about faster than the 7.62 x 39.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: The 6.8mm Remington SPC was designed to perform better in short-barreled CQB rifles after diminished performance from the 5.56 NATO when the M16A4 was changed from the rifle configuration to the current M4 carbine. The 6.8 SPC delivers 44% more energy than the 5.56mm NATO (M4 configuration) at . The 6.8mm SPC is not the ballistic equal of the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge, but it has less recoil, has been said to be more controllable in rapid fire, and is lighter, allowing operators to carry more ammunition than would otherwise be possible with the larger caliber round. The 6.8 mm generates around of muzzle energy with a bullet. In comparison, the 5.56×45mm round (which the 6.8 is designed to replace) generates around with a bullet, giving the 6.8 mm a terminal ballistic advantage over the 5.56 mm of .


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: One of the enigmatic features of this cartridge is its being designed for a short-barrel carbine length rifle than the standard rifle length is (usually ). The round only gains about for every 25 mm of barrel length past the standard barrel (all else being equal) up to barrel's length around with no gain or loss in accuracy. It also does well in rifles with less than barrels. In recent developments (the period 2008–2012) the performance of the 6.8 SPC has been increased by approximately by the work of ammunition manufacturer Silver State Armory LLC (SSA) and a few custom rifle builders using and designing the correct chamber and barrel specifications. The 6.8mm Remington SPC cartridge weighs, depending on the manufacturer and load, between . Also, more recently, LWRC, Magpul and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) introduced a new AR-15 designed for the 6.8 SPC which allows for a proprietary 6.8 Magpul P-mags and an overall cartridge length of . The personal defense weapon (PDW) known as the "Six8" is SPC II w 1: twist and is able to use all current 6.8 SPC factory ammunition.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: Typical trajectory information from carbines with drop and velocity calculated at sea level with a zero.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: By late 2004 the 6.8×43mm SPC was said to be performing well in the field against enemy combatants in special operations. However the cartridge was not used by conventional US military personnel. It was not adopted for widespread use due to resistance from officials. The 6.8 SPC was designed for better terminal effectiveness at the shorter ranges of urban combat experienced in Iraq. When fighting in Afghanistan began to intensify, engagements began taking place at greater distances, where the 6.8 SPC begins to falter. Experiments suggested that the comparatively short 6.8 mm bullets became ineffective at longer ranges. In 2007, both the U.S. SOCOM and the U.S. Marine Corps decided not to field weapons chambered in 6.8 mm due to logistical and cost issues.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: While there are many rumors of evaluations of the cartridge by several major federal and local law enforcement agencies, the US Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed individual agents to purchase the M6A2 D-DEA – which uses the 6.8mm Remington SPC – as an authorized alternative to their duty weapon. In 2010 the Jordanian state-owned arms manufacturer KADDB announced that they would be producing 6.8 mm rifles and carbines for the Jordanian Army. There is also a contract between LWRC, Magpul, Alliant Techsystems and the Saudi Royal Guard for around 36,000 Six8 PDWs and an undisclosed amount of ATK/Federal XD68GD (90gr Gold Dot "training" ammo) and proprietary Magpul 6.8 Pmags specifically for the LWRC Six8.


title: 6.8mm Remington SPC

text: The first major manufacturer to offer a 6.8mm Remington SPC-chambered version of the AR-15 was Barrett Firearms Company, offering the Barrett M468 and later the REC7. By 2007, most major manufacturers of AR-15-type rifles for the civilian gun market were offering rifles in this caliber. Dedicated AR upper receiver assemblies chambered for the round are produced by a number of smaller firms, including Daniel Defense. Ruger Firearms no longer produces a 6.8 mm for their Ruger SR-556 piston-driven AR-15 variant. The Stag Arms hunter and tactical models utilize the newer chamber (SPC II) and specified twist rates to accommodate higher pressure loadings, as well as upper receivers in left-handed configurations. Rock River Arms has an LAR-6.8 X Series rifle and uppers. Microtech Small Arms Research offers their version of the Steyr AUG in 6.8. Robinson Armament Co. offers the XCR-L in 6.8, which can be easily converted between 6.8, 5.56, and 7.62×39. Bushmaster delivered a 6.8 SPC II conversion kit to the market as of October 2018. Ruger Firearms chambered their Mini-14 ranch rifle in this round for several years; however, it has been discontinued.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: The game takes place in Ivalice, where the empires of Archadia and Rozarria are waging an endless war. Dalmasca, a small kingdom, is caught between the warring nations. When Dalmasca is annexed by Archadia, its princess, Ashe, creates a resistance movement. During the struggle, she meets Vaan, a young adventurer who dreams of becoming a sky pirate in command of an airship. They are quickly joined by a band of allies; together, they rally against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" was both a critical and commercial success, earning several Game of the Year awards and selling over six million copies on the PlayStation 2 by November 2009. In 2007, a sequel titled "" was released for the Nintendo DS, and the same year, an expanded version of "Final Fantasy XII", titled "Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System", was released on the PlayStation 2 exclusively in Japan. A high-definition remaster of the "International Zodiac Job System" version, "The Zodiac Age", was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 in July 2017, for Microsoft Windows in February 2018, and for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in April 2019.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Throughout the game, the player directly controls the on-screen character from a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies. Unlike previous games in the series, the player can also control the camera with the right analog stick, allowing for a 360° view of the surroundings. While in towns and cities, the player may only see from the perspective of Vaan, but any character may be controlled in the field. The world of "Final Fantasy XII" is rendered to scale relative to the characters in it; instead of a caricature of the character roaming around miniature terrain, as found in the earlier "Final Fantasy" games, every area is represented proportionally. The player navigates the overworld on foot, Chocobo, or by airship. Players may save their game to a memory card using save crystals or gate crystals, and may use the latter to teleport between gate crystals. An in-game bestiary provides incidental information about the world of "Final Fantasy XII".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" restructures the system of earning gil, the currency of the "Final Fantasy" games; instead of gil, most enemies drop "loot" which can be sold at shops. This ties into a new battle mechanic which rewards the player with improved loot for slaying a particular type of enemy multiple times in a row. Selling different types of loot also unlocks a bazaar option in shops, which provides items at a lower cost, or items exclusive to the bazaar.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Excluding the massively multiplayer online role-playing game "Final Fantasy XI", "Final Fantasy XII" is the first entry in the main "Final Fantasy" series not to include random encounters. Instead, enemies are visible in the overworld and the player may choose to fight or avoid them. Battles unfold in real time using the "Active Dimension Battle" (ADB) system. Battles begin when the party comes within range of an aggressive enemy, the party attacks an enemy, or a story event initiates a confrontation. When a character or enemy begins an action, target lines connect characters to other party members or enemies; different colors represent the different types of action. The player may swap to and issue commands to any of the three characters in the party, but guest characters are controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). Battle commands are initiated through a series of menus, and include Attack, Magicks, Technicks, Mist, Gambits, and Items. The player may switch any active character with an inactive character at any time, unless the active character is targeted by an attack or ability. Characters who are knocked out may also be substituted.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: A new feature in "Final Fantasy XII" is the "gambit" system, which allows the player to program each character to perform certain commands in battle in response to specified conditions. Using gambits, the player may set reactions to different stimuli for each character. Each gambit consists of three parts: a target, an action, and a priority. The target specifies which ally or foe to act on and the condition for applying the action. For example, the target "Ally: HP < 70%" causes the character to target any ally whose hit points have fallen below 70%. The action is the command to be performed on the target. The priority determines which gambit to perform when multiple gambits are triggered. These heuristics guide the characters when acting autonomously, though player-directed commands are always given top priority.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: In "Final Fantasy XII", a mysterious phenomenon known as "Mist" is the key energy which allows characters to cast summoning magic and perform "Quickenings". After defeating an Esper in combat, the player will be able to summon it to the battlefield. Similar to "Final Fantasy X", the summoned creatures become active participants in battle, as opposed to the cinematic attacks seen in previous games in the series. Unlike "Final Fantasy X", however, Espers follow hidden gambits, rather than the player's direct command. The summoner remains an active member in the fight, able to attack and cast support magic, instead of leaving the party or standing idle while the summoned creature fights. An Esper will leave the battle if either the summoner or itself is knocked out, its time limit expires, or it executes its special attack. Some Espers have origins in "Final Fantasy Tactics" and "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" and others are derived from the final bosses of previous "Final Fantasy" games such as Chaos, the final boss of the first "Final Fantasy", and Zeromus, the final boss of "Final Fantasy IV".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" introduces "Quickenings", a new Limit Break system unique compared to those in previous games in the series. Characters learn Quickenings by progressing to specific panels on the License Board. Each character can learn three Quickenings, which are unique to that character. Characters may string together Quickenings into large combo attacks, called Mist Chains, via timed button presses. If a Mist Chain reaches a certain length, a final strike will be initiated at the end of the Quickening cycle, called a Concurrence.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: As in many role-playing games (RPGs), characters "level up" each time they earn a set number of experience points from defeating enemies; each level gained increases the character's statistics and improves performance in battle. Statistics include hit points, the amount of damage a character can receive; strength, the power of the character's physical attacks; and magic, the potency of the character's magical spells.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: In addition to leveling up, players may improve their characters via the License Board. The License Board is an array of panels that contain "licenses" which allow a character to perform certain actions. The board is split into two parts; the upper part comprises Magick, Technick, Accessory, and Augment (stat increases and other permanent buffs) licenses, and the bottom part comprises mostly Weapon and Armor licenses. To use a Magick, Technick, or piece of equipment, the character must obtain its corresponding license by spending the required amount of LP (License Points). LP are earned in battle along with the experience points. Like the Sphere Grid in "Final Fantasy X", all characters may obtain all licenses on the board; however, each Quickening and Esper license may only be activated by a single character.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" is set within the land of Ivalice during an age when "magic was commonplace" and "airships plied the skies, crowding out the heavens". At this time, magicite, a magic-rich mineral, is commonly used in magic spells and in powering airships—a popular form of transportation in Ivalice. Ivalice is divided into three continents: Ordalia, Valendia, and Kerwon. Ordalia is located in the western part of Ivalice. The Rozarrian Empire makes its home in the vast inland plains of this continent as the eastern portion of it is largely desert and "jagd"—lawless regions so rich in Mist, the ethereal manifestation of magicite, that airships cannot function. Valendia is the home of Imperial Archadia, where lush highlands dot the landscape. Central to the story is Dalmasca, a small kingdom between the two continents and empires. Located in the middle of the Galtean Peninsula of Ordalia, Dalmasca is surrounded by an expanse of desert. The temperate climate of Dalmasca differs from the cold environs of Kerwon to the south and the lush plains of Valendia and Ordalia. During this time, Ivalice is beset by the pending war between the forces of Rozarria and Archadia. Caught between the two powerful Empires, Dalmasca and a number of smaller nations have already been subjugated by Archadia two years before the game begins.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: The six main playable characters in "Final Fantasy XII" are Vaan (Bobby Edner/Kensho Ono), an energetic orphan of Rabanastre who dreams of becoming a sky pirate; Ashe (Kari Wahlgren/Mie Sonozaki), a determined princess of Dalmasca who lost her father and her husband in the Archadian invasion; Basch (Keith Ferguson/Rikiya Koyama), a disgraced knight of Dalmasca charged with treason for slaying the king; Balthier (Gideon Emery/Hiroaki Hirata), a gentlemanly sky pirate who pilots his airship, the "Strahl"; Fran (Nicole Fantl/Rika Fukami), Balthier's partner and a Viera exile whose knowledge extends to legends and myths; and Penelo (Catherine Taber/Marina Kozawa), Vaan's childhood friend who accompanies him on journeys to "keep an eye on him".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: The Archadian Empire is ruled by House Solidor, headed by Emperor Gramis (Roger L. Jackson/Hidekatsu Shibata). The emperor's sons are Vayne (Elijah Alexander/Nobuo Tobita) and Larsa (Johnny McKeown/Yuka Imai), the former a military genius and the game's main antagonist, and the latter a charismatic seeker of peace. Judge Magisters, upholders of Archadian law, protect House Solidor and execute every command issued by the ruling family. The technological marvels of airships and synthetic nethicite—a form of magicite that absorbs Mist—are thanks to Doctor Cid (John Rafter Lee/Chikao Ōtsuka), a prominent researcher from Archadia. The Resistance against Archadia includes Dalmascan knight Vossler (Nolan North/Masaki Terasoma), an ally of Basch; Marquis Halim Ondore IV (Tom Kane/Akio Nojima), the game's narrator and ruler of the skycity Bhujerba; Reddas (Phil LaMarr/Takayuki Sugo), a sky pirate based in the port at Balfonheim; and the Rozarrian Empire, of which Al-Cid Margrace (David Rasner/Norio Wakamoto) is a prince of the ruling family. The mythos of "Final Fantasy XII" revolves around a character known as Dynast-King Raithwall, a man who once united Ivalice to create the Galtean Alliance in ages past.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: In Dalmasca's capital city of Rabanastre, Princess Ashelia (Ashe) of Dalmasca and Prince Rasler of Nabradia have just wed, as the Archadian Empire invades the two countries. Rasler is killed in the war, the city of Nabudis is destroyed in a single explosion, and the Dalmascan King Raminas is assassinated moments after signing a treaty of surrender. Marquis Ondore announces that the assassin was Dalmascan captain Basch, who has been sentenced to death, and that Princess Ashe has committed suicide.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Two years later, Vaan, a Rabanastre street urchin, ignores his friend Penelo's objections and infiltrates the palace during a dinner celebrating the appointment of Archadian prince Vayne Solidor as consul. In the treasury he finds a piece of magicite, a powerful magical crystal. He is discovered by Balthier and Fran, a pair of sky pirates looking for the magicite. The three escape as Dalmascan Resistance forces assault the palace, and in the sewers they meet the Resistance leader, Amalia, before being captured by Archadian forces. In the dungeons they meet Basch, who was imprisoned but not killed, and who states his twin brother Gabranth was the one to kill the king. The four then escape together back to Rabanastre. There they discover Penelo has been kidnapped and taken to the floating city of Bhujerba.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: In Bhujerba, they meet Lamont, a curious boy who is Vayne's younger brother, Larsa, in disguise. After they rescue Penelo, Basch confronts the Marquis over his lies, but the party is captured and detained aboard the Archadian airship "Leviathan", headed by Judge Ghis. On the "Leviathan", the party is reunited with Amalia, who is revealed to be Princess Ashe. Ghis takes the magicite, which is revealed to be a royal Dalmascan artifact, "deifacted nethicite". The party escapes, but as Ashe had planned to use the magicite as proof that she was the princess, the group journeys to collect another of the pieces of nethicite, the Dawn Shard. They are again captured by Ghis; when he tries to use the Dawn Shard in the "Leviathan" rather than the "manufacted" (artificially made) magicite it normally uses, his entire airship fleet is destroyed in a mirror of the destruction of Nabudis, and the party flees again.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: They encounter Larsa, who seeks a peace treaty between Dalmasca and the empire. The group and Larsa go to Mt. Bur-Omisace to seek the Gran Kiltias Anastasis, Ivalice's religious leader, and beg his approval of Ashe as queen of Dalmasca. There they also meet Al-Cid Margrace, who is in talks with Larsa to avert a war between Rozarria and Archadia. Their plans are curtailed when Anastasis is killed by Archadia, and soon afterwards the Archadian emperor Gramis dies and Vayne ascends the throne.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: The party journeys to Archadia, where they discover Doctor Cid, the creator of manufacted magicite, who directs them to go to Giruvegan to find the source of nethicite. In Giruvegan, Ashe encounters the makers of nethicite, the immortal Occuria, who "pull the strings of history"; they give her the Treaty Blade to cut new pieces from the Sun-cryst, the source of all nethicite and its power. She learns that Venat, one of the Occuria, has defected to put the "reins of History back in the hands of Man", manipulating Vayne in his quest to conquer Ivalice and leading Cid to create manufacted magicite to reduce the relative power of the Occuria.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Ashe and the party journey to the Sun-cryst, where she decides not to take her revenge by following the Occuria's wishes, but instead destroy the Sun-cryst. The party defeats Gabranth, who reveals that he killed King Raminas, and destroys the crystal. Al-Cid tells them that the Dalmascan Resistance, led by Ondore, is about to fight Archadia in Rabanastre, but the Archadian forces now include the Sky Fortress "Bahamut". They infiltrate the "Bahamut", and find Larsa failing to dissuade his brother Vayne from his plans for war. They defeat Vayne and Venat, and Ashe and Larsa announce the end of the conflict to the battlefield. Larsa becomes the Archadian emperor and Ashe the Queen of Dalmasca; Basch replaces his brother Gabranth as Larsa's protector; Vaan and Penelo fly an airship to meet Balthier and Fran for another adventure.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Development for "Final Fantasy XII" began in December 2000 and was headed by "Final Fantasy Tactics" director Yasumi Matsuno and "Final Fantasy IX" director Hiroyuki Ito. Matsuno provided the original concept and plot but was forced to bow out a year before release due to health concerns. The team was restructured as a consequence: the new directorial duo consisted of Ito and Hiroshi Minagawa, while Akitoshi Kawazu of "SaGa" series fame became the game's executive producer. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was disappointed by Matsuno's departure and declined to play the game beyond its introduction.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: The desire to move away from random encounters was present since the beginning of development. This desire fueled the development of the Active Dimension Battle system so players could seamlessly move from battle to exploration. The gambit system was conceived early on as a way to facilitate this change. Battle system designer Hiroshi Tomomatsu said that it gradually moved away from a complex and rigid formula to the more flexible form seen in the final version of the game. Ito drew inspiration for gambits from plays in American football where each team member has a specific job to do based on the conditions and desired outcome. As for the license system, he explained that needing "licenses" to perform certain actions was a natural extension of the rigid structured society of Archadia, as epitomized by its Judges.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: At the early stages of development, Minagawa revealed that numerous ideas and features were planned for the game, but were dropped from the final stages due to certain constraints and hardware limitations. Some of these included the ability for a second player to join in the gameplay, enabling a two-player mode. Another idea that was given a considerable amount of thought was the ability to recruit non-player characters to join in the mob hunts. Due to the technical limitations of the console and multiple number of characters joining the fray, the development phase took longer than expected, causing delays.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Design inspiration came from a mix of medieval Mediterranean countries as demonstrated by the architectural styles found throughout Ivalice along with many of the races populating the region. The art team, led by art directors Hideo Minaba and Isamu Kamikokuryō, visited Turkey, which influenced the game's Mediterranean-style setting. The developers also used styles and deco from other sources including areas in India and New York City. Of note is the use of Sanskrit in the city of Bhujerba. Phrases such as "svagatam" (welcome) and titles like "parijanah" (guide) are lifted directly from Sanskrit. Minaba mentions that the team tried to bring out Arabic culture in the design of the game. War is a prominent theme of the game and the developers stated that the cutscene battles are influenced by Ancient Rome. When asked to comment on the fan observation of "Star Wars" similarities, Minaba replied that although he was a fan of the series, it was not necessarily an influence to the game's designs. It has also been noted that the similarities originate from "The Hidden Fortress", the 1958 Akira Kurosawa film that inspired "Star Wars".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Basch was initially meant to be the main protagonist of the story, but the focus was eventually shifted to Vaan and Penelo. The team's previous game, "Vagrant Story", which featured a "strong man in his prime" as the protagonist, had been unsuccessful and unpopular; as a result, "Final Fantasy XII" was changed from focusing on a "big and tough" protagonist to a more youthful one. For a time, Vaan was even more feminine than he was in the final game, but with the casting of Kouhei Takeda for the voice acting and motion capture, Vaan became less feminine and more "active, upbeat bright and positive". Comments were made about the similarity between main character designer and background design supervisor Akihiko Yoshida's creations and those of Tetsuya Nomura, another Square Enix character designer. Yoshida feels this connection is sparked by the style of color used by both artists, which involves a color consistency between the characters and the environments. The designers stated that non-human characters and races feature a prominent role in the game, which was influenced by an interest in history among the developers.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Miwa Shoda wrote a storyline for the game premised on the basis of the cutscenes and world setting that had already been finished when she joined the team. Scenario writer Daisuke Watanabe in turn fleshed out Shoda's plot into a script. During the English localization process, Alexander O. Smith, who had previously worked on "Vagrant Story" and "Final Fantasy X", acted as producer and translator. While still preserving the meaning behind the Japanese script, Smith made the decision to use different dialects of English to reproduce the regional differences in pronunciation found in the Japanese version. He also tried to distance the game from the "flat reads" found in other dubbed work by casting voice actors who had experience in theatre work. In terms of general changes, the localization team introduced widescreen 16:9 ratio support and reinserted scenes that were left out of the original Japanese version for political reasons and to preserve an "All Ages" CERO rating.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: On November 15, 2005, a playable demo of the game was shipped with the North American release of "Dragon Quest VIII". To commemorate the release of "Final Fantasy XII", playable demos of the English version were available at DigitalLife's Gaming Pavilion in New York City on October 11, 2006, a day dubbed ""Final Fantasy XII" Gamer's Day". Additionally, Square Enix gave fans the chance to cosplay as characters from "Final Fantasy XII". Each person was asked to show Square Enix three photos of his or her costume for a chance to win a trip to New York and participate in the "Final Fantasy XII" Gamer's Day event.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" once held the Guinness World Record for longest development period in a video game production, with a total of five years, spanning from 2001 until its release in 2006. At a "Final Fantasy XII" "postmortem" at MIT in March 2009, Hiroshi Minagawa mentioned that several years of production were devoted to the creation of custom tools used for the development of the game. It was also listed as 8th on the Guinness top 50 games of all time in 2009.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Hitoshi Sakimoto composed and arranged most of the game's soundtrack, with Hayato Matsuo and Masaharu Iwata creating seven and two tracks respectively. Nobuo Uematsu, following his departure from Square Enix in 2004, only contributed the ending song, "Kiss Me Good-Bye". Sakimoto experienced difficulty following in Uematsu's footsteps, but he decided to create a unique soundtrack in his own way. "Kiss Me Good-Bye" was performed in both English and Japanese by Angela Aki. Aki's style of playing the keyboard while singing reminded Uematsu of his childhood idol, Elton John, which was one of the reasons he chose her. The English version of the song was featured in both the Japanese and North American versions of the game. In addition to the theme song, violinist Taro Hakase co-composed, arranged, and performed the game's ending credits theme, "Symphonic Poem "Hope"", along with Yuji Toriyama.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Two promotional soundtracks were released before the original soundtrack, "Symphonic Poem "Hope"" and "The Best of the Final Fantasy XII Soundtrack", on March 1 and 15, 2006, respectively. The former contains all the music used in the game's trailer performed by Taro Hakase, including "Symphonic Poem "Hope"". The original soundtrack itself was released in Japan on May 31, 2006. It consists of 4 CDs with 100 tracks, and includes promotional tracks not in the final version of the game. The CD single for "Kiss Me Good-Bye" was released on the March 15, 2006. A limited edition was also released, featuring a DVD containing the music video for "Kiss Me Good-Bye". Tofu Records has released an abridged version of the original soundtrack, which contains 31 songs, including "Kiss Me Good-Bye".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: On March 16, 2006, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan released a special "Final Fantasy XII" package, which contained a PlayStation 2 game system, the "Final Fantasy XII" game, a standard DualShock controller, and a vertical console stand. The Japanese third-party manufacturer Hori also released "Final Fantasy XII" memory cards on the day of the game's release; stickers of "Final Fantasy XII" characters are included. Game peripheral maker Logicool (Logitech's Japanese branch) released a special edition "Final Fantasy XII" controller on the same day. Suntory produced "Final Fantasy XII Potion"—a drink containing such ingredients as royal jelly, chamomile, sage, thyme, and marjoram. The drinks became commercially available in Japan on March 7, 2006. Suntory also released a "Final Fantasy XII" Premium Box, which came with a "Final Fantasy XII" collector's card. The Potion was a limited edition product and is no longer available. "Final Fantasy XII" was also adapted into a manga by Gin Amou. Square Enix published the series in a total of five "tankōbon" volumes from December 22, 2006 to August 22, 2009.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Studio BentStuff published three Ultimania books: "Final Fantasy XII Battle Ultimania" and the "Final Fantasy XII Scenario Ultimania" on June 16, 2006, and "Final Fantasy XII Ultimania Ω" on November 24, 2006. The "Battle Ultimania" provides a description and analysis of the new battle system and its components, and developer interviews. The "Scenario Ultimania" describes the main scenarios in the game, profiles on the characters and areas in Ivalice, developer interviews, and details on each location. The last guide, the "Ultimania Ω", includes voice actor interviews, the complete story of "Final Fantasy XII" including additional character profiles, a collection of artworks and illustrations, the complete play guide, and a novella written by Benny Matsuyama, author of "Hoshi wo Meguru Otome" from the "Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω Guide". Another Ultimania edition, the "Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System Ultimania", was released on September 6, 2007, as a guide book for the International Zodiac version of the game. On December 18, 2012 the game was re-released as part of the "Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box" Japanese package.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: For the North American release, a "Collector's Edition" was available through GameStop and EB Games. This edition includes the original game packaged in a metallic case along with a special bonus disc, which contains "Final Fantasy XII" developer interviews, an art gallery, U.S. and Japanese trailers, and a featurette, "History of "Final Fantasy"", which gives a brief overview of "Final Fantasy" games. On January 26, 2007, Square Enix Product Blog revealed full-color Gabranth, Ashe, Balthier, and Vaan figures.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic. It was the sixth game to receive a perfect score from the Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu". It is also the second Yasumi Matsuno game to garner a perfect score, the first being "Vagrant Story". The game was praised for its graphics, scenarios, game system, and the freshness it brought to the "Final Fantasy" series. It was praised for its seamless transitions between full motion video segments and the in-game engine, and was voted number one for Best Art Style on "IGN"s weekly Top Ten. "Newtype USA" named "Final Fantasy XII" its "Game of the Month" for November 2006, praised the gameplay, graphics, and story, and called it "the best RPG to have been released for any Sony platform".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Although "GameSpot" lauded the gambit and license systems as an innovative and in-depth way for the player to control the characters, it criticized them for being too complicated and difficult to adjust to, especially for newer players of the series. The reviewer also criticized the sometimes tedious back and forth travel. On the other hand, GameSpot took particular note of the "excellent" voice cast. "IGN" praised the game's rich storyline and artistic direction, shown through its "sheer depth of character". It also assuaged criticism that the gambit system would "let the game play itself", countering that gambits do not function without a player. However, "IGN" wrote that while "still extremely strong", "Final Fantasy XII" has one of the series' weaker soundtracks.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: Executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu was pleased by "Famitsu" rating but admitted that he thought the game was not perfect; he felt that the storyline did not meet some fans' expectations. Kawazu expressed his frustration and regrets regarding the storyline, citing creative differences between the PlayOnline and "Final Fantasy Tactics" members of the development team.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" was named best PlayStation 2 game and best RPG by numerous video game journals and websites, including "GameSpot", "GameSpy" and "IGN". Both "Edge" and "Famitsu" awarded it Game of the Year 2006. The Japan Game Awards 2006 honored "Final Fantasy XII" with their "Grand Award" and "Award for Excellence" and the PlayStation Awards 2006 bestowed the "Double Platinum Prize". It was selected for the list "Top 100 New Japanese Styles", a list of "products and services originating in Japan to serve as a mark of excellence". "Final Fantasy XII" also received nominations in such categories as best RPG, story, art direction, character design and original musical score at the Interactive Achievement Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards, BAFTA Video Games Awards, Spike Video Game Awards, and the Satellite Awards.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Final Fantasy XII" sold more than 1,764,000 copies in its first week in Japan, almost equaling the sales of "Final Fantasy X" in its first week. A Square Enix conference report stated that "Final Fantasy XII" sold more than 2.38 million copies in Japan in the two weeks since its March 16, 2006 release. In North America, "Final Fantasy XII" shipped approximately 1.5 million copies in its first week. It was the fourth best-selling PlayStation 2 game of 2006 worldwide. As of March 2007, the game had shipped over 5.2 million copies worldwide. By November 2009, over 6 million copies of the game were sold worldwide on PlayStation 2. As of October 2017, The PlayStation 4 remaster shipped over one million copies worldwide.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: An expanded version of the game, "Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System", was released in Japan on August 10, 2007. It includes twelve license boards (instead of the original game's one), each corresponding to a different Zodiac sign and job. The player can control guest characters and summons, and hold L1 to double the game's running speed. There is also a "New Game+" option, a "New Game- (minus)" option (in which characters do not gain experience), and a "Trial Mode" in which the player hunts monsters in 100 different maps to gain items and money. The game also includes the western version's English voices and widescreen 16:9 support, and a bonus DVD.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: A sequel", ", was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007. It takes place one year after the events of "Final Fantasy XII" and follows the adventures of Vaan. The game is one of four in the "Ivalice Alliance" series, which also includes "International Zodiac Job System".


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: "Fortress", a spin-off action game developed by Grin, was to have been a spin-off game that took place following the events of "Revenant Wings". Square Enix cancelled the project after six months of development.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: In July 2017, Square Enix released "Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age," a high-definition remaster of the Japanese-only "International Zodiac Job System" for the PlayStation 4. It adds trophy support, a remastered soundtrack with a few new tracks, and improved technical performance. "The Zodiac Age" was nominated for "Best Remake/Remaster" at "IGN"'s Best of 2017 Awards, and won "Best Remaster" at "Game Informer"s Best of 2017 Awards and 2017 RPG of the Year Awards. The remaster also received favorable reviews. "The Zodiac Age" was largely developed by Virtuos, who previously developed "Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster" for Square Enix.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: A version for Windows was released via Steam on February 1, 2018. The port included support for higher display resolutions and 60 frames-per-second rendering, options to switch between three different versions of the soundtrack, and immediate access to the post-game modes. Versions for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One were released on April 30, 2019.


title: Final Fantasy XII

text: The gambit system inspired similar systems used in other games such as "" and "Pillars of Eternity II". "Final Fantasy XIV" also used the gambit system as a base for its "Trust System", a mechanic that pairs online players with story characters controlled by artificial intelligence. The game also incorporated several regions and characters from "Final Fantasy XII" into its game world, alongside other games from the Ivalice universe with Yasumi Matsuno as a guest creator. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, the translation director of "Final Fantasy XIV" indicated in an interview that the team have a lot of people who worked on "Final Fantasy XII" and "is one of the games they wanted to borrow heavily from because they thought it was really cool, and they really liked the imagery and lore that it had". Astria Ascending used its job system seen in later re-releases as a source of inspiration for its gameplay system. The Diofield Chronicles used the game as one source of inspiration for its controls and player movement. The localization of "Final Fantasy XII" was praised as a high point of the series and video games as a whole. Lead localizers Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder went on to collaborate again on "", the remake of a , with its localization also receiving high praise. Producers of "The Zodiac Age" stated they were considering another game set in the Ivalice universe, adding that earlier projects faded away due to original development members working on other games.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Richard Marvin Butkus (born December 9, 1942) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, and actor. He played football as a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1965 to 1973. He was invited to eight Pro Bowls, named a first-team All-Pro six times, and was twice recognized by his peers as the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. He was renowned as a fierce tackler and for the relentless effort with which he played and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most intimidating linebackers in pro football history.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus was born in Chicago, Illinois and played his entire football career in his home state, which began at Chicago Vocational High School. He was a linebacker at the University of Illinois and a center for the Fighting Illini. He was a two-time consensus All-American, and he led the Illini to a Rose Bowl victory in 1963 and was deemed the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference. He was named college football's Lineman of the Year in 1964 by United Press International (UPI). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus was drafted by the Bears as the third overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft. He soon established himself as a ball hawk with his penchant for forcing turnovers. In his NFL career, he intercepted 22 passes and recovered 27 fumbles (a record when he retired), and he was responsible for causing many more fumbles with his jarring tackles. His tackling ability earned him both admiration and trepidation from opposing players. According to Hall of Fame defensive end Deacon Jones, Butkus "was a well-conditioned animal, and every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital." In 2009, the NFL Network named Butkus the most feared tackler of all time.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus is credited with having defined the middle linebacker position, and is still viewed as the "gold standard by which other middle linebackers are measured." He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, and his No. 51 jersey is retired by the Bears. Following his playing career, Butkus began careers in acting, sports commentary, and celebrity endorsement. He is active in philanthropy through the Butkus Foundation, which manages various charitable causes.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Richard Marvin Butkus was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of eight children, but the first to be born in a hospital. He was a very large baby, weighing at birth. His father John, a Lithuanian immigrant to Ellis Island who spoke broken English, was an electrician and worked for the Pullman-Standard railroad car manufacturing company. His mother, Emma, worked 50 hours a week at a laundry. Butkus grew up in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. He was a fan of the NFL's Chicago Cardinals and attended their games at Comiskey Park. His older brother Ron played football for three colleges and tried out for the Cardinals before quitting due to a bad knee. For four years starting at age 15, Butkus worked with his four brothers as a mover.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus played high school football as a fullback, linebacker, punter, and placekicker for coach Bernie O'Brien at Chicago Vocational High School. He averaged five yards per carry as a fullback, but preferred playing linebacker, where he made 70 percent of his team's tackles. In Butkus' first year on the varsity team, Chicago Vocational surrendered only 55 points in eight games. In 1959, he was the first junior to be honored by the "Chicago Sun-Times" as Chicago's high school player of the year. Injuries limited his play as a senior, but he was still heavily recruited by colleges to play football.


title: Dick Butkus

text: In the summer of 1960, Butkus was the starting catcher on a Chicago Park District baseball team known as the Sundodgers. An article in the Daily Calumet credits Butkus with driving in all of the Sundodgers' runs in a loss, hitting a home run to center field.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus chose to attend the University of Illinois, and played center and linebacker from 1962 through 1964 for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team. In his first year on the varsity team, he was named to the 1962 All-Big Ten Conference football team as the third-team center by the Associated Press (AP) and second-team center by United Press International (UPI). In 1963, Illinois compiled an 8–1–1 record and defeated Washington in the 1964 Rose Bowl. Butkus was named the team's most valuable player for the season, and was awarded the "Chicago Tribune" Silver Football as the Big Ten's most valuable player. He was a unanimous choice as a center for the 1963 College Football All-America Team, earning first-team honors from all seven major selectors.


title: Dick Butkus

text: As a senior in 1964, Butkus was named the team's co-captain along with safety George Donnelly. UPI deemed Butkus college football's Lineman of the Year for 1964, and he was named the player of the year by the American Football Coaches Association and "The Sporting News". For the second consecutive season he was deemed the Illini's most valuable player. He was chosen for the 1964 All-America team by five of the six major selectors. In a cover story for "Sports Illustrated" that season, sportswriter Dan Jenkins remarked, "If every college football team had a linebacker like Dick Butkus of Illinois, all fullbacks soon would be three feet tall and sing soprano." Butkus also finished sixth in Heisman Trophy balloting in 1963 and third in 1964, rare results both for a lineman and a defensive player. According to statistics kept by the university, he completed his college career with 374 tackles: 97 in 1962, 145 in 1963, and 132 in 1964.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus was drafted in the first round of the 1965 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears and also in the second round of the 1965 AFL draft by the Denver Broncos of the American Football League. After several days of recruiting by both the teams and leagues, his decision to sign with the Bears was viewed as a major victory for the NFL. Although the Bears offered him less money than the Broncos, playing for his hometown team and coach George Halas was more enticing. His rookie contract was worth $200,000. Along with fellow future Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, Butkus was one of three first-round picks for the Bears in the 1965 NFL Draft. The pick they used for Butkus had been acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Succeeding Hall of Famer Bill George at middle linebacker, Butkus made an immediate impact as a rookie. He established himself as a ball hawk by intercepting five passes and recovering six opponents' fumbles, and he was also credited unofficially with having forced six fumbles. Against the New York Giants on November 28, he intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, and was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the AP for the first of four times in his career.


title: Dick Butkus

text: He finished third in balloting for the AP's rookie of the year award, behind Sayers and Ken Willard of the San Francisco 49ers, with AP sportswriter Jack Hand remarking that Butkus would have certainly won if there was a separate award for defenders. He was named a first-team All-Pro by the AP and was invited to his first of eight straight Pro Bowls.


title: Dick Butkus

text: In 1966, Butkus was named the second-team middle linebacker on the All-Pro teams of the AP, UPI, Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and "New York Daily News", with each selector placing him behind Ray Nitschke of the Green Bay Packers. He reclaimed the first-team spot on the UPI and NEA teams in 1967, the AP team in 1968, and the "Daily News" team in 1969, all of which he occupied through the 1970 season.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus scored the first points of his career on November 9, 1969, when he tackled Steelers quarterback Dick Shiner in the end zone for a safety. He also recorded 25 tackles in the game, and for his efforts was recognized as the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the AP. That 38–7 win for the Bears was their only one of the season; they finished with a 1–13 record, which was the worst in franchise history. Additionally, Butkus' five-year contract had reached its end. A number of Bears players, including Butkus, expressed interest in being traded or cut by the team, but he signed a multi-year contract extension prior to the 1970 season to remain in Chicago. The contract raised his salary from $50,000 per year to around $80,000 to $100,000 per year.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Despite the ineptitude of the Bears as a team, Butkus developed a reputation around the league as one of its best players. In both 1969 and 1970, he was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the NEA, which was voted on by NFL players. He appeared on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" in September 1970 with the caption, "The Most Feared Man in the Game". A panel of NFL coaches that year named Butkus the player they would most prefer to start a team with if they were building one from the ground up.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Prior to the 1971 season, Butkus underwent preventive surgery on his right knee; he had torn ligaments in high school, but was able to continue playing due to strong muscles compensating for the injury. In the Bears' first ever game at Soldier Field on September 19 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Butkus turned in a great performance. With the Bears down 15–3 in the 4th, Butkus picked off quarterback Terry Bradshaw twice. Butkus did intercept a pass from Bradshaw a third time but was called back by a penalty against the Bears. In the final minutes with the Bears down 15–10, Butkus forced a fumble on running back Warren Bankston which was recovered by Bears defensive end Ed O'Bradovich on the Steelers' 12 yard line. The turnover led the Bears to score and win 17–15. In 1971, he recorded 117 tackles and four interceptions, leading the Bears in both statistics. He also scored a point; in the closing minutes of a game against the Washington Redskins on November 14, the score was tied at 15 and the Bears had lined up to kick an extra point. The snap went over the head of holder Bobby Douglass, who then raced back to retrieve the ball and looked to pass it. Butkus, who was playing as a blocking back, ran into the end zone and leapt to receive the pass for the winning score. Butkus later called the play his favorite of his career. Despite the statistical output, for the first time since 1966 Butkus was not named to a major All-Pro first-team, instead earning second-team honors from the NEA and Pro Football Writers Association.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus sparked controversy in 1972 with the release of "Stop-Action", a memoir describing the final week of the 1971 season. The Bears had lost their final five games in 1971, and Butkus used the memoir as an outlet for his frustrations and grievances. In particular, he harshly criticized the Detroit Lions organization, saying, "I think they are a lot of jerks, from the owner, the general manager, the coach on down... If we were voting for a jerk team or organization they'd have my vote all the way." The Lions responded with a 38–24 win over the Bears in Week 3 of 1972. After the game Lions linebacker Mike Lucci, whom Butkus had labeled a "crybaby", denied that the book had any bearing on the game's outcome, but told reporters, "Butkus should just keep his mouth shut and play football." Butkus, who was notoriously surly with reporters, also denied any connection and accused the media of sensationalism. Bears teammate Gale Sayers later said he did not like the book, feeling Butkus was above such name-calling. The season as a whole was another productive one for Butkus, who reclaimed the first-team middle linebacker spot on the major All-Pro teams and was invited to his final Pro Bowl.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Early in the first quarter against the Oilers in 1973, Butkus pounced on a fumble in the end zone for the only touchdown of his career. Houston tight end Mack Alston accused Butkus of intimidating the officials, saying he "grabbed the ball and started yelling 'touchdown, touchdown, after which "the officials looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and called it a touchdown." His season was cut short after nine games by a lingering right knee injury, which he had been playing through for years, but was further aggravated after it gave out in Week 5 against the Atlanta Falcons. Prior to the 1974 season an orthopedic surgeon told him, "I don't know how a man in your shape can play football or why you would even want to." The injury ultimately forced him to retire in May 1974 at age 31.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus's retirement came with four years remaining on a five-year contract with the Bears, which was to pay him $115,000 per year through 1977, came with a no-cut, no-trade clause, and was payable even if surgery was needed. The contract also promised necessary medical and hospital care which, according to Butkus, the Bears neglected to provide him, causing irreparable damage to his knee. The Bears then told him he would not be paid if he could not play. Butkus filed suit against the Bears' team doctor in May 1974 asking for $600,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. It was eventually settled out of court when the Bears agreed to pay Butkus the full value of his contract. The episode caused a rift between Butkus and Bears owner George Halas, and the two did not speak for the next five years.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Standing tall and weighing , Butkus was an exceptionally large linebacker during his era. This size was a common trait in his family, as all four of his brothers and his father each stood over six feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds. He was also diligent with his conditioning. In high school he would push a car up and down a street to strengthen his legs, and in college he developed a routine of running at trees and dodging them to emulate avoiding blockers. Despite his size, he also had the speed and agility to make tackles from sideline to sideline and cover tight ends and running backs on pass plays.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Hall of Famer Bill George, whom Butkus succeeded as the Bears' middle linebacker, said, "The first time I saw Butkus, I started packing my gear. I knew my Bear days were numbered. There was no way that guy wasn't going to be great." At one point, Butkus gained a reputation as one of the best players on an otherwise bad Bears team in the late 1960s; during his tenure, the Bears won 48 games, lost 74, and tied 4.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Consistently cited as one of football's meanest, toughest, and most feared players, Butkus was renowned for his intimidating profile and style of play. He was known to snarl at the opposition prior to plays. Quarterbacks would complain of Butkus biting them in pileups. Lions tight end Charlie Sanders recalled Butkus poking him in the eyes with his fingers through his face mask. He once intercepted a pass from Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton near the goal line, and instead of taking the ball into the end zone for an easy touchdown, he took aim at Tarkenton to run him over. When asked by a reporter if he was mean as the rumors suggested, Butkus replied, "I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately. Unless it was, you know, important—like a league game or something."


title: Dick Butkus

text: He played angry, often "manufacturing" things to make him mad, because he felt it gave him a competitive edge. After the Bears lost to the Lions in their first matchup of 1969, Lions rookie running back Altie Taylor told reporters that Butkus was overrated. The next time the teams played that season, Butkus responded by chasing Taylor out of bounds after a play and causing him to jump into the stands at Wrigley Field.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus became most noted for his tackling ability, and the ferocity with which he tackled opponents. He was named the most feared tackler of all time by the NFL Network in 2009. Once during practice, he hit a metal football sled so hard that he crumpled it and left a piece of it dangling off. "Tackling wasn't good enough," recalled former Bears defensive end Ed O'Bradovich. "Just to hit people wasn't good enough. He loved to crush people." Butkus is credited with 1,020 tackles in his NFL career.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus recovered 27 fumbles in his career, an NFL record at the time of his retirement. One of his greatest strengths was his ability to rip the ball from a ball carrier's hands. Although not an official statistic at the time, it has been noted that Butkus would certainly be one of the all-time leaders in forced fumbles.


title: Dick Butkus

text: "USA Today" called Butkus the "gold standard by which other middle linebackers are measured." Although not the creator of the middle linebacker position—which is credited to his predecessor Bill George—Butkus is recognized as having defined the role. He is also recognized for having set the benchmark for the success of Bears middle linebackers, which continued with Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher. Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell, known for his hard-hitting running style, cited Butkus as his hero growing up.


title: Dick Butkus

text: After his university years, Butkus continued to receive recognition for his college career. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. His No. 50 jersey is one of only two retired by the Illinois Fighting Illini football program, the other being the No. 77 of Red Grange, and he was an inaugural inductee into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. Butkus was named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation's All-Century Team in 1999, compiled to honor the best college players of the 20th century. In November 2017, Illinois announced it would erect a statue of Butkus on campus to overlook a future football performance center.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. The Hall's voters also named him to the NFL's 1960s All-Decade Team and 1970s All-Decade Team, deeming him one of the best players of both decades. On October 31, 1994, the Bears retired Butkus's No. 51 jersey along with Sayers's No. 40 jersey during a ceremony at Soldier Field. In 2004, a sculpture featuring Butkus, Halas, and seven other former Bears greats was unveiled at Soldier Field.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus has been repeatedly ranked among the top players in NFL history, being named the ninth-best player in NFL history by "The Sporting News" in 1999, the tenth-best by the NFL Network in its "" series in 2010, and the eighth-best by the "New York Daily News" in 2014. In 2017, NFL senior analyst Gil Brandt ranked Butkus as the third greatest linebacker of all time, behind Derrick Thomas and Lawrence Taylor. He was also selected the 70th greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN. In 1994, he was named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, compiled to recognize the best players of the NFL's first 75 years as adjudged by NFL officials and media personnel. In 2019, Butkus was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Honoring his contributions to Chicago sports, Butkus was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. On August 24, 2013, he was inducted into the National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame. In 2018 Butkus was inducted as a laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln, the state's highest honor, by the Governor of Illinois.


title: Dick Butkus

text: In 1985, the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, Florida created the Butkus Award, which is given annually to the most outstanding linebacker at the high school, college, and professional levels as chosen by a nationwide panel of 51 coaches and sportswriters. Butkus sued the Downtown Athletic Club for rights to the award in 2007, which it relinquished after a yearlong court battle. It has since been presented by the Butkus Foundation.


title: Dick Butkus

text: As an homage, actor Sylvester Stallone named his pet Bullmastiff "Butkus" after the dog ate a security blanket. He decided to name him after "possibly the fiercest football player in history". The dog later starred alongside Stallone in the "Rocky" film series.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Since his career as a player, Butkus has become a celebrity endorser, broadcaster, and actor. He has appeared in films such as "The Longest Yard" (1974), "Cry, Onion!" (1975), "Mother, Jugs & Speed" (1976), "Gus" (1976), "Superdome" (1978), "Cracking Up" (1983), "Johnny Dangerously" (1984), "" (1986), "The Stepford Children" (1987), "Spontaneous Combustion" (1990), "" (1990), "Necessary Roughness" (1991) and "Any Given Sunday" (1999), and as a regular character on TV shows such as "Blue Thunder", "My Two Dads", "Vega$", "MacGyver," and "Hang Time". As well as an appearance on "Murder, She Wrote". He portrayed himself in both the critically acclaimed TV movie "Brian's Song" (1971) and the 2002 comedy "Teddy Bears' Picnic". Butkus portrayed Officer Alan Dimsky in "Cass Malloy", the 1982 CBS pilot for what later became the syndicated situation comedy "She's the Sheriff", and has also made cameo appearances in episodes of several television shows.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus endorsed Prestone, a brand of antifreeze, in a commercial during Super Bowl IV in 1970, stating the tagline, "Because plugging holes is my business." The ad marked the first highly successful celebrity endorsement in Super Bowl advertising. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, Butkus appeared alongside fellow former NFL star (and later "Blue Thunder" co-star) Bubba Smith in a series of ads for Miller Lite, which were released to high acclaim. In 1985, he was a pitchman for Echo Tools, a producer of outdoor power equipment. In the 1990s, Butkus promoted the "Qwik-Cook Grill", a grill utilizing newspaper as its main fuel.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus returned to the Bears as a color analyst on radio broadcasts in 1985, teaming with first-year play-by-play man Wayne Larrivee and former St. Louis Cardinals quarterback Jim Hart. He was hired as the replacement for Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder on CBS's pregame show "The NFL Today" in 1988, serving as an analyst through 1989. He was named as head coach of the XFL's Chicago Enforcers franchise, but was replaced by coach Ron Meyer for the league's only season in 2001. Instead, Butkus served as the league's director of competition and, during the second half of the season, a color commentator for the league's regional telecasts.


title: Dick Butkus

text: In 2005, as part of the ESPN reality series "Bound for Glory", Butkus served as head football coach of Montour High School in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He coached the team to a 1–6 record before departing with two games remaining in the season, saying he had fulfilled his contract for the show.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus married his high school sweetheart, Helen Essenberg, in 1963 while they were students at the University of Illinois. After his retirement, Butkus moved to Florida, and later to Malibu, California. He remains an avid fan and frequent media image for the Bears.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Butkus has three children: Ricky, Matt, and Nikki. Matt played college football for the USC Trojans as a defensive lineman, and joins his father in philanthropic activities. Butkus's nephew Luke Butkus has been an assistant coach in the NFL for the Bears, Seattle Seahawks, and Jacksonville Jaguars, he also coached for the University of Illinois, his alma mater, and as of 2019 is an assistant coach for the Green Bay Packers. Butkus's grandson Ian Parish plays volleyball for the UCLA Bruins.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Injuries sustained during Butkus's playing career have compounded with time. He had his knee replaced with a metal unit. An osteotomy left him with one leg one-and-a-half inches shorter than the other, which has affected his hips, back, and neck. Around 2002, nerve damage in his spine caused him to develop foot drop. He lost strength in his hands, needing both to lift a coffee cup. Still, Butkus maintains that football had a largely positive impact on his life, and that its benefits should not be overlooked.


title: Dick Butkus

text: In August 2001, Butkus underwent quintuple bypass surgery to remove blockages in his arteries. After the surgery, he co-authored a book titled "The OC Cure For Heart Disease" with Lawrence J. Santora, the doctor who performed the procedure.


title: Dick Butkus

text: Through The Butkus Foundation, Butkus has supported many charitable causes. The foundation was formed to manage the receipt and disbursement of funds for his charitable causes. These include:


title: Connie Booth

text: Connie Booth (born 2 December 1940) is an American-born actress and writer. She has appeared in several British television programmes and films, including her role as Polly Sherman on BBC Two's "Fawlty Towers", which she co-wrote with her then-husband John Cleese. In 1995 she quit acting and worked as a psychotherapist until her retirement.


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on 2 December 1940. Her father was a Wall Street stockbroker and her mother an actress. The family later moved to New York State. Booth entered acting and worked as a Broadway understudy and waitress. She met John Cleese while he was working in New York City; they married on February 20, 1968.


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth secured parts in episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969–74) and in the Python films "And Now for Something Completely Different" (1971) and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975, as a woman accused of being a witch). She also appeared in "How to Irritate People" (1968), a pre-Monty Python film starring Cleese and other future Monty Python members; a short film titled "Romance with a Double Bass" (1974) which Cleese adapted from a short story by Anton Chekhov; and "The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It" (1977), Cleese's Sherlock Holmes spoof, as Mrs. Hudson.


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth and Cleese co-wrote and co-starred in "Fawlty Towers" (1975 and 1979), in which she played waitress and chambermaid Polly. For thirty years Booth declined to talk about the show until she agreed to participate in a documentary about the series for the digital channel Gold in 2009.


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth played various roles on British television, including Sophie in "Dickens of London" (1976), Mrs. Errol in a BBC adaptation of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1980) and Miss March in a dramatisation of Edith Wharton's "The Buccaneers" (1995). She also starred in the lead role of a drama called "The Story of Ruth" (1981), in which she played the role of the schizophrenic daughter of an abusive father, for which she received critical acclaim. In 1994, she played a supporting role in "The Culex Experiment", an episode of the children's science fiction TV series "The Tomorrow People".


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth also had a stage career, primarily in the London theatre, appearing in 10 productions from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, notably starring with Sir John Mills in the 1983–1984 West End production of "Little Lies" at Wyndham's Theatre.


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth ended her acting career in 1995. After studying for five years at the University of London, she began a career as a psychotherapist, registered with the British Psychoanalytic Council.


title: Connie Booth

text: In 1971, Booth and Cleese had a daughter, Cynthia, who appeared alongside her father in the films "A Fish Called Wanda" and "Fierce Creatures". Booth and Cleese divorced in 1978. With Cleese, Booth wrote the scripts for and co-starred in both series of "Fawlty Towers", although the two were actually divorced before the second series was finished and aired. Booth's daughter Cynthia married screenwriter Ed Solomon in 1995.


title: Connie Booth

text: Booth married John Lahr, author and former "New Yorker" senior drama critic, in 2000. They live in north London.


title: Corey Hawkins

text: Corey Antonio Hawkins (born October 22, 1988) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the TV series "The Walking Dead" and "", as well as his portrayal of Dr. Dre in the 2015 film "Straight Outta Compton". In 2017, he starred in the Broadway production "Six Degrees of Separation", for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He also starred in Jordan Vogt-Roberts' monster film "" (2017), Spike Lee's biographical crime-comedy "BlacKkKlansman" (2018), Michael Bay's action-comedy "6 Underground", and Jon M. Chu's musical film "In the Heights" (2021).


title: Corey Hawkins

text: Hawkins was born in Washington, D.C., where he was raised by his mother, a police officer. He attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City, a member of the drama division's "Group 40". While studying at Juilliard, Hawkins received the prestigious John Houseman Award for excellence in classical theatre. Upon graduation, he began a career starring Off-Broadway and guest-starring on television. Hawkins garnered a brief role in Marvel Studios' "Iron Man 3" and went on to star opposite Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in Universal Pictures' action-thriller "Non-Stop".


title: Corey Hawkins

text: In 2013, Hawkins made his Broadway debut as Tybalt in the revival of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". In 2015, "The Hollywood Reporter" announced that Hawkins would join the cast of AMC's "The Walking Dead" as Heath, a key character from Robert Kirkman's comic series. Hawkins played Dr. Dre in the biopic "Straight Outta Compton", from Universal Pictures, which was theatrically released on August 14, 2015, and grossed $201 million at the box office.