title: Earth Song

text: "Earth Song" is a song written and performed by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson for his ninth studio album, "" (1995). It was released on November 27, 1995, by Epic Records as the third single from the album. It is a ballad that incorporates elements of blues, gospel and opera. Though Jackson had a long history of releasing socially conscious songs such as "We Are the World", "Man in the Mirror" and "Heal the World", "Earth Song" was his first to overtly discuss the environment and animal welfare. "Earth Song" was originally made for the "Bad" and "Dangerous" album but it failed to make the final cut.


title: Earth Song

text: Written by Jackson and produced by Jackson, David Foster and Bill Bottrell, "Earth Song" was accompanied by a lavish music video which was shot in four geographical regions, centered on the destruction and rebirth of Earth, and went on to receive a Grammy nomination in 1997. The song went number one in the United Kingdom, and was the nation's number-one Christmas single in 1995. It also topped the charts in Germany, Iceland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland while peaking at number two in France, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Jackson went on to receive recognition from various animal and environmental organizations.


title: Earth Song

text: In 2011, the song was paired with the poem "Planet Earth" (previously released on "Michael Jackson's This Is It", in 2009) and released as a song in the remix album "Immortal".


title: Earth Song

text: Jackson wrote "Earth Song" in the Hotel Imperial in Vienna under the working title "What About Us". Jackson wanted to create a song that was lyrically deep, with an emotional message, but was melodically simple, so the whole world, particularly non-English-speaking fans, could sing along.


title: Earth Song

text: "Earth Song" was produced by Jackson, David Foster and Bill Bottrell. Andraé Crouch's Choir and Jackson engage in a call-and-response chant in the climax.


title: Earth Song

text: According to bassist Guy Pratt, Jackson was recovering from plastic surgery at the time of Pratt's recording and hid under a mixing desk in the studio. Jackson passed instructions for Pratt to an assistant, who pretended that Jackson was not in the room.


title: Earth Song

text: Jackson describes the dire situation that mankind has caused, ranging from war to devastation to animals and Earth itself. Jackson calls on people to remember the Earth is their inheritance from God via their ancestor Abraham. "What about death again" reminds all to think about eternal death, asking people to check their heart for repentance, or to see if they really cared at all. Having disfellowshipped himself from Jehovah's Witnesses, Jackson simplified his faith to focus on the Biblical Jesus Christ until his death.


title: Earth Song

text: "Earth Song" received mostly positive reviews from music critics. A reviewer from "Contra Costa Times" called it "a bit sappy and overblown", but also acknowledged that it was "epic" and destined to be a "massive smash hit". James Masterton for Dotmusic described it as a "towering gospel track". "Ledger-Enquirer" observed that it "enjoys the same kind of subtlety, building to a dramatic call-and-response finish with the Andraé Crouch Choir". Pan-European magazine "Music & Media" declared it as an "ecological anthem", stating that "even without the delightful arrangements (tentative piano, jazzy guitar licks, nature noises), the strong composition would have been a sure thing for the top of the EHR and ACE charts." "Music Week" rated it five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. They added, "This will be huge. Already a favourite from "HIStory", it builds from a tweeting birds/strummed harp intro into a no-excess-barred epic, but is beautiful all the same." "The Philadelphia Inquirer" deemed it "a healing, rhythmic ballad that evokes religious imagery". Michael Mehle of "Rocky Mountain News" said the finale is "anthemic" and a "powerful gospel opus". James Hunter of "Rolling Stone" stated, "The slow blues-operatic 'Earth Song' for all its noble sentiments, sounds primarily like a showpiece". "The Sacramento Bee" described Jackson's vocal performance as "cool". A reviewer from "San Jose Mercury News" called it "flat" and "whiny", believing Jackson had already experimented with these concepts earlier in his career.


title: Earth Song

text: In 2017, ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatest key changes in music history". Jackson received the Genesis Award: 1995 Doris Day Music Award, given each year for animal sensitivity.


title: Earth Song

text: In the United Kingdom, "Earth Song" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for six weeks throughout December 1995 — beating the U2/Brian Eno project Passengers to win the Christmas number one spot — and into early 1996. During its stay at number one, "Earth Song" kept the first single released by the Beatles in 25 years, "Free as a Bird", off the number one position as well as other bookmaker favourites "Wonderwall" by Oasis and "It's Oh So Quiet" by Björk. In early December, bookmakers correctly predicted that Jackson would keep the Beatles off the top position and go on to attain the Christmas number-one single. It went on to sell 1,270,000 copies in the nation as of August 2018.


title: Earth Song

text: The song also took the number one position in Iceland, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, peaking within the top five in almost every European state.


title: Earth Song

text: In Germany, it was Jackson's first single to reach No. 1 on the German Singles Chart and held the summit for 5 consecutive weeks.


title: Earth Song

text: The song was only released to radio in the US, appearing on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart (for the remix version of 1996). In 2006, "Earth Song" reached number 55 on the European Hot 100 Singles chart, following the "" campaign, whereby 20 of Jackson's hit singles from the 1980s to the 1990s were reissued in several European countries.


title: Earth Song

text: Earth Song was first performed on November 4, 1995, on the German TV program "Wetten, dass..?", along with Dangerous. The next performance of the song was at Brit Awards 1996 on February 19, 1996. During the performance, singer Jarvis Cocker ran onto the stage while Jackson was dangling off the edge of a crane. He lifted his shirt, pretended to break wind and gave Jackson the V sign. The 1996 World Music Awards was the next performance of the song on May 8, 1996.


title: Earth Song

text: During the ending of the song, Jackson sang the line, "Tell me what about it", which was not heard in the song. On July 16, 1996, Jackson performed Earth Song at the Brunei Royal Concert at Jerudong Park Amphitheatre in Bandar Seri Begawan. Similar to the World Music Awards performance, Michael sang the line, "Tell me what about it". The song was also performed on Jackson's HIStory World Tour from September 1996 to October 1997.


title: Earth Song

text: It was later performed at the MJ & Friends concerts in June 1999. During the Munich performance on June 27, 1999, the middle section of the bridge collapsed into the air and came falling down instead of pausing in mid-air. The fall caused severe back pain to Jackson. After the concert, Jackson was rushed to a hospital.


title: Earth Song

text: The song was also planned for his This Is It comeback concerts in London at The O2 Arena. But canceled due to Jackson's death on June 25, 2009. This was the last song Jackson ever performed, having rehearsed it at Staples Center on June 24, 2009, preparing for This Is It, hours before his death.


title: Earth Song

text: On February 19, 1996, Jackson performed "Earth Song" at Brit Awards 1996 in the United Kingdom; he was there to collect a special "Artist of a Generation" award. Jackson sang while dangling off the edge of a high-rise crane elevator, which he had used the year before while performing it on the German TV show Wetten Dass. Below, a chorus of backing performers joined in and many began to embrace Jackson upon his descent.


title: Earth Song

text: During the performance, singer Jarvis Cocker ran onstage without permission, lifted his shirt and pretended to break wind, before giving Jackson the V sign. Cocker was there with his band Pulp, who had been nominated for three Brit awards. He was questioned by police over claims he had assaulted some of the child performers. A video provided by an undentified source showed that it was one of Jackson's crew who had barged into the children, not Cocker, and the charges of assault were dropped.


title: Earth Song

text: Cocker said that he found the performance offensive, claiming that Jackson had portrayed himself as Christ-like and could do as he pleased because of his immense wealth and power. However, he clarified that his actions weren't personally against Jackson himself, just the performance. He stated that he admired Jackson as a performer, proclaiming that: "He can dance, [...] anybody who invents the moonwalk is alright by me". Jackson condemned Cocker's behavior as "disgusting and cowardly". The incident is referred to in the book "Politics and Popular Culture" by John Street, Professor of Politics at the University of East Anglia. He says:


title: Earth Song

text: But to read popular culture as a straight-forward – or at least typical – political text is to take a very narrow view of its meaning, and hence of its political message(s). As we have noted, the text's meaning will depend on how it is heard and read. Michael Jackson may have intended his "Earth Song" as an exercise in compassion; others – like Jarvis Cocker – saw it quite differently. One reason these alternative readings emerge is because of the way the performance of popular culture engages more than a literal text, it employs gestures and symbols, tones of voice, looks and glances, all of which might tell a different story.


title: Earth Song

text: Despite his dislike of Jackson's Brit Awards performance, in a 2012 interview with The Guardian Cocker said he was still a fan of 'Earth Song': “It is a right good song, obviously".


title: Earth Song

text: The song, along with a 3-D short film that was to be featured in Jackson's series of comeback concerts This Is It was performed as a tribute to Jackson. Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, Smokey Robinson, Celine Dion and Usher all sang the song together, while the video played in the background. The film was shown in its original 3-D format during the broadcast.


title: Earth Song

text: Target provided free 3-D glasses to customers a week before the Grammy Awards. Paris and Prince Jackson, Jackson's oldest children, appeared shortly after the performance to accept Jackson's Lifetime Achievement Award, where they both gave a short speech. This was the first time the children had spoken publicly since the memorial service that was held for Jackson on July 7, 2009.


title: Earth Song

text: The music video for "Earth Song", directed by fine art photographer Nick Brandt, was expensive and well-received; it gained the 1995 Doris Day Music Award at the Genesis Awards and a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1997. The production had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution, poaching, poverty and war. Jackson and the world's people unite in a spiritual chant—"Earth Song"—which summons a force that heals the world. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, war ends and the forests regrow. The video closes with a request for donations to Jackson's Heal the World Foundation. The clip was shown infrequently in the United States.


title: Earth Song

text: The video was filmed in four geographic regions (Americas, Europe and Africa). The first location was the Amazon rainforest, where a large part was destroyed a week after the video's completion. Natives of the region appeared in the video and were not actors. The second scene was a war zone in Karlovac, Croatia, with famous Serbian actor Slobodan Dimitrijević and the residents of the area. The third location was Tanzania, which incorporated scenes of illegal poaching and hunting into the video. No animals were harmed in the making of the "Earth Song", as the footage came from documentary archives. The final location was in Warwick, New York, where a safe forest fire was simulated in a corn field.


title: Earth Song

text: The video was also included on the video albums: "HIStory on Film, Volume II", "Number Ones" and "Michael Jackson's Vision".


title: Earth Song

text: The DMC Megamix is a medley of Bad, Billie Jean, Black or White, Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Remember the Time, Rock with You, Scream, Thriller and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: Henri Christophe Dickerson (August 25, 1939 – December 23, 2021) was an American professional bodybuilder.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: Dickerson was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on August 25, 1939. He was the youngest of triplets. His mother, Mahala Ashley Dickerson, was a lawyer and civil rights advocate for women and minorities. He graduated high school at Olney Friends School in 1957.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: One of the world's most titled bodybuilders, Dickerson's competitive career spanned thirty years; he was known for both his heavily muscled, symmetrical physique and for his skills on the posing dais.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: Dickerson first entered bodybuilding competition in 1965 by taking third place at that year's Mr. Long Beach competition. He turned pro in 1973 and won a total of 15 professional bodybuilding titles across four organizations during his career.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: He trained for many of his most important competitions in the 1980s with former Mr. Universe Bill Pearl.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: Dickerson was the first African-American AAU Mr. America, the first openly gay winner of the IFBB Mr. Olympia contest, and one of only two bodybuilders (along with Dexter Jackson) to win titles in both the Mr. Olympia and Masters Olympia competitions.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: He won the Mr. Olympia once (1982), a distinction he shares with Samir Bannout (1983) and Dexter Jackson (2008) who have since retired, as well as Shawn Rhoden (2018) and Brandon Curry (2019).


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: Dickerson retired after winning the 50+ division at the 1994 Masters Olympia and was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2000. Dickerson lived in Florida where he continued to train, conduct seminars, and correspond with current athletes.


title: Chris Dickerson (bodybuilder)

text: During the 1960s, Dickerson did much physique modeling. His 1970s nude work for photographer Jim French is today considered some of the best in an admittedly limited field. He appeared in French's hardcover photo essay, "Man" (1972), and also posed for the photographer ten years later. These photos ran in an issue of Olympus, published by Colt Studios.


title: Kulfi

text: Kulfi () () is a frozen dairy dessert originating in the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era in the 16th century. It is often described as "traditional Indian ice cream". Kulfi is a traditional sweet of the Indian subcontinent, where it is commonly sold by street vendors called "kulfiwallahs".


title: Kulfi

text: It is popular in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East and part of the national cuisines of India, Pakistan, and Trinidad and Tobago.


title: Kulfi

text: Kulfi is denser and creamier than regular ice cream. It comes in various flavours. Traditional ones include cream ("malai"), rose, mango, cardamom ("elaichi"), saffron ("kesar" or "zafran"), and pistachio. Newer flavours include apple, orange, strawberry, peanut, and avocado. Unlike ice cream, kulfi is not whipped, resulting in a solid, dense dessert similar to frozen custard. Thus, it is sometimes considered a distinct category of frozen dairy-based dessert. The density of kulfi causes it to melt more slowly than ice cream.


title: Kulfi

text: The word "kulfi" comes from the Persian (قلفی) meaning "covered cup". The dessert likely originated in the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. The mixture of dense evaporated milk was already popular in the sweet dishes in the Indian subcontinent. During the Mughal period, this mixture was flavoured with pistachios and saffron, packed into metal cones and immersed in slurry ice, resulting in the invention of kulfi. "Ain-i-Akbari", a detailed record of the Mughal emperor Akbar's administration, mentions use of saltpeter for refrigeration as well as transportation of Himalayan ice to warmer areas. Delhi, as the former capital of the Mughal Empire, claims to be the birthplace of kulfi. However, Australian food historian Charmaine O'Brien writes, "...it is likely that (kulfi) originally evolved in the cooler climates of Persia or Samarkand and that the Mughals appropriated the concept and elaborated on it to create the creamy, perfumed dessert that it now is."


title: Kulfi

text: To prepare kulfi, sweetened, flavoured milk is slow cooked. The milk is stirred almost continuously to prevent it from sticking to the cooking utensil. During this process, the milk condenses and thickens. The slow cooking caramelises the sugar in the mixture and browns its milk proteins, giving kulfi its distinctive taste. The mixture is then poured into moulds (often "kulhars") and sealed. The sealed moulds are submerged in an insulated "matka" filled with ice and salt. This quickly freezes the mixture, giving it a soft, smooth consistency free of ice crystals. Kulfi prepared in this traditional way is called "matka kulfi".


title: Kulfi

text: The moulds are removed from the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving to allow the kulfi to melt slightly. The kulfi is then removed from the moulds and garnished with ground cardamom, saffron, or pistachios. Kulfi is also served with "falooda" (vermicelli noodles).


title: International sanctions

text: International sanctions are political and economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations either to protect national security interests, or to protect international law, and defend against threats to international peace and security. These decisions principally include the temporary imposition on a target of economic, trade, diplomatic, cultural or other restrictions (sanctions measures) that are lifted when the motivating security concerns no longer apply, or when no new threats have arisen.


title: International sanctions

text: According to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, only the UN Security Council has a mandate by the international community to apply sanctions (Article 41) that must be complied with by all UN member states (Article 2,2). They serve as the international community's most powerful peaceful means to prevent threats to international peace and security or to settle them. Sanctions do not include the use of military force. However, if sanctions do not lead to the diplomatic settlement of a conflict, the use of force can be authorized by the Security Council separately under Article 42.


title: International sanctions

text: UN sanctions should not be confused with unilateral sanctions that are imposed by individual countries in furtherance of their strategic interests. Typically intended as strong economic coercion, measures applied under unilateral sanctions can range between coercive diplomatic efforts, economic warfare, or as preludes to war.


title: International sanctions

text: Economic sanctions are distinguished from trade sanctions, which are applied for purely economic reasons, and typically take the form of tariffs or similar measures, rather than bans on trade.


title: International sanctions

text: Sanctions formulations are designed into three categories. The categories are used to differentiate between the political contexts due to the global nature of the act.


title: International sanctions

text: The first category involves such sanctions that are designed to force cooperation with international law. This can be seen in the sanctions placed on Iraq in Resolution 661 on August 6, 1990, after the initial invasion of neighboring Kuwait. The United Nations placed an embargo on the nation in an attempt to prevent armed conflict. Resolution 665 and Resolution 670 were further added creating both naval and air blockade on Iraq. The purpose of the initial sanctions was to coerce Iraq into following international law, which included the recognized sovereignty of Kuwait.


title: International sanctions

text: The second category of design is those sanctions with the purpose to contain a threat to peace within a geographical boundary. The 2010 Iran nuclear proliferation debate is a contemporary example. The current United Nations Security Council passed on June 9, Resolution 1929 providing restrictions on missile and weaponry materials that could be used for the creation of destructive weapons. This principle of restriction is to contain the possibility of Iranian aggression within the neighboring region.


title: International sanctions

text: The third category involves the United Nations Security Councils condemnation of actions of a specific action or policy of a member/non-member nation. The white minority declared Rhodesian Independence on November 11, 1965. The General assemble and United Nations in a 107 to 2 vote took to condemning Rhodesia on all military, economic, as well as oil and petroleum products. The international display of disapproval forced sanctions onto the Rhodesian people, but without a clear goal as to a remedy for the economic sanctions.


title: International sanctions

text: The three categories are a blanket explanation on the reasons sanctions are applied to nations, but it does not go as far as to say that voting members share the same political reasons for imposing them. It is often the case for many nations to be driven by self-interests in one or more categories when voting on whether or not to implement sanctions.


title: International sanctions

text: Economic sanctions can vary from trade barriers, tariffs, and restrictions on financial transactions. These types of sanctions impose import duties on goods or bans on the export of certain goods to the target country, to a full naval blockade of the target's ports in an effort to block imported goods. The objective of the sanctioning country are to impose significant costs to the target country to coerce a change in policy or attain a specific action from the target government. However, the effectiveness of economic sanctions has been challenged, as its harsh impacts cause more harm to the general population rather than the target regimes it is designed to hurt.


title: International sanctions

text: Diplomatic sanctions are political measures taken to express disapproval or displeasure at a certain action through diplomatic and political means, rather than affecting economic or military relations. Measures include limitations or cancellations of high-level government visits or expelling or withdrawing diplomatic missions or staff.


title: International sanctions

text: Similarly military sanctions can range from carefully targeted military strikes to degrade a nation's conventional or non-conventional capabilities, to the less aggressive form of an arms embargo to cut off supplies of arms or dual-use items.


title: International sanctions

text: Sport sanctions are used as a way of psychological warfare, intended to crush the morale of the general population of the target country. Sports sanctions were imposed as part of the international sanctions against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1992–1995, enacted by UN Security Council by resolution 757. The Gleneagles Agreement approved by the Commonwealth of Nations in 1977, committed member nations to discourage contact and competition between their sportsmen and sporting organisations, teams or individuals from South Africa. However, it was not binding and unable to stop events such as the 1980 British Lions tour to South Africa or the 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many sporting bodies imposed sport sanctions against Russia and Belarus. The target countries are usually not allowed to host any sporting events and not allowed to have their flag and state symbol displayed.


title: International sanctions

text: Sanctions on the environment include both economic and political issues such as trade since these are all interdependent. The trade barriers and restrictions on trade are the key factors since they are engaged with the problems of endangered species, ozone-depleting chemicals, and environmental laws. Although the sanctions and laws regarding the environment are relatively new, recent concerns over the environmental issues encouraged individuals and governments to actively cooperate in dealing the problems.


title: International sanctions

text: The United Nations Security Council can implement sanctions on political leaders or economic individuals. These persons usually find ways of evading their sanction because of political connections within their nation.


title: International sanctions

text: It is sometimes claimed that sanctions imposed by single countries or by an intergovernmental body like the United Nations are "illegal" or "criminal" due to, in the case of economic sanctions, the right to development or, in the case of military sanctions, the Right of self-defense.


title: International sanctions

text: A 1996 report by International Progress Organization criticized sanctions as "an illegitimate form of collective punishment of the weakest and poorest members of society, the infants, the children, the chronically ill, and the elderly".


title: International sanctions

text: Sanctions have long been the subject of controversy as scholars question their effects on citizens, the level of ethnocentrism involved when designing and implementing sanctions, and the possibility of ineffectiveness.


title: International sanctions

text: Supporters of sanctions argue that regardless of sanctions' effects on a group of people, those citizens were most likely already being oppressed by their government. Supporters also argue that sanctions are the best alternative international tool, as opposed to taking no action, and that in the absence of sanctions, oppressive regimes have no incentive to reform.


title: International sanctions

text: On the side of opposition, it is asserted that sanctions are a way to promote nationalistic values and diminish the culture of a state. In counterargument, support is argued on the basis that something must be done and democratic peace theory is cited as sound reasoning despite any possible cultural insensitivity.


title: International sanctions

text: In regards to the effectiveness of the sanctions, supporters concede that multilateral sanctions have been found to work 33% of the time.


title: International sanctions

text: There are several ways to remove and dissolve sanctions that have been imposed on a nation(s). In some cases, such as those imposed on Iraq in 1990, only a new resolution can be used to lift the sanctions. This is done when no provision is put in the resolution for the lifting of sanctions. This is generally only done if the sanctioned party has shown willingness to adopt certain conditions of the Security Council. Another way sanctions can be lifted is when time limits are implemented with the initial sanction. After an extended duration, the sanction will eventually be lifted off the nation, with or without cooperation. The practice of time limitations has grown over the years and allows for a gradual removal of restrictions on nations conforming, at least in part, to conditions imposed by sanctioning bodies, such as the U.N. Security Council.


title: Requiem shark

text: Requiem sharks are sharks of the family Carcharhinidae in the order Carcharhiniformes. They are migratory, live-bearing sharks of warm seas (sometimes of brackish or fresh water) and include such species as the tiger shark, bull shark, lemon shark, spinner shark, blacknose shark, blacktip shark, grey reef shark, blacktip reef shark, silky shark, dusky shark, blue shark, copper shark, oceanic whitetip shark, and whitetip reef shark.


title: Requiem shark

text: Family members have the usual carcharhiniform characteristics. Their eyes are round, and one or two gill slits fall over the pectoral fin base. Most species are viviparous, the young being born fully developed. They vary widely in size, from as small as adult length in the Australian sharpnose shark, up to adult length in the tiger shark. Scientists assume that size and shape of their pectoral fins have the right dimensions to minimize transport cost. Requiem sharks tend to live in more tropical areas, but tend to migrate. Females release a chemical in the ocean in order to let the males know they are ready to mate. Typical mating time for these sharks are around spring to autumn.


title: Requiem shark

text: Requiem sharks are involved in a large proportion of attacks on humans, among the top five species; however, due to the difficulty in identifying individual species, a degree of inaccuracy exists in attack records.


title: Requiem shark

text: The common name requiem shark may be related to the French word for shark, "requin", which is itself of disputed etymology. One derivation of the latter is from Latin "requiem" ("rest"), which would thereby create a cyclic etymology ("requiem-requin-requiem"), but other sources derive it from the Old French verb "reschignier" ("to grimace while baring teeth").


title: Requiem shark

text: The scientific name Carcharhinidae was first proposed in 1896 by D.S. Jordan and B.W. Evermann as a subfamily of Galeidae (now replaced by "Carcharhinidae"). The term is derived from Greek "karcharos" (sharp or jagged); and "rhine" (rasp), both elements describe the jagged, rasp-like skin. Rasp-like skin is typical of shark skin in general, and is not diagnostic to Carcharhinidae.


title: Requiem shark

text: The oldest member of the family is "Archaeogaleus lengadocensis" from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) of France. Only a handful of records of the group are known from prior to the beginning of the Cenozoic. Modern carcharinid sharks have extensively diversified in coral reef habitats.


title: Requiem shark

text: Requiem sharks are extraordinarily fast and effective hunters. Their elongated, torpedo-shaped bodies make them quick and agile swimmers, so they can easily attack any prey. They have a range of food sources depending on their location and species that includes bony fish, squids, octopuses, lobsters, turtles, marine mammals, seabird, other sharks and rays. They are often considered the "garbage cans" of the seas because they will eat almost anything, even non-food items like trash. They are migratory hunters that follow their food source across entire oceans. They tend to be most active at night time, where their impressive eyesight can help them sneak up on unsuspecting prey. Most requiem sharks hunt alone, however some species like the whitetip reef sharks and lemon sharks are cooperative feeders and will hunt in packs through coordinated, timed attacks against their prey.


title: Ride (band)

text: Ride is an English rock band formed in Oxford in 1988. The band consists of vocalists and guitarists Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, drummer Laurence "Loz" Colbert and bassist Steve Queralt. They are recognised as one of the key pioneers of shoegaze, an alternative rock subgenre that emerged to prominence in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s.


title: Ride (band)

text: The band's first two albums, "Nowhere" (1990) and "Going Blank Again" (1992), are critically acclaimed as two of the greatest shoegaze albums of all time. The latter's lead single, "Leave Them All Behind", was the band's most commercially successful song, reaching No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. Both "Going Blank Again" and its 1994 follow-up, "Carnival of Light", peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart.


title: Ride (band)

text: Ride broke up in 1996 prior to the release of their fourth album "Tarantula", which received negative reviews. Bell joined Oasis in 1999 as their bassist. The band reunited in 2014 to tour again, and also put out the albums "Weather Diaries" (2017) and "This Is Not a Safe Place" (2019).


title: Ride (band)

text: Andy Bell and Mark Gardener had been to Cheney School in Oxford, appearing in the school's musical theatre productions, and in October 1988, they moved to Banbury to do Foundation Studies in Art & Design at North Oxfordshire College and the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design. There they met Laurence Colbert and Steve Queralt. Queralt, who also went to Cheney School, was recruited from the local Our Price record shop where he worked as a singles buyer (although Bell and Queralt had already played together in an obscure reggae/pop band called "Big Spiderback"). After considering various names, the band settled for 'Ride', with its evocation of travel, and after the ride cymbal. Bell has cited a performance by The Smiths as the inspiration for forming a band. The band formed in the summer of 1988 and played their first gig as Ride for the College's Christmas Party towards the end of the year. While still at Banbury, the band produced a demo tape, recorded in Queralt's bedroom and hallway, including the tracks "Chelsea Girl" and "Drive Blind". Queralt and his record shop boss and future Ride manager Dave Newton had started a live music night in Oxford called "Local Support", and it was due to a cancellation by another band that Ride got their first proper gig at one of these nights. Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain heard a copy of the demo that was in the possession of the DJ Gary Crowley, and this led to interest from former Mary Chain manager Alan McGee. After the band supported the Soup Dragons in 1989, McGee signed them to his Creation Records label.


title: Ride (band)

text: Ride released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitled "Ride", "Play" and "Fall". All three EPs made it into the UK top 75, with "Play" and "Fall" reaching the top 40. "Ride"'s top-75 placing was a first for Creation Records. The first two EPs were released together as "Smile" in the USA in July 1990 (and later released in the UK in 1992), while the "Fall" EP was incorporated into the CD version of their first album, "Nowhere", released in October 1990. Bell said that the band kept putting out new material to remain fresh in listeners' minds, comparing it to the release schedules of The Beatles and The Jam.


title: Ride (band)

text: The band were often labelled as part of the "shoegaze" scene, but the band rejected this, Bell stating "my first reaction was like, this is another boring tag. These days...that's pretty much still my reaction". Gardener said of the band's influences "We liked the noisy bands of the time. When we were at art college we went to see My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Stone Roses and Sonic Youth. I think these all had a lot of influence on us in the early days as they were great gigs".


title: Ride (band)

text: The band recorded two sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show in 1990, and their popularity with the show's listeners saw them with three tracks in the Festive Fifty that year, with "Dreams Burn Down" and "Like a Daydream" at numbers 3 and 4 respectively, and "Taste" at number 25.


title: Ride (band)

text: "Nowhere" was a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 11 in the UK, and the media dubbed Ride "The brightest hope" for 1991. Demand for new material was high, and the band recorded another EP, "Today Forever", released in March 1991. The EP marked a change in direction for the group away from the noisier early style. Ride made their first international tour to Japan, Australia and France later on that year. Tickets for the performances in Japan sold out within minutes.


title: Ride (band)

text: In February 1992 the band broke into the UK top 10 with "Leave Them All Behind", and the following month saw the release of the band's second album "Going Blank Again". However, its followup, "Twisterella", disappointed and barely scraped the top 40 despite extremely high expectations, and Creation stopped promoting the album as a result. The band then embarked on an ill-fated American tour. The strain within the band was already apparent, Bell stating "By the time the second album came out we were touring too much. We were tired. We then took time off, but it was too much time off".


title: Ride (band)

text: Ride were able to see out 1993 riding on the success of "Going Blank Again" and a third album was keenly anticipated. A double weekend of gigs with The Charlatans that year ('Daytripper') kept them in the public eye amid a wider lack of interest in the shoegazing scene. Their third album, "Carnival of Light", was released in June 1994, at a time when Britpop was the focus of the music press. Produced by John Leckie and partly engineered by Nigel Godrich (future Radiohead producer) – except "How Does it Feel to Feel?" by Black Crowes producer George Drakoulias – and featuring a guest appearance on keyboards from Jon Lord of Deep Purple, the album was split between songwriters Gardener and Bell, with the former's songs making up the first half of the album and the latter's the second. Not only did the album's sound eschew the band's earlier influences in favour of inspiration from classic rock, but the band's approach to songwriting also changed: whereas earlier material had mostly been developed by the band in jam sessions as a group, for "Carnival of Light" Bell and Gardener would arrive in the studio with their songs more or less fully formed. Opening with the riff-heavy "Moonlight Medicine", tracks also include "From Time to Time", "Birdman" and a cover of The Creation's "How Does It Feel to Feel?", which was released as a single. The album was not well received by critics, Bell explaining "These were good times but the music took second place. When we recorded the "Carnival of Light" album we got indulgent". By the end of 1994 even the band themselves were critical of the album, referring to it within the group as ""Carnival of Shite"".


title: Ride (band)

text: Gardener and Bell had led the band away from their shoegazing roots to become more contemporary, hoping to change their style with the times. Queralt has remarked that the band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option. Gardener had become interested in dance music, and wanted Ride to incorporate that into their style, while Bell disagreed. The track listing of "Carnival of Light" gives an indication of the tension that was mounting between the two guitarists, with the first half of the album being songs written by Mark Gardener and the last half of the album being songs written by Andy Bell - Andy Bell had refused to let his songs be interspersed with pieces written by Gardener. Years later Andy Bell explained "Imagine an argument where the way you win, is by saying 'I don't want my songs on the same side of the album as yours' and it ACTUALLY HAPPENS. We were allowed by the people around us to behave like total babies."


title: Ride (band)

text: By the time "Tarantula" appeared, the band was beginning to self-destruct. Bell penned most of the songs while Gardener provided only one - the tension within the band leading to an inability to write meaningful musical pieces. "Castle on the Hill", written by Bell, was a lament for the band's situation and contains references to Gardener's self-imposed exile from the group. Gardener walked out during the album's mixing sessions, and the band announced their break-up shortly before its release in March 1996. The album was released and remained on sale for one week before being withdrawn. Critics and fans alike had panned the album (although the first single off the album, "Black Nite Crash", was awarded "single of the week" by weekly music magazine Melody Maker). The album was described by "AllMusic" as "an abomination of '70s/Lenny Kravitz clichés, full of third- and fourth-rate tunes and, ultimately, bad blood", going on to say "the words are just plain awful throughout, not even worth printing". "Rolling Stone" were more complimentary, stating "the album is saved from maudlin self-obsession because it's rawer and rocks harder than anything else Ride have recorded".


title: Ride (band)

text: Since the break-up, both Bell and Gardener have been more reflective about the group's disintegration, with Bell especially admitting his own part in the process.


title: Ride (band)

text: After the split, Andy Bell formed a new band called Hurricane No. 1 but this project was permanently dissolved when he was asked to play bass for Oasis after having turned down the opportunity to join Gay Dad. He lived in Stockholm during this period. Mark Gardener and Laurence Colbert joined with Sam Williams to form the Animalhouse. As BMG signings, they were successful in Japan. The band was, however, short lived and split in 2002.


title: Ride (band)

text: On 16 October 2001, all four members of Ride agreed to be filmed by Channel 4. The footage was used for the show "Pioneers", a documentary on Sonic Youth, and featured a thirty-minute improvised jam. The recording of this song, plus two short sound checks, were released in 2002 as "Coming up for Air". The interest in this limited release CD caused the band to consider future releases. In late 2002, Ride released a 3-CD box set which is made up of "OX4_ The Best of Ride", "Firing Blanks" (Unreleased tracks) and "Live_Reading Festival 1992". In 2003 they released "Waves," a collection of tracks from five radio sessions recorded for the BBC.


title: Ride (band)

text: Mark Gardener then pursued a solo career. From 2003 to 2005, Gardener toured extensively, sometimes with the help of Oxford friends Goldrush, in order to personally fund a full-length studio album. During the tour, a three-track EP with Goldrush ("Falling Out into the Night") and a live album (the acoustic solo "Live @ the Knitting Factory, New York City") were released. He also spent part of 2005 working with the French duo rinôçérôse. In late 2005, Gardener's album "These Beautiful Ghosts" was released in North America on United For Opportunity.


title: Ride (band)

text: Any thoughts of permanently re-forming the band, however, were previously explicitly denied by Bell, with the reasoning that it would not live up to expectations. However, band members, Bell included, had stated that they would not mind working with each other again. Since then, Bell and Colbert have made an appearance at one of Gardener's early shows; Bell later shared two nights of acoustic sets with Gardener in November 2003 when Gardener made a tour stop in Bell's then home of Stockholm.


title: Ride (band)

text: On 19 November 2014, it was announced that Ride had reunited again for a series of tour dates in Europe and North America, in May and June 2015. On 10 and 17 April 2015 Ride performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, following a live performance broadcast by KCRW on 8 April 2015. The band appeared at different venues and festivals, in northern America and Europe, including Primavera Sound Festival, Melt! Festival and others. They also toured America with fellow shoegaze band DIIV. The reunion was originally meant for touring only, but after playing shows together again, the band decided that the experience should also lead to the recording of a new album.


title: Ride (band)

text: On 21 February 2017, Andy Bell and Mark Gardener were interviewed on BBC 6 Music by Steve Lamacq, followed by the premiere of "Charm Assault", their first new single since 1996's "Black Nite Crash", and their first new song in 21 years. The next day, the band released another single, "Home Is a Feeling".


title: Ride (band)

text: On 23 March 2017 Ride announced their first new studio album in 21 years, "Weather Diaries". The album was released on 16 June 2017. It made number 11 in the UK album charts and gained critical and fan approval upon its release, supported by a tour of Europe and North America across the summer and autumn of 2017. On 27 May 2018 they played a hometown gig, as first support to James, in Oxford's South Parks, as part of the two-day "Common People" festival (the previous day had been in Southampton).


title: Ride (band)

text: In March 2019, the band announced that their upcoming sixth studio album had already been finished, with the same producer as their previous album, Erol Alkan. The new album, called "This Is Not a Safe Place", was released on 16 August 2019.


title: Ride (band)

text: In 2022, Ride announced that the band had been working on a seventh album, set for release in 2023 or 2024.


title: Mark 84 bomb

text: The Mark 84 or BLU-117 is an American general-purpose bomb. It is the largest of the Mark 80 series of weapons. Entering service during the Vietnam War, it became a commonly used US heavy unguided bomb (due to the amount of high-explosive content packed inside) to be dropped. At the time, it was the third largest bomb by weight in the US inventory behind the BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" and the M118 "demolition" bomb. It is currently sixth in size due to the addition of the GBU-28 in 1991, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) in 2003, and the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.


title: Mark 84 bomb

text: The Mark 84 has a nominal weight of , but its actual weight varies depending on its fin, fuze options, and retardation configuration, from . It is a streamlined steel casing filled with of Tritonal high explosive.


title: Mark 84 bomb

text: The Mark 84 is capable of forming a crater wide and deep. It can penetrate up to of metal or of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of .


title: Mark 84 bomb

text: Many Mark 84s have been retrofitted with stabilizing and retarding devices to provide precision guidance capabilities. They serve as the warhead of a variety of precision-guided munitions, including the GBU-10/GBU-24/GBU-27 Paveway laser-guided bombs, GBU-15 electro-optical bomb, GBU-31 JDAM and Quickstrike sea mines. The HGK is a Turkish guidance kit used to convert 2000-lb Mark 84 bombs into GPS/INS guided smart bombs.


title: Mark 84 bomb

text: According to a test report conducted by the United States Navy's Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB) established in the wake of the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, the cooking off time for a Mk 84 is approximately 8 minutes 40 seconds.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Shivers, also known as The Parasite Murders and They Came from Within, and, for the French-Canadian distribution, Frissons ( ; French for "chills" or "shivers"), is a 1975 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Paul Hampton, Lynn Lowry, and Barbara Steele. The original shooting title was "Orgy of the Blood Parasites".


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: At Starliner Towers, a luxury apartment complex outside of Montreal, Dr. Emil Hobbes murders a young woman named Annabelle. He slices open her stomach, pours acid into the wound and then commits suicide. Nick Tudor, who has been suffering from stomach convulsions, finds their bodies but leaves without calling the police. The two bodies are found by resident doctor Roger St. Luc, who calls the police. Hobbes' medical partner, Rollo Linsky, tells St. Luc that he and Hobbes had been working on a project to create "a parasite that can take over the function of a human organ".


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: After suffering more convulsions, Nick leaves work early. He vomits a parasite over the railing of his balcony. The parasite slithers back into the apartment, where it attacks a cleaning woman in the basement, attaching itself to her face. His wife Janine tries to care for him, but he ignores her and prefers to talk to the parasites undulating in his abdomen. At the clinic, Roger sees a sexually active middle-aged resident who has been suffering from stomach convulsions. Roger speculates that his condition might be an STD that he caught from Annabelle.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Linsky calls Roger from Hobbes' office downtown to tell him that Hobbes had developed a parasite that was "a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will, hopefully, turn the world into one beautiful mindless orgy". Hobbes believed modern humans had become over-intellectual and estranged from their primal impulses. Hobbes' ambition with his parasitic invention was to reassert humanity's unbridled, sexually aggressive instincts, and he used Annabelle as his guinea pig. Linsky warns Roger not to approach anyone who is behaving in a strange manner.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Nick tries to force Janine to have sex with him, but she recoils in horror when one of the parasites crawls from his mouth. She rushes to the apartment of her friend Betts, who was infected by one of the parasites while taking a bath. Betts seduces Janine and as they kiss, passes a parasite to her. Meanwhile, other residents, including a little girl in an elevator with her mother, who are assaulted by a deliveryman, become infected with the parasite, attack other residents and continue to spread the infection. Soon the hallways are full of people sexually assaulting or fighting one another. Roger combs the complex looking for the parasites while Forsythe—his nurse and lover—tends to an elderly couple who were attacked by one of the parasites.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Linsky arrives at Starliner Towers and goes to the Tudor apartment, as Roger had identified Nick as someone Annabelle might have infected. He finds Nick lying in bed, parasites crawling on his abdomen. When Linsky examines him more closely, one of the parasites latches onto his cheek. Linsky tries to pull it off with pliers, but Nick kills him and swallows the parasite. Forsythe tries to flee the complex in her car but is attacked by the infected security guard. Before he can rape her, Roger arrives and kills him, and the two hide in the basement. Forsythe tells Roger of a dream that mixed eroticism and death, then vomits up a parasite. Roger knocks her out and tries to carry her to safety, but they are attacked by a horde of infected sex maniacs. Roger is separated from Forsythe and is forced to flee as she is overwhelmed by the infected.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Roger kills Nick in his apartment, then tries to escape the complex, but is thwarted at every turn. He finally makes it to the swimming pool area where he encounters Janine and Betts swimming fully clothed. The two walk to the edge of the pool and smile seductively at him as he finds a door to the outside, but the infected block his path and he is pulled into the pool by Janine and Betts. The rest of the infected, including the little girl from the elevator, plunge into the pool fully dressed or otherwise and swim towards Roger to hold him down. Roger is eventually surrounded and finally infected by Forsythe.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Roger, Forsythe and the other Starliner residents drive out of the building's garage. Early the next morning, news reports encourage listeners not to panic as police investigate an epidemic of sexual assaults in Montreal.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: "Shivers" was filmed over fifteen days at Tourelle-Sur-Rive, a 1962 apartment building designed by Mies van der Rohe, on Rue de Gaspé, Nuns' Island. It was Cronenberg's third feature film, and the most profitable Canadian film made to date in 1975, but was so controversial that the Parliament of Canada debated its social and artistic value and effect upon society, because of objections to its sexual and violent content.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: "Shivers" opened theatrically in the United States under the alternate title "They Came From Within", with regional showings beginning in San Antonio, Texas on September 26, 1975. The film was released in Montréal on October 10, 1975 where it was distributed by Cinépix. The film was released in Canada as "The Parasite Murders" and in both Canada and the United Kingdom as "Shivers".


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: The film was released on DVD by Image Entertainment on September 16, 1998 and is currently out of print.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: On September 15, 2020, Lionsgate issued the film on Blu-ray in the United States as part of its Vestron Video Collector's Series. This release includes, among other features, a new commentary by filmmaker David Cronenberg.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: On its initial release, "Shivers" was not a positively-received film. Of a selection of 28 reviews from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium and France, 16 reviews are negative, six were positive and the rest could be classified as neutral. From the negative reviews, 12 of the 16 negative reviews are very negative while three of the six positive reviews were very positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of . The site's consensus states ""Shivers" uses elementally effective basic ingredients to brilliant and lays the profoundly unsettling foundation for director David Cronenberg's career to follow".


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: Canadian journalist Robert Fulford, writing as "Marshall Delaney", decried the content of "Shivers" in the pages of the national magazine "Saturday Night". Since Cronenberg's film was partially financed by the taxpayer-funded Canadian Film Development Corporation (later known as Telefilm Canada), Fulford headlined the article with "You should know how bad this film is. After all, you paid for it." He called it "crammed with blood, violence and depraved sex" and "the most repulsive movie I've ever seen." Not only did this high-profile attack make it more difficult for Cronenberg to obtain funding for his subsequent movies, but Cronenberg later said Fulford's article also resulted in him being kicked out of his apartment in Toronto, owing to his landlord's inclusion of a "morality clause" in the lease. Other Canadian critics gave the film negative reviews, such as Martin Knelman in "The Globe and Mail" and Dane Larnken in "Montreal Gazette". American critic Roger Ebert noted that while he expected "Shivers" to be a dismal exploitation film, since it was part of a double-bill with the faux-snuff film "Snuff", he instead was impressed by much of the movie and ended up giving it a two-and-a-half star rating.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: The film was one of the highest-grossing English-language Canadian films of all-time, with a gross of $1 million in Canada.


title: Shivers (1975 film)

text: The screenplay was published by Faber & Faber in the 2002 collection "David Cronenberg: Collected Screenplays 1: Stereo, Crimes of the Future, Shivers, Rabid.


title: Joe Weider

text: Joseph Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of Mr. Olympia, Ms. Olympia, and the Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests. He was the publisher of various bodybuilding and fitness-related magazines, most notably "Muscle & Fitness", "Flex", "Men's Fitness," and "Shape", and the manufacturer of a line of fitness equipment and fitness supplements.


title: Joe Weider

text: Weider was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Louis and Anna Weider, Polish Jewish emigrants from Kurów, Poland. He published the first issue of "Your Physique" magazine in 1940, and built a set of barbells out of car wheels and axles the same year out of the family garage on Coloniale Street in Montreal. He designed numerous training courses beginning in the 1950s, including the Weider System of Bodybuilding.


title: Joe Weider

text: He married Hedwiges "Vicky" Uzar; together they had one child, Lydia Ross, and subsequently divorced in 1960. During his marriage to Vicky Uzar, he had met Betty Brosmer, who was then the highest-paid pin-up girl in the U.S. In 1961 Joe and Betty married, and she began working alongside him as Betty Weider. Betty and Joe together authored books on bodybuilding. Joe and Ben together were the co-founders of the International Federation of BodyBuilders.


title: Joe Weider

text: In 1968, the brothers brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to California. At the time Schwarzenegger was a relatively unknown Austrian bodybuilder.


title: Joe Weider

text: The family founded Weider Nutrition in 1936, considered the first sports nutrition company. Now called Schiff Nutrition International, they were the creators of Tiger's Milk nutrition bars and related products, one of the earliest lines of sports foods.


title: Joe Weider

text: In 1953, "Your Physique" was renamed "Muscle Builder" magazine. The name changed again to "Muscle & Fitness" in 1980. Other magazines published by Weider's publishing empire included "Mr. America", "Muscle Power", "Shape magazine", "Fit Pregnancy", "Men's Fitness", "Living Fit", "Prime Health and Fitness", "Cooks", "Senior Golfer", and "Flex", in addition to the "skin magazines" "Jem" Magazine and "Monsieur". The last two publications caused at least two clashes with obscenity laws. Weider has written numerous books, including "The Weider System of Bodybuilding" (1981), and co-wrote the 2006 biography "Brothers Of Iron" with Ben Weider. In 1983, Weider was named "Publisher of the Year" by The Periodical and Book Association. In 2003, his publication company, Weider Publications, was sold to American Media.


title: Joe Weider

text: In 1972, Weider and his brother Ben found themselves the target of an investigation led by U.S. Postal inspectors. The investigation involved the claims regarding their nutritional supplement Weider Formula No. 7. The product was a weight-gainer that featured a young Arnold Schwarzenegger on the label. The actual claim centered on consumers being able to "gain a pound per day" in mass. Following an appeal wherein Schwarzenegger testified, Weider was forced to alter his marketing and claims. Also in 1972, Weider encountered legal problems for claims made in his booklet "Be a Destructive Self-Defense Fighter in Just 12 Short Lessons".


title: Joe Weider

text: Weider was ordered to offer a refund to 100,000 customers of a "five-minute body shaper" that was claimed to offer significant weight loss after just minutes a day of use. The claims, along with misleading "before and after" photographs, were deemed false advertising by a Superior Court Judge in 1976.


title: Joe Weider

text: In the 1980s, Weider found himself answering charges levied by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In 1984, the FTC charged that ads for Weider's Anabolic Mega-Pak (containing amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and herbs) and Dynamic Life Essence (an amino acid product) had been misleading. The FTC complaint was settled in 1985 when Weider and his company agreed not to falsely claim that the products could help build muscles or be effective substitutes for anabolic steroids. They also agreed to pay a minimum of $400,000 in refunds or, if refunds did not reach this figure, to fund research on the relationship of nutrition to muscle development.


title: Joe Weider

text: In 2000, Weider Nutritional International settled another FTC complaint involving false claims made for alleged weight loss products. The settlement agreement called for $400,000 to be paid to the FTC and for a ban on making any unsubstantiated claims for any food, drug, dietary supplement, or program.


title: Joe Weider

text: Weider died of heart failure on March 23, 2013, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 93.


title: Joe Weider

text: On Labor Day 2006, California governor and seven times Mr. Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Weider protégé, presented him with the Venice Muscle Beach Hall of Fame's Lifetime Achievement award. Schwarzenegger credited Weider with inspiring him to enter bodybuilding and to come to the United States. That same year Joe and Ben received the lifetime achievement award by the Young Men's Hebrew Association.


title: Joe Weider

text: The movie "Bigger" was released in 2018 focusing on the life of Joe Weider. Tyler Hoechlin plays Joe Weider, while Julianne Hough plays Betty Weider, his second wife. Aneurin Barnard plays the role of Ben Weider, Joe's younger brother.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 2020 United States census.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: It is the principal central city of the Clarksville, TN–KY metropolitan statistical area, which consists of Montgomery and Stewart counties in Tennessee, and Christian and Trigg counties in Kentucky.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The city was founded in 1785 and incorporated in 1807, and named for General George Rogers Clark, frontier fighter and Revolutionary War hero, and brother of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville is the home of Austin Peay State University; "The Leaf-Chronicle", the oldest newspaper in Tennessee; and neighbor to the Fort Campbell, United States Army post. Site of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell is located about from downtown Clarksville, and spans the Tennessee-Kentucky state line.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The area now known as Tennessee was first settled by Paleo-Indians nearly 11,000 years ago. The names of the cultural groups that inhabited the area between first settlement and the time of European contact are unknown, but several distinct cultural phases have been named by archaeologists, including Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian, whose chiefdoms were the cultural predecessors of the Muscogee, who inhabited the Tennessee River Valley prior to Cherokee migration into the river's headwaters.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: When Spanish explorers first visited Tennessee, led by Hernando de Soto in 1539−43, it was inhabited by tribes of Muscogee and Yuchi people. Possibly because of European diseases devastating the native tribes, which would have left a population vacuum, and also from expanding European settlement in the north, the Cherokee moved south from the area now called Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the native populations were forcibly displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, the Chickasaw, and Choctaw. From 1838 to 1839, nearly 17,000 Cherokees were forced to march from "emigration depots" in Eastern Tennessee, such as Fort Cass, to Indian Territory west of Arkansas. This came to be known as the Trail of Tears; as an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The area around Clarksville was first surveyed by Thomas Hutchins in 1768. He identified Red Paint Hill, a rock bluff at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers, as a navigational landmark.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In the years between 1771 and 1775, John Montgomery, the namesake of the county, along with Kasper Mansker, visited the area while on a hunting expedition. In 1771, James Robertson led a group of 12 or 13 families involved with the Regulator movement from near where present-day Raleigh, North Carolina now stands. In 1772, Robertson and the pioneers who had settled in northeast Tennessee (along the Watauga River, the Doe River, the Holston River, and the Nolichucky River) met at Sycamore Shoals to establish an independent regional government known as the Watauga Association.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: However, in 1772, surveyors placed the land officially within the domain of the Cherokee tribe, who required negotiation of a lease with the settlers. Tragedy struck as the lease was being celebrated, when a Cherokee warrior was murdered by a white man. Through diplomacy, Robertson made peace with the Cherokee, who threatened to expel the settlers by force if necessary.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In March 1775, land speculator and North Carolina judge Richard Henderson met with more than 1,200 Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals, including Cherokee leaders such as Attakullakulla, Oconostota, and Dragging Canoe. In the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (also known as the Treaty of Watauga), Henderson purchased all the land lying between the Cumberland River, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Kentucky River, and situated south of the Ohio River in what is known as the Transylvania Purchase from the Cherokee Indians. The land thus delineated, , encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky. Henderson's purchase was in violation of North Carolina and Virginia law, as well as the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited private purchase of American Indian land. Henderson may have mistakenly believed that a newer British legal opinion had made such land purchases legal.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: All of present-day Tennessee was once recognized as Washington County, North Carolina. Created in 1777 from the western areas of Burke and Wilkes Counties, Washington County had as a precursor a Washington District of 1775–76, which was the first political entity named for the Commander-in-Chief of American forces in the Revolution.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In 1779, Hadley W. and Hannah W. brought a group of settlers from upper East Tennessee via Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road. Hadley and Hannah later built an iron plantation in Cumberland Furnace. A year later, John Donelson led a group of flat boats up the Cumberland River bound for the French trading settlement, French Lick (or Big Lick), that would later be Nashville. When the boats reached Red Paint Hill, Moses Renfroe, Joseph Renfroe, and Solomon Turpin, along with their families, branched off onto the Red River. They traveled to the mouth of Parson's Creek, near Port Royal, and went ashore to settle down. Clarksville was designated as a town to be settled in part by soldiers from the disbanded Continental Army that served under General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: At the end of the war, the federal government lacked sufficient funds to repay the soldiers, so the Legislature of North Carolina, in 1790, designated the lands to the west of the state line as federal lands that could be used in the land grant program. Since the area of Clarksville had been surveyed and sectioned into plots, it was identified as a territory deemed ready for settlement. The land was available to be settled by the families of eligible soldiers as repayment of service to their country.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The development and culture of Clarksville has had an ongoing interdependence between the citizens of Clarksville and the military. The formation of the city is associated with the end of the American Revolutionary War. During the Civil War a large percent of the male population was depleted due to Union Army victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. Many Clarksville men were interned at Union prisoner of war (POW) camps.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville lost many native sons during World War I. With the formation of Camp Campbell, later Fort Campbell, during World War II, the bonds of military influence were strengthened. Soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky have deployed in every military campaign since the formation of the post.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: On January 16, 1784, John Armstrong filed notice with the Legislature of North Carolina to create the town of Clarksville, named after General George Rogers Clark.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Even before it was officially designated a town, lots had been sold. In October 1785, Col. Robert Weakley laid off the town of Clarksville for Martin Armstrong and Col. Montgomery, and Weakley had the choice of lots for his services. He selected Lot #20 at the northeast corner of Spring and Main Streets. The town consisted of 20 'squares' of 140 lots and 44 out lots. The original Court House was on Lot #93, on the north side of Franklin Street between Front and Second Street. The Public Spring was on Lot #74, on the northeast corner of Spring and Commerce Streets. Weakley built the first cabin there in January 1786, and about February or March, Col. Montgomery came there and had a cabin built, which was the second house in Clarksville.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: After an official survey by James Sanders, Clarksville was founded by the North Carolina Legislature on December 29, 1785. It was the second town to be founded in the area. Armstrong's layout for the town consisted of 12 four-acre (16,000 m) squares built on the hill overlooking the Cumberland as to protect against floods. The primary streets (from north to south) that went east–west were named Jefferson, Washington (now College Street), Franklin, Main, and Commerce Streets. North–south streets (from the river eastward) were named Water (now Riverside Drive), Spring, First, Second, and Third Streets.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The tobacco trade in the area was growing larger every year and in 1789, Montgomery and Martin Armstrong persuaded lawmakers to designate Clarksville as an inspection point for tobacco.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: When Tennessee was founded as a state on June 1, 1796, the area around Clarksville and to the east was named Tennessee County. (This county was established in 1788, by North Carolina.) Later, Tennessee County would be broken up into modern day Montgomery and Robertson counties, named to honor the men who first opened up the region for settlement.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville grew at a rapid pace. By 1806, the town realized the need for an educational institution, and it established the Rural Academy that year. It was later replaced by the Mount Pleasant Academy. By 1819, the newly established town had 22 stores, including a bakery and silversmith. In 1820, steamboats begin to navigate the Cumberland, bringing hardware, coffee, sugar, fabric, and glass. The city exported flour, tobacco, cotton, and corn to ports such as New Orleans and Pittsburgh along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In 1829, the first bridge connecting Clarksville to New Providence was built over the Red River. Nine years later, the Clarksville-Hopkinsville Turnpike was built. Railroad service came to the town on October 1, 1859, in the form of the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad. The line would later connect with other railroads at Paris, Tennessee and at Guthrie, Kentucky.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: By the start of the Civil War, the combined population of the city and the county was 20,000. Planters in the area depended on enslaved African Americans as workers in the labor-intensive tobacco industry, one of the major commodity crops.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In 1861, both Clarksville and Montgomery counties voted unanimously for the state to secede and join the Confederate States of America. The birthplace of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was about 20 miles across the border in Fairview, Christian County, Kentucky. Both sides considered Clarksville to be of strategic importance.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston set up a defense line around Clarksville expecting a land attack. The city was home to three Confederate States Army camps:


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The Union sent troops and gunboats down the Cumberland River, and in 1862 captured Fort Donelson, and Fort Henry. On February 17, 1862, the "USS Cairo", along with another Union ironclad, came to Clarksville and its troops captured the city. There were no Confederate soldiers to contend with because they had left prior to the arrival of the ships. White flags flew over Ft. Defiance and over Ft. Clark. Those town citizens who could get away, left as well. Before leaving, Confederate soldiers tried to burn the railroad bridge that crossed the Cumberland River, so that the Union could not use it. But the fire did not take hold and was put out before it could destroy the bridge. This railroad bridge made Clarksville very important to the Union. The "USS Cairo" tied up in Clarksville for a couple of days before moving to participate in the capture of Nashville.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Between 1862 and 1865, the city would shift hands, but the Union retained control of Clarksville. It also controlled the city's newspaper, "The Leaf Chronicle", for three years. Many slaves who had been freed or escaped gathered in Clarksville and joined the Union Army lines. The army set up contraband camps in mid-Tennessee cities, to provide shelter for the freedmen families. Other freed slaves lived along the side of the river in shanties. The Army enlisted freedmen in all-black regiments, in some cases putting them to work in building defenses. The 16th United States Colored Infantry regiment was mustered in at Clarksville in 1863.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: After the war, the city began Reconstruction, and in 1872, the existing railroad was purchased by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The city was flourishing until the Great Fire of 1878, which destroyed 15 acres (60,000 m) of downtown Clarksville's business district, including the courthouse and many other historic buildings. It was believed to have started in a Franklin Street store. After the fire, the city rebuilt. The first automobile rolled into town, drawing much excitement.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In 1913, the Lillian Theater, Clarksville's first "movie house" for motion pictures, was opened on Franklin Street by Joseph Goldberg. It seated more than 500 people. Less than two years later, in 1915, the theater burned down. It was rebuilt later that year.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: As World War I raged in Europe, many locals volunteered to go, reaffirming Tennessee as the Volunteer State, a nickname earned during the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War and other earlier conflicts. Also during this time, women's suffrage was becoming a major issue. Clarksville women saw a need for banking independent of their husbands and fathers who were fighting. In response, the First Women's Bank of Tennessee was established in 1919 by Mrs. Frank J. Runyon.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The 1920s brought additional growth to the city. A bus line between Clarksville and Hopkinsville was established in 1922. In 1927 the Austin Peay Normal School was founded, later to develop as Austin Peay State University. In 1928 two more theaters were added, the Majestic (with 600 seats) and the Capitol (with 900 seats). John Outlaw, a local aviator, established Outlaw Field in 1929.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: With the entry of the United States into World War II, defense investments were made in the area. In 1942 construction started on Camp Campbell (now known as Fort Campbell), the new army base northwest of the city. It was capable of holding 23,000 troops, and as staffing built up, the base gave a huge boost to the population and economy of Clarksville.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In 1954, the Clarksville Memorial Hospital was founded along Madison Street. Downtown, the Lillian was renamed the Roxy Theater, and today it still hosts plays and performances weekly. The Roxy has been used as a backdrop for numerous photo shoots, films, documentaries, music videos and television commercials; most notably for Sheryl Crow's Grammy Award-winning song "All I Wanna Do."


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Since 1980, the population of Clarksville has more than doubled, in part because of annexation, as the city acquired communities such as New Providence and Saint Bethlehem. The construction of Interstate 24 north of Saint Bethlehem added to its development potential and in the early 21st century, much of the growth along U.S. Highway 79 is commercial retail. Clarksville is currently one of the fastest-growing large cities in Tennessee. At its present rate of growth, the city was expected to displace Chattanooga by 2020 as the fourth-largest city in Tennessee.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: On the morning of January 22, 1999, the downtown area of Clarksville was devastated by an F3 tornado, damaging many buildings including the county courthouse. The tornado, wide, continued on a -long path that took it north to Saint Bethlehem. No one was seriously injured or killed in the destruction. Clarksville has since recovered, and has rebuilt much of the damage. Where one building on Franklin Street once stood has been replaced with a large mural of the historic buildings of Clarksville on the side of one that remained.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: On Sunday, May 2, 2010, Clarksville and a majority of central Tennessee, to include Nashville and 22 counties in total, suffered expansive and devastating floods near the levels of the great flood of 1937. Many businesses along Riverside Drive along the Cumberland River were lost.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: On the evening of February 24, 2018, the east side of Clarksville was struck by a strong EF-2 tornado. Two injuries were reported and a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office stated four homes and two duplexes were destroyed, dozens more damaged and 75 vehicles damaged at the nearby Hankook Tire plant. The tornado had maximum sustained winds of , a path length of , and a maximum width of .


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The first Montgomery County courthouse was built from logs in 1796 by James Adams. It was located close to the riverbank with the rest of the early town, on the corner of present-day Riverside Drive and Washington Street. It was replaced by a second courthouse built in 1805, and a third in 1806, with land provided by Henry Small. The fourth courthouse was built in 1811, and was the first to be built of brick. It was constructed on the east half of Public Square, with land donated by Martin Armstrong. In 1843, a courthouse was built at a new location on Franklin Street. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1878.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The sixth courthouse was built between Second and Third Streets, with the cornerstone laid on May 16, 1879. It was designed by George W. Bunting of Indianapolis, Indiana. Five years later, the downtown area was hit by a tornado, which damaged the roof of the courthouse. It was repaired. On March 12, 1900, the structure was ravaged by fire, with the upper floors gutted and the clock tower destroyed. Some citizens wanted the building replaced, but the judge refused and ordered the damage repaired.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The courthouse was very seriously damaged by the January 22, 1999 tornado. Residents considered replacing it with a new building, but decided to restore and reconstruct the historic structure. In the process it was upgraded and adapted for use as a county office building. On the fourth anniversary of the disaster, the courthouse was rededicated. In addition to restoring the 1879 courthouse and plazas, the county built a new courts center on the north side for the court operations.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.71%) is covered by water.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville is located on the northwest edge of the Highland Rim, which surrounds the Nashville Basin, and is northwest of Nashville.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Fort Campbell North is a census-designated place (CDP) in Christian County, Kentucky. It contains most of the housing for the Fort Campbell Army base. The population was 14,338 at the 2000 census. Fort Campbell North is part of the Clarksville, TN–KY Metropolitan Statistical Area.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The climate is humid subtropical (Köppen: "Cfa") with hot summers and cold winters but interspersed with milder times due to its location between the warmer climates of the Gulf of Mexico and the colder ones of the Midwest. Freezing temperatures are not uncommon but usually the averages are above zero in January (around 2 °C) and in July can often pass through 25 °C. Snow in winter is common, but large accumulated amounts are more sporadic; usually the soil is covered by a thin layer during some time of winter. Precipitation is abundant year-round without any major difference, but May tends to have the highest cumulative amount of 142 mm in the form of rain. The wet season runs from February through July, while the dry season runs from August through January with a September nadir of 85 mm and secondary December peak of 125 mm.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 166,722 people, 58,985 households, and 39,595 families residing in the city.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2017 population estimate for Clarksville was 153,205. Of that total, 66.6% were white, 23.1% were African-American, 10.8% were Hispanic or Latino, 4.9% multiple races, 2.4% Asian, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, and 0.5% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The 2010 census estimated that 51.3% of the population in Clarksville were female, while 48.7% were male.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Of the 51,776 households, 38.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 17.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.1% were not families. About 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.09.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The median income for a household in the city was $48,679, and for a family was $56,295. Males had a median income of $41,019 versus $31,585 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,722 (4th highest per capita personal income in Tennessee). About 12.4% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.4% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In the June 2004 issue of "Money", Clarksville was listed as one of the top five cities with a population of under 250,000 that would attract creative class jobs over the next 10 years.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: In 1907, Clarksville was among several cities in Tennessee that gained legislative approval to adopt a board of commission form of government, with commissioners elected by at-large voting. Its population was 9,000. Other cities adopting a board of commission were Chattanooga and Knoxville in 1911, Nashville in 1913, and Jackson, Tennessee in 1915. The result of this change favored election of candidates favored by the majority in each city. It closed out minorities from being able to elect candidates of their choice to represent them in local government.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville changed its government system, and in the 21st century has a 12-member city council elected from single-member districts, which has increased the range of representation. In 2015, four of the members are African American and eight are white. The mayor is elected at-large. Mayor Joe Pitts was elected in 2019 and defeated former Mayor Kim McMillan who was the first woman mayor of any Tennessee city with more than 100,000 population.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: The city consolidated its school system with that of the county, forming the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. It operates a total of 39 public schools to serve about 37,666 students, including eight high schools, seven middle schools, 24 elementary schools, and one magnet school for K–5, in addition to Middle College on the campus of Austin Peay State University.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville is served commercially by Nashville International Airport but also has a small airport, Outlaw Field, located north of downtown. Outlaw Field accommodates an average of slightly over 32,000 private and corporate flight operations per year (average for 12-month period ending 2014), and is also home to a pilot training school and a few small aircraft companies. It has two asphalt runways, one and the other . Outlaw Field has received a $35,000 grant. A new terminal building was built in 2011–2012.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Cobb Field was a small private airfield. It was west of the Dover Crossings area, just across the street from Liberty Elementary. It had one grass/sod runway that measured . This airfield was not open to the public and is no longer suitable for landing aircraft due to runway encroachment by nearby trees and brush, as well as fencing across the former runway. Cobb Field is no longer displayed on VFR sectional charts available from the FAA.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville was home to several Minor League Baseball teams that played in the Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League during the first half of the 20th century. They were called the Clarksville Villagers (1903), Grays (1904), Volunteers (1910 and 1916), Billies (1911), Rebels (1912), Boosters (1913–1914), Owls (1916), and Colts (1947–1949). It also hosted a team of the independent Big South League and Heartland League from 1996 to 1997 called the Clarksville Coyotes.


title: Clarksville, Tennessee

text: Clarksville's nicknames have included The Queen City, Queen of the Cumberland, and Gateway to the New South. In April 2008, the city adopted "Tennessee's Top Spot!" as its new brand nickname.


title: Billy Blanks

text: Billy Wayne Blanks (born September 1, 1955) is an American fitness personality, martial artist, actor, and the creator of the Tae Bo exercise program.


title: Billy Blanks

text: Blanks was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven, attending Karate and Taekwondo classes. He was born with an anomaly in his hip joints that impaired his movement. The resulting clumsiness aroused taunts from Blanks' siblings and led his instructors to believe that he would never accomplish much. Blanks found the answer to these challenges in karate. When he saw Bruce Lee on TV, he decided he wanted to be a world martial-arts champion.


title: Billy Blanks

text: Blanks was hired as a bodyguard for lead actress Catherine Bach during the filming of 1988's "Driving Force", which was filmed in Manila during a time of political unrest. Blanks impressed the producers and was written into the script in a supporting role. This led to Blanks' work in several martial arts films, including "King of the Kickboxers" and "Bloodfist". Blanks also appeared in the opening scene of Tony Scott's "The Last Boy Scout", where he plays a doomed pro-football player. Blanks played Ashley Judd's kickboxing instructor in "Kiss the Girls ("1997).


title: Billy Blanks

text: In the late 1980s, Blanks developed the Tae Bo workout, while running a karate studio in Quincy, Massachusetts. He used components of his martial arts and boxing training. The name is a portmanteau of "tae" (as in taekwondo) and "bo" (as in boxing). Blanks opened a fitness center in Los Angeles to teach his new workout. He later attracted celebrity clients such as Paula Abdul, and the popularity of the workout quickly grew, becoming a pop culture phenomenon after Blanks began releasing mass-marketed videos. He sold over 1.5 million VHS tapes in his first year, and is reported to have grossed between $80 million and $130 million in sales.


title: Billy Blanks

text: Blanks is a Christian and released a special line of Tae Bo workouts called the "Believer's" series that includes motivational prayers and other Christian components. He has appeared on the Christian television network TBN. He attended Crenshaw Christian Center.


title: Billy Blanks

text: In 1974, Blanks married Gayle H. Godfrey, whom he met in karate class. Shortly after the marriage, he adopted Gayle's daughter, Shellie, who was born in 1973. Shellie Blanks Cimarosti, a martial artist, is prominently featured in many Tae Bo videos. Shellie has also produced her own video called "Tae Bo Postnatal Power", as well as hosted her father's new infomercial Tae Bo T3 (Total Transformation Training). Gayle and Blanks also have a son, Billy Blanks Jr., who works as a fitness instructor. Blanks Jr. produced several best-selling DVDs, including "Cardioke" and "Fat Burning Hip Hop Mix". He has also starred in a touring production of the musical "Fame", and has worked as a dancer in music videos with Madonna, Quincy Jones and Paula Abdul.


title: Billy Blanks

text: Blanks and Godfrey divorced in 2008 after 33 years of marriage. Godfrey filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.


title: Billy Blanks

text: In November 2008, Blanks became the father of a new daughter, named Angelika. The mother is Tomoko Sato, whom Blanks met in 2007 when she worked as his Japanese interpreter. Blanks and Sato's marriage was formally registered in January 2009 and their wedding ceremony was held on June 20, 2009. He relocated to Japan in 2009.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd Avenue (Bay Parkway) and on the southwest by 86th Street. It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights to the northwest, Borough Park and Mapleton to the northeast, Bath Beach to the southwest, and Gravesend to the southeast.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Bensonhurst contains several major ethnic enclaves. Traditionally, it is known as a Little Italy of Brooklyn due to its once large Italian-American population. Bensonhurst today has the largest population of residents born in China and Hong Kong of any neighborhood in New York City and is now home to Brooklyn's second Chinatown. The neighborhood accounts for 9.5% of the 330,000 Chinese-born residents of the city, based on data from 2007 to 2011.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Bensonhurst is part of Brooklyn Community District 11, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11204 and 11214. It is patrolled by the 62nd Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Politically it is represented by the New York City Council's 43rd, 44th, and 47th Districts.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Bensonhurst derives its name from Egbert Benson (1789–1866), whose children and grandchildren sold his lands to James D. Lynch, a New York real estate developer. Lynch bought the old farmlands from the Benson family in the mid-1880s, and by 1888, began selling private lots in an area dubbed as Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea, now Bath Beach. The first sale of lands in "The New Seaside Resort" area was advertised in the July 24, 1888, issue of the "Brooklyn Daily Eagle".


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Through the mid-20th century, Bensonhurst developed as an Italian and Jewish enclave. Despite a wave of commercial development in the 1980s, some land had remained undeveloped by then. By the early 2000s, condominiums were being built in Bensonhurst, and it had turned into a diverse community of Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Middle-Eastern, and Russian residents. The neighborhood, along with adjoining neighborhoods have been called "Brooklyn’s Chinatown".


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the combined population of Bensonhurst West and Bensonhurst East was 151,705, an increase of 8,499 (5.9%) from the 143,206 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 48.7% (73,933) White, 0.7% (1,081) African American, 0.1% (121) Native American, 35.7% (54,099) Asian, 0% (38) Pacific Islander, 0.2% (319) from other races, and 1.2% (1,831) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 13.4% (20,283) of the population.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: The entirety of Community Board 11 had 204,829 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 83.8 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 20% are between the ages of 0–17, 31% between 25 and 44, and 26% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 15% respectively.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: As of 2016, the median household income in Community District 12 was $53,493. In 2018, an estimated 23% of Bensonhurst residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. Less than one in ten residents (8%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 52% in Bensonhurst, about the same as the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Bensonhurst is considered to be low-income and not gentrifying relative to the rest of the city.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: As of the 2020 census data from NYC Dept. Of City Planning, there were 46,000 Asian residents surpassing the remaining White residents of 30,000 to 39,999 for the first time in history. The Hispanic population has also grown significantly to between 10,000 to 19,999 residents.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: In the early 20th century, many Italians and Jewish migrants moved into the neighborhood, and prior to World War II, the neighborhood was about equally Jewish and Italian. In the 1940s an influx of immigrants from southern Italy moved in, leaving the area predominantly Italian.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Around 1989, an influx of immigrants from China and the former USSR began to arrive, mainly from Southern China, Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia. In the 2000s, Bensonhurst rapidly grew in cultural diversity. Bensonhurst is home to many ethnic Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Albanian, Greek, Georgian, Uzbek, Arab, Egyptian, Lebanese, Pakistani, Mexican, and Guatemalan Americans.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: In 2000, the New York City Department of City Planning determined that just over half of the residents were born in another country. By 2013, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city's foreign-born population had reached a record high, and that Bensonhurst had the city's second-highest number of foreign-born people with 77,700 foreign born immigrants in the neighborhood, just after Washington Heights.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: With a large Italian-American population, Bensonhurst is usually considered the main "Little Italy" of Brooklyn. The Italian-speaking community was over 20,000 strong in the census of 2000. The Italian-speaking community, though, is becoming "increasingly elderly and isolated, with the small, tight-knit enclave in the city slowly disappearing as they give way to demographic changes." Despite changing demographics over the recent years, Bensonhurst is home to one of the largest Italian speaking communities outside of Italy and is home to the largest Sicilian and Neapolitan speaking communities outside of Sicily and Naples, respectively.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Its main thoroughfare, 18th Avenue (also known as Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard) between roughly 60th Street and Shore Parkway, is lined with predominantly small, Italian family-owned businesses—many of which have remained in the same family for several generations. 86th Street is another popular local thoroughfare, located under the elevated BMT West End Line.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: The annual Festa di Santa Rosalia (commonly known as "the Feast" to locals), is held on 18th Avenue from Bay Ridge Parkway (75th Street) to 66th Street in late August or early September. "The Feast" is presented by Bensonhurst resident and marketer Franco Corrado, as well as by the Santa Rosalia Society, on 18th Avenue. Born in Rome in 1955, Corrado has been an active social member of the Italian-American community for the past 20 years. St. Rosalia is the patron saint of the city of Palermo and is sometimes venerated as the patron for the entire island of Sicily. The annual end-of-summer celebration attracts thousands. Bensonhurst also hosts a Columbus Day parade.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Like Lower Manhattan's Little Italy, Bensonhurst's Little Italy and its Italian-American population is declining, with the rapid expansion of its Chinatown and Chinese population.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: Below the West End Line, served by the along 86th Street between 18th Avenue and the intersection with Stillwell Avenue, is a small emerging Brooklyn Chinatown. It remains intermixed with Italian, Jewish, and Russian residents, but in the 2010s, most of the new businesses between 18th Avenue and 25th Avenue, have been Chinese. 86th Street is home to a growing number of Chinese restaurants, including the 86 Wong Chinese Restaurant (one of the earliest Chinese businesses established in Bensonhurst), as well as Chinese grocery stores, salons, bakeries, and other types of businesses. The subway directly connects to Manhattan's Chinatown, and indirectly to the Chinatown in Sunset Park, which is served by the at the 8th Avenue station.


title: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

text: With the large migration of the Cantonese and some Fuzhouese people in Brooklyn now to Bensonhurst, as well as new Chinese immigration, other clusters of Chinese businesses and residences have also started to emerge in other parts of Bensonhurst such as 18th Avenue and Bay Parkway, creating other newer small emerging Chinatowns in Bensonhurst in addition to the one on 86th Street under the D train. These are connected to the Sunset Park Chinatown by the .