title: Clifford Geertz

text: During Geertz's long career he worked through a variety of theoretical phases and schools of thought. He would reflect an early leaning toward functionalism in his essay "Ethos, Worldview and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols", writing that "the drive to make sense out of experience, to give it form and order, is evidently as real and pressing as the more familiar biological needs."


title: Clifford Geertz

text: Geertz's research and ideas have had a strong influence on 20th-century academia, including modern anthropology and communication studies, as well as for geographers, ecologists, political scientists, scholars of religion, historians, and other humanists.


title: Clifford Geertz

text: University of Miami Professor Daniel Pals (1996) wrote of Geertz that "his critics are few; his admirers legion."


title: Clifford Geertz

text: Talal Asad attacked the dualism in Geertzian theory: the theory does not provide a bridge between external symbols and internal dispositions. Asad also pointed out the need for a more nuanced approach toward the historical background of certain concepts.


title: Clifford Geertz

text: Criticizing Geertz's theory of religion in general, Asad pointed out a gap between 'cultural system' and 'social reality' when attempting to define the concept of religion in universal terms.


title: Clifford Geertz

text: He would also criticize Geertz for ascribing an authorizing discourse around conversations of comparative religion that, Asad argues, does not really exist. Furthermore, Asad criticized Geertz for operating according to a eurocentric view of religion that places import on signs and symbols that may or may not carry through in non-Christian religious cultures.


title: Ransom

text: Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.


title: Ransom

text: When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French "rançon" from Latin "redemptio" = "buying back": compare "redemption".


title: Ransom

text: Julius Caesar was captured by pirates near the island of Pharmacusa, and held until someone paid 50 talents to free him.


title: Ransom

text: In Europe during the Middle Ages, ransom became an important custom of chivalric warfare. An important knight, especially nobility or royalty, was worth a significant sum of money if captured, but nothing if he was killed. For this reason, the practice of ransom contributed to the development of heraldry, which allowed knights to advertise their identities, and by implication their ransom value, and made them less likely to be killed out of hand. Examples include Richard the Lion Heart and Bertrand du Guesclin.


title: Ransom

text: In 1532, Francisco Pizarro was paid a ransom amounting to a roomful of gold by the Inca Empire before having their leader Atahualpa, his victim, executed in a ridiculous trial. The ransom payment received by Pizarro is recognized as the largest ever paid to a single individual, probably over $2 billion in today's economic markets.


title: Ransom

text: The abduction of Charley Ross on July 1, 1874, is considered to be the first American kidnapping for ransom.


title: Ransom

text: East Germany, which built the Inner German border to stop emigration, practised ransom with people. East German citizens could emigrate through the semi-secret route of being ransomed by the West German government in a process termed "Freikauf" (literally the buying of freedom). Between 1964 and 1989, 33,755 political prisoners were ransomed. West Germany paid over 3.4 billion DM—nearly $2.3 billion at 1990 prices—in goods and hard currency. Those ransomed were valued on a sliding scale, ranging from around 1,875 DM for a worker to around 11,250 DM for a physician. For a while, payments were made in kind using goods that were in short supply in East Germany, such as oranges, bananas, coffee, and medical drugs. The average prisoner was worth around 4,000 DM worth of goods.


title: Ransom

text: A request for ransom may be conveyed to the target of the effort by a ransom note, a written document outlining the demands of the kidnappers. In some instances, however, the note itself can be used as forensic evidence to discover the identities of unknown kidnappers, or to convict them at trial. For example, if a ransom note contains misspellings, a suspect might be asked to write a sample of text to determine if they make the same spelling errors.


title: Ransom

text: Following cases where forensic evidence pinpointed particular typewriters to typed ransom notes, kidnappers started to use pre-printed words assembled from different newspapers. In popular culture, ransom notes are often depicted as being made from words in different typefaces clipped from different sources (typically newspapers), in order to disguise the handwriting of the kidnapper, leading to the phrase ransom note effect being used to describe documents containing jarringly mixed fonts. An early use of this technique in film is in the 1952 film "The Atomic City".


title: Ransom

text: In some instances, a person may forge a ransom note in order to falsely collect a ransom despite not having an actual connection to the kidnapper. On other occasions, a ransom note has been used as a ploy to convince family members that a person is being held for ransom when that person has actually left of their own volition or was already dead before the note was sent.


title: Ransom

text: There were numerous instances in which towns paid to avoid being plundered, an example being Salzburg which, under paid a ransom to Bavaria to prevent its being sacked during the Thirty Years' War. As late as the Peninsular War (1808–14), it was the belief of the English soldiers that a town taken by storm was liable to sack for three days, and they acted on their conviction at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz and San Sebastian.


title: Ransom

text: In the early 18th century the custom was that the captain of a captured vessel gave a bond or “ransom bill,” leaving one of his crew as a hostage or “ransomer” in the hands of the captor. Frequent mention is made of the taking of French privateers which had in them ten or a dozen ransomers. The owner could be sued on his bond. Payment of ransom was banned by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1782 although this was repealed in 1864. It was generally allowed by other nations.


title: Ransom

text: In the Russo-Japanese War — no mention was made of ransom, and with the disappearance of privateering, which was conducted wholly for gain, it has ceased to have any place in war at sea, but the contributions levied by invading armies might still be accurately described by the name.


title: Ransom

text: Although ransom is usually demanded only after the kidnapping of a person, it is not unheard of for thieves to demand ransom for the return of an inanimate object or body part. In 1987, thieves broke into the tomb of Argentinian president Juan Perón and then severed and stole his hands; they later demanded $8 million US for their return. The ransom was not paid.


title: Ransom

text: The practice of towing vehicles and charging towing fees for the vehicles' release is often euphemised or referred to as ransoming, especially by opponents of towing. In Scotland, booting vehicles on private property is outlawed as extortion. In England, the clamping of vehicles is theoretically the Common law offence of 'holding property to ransom'.


title: Ransom

text: Warring international military groups have demanded ransom for any personnel they can capture from their opposition or their opposition's supporters. Ransom paid to these groups can encourage more hostage-taking.


title: Air Buddy

text: Buddy (March 23, 1988 – February 10, 1998) was a Golden Retriever dog actor. He was best known for playing the title role in the film "Air Bud".


title: Air Buddy

text: Buddy was found by Kevin di Cicco as a stray dog in the Sierra Nevada in the summer of 1989. Di Cicco adopted the disheveled Golden Retriever and brought him home to San Diego, where he trained him in the sports of basketball, baseball, football, soccer, and hockey. Buddy's most eagerly awaited sport was basketball. He was touted as the Michael Jordan of dogs. Di Cicco revealed that Buddy tried to bite the ball, but its slipperiness, enhanced by saliva or more efficiently by olive oil, would propel it from his mouth.


title: Air Buddy

text: His first appearance was on "America's Funniest Home Videos". He then gained further fame bouncing a basketball off his muzzle and into a basketball hoop on David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment of "Late Night with David Letterman". Buddy appeared three times on "Late Night" and the "Late Show with David Letterman".


title: Air Buddy

text: Buddy took his skills to the NBA when he appeared during halftime at a Laker game on Christmas Day in 1991 where he had a better shooting percentage than three of the starting players of the opposing Clippers team. This opened up further opportunity to showcase his talents for game day entertainment at professional sporting events around the country.


title: Air Buddy

text: He was cast as Buddy in the 1997 Disney film "Air Bud", a film that tells the story of a golden retriever abandoned by his alcoholic abusive owner. In the film, he moved in with a boy named Josh Framm who was depressed after his father died in a plane crash. He appeared on the Kids' Choice Awards in 1998, where he was nominated for a Blimp Award for the film. Prior to his death, Buddy sired nine puppies. "Air Bud" was Buddy's final acting role.


title: Air Buddy

text: In 1997, Buddy had his right hind leg amputated due to synovial cell sarcoma, a type of cancer that manifests near the joints, although he was still able to play basketball. Six months later Air Buddy died in his sleep due to complications from cancer on February 10, 1998, at his owner's San Diego home. At the time of his death, Buddy was 9 years old. Buddy was a month and 13 days away from celebrating his 10th birthday. "" was dedicated to his memory.


title: Isfet (Egyptian mythology)

text: Isfet or Asfet (meaning "injustice", "chaos", or "violence"; as a verb, “to do evil”) is an ancient Egyptian term from Egyptian mythology used in philosophy, which was built on a religious, social and politically affected dualism.


title: Isfet (Egyptian mythology)

text: "Isfet" was thought to be the counterpart of the term "Ma'at" (meaning "order" or "harmony"). According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, Isfet and Ma'at built a complementary and also paradoxical dualism: one could not exist without its counterpart. Isfet and Ma'at balanced each other. Ma'at was to overcome isfet, 'that which is difficult', 'evil', 'disharmonious', and 'troublesome'. Isfet was to be overcome by good, which would replace disunity with unity and disorder with order. An Egyptian king (pharaoh) was appointed to "achieve" Ma'at, which means that he had to keep and protect justice and harmony by destroying Isfet. A responsible kingship meant that Egypt would remain in prosperity and at peace in Ma'at. However, if Isfet were to rise, humanity would decay and return to a primordial state. Decay was unacceptable as a natural course of events, which meant that the world was separated from the cosmos and away from order. The universe was cyclical, meaning it had repeated sequences: the daily sunset and its rising, annual seasons and flooding of the Nile. On the other hand, when Ma'at was absent, and Isfet unleashed, then the Nile-flood failed and the country fell into famine. Therefore, ancient Egyptians believed through their rituals of the cosmic order it would bring forth prosperity to the gods and goddesses who controlled the cosmos. The principles of the contrariness between Isfet and Ma'at are exemplified in a popular tale from the Middle Kingdom, called "The Moaning of the Bedouin":


title: Isfet (Egyptian mythology)

text: In the eyes of the Egyptians, the world was always ambiguous; the actions and judgments of a king were thought to simplify these principles in order to keep Ma'at by separating Order from Chaos or Good from Evil. Coffin Text 335a asserts the necessity of the dead being cleansed of "isfet" in order to be reborn in the Duat.


title: Isfet (Egyptian mythology)

text: Isfet is thought to be the product of an individual's free will rather than a primordial state of chaos. In mythology, this is represented by Apep being born from Ra's umbilical cord relatively late.


title: Isfet (Egyptian mythology)

text: When the king made public appearances he was surrounded by images of foreigners which emphasized his role as protector of Ma'at and the enemy of Isfet which were foreign enemies of ancient Egypt. As such, the king is mainly shown 'smiting' foreigners to maintain Ma'at.


title: Isfet (Egyptian mythology)

text: The king also maintained the temple-Cult to prevent Isfet from spreading, by ensuring the rituals were performed at defined intervals, which were necessary in preserving the balance of Ma'at against the threatening forces of Isfet.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The Sweet Escape is the second studio album by American singer Gwen Stefani. It was released on December 1, 2006, by Interscope Records. Having originally intended to return to No Doubt after her debut solo album, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." (2004), Stefani decided to record a second album as a way to release some of the material left over from the "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." writing sessions. The album musically resembles its predecessor while exploring more modern pop sounds. It was released to generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics, receiving criticism for its strong similarities to "Love. Angel. Music. Baby."


title: The Sweet Escape

text: It was preceded by the lead single "Wind It Up", which charted moderately across the world, and produced the follow-up single "The Sweet Escape", which proved to be more successful worldwide. "The Sweet Escape" reached the top five in the United States, Canada, and Australia and peaked inside the top 20 in the United Kingdom. The album's supporting tour, The Sweet Escape Tour, kicked off in April 2007, covering North America, Colombia, Australia, Asia, and Europe.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: Following the release of her debut album "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.", Stefani announced that she had intended to return to No Doubt and record a sixth studio album with the band. After the commercial success of "L.A.M.B.", she decided to release several leftover tracks from the album as an EP or as extra tracks on a DVD. However, Pharrell Williams, with whom she had collaborated to write "Hollaback Girl", convinced Stefani to create "a "L.A.M.B." part two", and the two recorded several songs during sessions in Miami in July 2005.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The two produced "Wind It Up", "Orange County Girl", "U Started It", "Yummy", "Breaking Up", and "Candyland" during these sessions, and the songs were used for a fashion show premiering the 2006 collection of Stefani's fashion line L.A.M.B. She included performances of "Wind It Up" and "Orange County Girl" when she embarked on the Harajuku Lovers Tour in October 2005. Stefani put the project on hold in December 2005 when she discovered that she was pregnant, before returning to the studio in August 2006. The album's working title was "Candyland", sharing its name with an unreleased track that has only been looped via her fashion show soundtrack. The title was changed to "The Sweet Escape", the title of the second track.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The album cover was taken by photographer Jill Greenberg. The image was part of a series of promotional images taken by Greenberg, inspired by her previous "End Times" exhibition. To create "End Times", Greenberg gave lollipops to toddlers but took them back after several moments, provoking emotional outbursts. Greenberg used the images as a representation of American politics and society. Greenberg was accused of child abuse for the photo shoots; Stefani, however, commented, "I didn't think 'child abuse'—I just thought, 'That's beautiful.' Every kid cries [...] Other people reacted like, 'Oh my God. That's so disturbing,' or 'That's so sad.' I guess that's what art's all about. It's supposed to make you think."


title: The Sweet Escape

text: Stefani's appearance on the album cover is inspired by that of Elvira Hancock, a cocaine addict portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1983 film "Scarface". Stefani first gained inspiration for the style while shooting the music video for "Cool" in Lake Como, Italy. During the shoot, Stefani saw her No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal and his girlfriend, who had on a "long, peach, polyester [late-1970s style] dress". It was this dress that got Stefani thinking "about Michelle Pfeiffer and how amazingly styled she was [in "Scarface"]", which in turn drew inspiration for the cover. The pair of oversized sunglasses on the album cover is intended to represent her "guarded exterior", and the other images symbolize her various emotions.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: "The Sweet Escape" is a primarily dance-pop, electropop, and rap album, featuring themes of romantic situations and details of her career and personal life, while sonically the album features "sparsely rhythmic tracks where she chants as much as she sings" and "pop songs that aim for choruses." The album opens with "Wind It Up", which features fanfares and samples from "The Sound of Music"s "The Lonely Goatherd", having "material-minded lyrics touting her fashion line and her shape." The second and title track, "The Sweet Escape", is a dance-pop and doo wop song, which features Akon providing a "wee-oh!" hook, with lyrics about a "feisty sort of apology." "Orange County Girl" is an autobiographical rap song, where Stefani shows how she is "grateful for her success while recalling the simpler days of her youth." The album's first ballad, "Early Winter", has influences of 1980s soft rock and lyrics about the need for fidelity and transparency in romantic relationship. "Now That You Got It" features military snare drums, loping hip-hop beat and a staccato piano sample. Its lyrics has Stefani "act[ing] as if she's doing a lover a favor and challenges him to come through."


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The sixth track "4 in the Morning" is a 1980s-inspired synth-pop ballad that lyrically deals with a relationship on the edge, while "Yummy" is a dance song, with a tribal rhythm, cameo by Pharrell Williams and lyrics that finds Stefani declaring that "making babies leaves her eager to feel sexy again." "Fluorescent" features Angelo Moore on saxophone, and was compared to the works of Madonna and Prince, while "Breakin' Up" has influences of hip hop and electronica and it is "a breakup song built on a dying cell phone metaphor." The tenth track, "Don't Get It Twisted", talks about an unexpected pregnancy, in a song influenced by reggaeton. "U Started It" was noted for having "lilting melody, silken harmonies, and pizzicato strings", while the final track, "Wonderful Life", was named a Depeche Mode-style synth ballad about how much she misses her first love and how the person had a profound impact on her.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: "The Sweet Escape" received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 58, based on 24 reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote, "From the stilted production to the fashion fetish, all the way down to her decision to rap on "far" too much of the album, all the dance-pop here seems like a pose." Alex Miller of "NME" was more emphatic, dubbing it "this year's bargain-bin fodder", and stated that "the majority of this record serves only to bury what made Gwen Stefani unique in the first place." At "Entertainment Weekly", Sia Michel noted that the album "has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel" but that "Stefani isn't convincing as a dissatisfied diva". "Pitchfork"s Mark Pytlik described the album's oddities as a career risk for Stefani, where most of the "gonzo pop songs yield some degree of payout" but that Stefani's tight scheduling during production of the album leaves the result "somewhere between the vanguard and the insipid." Paul Flynn of "The Observer" characterized the album as less interesting than Fergie's "The Dutchess" and Nelly Furtado's "Loose". Robert Christgau cited the song "Yummy" as a "choice cut" ().


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The album received criticism for its similarities to "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" opined that "[h]istory will likely view "The Sweet Escape" as a retread of Stefani's well-received solo debut, but it shares that album's general inconsistency and, thus, its peaks and valleys". Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" agreed, viewing it as "her hasty return" to music lacking the energy of "L.A.M.B." and in which "she sounds exhausted." "The New York Times" Jon Pareles commented that Stefani "rebooks some of the same producers and repeats some of the old tricks with less flair", adding that "superficiality is more fun when it doesn't get so whiny." Caroline Sullivan disagreed in her review for "The Guardian", in which she stated that although some of the songs date back to the 2003 writing sessions for "L.A.M.B.", "generally "The Sweet Escape" feels minty-fresh." Quentin B. Huff of "PopMatters", however, referred to "The Sweet Escape" as "L.A.M.B.: Reloaded" and described "The Sweet Escape" and "L.A.M.B." as "the same album, just add more rap, a glossy "Next-Top-Model"-ish photo for the cover, and a few more recent-sounding influences."


title: The Sweet Escape

text: "The Sweet Escape" debuted at number three on the "Billboard" 200, selling 243,000 copies in its first week. It sold another 149,000 copies during its second week, falling to number 14. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on June 25, 2007, and had sold 1,733,000 copies in the United States by February 2016. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) certified "The Sweet Escape" platinum eight days prior to the album's release, and double platinum on March 5, 2007.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: In the United Kingdom, "The Sweet Escape" debuted at number 26 on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 33,632 copies. Three months later, on March 4, 2007, the album reached a new peak position of number 14. It was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on July 22, 2013 and, as of March 2016, has sold 365,143 copies in the UK. The album was moderately successful across Europe, peaking in the top 10 in Norway and Switzerland; the top 20 in Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, and Sweden; and the top 40 in Belgium, Denmark, France and the Netherlands. "The Sweet Escape" reached number two for two consecutive weeks on the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia, and was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The Sweet Escape Tour was Stefani's follow-up to the Harajuku Lovers Tour. It went worldwide as compared to her previous tour which was constricted only to North America and had more than double the number of shows. It was Stefani's last solo effort as she rejoined her band No Doubt after the tour ended. The main feature were usage of various props such as a prison for Stefani's opening act, a six-piece band and a large multimedia screen in the backdrop showing videos and animations.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: The tour had its own set of controversies. A group of students making up for The National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students banned Stefani's concert that was slated to take place on August 21, 2007, at Putra Indoor Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. The union's vice president, Abdul Muntaqim, said, "Her performance and her attire are not suitable for our culture. It promotes a certain degree of obscenity and will encourage youth to emulate the western lifestyle. The concert should be stopped." The organizer of the event, Maxis Communications, later responded, "Stefani has confirmed that her concert will not feature any revealing costumes. She will abide by the Malaysian authorities' guidelines to ensure that her show will not be offensive to local sensitivities." In April 2007, Akon, one of the tour's opening acts, drew criticism for engaging in on-stage dirty dancing with a 14-year-old girl at a club in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest. As a result, Verizon Wireless terminated its sponsorship of the tour.


title: The Sweet Escape

text: Stefani donated $166,000 from her October 30, 2007, concert in San Diego to the San Diego Foundation, in benefit of the victims of the October 2007 California wildfires. On her June 22 and June 23 concerts in Irvine, California, Stefani was joined onstage by her No Doubt bandmates. They performed the band's songs "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", "Sunday Morning", "Hella Good", and their cover of Talk Talk's "It's My Life".


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection is a 2001 direct-to-video horror monster film directed by Brent Maddock, and is the third installment in the "Tremors" series featuring the subterranean worm-creatures dubbed "Graboids". It is a sequel to "". Michael Gross, Charlotte Stewart, Ariana Richards, Tony Genaro, and Robert Jayne reprise their roles from the first film. It is followed by "".


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: Burt Gummer (Gross) has returned to Perfection, Nevada. Sure enough, Graboids attack again, only now they're split into graboids, shriekers and a new mutation known as ass-blasters, which are propelled into flight by combustible flatulence. Stalked by an albino sterile graboid known as El Blanco, it's up to Burt, Jack Sawyer (Shawn Christian) and other locals to save their town from destruction.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: Adventurer Burt Gummer returns to his hometown of Perfection, Nevada, after a hunt for Shriekers in El Chaco, Argentina. Since the original Graboid attacks, the town's preventative equipment for tracking Graboid activities has fallen into disrepair due to the neglect of native residents Miguel, Nancy Sterngood, and her daughter Mindy. Walter Chang's market has been taken over by his niece Jodi, and the town has gained a new resident, Jack, who creates mock-attack tours for visiting tourists. One afternoon, during one of Jack's tours, his assistant Buford is eaten by an actual Graboid. Jack, Mindy, and Jack's customers manage to escape to warn the town, and Burt determines there are three Graboids in the area.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: The residents begin to take action to kill the Graboids, but they are stopped by government agents Charlie Rusk and Frank Statler and a paleontologist, Dr. Andrew Merliss who claim the Graboids are an endangered species, preventing the humans from hunting them. Jack manages to reach an agreement with the agents that if they capture one live Graboid, Burt and the residents will be allowed to kill the remaining two. Burt grudgingly agrees, and he and Jack set out to trap a Graboid while the agents go after another of their own accord. Melvin Plugg, a fellow survivor from the original attacks, approaches Burt in the hopes of buying his land and developing it into a town. After he refuses, a Graboid attacks and swallows Burt whole. Jack lures the Graboid to Burt's home, having it fatally collide with the underground concrete barriers surrounding the building. He then uses a chainsaw to free Burt from its belly.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: Burt, Jack, Jodi, and Miguel later find a badly wounded Merliss; he explains that he and the government agents were ambushed by Shriekers from the Graboid they were chasing, before dying. While tracking the Shriekers, an albino Graboid — later named El Blanco, meaning "The White One" in Spanish — traps them on rocks for the night. After drawing El Blanco away, they find that the Shriekers have molted their skin, becoming winged creatures capable of jet-propelled flight. Miguel is killed by the creature, which then crashes on a metal fence, killing itself. Burt realizes that chemicals in their stomachs react explosively, enabling their flight. Finding them able to carry Graboid eggs, they surmise that they evolved to spread them through flight. Jodi dubs the new species Ass-Blasters. Meanwhile, Nancy and Mindy are attacked by an Ass-Blaster in town and hide in a freezer while distracting it with food.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: Using a mattress as cover from the Ass-Blasters' infrared vision, the group gets to Burt's house, but are forced to flee when an Ass-Blaster attempts to break in. To keep it from multiplying like its predecessors, Burt rigs his house and his stash of MREs to explode, killing it; however, it is only after that they learn from Mindy that Ass-Blasters do not multiply but fall asleep after eating, as has happened to the one that attacked her and Nancy. The group flees to a junkyard, where they build a potato gun from everyday objects to ignite the combustible materials in the Ass-Blasters' stomachs. After they kill four, Burt is attacked by El Blanco and pinned down. Realizing that Burt's ultrasonic watch is repeatedly drawing El Blanco to them, Jack takes it and sticks it to the final Ass-Blaster. El Blanco devours it, saving Burt and Jodi's lives in the process.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: In the aftermath, Nancy manages to sell the captive Ass-Blaster, while Jack pursues a romantic relationship with Jodi, depressing Mindy who had a crush on him. Meanwhile, Melvin tries again to approach Burt about selling his land, but Burt informs him that since El Blanco is an endangered species and illegal to hunt, and formed a mutual unspoken friendship with Burt, the residents have decided to take precautions in order to live safely alongside it, thus turning Perfection into a federally protected Graboid reserve and barring Melvin from developing a town. Burt then leaves Melvin standing on a rock with El Blanco circling below.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: In "Tremors 3" some of the graboids were created using Computer generated imagery (CGI), which was the first time a "Tremors" film had used CGI to make a graboid. The graboids seen in the previous films were full-sized puppets and 1/4 scale miniatures. Some of the shriekers seen in "Tremors 3" were also CGI, as well as some of the shriekers seen in the . However, due to software compatibility problems, the shrieker CGI from the second film could not be used again. Instead, new digital models were created by HimAnI productions using laser scans of existing physical models, which were used in the second film, created by Amalgamated Dynamics.


title: Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

text: "Tremors 3: Back to Perfection" holds an approval rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 5 reviews. At the Video Premiere Awards show, in 2001, Michael Gross won the award for best actor for his work in "Tremors 3". In an essay on direct-to-video horror sequels, Gavin Al-Asif for the Houston Chronicle said "[Tremors 3] is a jarring step down in quality from its predecessor," but called Gross's performance "absolutely brilliant" and "the one shining element in an otherwise mostly dull movie".


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: In astronomy, magnitude is a unitless measure of the brightness of an object in a defined passband, often in the visible or infrared spectrum, but sometimes across all wavelengths. An imprecise but systematic determination of the magnitude of objects was introduced in ancient times by Hipparchus.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The scale is logarithmic and defined such that a magnitude 1 star is exactly 100 times brighter than a magnitude 6 star. Thus each step of one magnitude is formula_1 times brighter than the magnitude 1 higher. The brighter an object appears, the lower the value of its magnitude, with the brightest objects reaching negative values.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Astronomers use two different definitions of magnitude: apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude. The "apparent" magnitude () is the brightness of an object as it appears in the night sky from Earth. Apparent magnitude depends on an object's intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and the extinction reducing its brightness. The "absolute" magnitude () describes the intrinsic luminosity emitted by an object and is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it were placed at a certain distance from Earth, 10 parsecs for stars. A more complex definition of absolute magnitude is used for planets and small Solar System bodies, based on its brightness at one astronomical unit from the observer and the Sun.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The Sun has an apparent magnitude of −27 and Sirius, the brightest visible star in the night sky, −1.46. Venus at its brightest is -5. The International Space Station (ISS) sometimes reaches a magnitude of −6.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The Greek astronomer Hipparchus produced a catalogue which noted the apparent brightness of stars in the second century BCE. In the second century CE the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy classified stars on a six point scale, and originated the term magnitude.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: To the unaided eye, a more prominent star such as Sirius or Arcturus appears larger than a less prominent star such as Mizar, which in turn appears larger than a truly faint star such as Alcor. In 1736, the mathematician John Keill described the ancient naked-eye magnitude system in this way:


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The "fixed Stars" appear to be of different Bignesses, not because they really are so, but because they are not all equally distant from us. Those that are nearest will excel in Lustre and Bigness; the more remote "Stars" will give a fainter Light, and appear smaller to the Eye. Hence arise the Distribution of "Stars", according to their Order and Dignity, into "Classes"; the first Class containing those which are nearest to us, are called "Stars" of the first Magnitude; those that are next to them, are "Stars" of the second Magnitude ... and so forth, 'till we come to the "Stars" of the sixth Magnitude, which comprehend the smallest "Stars" that can be discerned with the bare Eye. For all the other "Stars", which are only seen by the Help of a Telescope, and which are called Telescopical, are not reckoned among these six Orders. Altho' the Distinction of "Stars" into six Degrees of Magnitude is commonly received by "Astronomers"; yet we are not to judge, that every particular "Star" is exactly to be ranked according to a certain Bigness, which is one of the Six; but rather in reality there are almost as many Orders of "Stars", as there are "Stars", few of them being exactly of the same Bigness and Lustre. And even among those "Stars" which are reckoned of the brightest Class, there appears a Variety of Magnitude; for "Sirius" or "Arcturus" are each of them brighter than "Aldebaran" or the "Bull's" Eye, or even than the "Star" in "Spica"; and yet all these "Stars" are reckoned among the "Stars" of the first Order: And there are some "Stars" of such an intermedial Order, that the "Astronomers" have differed in classing of them; some putting the same "Stars" in one Class, others in another. For Example: The little "Dog" was by "Tycho" placed among the "Stars" of the second Magnitude, which "Ptolemy" reckoned among the "Stars" of the first Class: And therefore it is not truly either of the first or second Order, but ought to be ranked in a Place between both.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Note that the brighter the star, the smaller the magnitude: Bright "first magnitude" stars are "1st-class" stars, while stars barely visible to the naked eye are "sixth magnitude" or "6th-class".


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The system was a simple delineation of stellar brightness into six distinct groups but made no allowance for the variations in brightness within a group.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Tycho Brahe attempted to directly measure the "bigness" of the stars in terms of angular size, which in theory meant that a star's magnitude could be determined by more than just the subjective judgment described in the above quote. He concluded that first magnitude stars measured 2 arc minutes (2′) in apparent diameter ( of a degree, or the diameter of the full moon), with second through sixth magnitude stars measuring ′, ′, ′, ′, and ′, respectively. The development of the telescope showed that these large sizes were illusory—stars appeared much smaller through the telescope. However, early telescopes produced a spurious disk-like image of a star that was larger for brighter stars and smaller for fainter ones. Astronomers from Galileo to Jaques Cassini mistook these spurious disks for the physical bodies of stars, and thus into the eighteenth century continued to think of magnitude in terms of the physical size of a star. Johannes Hevelius produced a very precise table of star sizes measured telescopically, but now the measured diameters ranged from just over six "seconds" of arc for first magnitude down to just under 2 seconds for sixth magnitude.<ref name="Graney/Grayson">


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: </ref> By the time of William Herschel astronomers recognized that the telescopic disks of stars were spurious and a function of the telescope as well as the brightness of the stars, but still spoke in terms of a star's size more than its brightness. Even well into the nineteenth century the magnitude system continued to be described in terms of six classes determined by apparent size, in which


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: There is no other rule for classing the stars but the estimation of the observer; and hence it is that some astronomers reckon those stars of the first magnitude which others esteem to be of the second.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: However, by the mid-nineteenth century astronomers had measured the distances to stars via stellar parallax, and so understood that stars are so far away as to essentially appear as point sources of light. Following advances in understanding the diffraction of light and astronomical seeing, astronomers fully understood both that the apparent sizes of stars were spurious and how those sizes depended on the intensity of light coming from a star (this is the star's apparent brightness, which can be measured in units such as watts/cm) so that brighter stars appeared larger.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Early photometric measurements (made, for example, by using a light to project an artificial “star” into a telescope's field of view and adjusting it to match real stars in brightness) demonstrated that first magnitude stars are about 100 times brighter than sixth magnitude stars.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Thus in 1856 Norman Pogson of Oxford proposed that a logarithmic scale of ≈ 2.512 be adopted between magnitudes, so five magnitude steps corresponded precisely to a factor of 100 in brightness. Every interval of one magnitude equates to a variation in brightness of or roughly 2.512 times. Consequently, a magnitude 1 star is about 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude 2 star, about 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude 3 star, about 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude 4 star, and so on.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: This is the modern magnitude system, which measures the brightness, not the apparent size, of stars. Using this logarithmic scale, it is possible for a star to be brighter than “first class”, so Arcturus or Vega are magnitude 0, and Sirius is magnitude −1.46.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: As mentioned above, the scale appears to work 'in reverse', with objects with a negative magnitude being brighter than those with a positive magnitude. The more negative the value, the brighter the object.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Objects appearing farther to the left on this line are brighter, while objects appearing farther to the right are dimmer. Thus zero appears in the middle, with the brightest objects on the far left, and the dimmest objects on the far right.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The difference between these concepts can be seen by comparing two stars. Betelgeuse (apparent magnitude 0.5, absolute magnitude −5.8) appears slightly dimmer in the sky than Alpha Centauri A (apparent magnitude 0.0, absolute magnitude 4.4) even though it emits thousands of times more light, because Betelgeuse is much farther away.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Under the modern logarithmic magnitude scale, two objects, one of which is used as a reference or baseline, whose intensities (brightnesses) measured from Earth in units of power per unit area (such as watts per square metre, W m) are and , will have magnitudes and related by


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Using this formula, the magnitude scale can be extended beyond the ancient magnitude 1–6 range, and it becomes a precise measure of brightness rather than simply a classification system. Astronomers now measure differences as small as one-hundredth of a magnitude. Stars that have magnitudes between 1.5 and 2.5 are called second-magnitude; there are some 20 stars brighter than 1.5, which are first-magnitude stars (see the list of brightest stars). For example, Sirius is magnitude −1.46, Arcturus is −0.04, Aldebaran is 0.85, Spica is 1.04, and Procyon is 0.34. Under the ancient magnitude system, all of these stars might have been classified as "stars of the first magnitude".


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Magnitudes can also be calculated for objects far brighter than stars (such as the Sun and Moon), and for objects too faint for the human eye to see (such as Pluto).


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Often, only apparent magnitude is mentioned since it can be measured directly. Absolute magnitude can be calculated from apparent magnitude and distance from:


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: because intensity falls off proportionally to distance squared. This is known as the distance modulus, where is the distance to the star measured in parsecs, is the apparent magnitude, and is the absolute magnitude.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: If the line of sight between the object and observer is affected by extinction due to absorption of light by interstellar dust particles, then the object's apparent magnitude will be correspondingly fainter. For magnitudes of extinction, the relationship between apparent and absolute magnitudes becomes


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Stellar absolute magnitudes are usually designated with a capital M with a subscript to indicate the passband. For example, M is the magnitude at 10 parsecs in the V passband. A bolometric magnitude (M) is an absolute magnitude adjusted to take account of radiation across all wavelengths; it is typically smaller (i.e. brighter) than an absolute magnitude in a particular passband, especially for very hot or very cool objects. Bolometric magnitudes are formally defined based on stellar luminosity in watts, and are normalised to be approximately equal to M for yellow stars.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Absolute magnitudes for solar system objects are frequently quoted based on a distance of 1 AU. These are referred to with a capital H symbol. Since these objects are lit primarily by reflected light from the sun, an H magnitude is defined as the apparent magnitude of the object at 1 AU from the sun and 1 AU from the observer.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: The following is a table giving apparent magnitudes for celestial objects and artificial satellites ranging from the Sun to the faintest object visible with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST):


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Under Pogson's system the star Vega was used as the fundamental reference star, with an apparent magnitude defined to be zero, regardless of measurement technique or wavelength filter. This is why objects brighter than Vega, such as Sirius (Vega magnitude of −1.46. or −1.5), have negative magnitudes. However, in the late twentieth century Vega was found to vary in brightness making it unsuitable for an absolute reference, so the reference system was modernized to not depend on any particular star's stability. This is why the modern value for Vega' magnitude is close to, but no longer exactly zero, but rather 0.03 in the V (visual) band.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Current absolute reference systems include the AB magnitude system, in which the reference is a source with a constant flux density per unit frequency, and the STMAG system, in which the reference source is instead defined to have constant flux density per unit wavelength.


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: Another logarithmic scale for intensity is the decibel. Although it is more commonly used for sound intensity, it is also used for light intensity. It is a parameter for photomultiplier tubes and similar camera optics for telescopes and microscopes. Each factor of 10 in intensity corresponds to 10 decibels. In particular, a multiplier of 100 in intensity corresponds to an increase of 20 decibels and also corresponds to a decrease in magnitude by 5. Generally, the change in decibels is related to a change in magnitude by


title: Magnitude (astronomy)

text: For example, an object that is 1 magnitude larger (fainter) than a reference would produce a signal that is smaller (weaker) than the reference, which might need to be compensated by an increase in the capability of the camera by as many decibels.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is the name of several fictional characters from the "Transformers" franchise. He is almost always depicted as an Autobot with flight capabilities and a jet or space shuttle as an alternate mode. In some continuities he is a former Decepticon.


title: Jetfire

text: In the many stories of Jetfire (who was referred to as Skyfire in the TV series, known in Italy as Aquila, Eagle) told through the numerous Generation 1 continuities, there is one constant aspect — an early affiliation with the Decepticons, which has served only to convince him to side with the Autobots. Jetfire's dedication to the Autobot cause is matched only by his devotion to scientific and technological advancement — this, he believes, is the only way in which victory over the Decepticons can be achieved. It is this overriding belief that tempers his bravado in battle, but nevertheless, he is often one of the most eager Autobots to plunge into combat, and his position as one of the fastest usually means he is the first to do so. Jetfire is created from the same mold as the VF-1S Super Valkyrie from the "Macross" series (see Toys), including the VF-1S's Gun pod, which is described as a laser on Jetfire's technical specifications. He uses a photon missile launcher in robot mode.


title: Jetfire

text: On Cybertron before the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, Skyfire was a scientist and explorer working with Starscream. Together, they investigated an uncharted planet, actually a prehistoric Earth, where they failed to find any signs of intelligent life. Skyfire wished to scrutinize the planet further, and moving in close enough to the planet, a polar wind storm swept him up and buried him beneath the Arctic ice. Starscream searched for his friend, but was unable to locate him and returned to Cybertron alone.


title: Jetfire

text: Millions of years later, in 1984, the Decepticons discovered the frozen Skyfire, while draining heat energy from the Earth's core and reactivated him. Reunited with his old friend, Starscream, Skyfire joined the Decepticon ranks. When the Autobots arrived, Skyfire engaged them in battle, and then rescued Sparkplug and Spike Witwicky when they became stranded on an ice floe. Unknowingly, he took the two to Megatron under the impression that he and the other Decepticons valued human life, but when Megatron took them as prisoners, Skyfire started to question his allegiance. When Starscream ordered him to destroy the captured Autobot search party, he refused, and Starscream turned his weapons on him, leaving him heavily damaged. Repaired by Ratchet, he joined the Autobots and engaged in a dogfight with Starscream which ended when he sacrificed himself to stop the core drain, burying himself in ice once again in the process.


title: Jetfire

text: A short time later, however, Skyfire was recovered by Wheeljack and Sideswipe, and immediately participated in an attack on the Decepticons in Peru, where the evil robots were once again attempting to use the Earth's core energy for their own means. Skyfire was almost permitted to destroy the villains' new weapon by Thundercracker, but was then blasted by Starscream (who attempted to blast Thundercracker) and repaired with some difficulty by Spike.


title: Jetfire

text: Skyfire would go on to make semi-regular appearances in the immediate future, helping the Autobots evacuate their base when the volcano it was embedded in became active, and flying a squad of troops to battle the Insecticons, Skyfire appeared in a few more episodes, but slowly disappeared from the cartoon, due to legal issues.


title: Jetfire

text: Skyfires animation model made infrequent appearances in the third season, making its final appearance in "Dark Awakening" being shot down by Quintessons in a space battle.


title: Jetfire

text: Skyfire was featured in the 1985 audio and book adventure "Satellite of Doom". His appearance matched his animated form, not the toy. During the story Skyfire is killed.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire would also appear in the third G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover from Devil's Due Publishing. He was present with the other Autobots at the Capital City peace celebrations, battling Reflector, but was ordered off by Optimus Prime. He was later seen as part of the combined Autobot/G.I. Joe force attempting to rescue Optimus Prime.


title: Jetfire

text: In Dreamwave's 21st century re-imagining of the Generation 1 universe, Jetfire was once again presented as Starscream's friend before the Great War started. As the war broke out, Jetfire was slow to choose an allegiance, eventually siding with the Autobots. Despite the fact that he even remained with the Autobots when Optimus Prime and Megatron vanished in an early space bridge experiment and the factions splintered into smaller sub-groups, his original hesitance caused his Autobot allies to regard him with a certain degree of mistrust. Grimlock in particular bore a fierce grudge against him for an unspecified incident involving a mind-controlling cerebro-shell, and was perfectly ready to believe that he had betrayed the Autobots when he arranged a meeting with current Decepticon leader Shockwave. Jetfire was among the Transformers kidnapped by the ancient Cybertronian called the Fallen, who planned to use the genetic potential in his spark to awaken Primus, but he was freed by Grimlock, putting the grudge to rest.


title: Jetfire

text: Prime and Megatron subsequently returned to Cybertron, but when they and their elite crews were lost aboard the Ark, Jetfire was part of a mission to find them, along with Omega Supreme and the Micromasters Countdown and Groundshaker. When a lead emerged in the form of a beacon from the Sol system was detected, Jetfire and Omega split off from the team (who went on to investigate Decepticon attacks on other planets) and headed off after the signal. The duo entered stasis for the lengthy trip, with Jetfire eventually awakening millions of years later as their craft approached Earth. Before Jetfire could bring Omega back on-line, however, their ship was attacked by Scourge and crashed in the Arctic, where shrapnel from it killed a pod of whales. Jetfire ejected from the ship before impact and managed to seal Scourge in a booby-trapped stasis pod, but an avalanche buried both of them in ice.


title: Jetfire

text: At an ill-defined point in time, the Decepticons discovered Jetfire and brought the slab of ice containing him back to their underwater base. Upon returning from a trip to Cybertron with fresh plans of conquest, Starscream thawed Jetfire out to aid in repelling the maniacal Sunstorm, a clone of himself that Shockwave had created, but which had gone insane. Deducing Sunstorm's clone nature, Jetfire jury-rigged a power siphon to de-energise him, and then reactivated Omega Supreme to battle him. To save his own skin from Autobot retribution, however, Starscream had a change of heart and saved Sunstorm, who led him to a mysterious underground energy reservoir that Sunstorm intended to use to give Starscream powers like his own. Yet another double-cross by Starscream saw Sunstorm immersed in the liquid as well, and it began to destroy him from within as Jetfire engaged him in battle, leading him out into space where he exploded, apparently taking Jetfire with him.


title: Jetfire

text: In the Fun Publications "Classicverse" stories Optimus Prime has returned to Earth commanding Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Grimlock, Jetfire, Mirage and Rodimus (formerly Hot Rod).


title: Jetfire

text: In the story "Crossing Over", Jetfire was among Autobot troops of Optimus Prime who responded to the sighting of Megatron and arrived in time to save the dimensional traveling Autobot Skyfall from Megatron's wraith.


title: Jetfire

text: In "At Fight's End", Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust under the orders of Megatron. The city was defended by Ironhide, Jetfire, Optimus Prime and Sunstreaker.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire was presented as a technician and computer expert, who ran field ops during the battle of Thunderhead Pass trying to find a weakness in Thunderwing that could allow the Autobot-Decepticon army to defeat him. Many years later, he and the Technobots served as a scientific surveillance team orbiting a devastated Cybertron, monitoring it for any signs of life. The discovery of an energy spike caused Jetfire to lead the team down to the planet, where they were assaulted and captured by a team of Decepticon cultists who worshipped Thunderwing. Once freed by Optimus Prime and the Wreckers, his skills at decrypting Bludgeon's computer files uncovered an exploitable weakness in Thunderwing's new power-source, allowing Prime to eventually defeat him, and uncovered Shockwave's Energon-seeding plan Regenesis. His appearance is based on the recent redesign of the character seen in Transformers Classics toy line. He was also mentioned in "Transformers: Escalation" during a communication between Optimus Prime and him.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire was constructed by Shockwave on Earth to be one of his new Decepticon troops, given life through the powers of the Creation Matrix, tapped from the captive Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. However, before Shockwave could accomplish this, Prime transferred the Matrix into the mind of the Autobots' human ally, Buster Witwicky. Shockwave programmed Jetfire's lifeless shell to recover Buster, but Buster was able to use the Matrix to disassemble Jetfire before he could accomplish his goal. Buster then reconstructed Jetfire and used him to rescue Optimus Prime, who infused Jetfire with true life.


title: Jetfire

text: Immediately after this — in the UK's sister "Transformers" comic series, which interspliced its own original material between reprints of the US Marvel title — Jetfire participated in the "Dinobot Hunt", helping to track down the rogue Dinobots, who were running wild across America. Still bearing the Decepticon insignia Shockwave had stamped him with, Jetfire was not trusted by Ironhide until he saved him from the deranged Slag, proving his Autobot loyalty.


title: Jetfire

text: Subsequently, in the US title, he underwent the Rite of Autobrand and was branded with the Autobot insignia at last.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire went on to perform few significant actions in the future (although he did serve as the Autobots' acting leader against Galvatron in the "" storyline), but was clearly thoroughly accepted into the Autobots, as his was one of the small number of voices heard when a new Autobot leader had to be chosen, and Dinobot leader Grimlock was elected.


title: Jetfire

text: A story called "The Gift" in issue 93 of the Marvel UK comics explored Jetfire's problems fitting in with the other Autobots. Wheeljack informed Optimus Prime of a news cast where they learned the Decepticons had taken over a NASA space monitoring facility near the Ark. Prowl and Trailbreaker, with Jetfire as backup engaged the Decepticons Soundwave, Kickback and Dirge as the Decepticons attempted to contact Cybertron with the facility's deep space radio equipment. Although Prowl ordered Jetfire to stop Soundwave from sending his message, Jetfire ignored the order to help save Prowl from Kickback's attack. With the transmission sent the Decepticons retreated victorious. Jetfire then accompanied Jazz to a Blackrock fuel plant to oversee the creation of more fuel for the Autobots. The plant was attacked by Decepticons Thrust and Bombshell. Although Jetfire was able to put out a fire at the plant before it exploded, he blamed himself for being slow to react. Jetfire then visited Buster Witwicky on Christmas Eve and tell him of his troubles of not fitting in with the Cybertronian-made Autobots. Buster encouraged the young Autobot by telling him he's the first of a new generation of Earth-made Autobots and he should be proud of what he is.


title: Jetfire

text: In issue #27 (US), "King of the Hill!", Perceptor summoned his fellow Autobots Blaster, Hot Spot, Jetfire, Omega Supreme, Ratchet and Silverbolt in order to decide who should take leadership of the Autobots. After an attack by the giant Decepticon Trypticon the leader was chosen - Grimlock.


title: Jetfire

text: Sometime later, Jetfire was among the Transformers who attempted to defend New York City from the cosmically-powered Starscream, only to be deactivated alongside everyone else. Unlike most of Starscream's victims, there was no indication that he was revived through the power of nucleon.


title: Jetfire

text: The "Robots in Disguise" Classic line appeared in a simple Flash-based video game on the Hasbro web site called "Transformers Battle Circuit". In this one-on-one fighting game you press the right and left arrow keys to try to overpower your opponent. In the game you can play Rodimus, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Jetfire, Starscream, Astrotrain, Trypticon or Menasor. Optimus Prime and Megatron each appear as the boss you must defeat to win the game.


title: Jetfire

text: Marge Simpson appeared as Skyfire in one opening sequence to the Simpsons alongside the rest of the Simpson family rendered as Autobots.


title: Jetfire

text: Skyfire briefly appears among the characters in "Re-Unification", the 2010 TFcon voice actor play prelude comic.


title: Jetfire

text: In "Transformers: Robots in Disguise", Skyfire is as loyal to devotion to Megatron, in contrast to his wing-mech Wind Sheer. The 2001 Robots in Disguise Deluxe Skyfire w/ Tow-Line included a Jetfire as a redeco of the "Machine Wars" Skywarp/Thundercracker mold. Skyfire transforms from a Dassault Rafale fighter jet to robot mode with a single-step, spring-loaded transformation. The two halves of his rifle store in his lower legs in jet mode. He was only available in a Deluxe-level two-pack with Tow-Line. This mold was also used to make "Beast Wars II" Dirge, "Robot Masters" Wingstun and BotCon 2006 exclusive Darkside Waspinator.


title: Jetfire

text: In "", Jetfire serves as Optimus Prime's second-in-command, with a witty, cheerful personality that helps to bridge the distance between Prime as leader and his troops. The friendly nature that keeps him popular amongst the Autobots hides a strong sense of intelligent judgment that has saved his team from numerous predicaments, and means that he will even speak up and tell Prime that he is wrong to his face.


title: Jetfire

text: In this series, he is very boastful. When Optimus Prime led a small force to Earth to investigate the Mini-Con signal emanating from that world, Jetfire was left in charge on Cybertron, but eventually later departed the planet to join his commander on Earth. Arriving shortly after the Decepticon tactician Thrust, Jetfire scanned an Earthen space shuttle upon approach to the planet and burst onto the scene in the middle of a battle, his energetic and unexpected arrival completely throwing off Thrust's meticulous plan and allowing the Autobots to claim victory. When Thrust arranged the next Decepticon attack on the Autobots, Jetfire once again proved to be the monkey wrench in his plan when he and Optimus Prime revealed their ability to combine together, once again foiling the villain's schemes. Although, Optimus Prime said "Jet Convoy" the first time they combined, later in the series he referred to it as Jet Optimus.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire's unique space-flight abilities make him a distinct asset to the Autobot forces, allowing them to recover a Mini-Con from Mars. He journeys there together with Starscream who had joined the Autobots at that time. Jetfire is displeased that the turncoat Decepticon will keep his company, but he cannot do anything about it, for Starscream simply takes off the first and leaves him behind. So Jetfire has the only alternative to follow "this brainless robot" reluctantly. On the way to Mars, however, he loses sight of Starscream and finds him only with the aid of the Air Defense Mini-Con Team. He invites Starscream to look for the Mini-Con together, but the latter refuses. Then Jetfire arrests and shackles Starscream for insubordination. While Jetfire tows his prisoner back to Earth, Megatron and Tidal Wave attack them. But, in spite of their disagreement, Jetfire and Starscream prove to be capable of acting as a team. So they succeed in resisting the enemy and in rescuing the Mini-Con.


title: Jetfire

text: It is noteworthy that after Starscream refuses his help, though being seriously damaged, Jetfire remarks that he is "stubborn as usual"; supposedly, he had already got to know Starscream's nature well enough.


title: Jetfire

text: When Optimus Prime dies at the hands of the Decepticon super-weapon, the Hydra Cannon, Jetfire steps down to allow Hot Shot to assume command, retaining his secondary position even when Prime was returned to life by the power of the Mini-Cons. Jetfire goes on to participate in the "Unicron Battles," when the planet-eating giant robot Unicron attacks Cybertron, and returns the Autobots' human allies Rad, Carlos and Alexis to Earth after the battle is won.


title: Jetfire

text: Over the ensuing decade, Jetfire (now called Skyfire in Japan) received an upgrade into a new body-form, and received the Spark of Combination from Primus, allowing him to combine with other Autobots, most frequently the rookie trooper Ironhide, who he had to carefully train and walk through the combination process. Despite his external changes, however, Jetfire remained consistent in personality and outlook, always ready with a witty remark to keep the mood light even in the middle of a pitched battle. He is once again, the second-in-command of the Autobots.


title: Jetfire

text: When the resurrected Unicron came under the control of Megatron, Primus used his powers to permanently super-charge some of the Autobots, Jetfire included, recoloring their armor. The resultant battle saw Unicron's body destroyed, but his spark endured and possessed Megatron — now Galvatron - who grew to colossal size. In order to combat the giant villain, Jetfire and the Autobots took their Spark of Combination to the ultimate extreme, transforming their bodies into pure energy and merging with Optimus Prime, enlarging him to similar proportions and allowing him to battle Galvatron directly. Ironically it was Galvatron who was ultimately the instrument of Unicron's defeat when he plunged himself into an energon sun created by Primus in order to stop Unicron from taking over his body permanently.


title: Jetfire

text: In order to recuperate after the stresses of the final battle against Unicron, Jetfire (Dreadrock in Japan, a new character there, not the same as the Jetfire from "Superlink", but is still the Autobot's second-in-command) took some time out to vacation of the planet of Nebulos, where he inadvertently picked up the local accent (resembling Earthen Australian). His relaxation was brought to an end, however, when Primus's energon sun collapsed in on itself, forming a gigantic black hole that threatened the safety of Cybertron.


title: Jetfire

text: Returning to the planet, Jetfire helped the Autobots there evacuate, relocating once more to Earth, where he suggested the Autobots revisit the idea of taking on Earthly vehicle alternate modes to hide themselves from the populace, adopting for himself a new cargo plane alternate mode. He went on to develop a rivalry with Decepticon Thundercracker over who was the superior flyer. Jetfire was Optimus Prime's second-in-command in this series, and was rather cocky. Jetfire participated in many of the battles on Earth, Cybertron and Giant Planet.


title: Jetfire

text: In the episode "Unfinished", when the Autobots attempted to use a gigantic rocket to move the Animatros back into its orbit, Galvatron attacked and damaged the rocket. The jungle planet threatened to crash into Cybertron. Scourge, the Autobots, the former Decepticons, and their allies from the various planets were able to combine their strength and move the rocket back into place.


title: Jetfire

text: After the threat of the black hole was thwarted, he was appointed leader of Cybertron in Optimus Prime's absence.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire wields two guns, and is able to generate twin whirlwinds from his shoulders. His Earth-type Cyber Key activates twin missiles in his back. Later, the Jetfire toy was repainted as a Decepticon named Sky Shadow. His bio says that Sky Shadow is actually an undercover Jetfire.


title: Jetfire

text: Over the following decade, Jetfire retained his position as Autobot second in command through the Autobot/Decepticon alliance. Unicron's threat, however, had not been ended, as was proven when the Terrorcons; dissident Decepticons given new powers through Unicron's intermediary agent, Alpha Quintesson; attacked the AlterEnergy research facility on Earth and Jetfire, now equipped with the Spark of Combination, joined the other Autobots in defending it and its human occupants.


title: Jetfire

text: The Terrorcon threat underwent sudden, horrific multiplication when they were cloned through Unicron's power, and massive swarms of them assaulted key cities across Earth. Jetfire petitioned the High Council to allow more troops and energon to be dedicated to Earth, and it was only through the efforts of council member Avalon that his appeal was accepted. A large strike force under Jetfire's command was assembled and sent to Earth, with Jetfire taking a portion of the team (Bulkhead, Cliffjumper, Landquake, Perceptor and Tow-Line) to Los Angeles. Despite fighting a tough battle, it was soon apparent that the Autobots were not going to win, until Megatron; reborn in a vastly powerful new body; came blasting onto the scene and shattered the Terrorcon forces, allowing Autobot victory.


title: Jetfire

text: IDW's Transformers Collectors Club exclusive comic story, "Revelations Part 6", is set after the defeat of Galvatron but before Optimus Prime's mission to start a new Space Bridge project. In this story the Autobots from the Fun Publications stories ("Robots in Disguise" Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Maximus, Downshift, Perceptor, Alpha Trion, Over-Run, Anti-Blaze, Checkpoint, and Scythe) meet the Autobots from the animated series ("Cybertron" Optimus Prime, Jetfire, Override, Scattorshot, Red Alert, Hot Shot, Lori, Bud, and Coby Hansen) and thank each other and remembering those who were lost in the battles.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is among the characters which first appeared in the 2007 "Transformers" 3D Battle Card game by Wizards of the Coast. A red and white redeco of movie Starscream, this incarnation of Jetfire is not related to the in the 2009 film "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".


title: Jetfire

text: In a "USA Today" online fan poll following the release of the 2007 live-action film, Jetfire was one of the 10 Transformers that the fans wanted in the sequel, coming in 4th with 11% of the votes.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire appears in "" and transforms into a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. He is portrayed as a former Decepticon who becomes an Autobot because he did not believe in all the destruction and violence the Decepticons were dedicated to. Originally serving the Fallen, Jetfire is one of the few Transformers to remain on Earth since the dawn of humanity.


title: Jetfire

text: According to the biography and statistics published on the Hasbro web site, Jetfire is 50 feet tall and his main weapon is a battle-axe. In the film, he also has a missile launcher. As an emphasis on his old age, he carries a walking stick that transforms into the front landing gear of his jet mode. In the film, he can project hologram clips from the palm of his left hand similar to how Optimus Prime did in the 2007 film through his eyes.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire was spotlighted in "Tales of the Fallen" issue #3. He was depicted as a member of the Decepticons under the leadership of the Fallen, serving the villain due to being tricked as to believe he was working for Cybertron's benefit. However, when the other Primes confronted the Fallen on Earth, Jetfire realized his mistake and was teleported to an unknown location. Jetfire fought many other ancient Decepticons there and eventually went into stasis after his victory. He awakened in the mid 20th century and scanned an SR-71 Blackbird before returning to stasis. His Decepticon insignia was unchanged even when he switched sides to the Autobots.


title: Jetfire

text: In "Defiance" issue #4, which is a prequel to the movie series, a younger Jetfire is seen in his Cybertronian mode, traveling the galaxy for star-orbited planets, in a flashback told by the Fallen to Megatron.


title: Jetfire

text: In the novel adaptation of "Revenge of the Fallen", Jetfire is confronted just after arriving in Egypt by his fellow Decepticon Seeker Ransack. After firing off an ineffective round at Jetfire, Ransack is crushed under Jetfire's foot.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is found by Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes and Seymour Simmons at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the National Air and Space Museum, after pinpoints the general location of the ancient Seeker. Sam reactivates him with an Allspark fragment, waking him up from stasis lock. After a misunderstanding when the humans saw his Decepticon insignia, Jetfire activates a Space Bridge to teleport Sam and his friends to Egypt, explaining to them the origin of the Primes (who he seems to have a certain type of respect for) and the Matrix of Leadership. Learning of Optimus Prime's existence and death, Jetfire sends them to find the Matrix, which he speculates can be used to revive Optimus (Although it could also be used to power 's technology).


title: Jetfire

text: He later joined the Autobots in battling the Decepticon forces in Egypt, killing the Decepticon weapons expert Mixmaster, before being badly injured by Scorponok. In a final act of sacrifice, he took his own life to enable Optimus to use his parts for an upgrade for his battle with the Fallen.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is a playable character in the PS2 and Wii versions of the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" video game and is in the new downloadable content pack for the PS3 and Xbox 360. He is only playable in multiplayer mode.


title: Jetfire

text: Concept art for an "Animated" rendition of Jetfire, as well as Jetstorm, was shown at BotCon 2008, revealing Jetfire to be a yellowish-colored robot and Jetstorm to be a blue-colored robot. He has goggle-like pieces on their foreheads and they both transform into jets. Jetstorm and his brother Jetfire are Autobot twins who have been fitted with technology scanned from Starscream while he was in Elite Guard captivity.


title: Jetfire

text: They have the power to create powerful whirlwinds in both robot and jet modes. Jetfire has the ability to combine with Jetstorm, forming Safeguard. In their combined vehicle mode they resemble an X-wing fighter from "Star Wars". The two are enthusiastic young fighters, but do tend to rush into things. He speaks with both the twins' voices simultaneously.


title: Jetfire

text: Both Jetfire and Jetstorm are the youngest members of the Elite Guard of all time. Both Jetfire and Jetstorm speak with Russian accents. Apparently they are Sentinel Prime's soldiers, obeying his every command. The twins' merging into Safeguard is similar to ChoRyuJin of "The King of Braves GaoGaiGar".


title: Jetfire

text: He first appeared in "Where is Thy Sting?". Both he and Jetstorm speak with Russian accents. Apparently they are Sentinel Prime's soldiers, obeying his every command. The two also appear to have a kiddy sense of fun and amusement, as shown when Bumblebee plays a video game against Wasp to determine who is who. They both raise their hands and state that they will play the winner.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire reappeared in "Five Servos of Doom". Jetstorm wanted Jetfire to scan a picture of him in front of the recently captured Decepticon Blitzwing "for the Femme-bots back home". He then asked how Sentinel Prime captured Blitzwing. He was later seen with Jetfire trying to make the communicator work. He directed Prowl and Jazz to the Elite Guard flagship's brig, where Sentinel had just captured Lugnut. He also appeared with Jetfire in a baseball stadium, where Sentinel was working with Lockdown. Jetstorm combined into Safeguard and helped rescue Sentinel, who was now in the hands of Ramjet. Jetstorm was present when Prowl used Processor Over Matter to lift the rubble of the scoreboard off of him.


title: Jetfire

text: In "Predacons Rising", Bumblebee, Jetfire, Jetstorm, Optimus Prime, and Sentinel Prime chase Wasp, but lose him to Swoop while bickering about what to do with him. The group follow them to Blackarachnia's lab, and, in the ensuing battle, Jetstorm and Jetfire hand the Dinobots a crushing defeat. In this episode after following Sentinel's orders, which got him buried headfirst in the sand, Jetfire asks, "Should we be taking notes?" to which Jetstorm replies, "On what not to do?"


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire and his twin appeared in "Decepticon Air", fighting back against the escaped Decepticons captured on Earth.


title: Jetfire

text: They appeared again in "This is Why I Hate Machines", surprised to see Ratchet and Captain Fanzone on Cybertron. They reluctantly followed Sentinel's orders to organize a strike against Omega Supreme (containing Megatron, Starscream, and Lugnut), who had recently transwarped above Cybertron.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is a member of the Aerialbots, but does not seem to make up any part of Superion. He was formerly a neutral Scientist until Starscream betrayed him and joined the Decepticons; in retaliation, Jetfire joined the Autobots.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire appears in the novels "" and "". A former Seeker, Jetfire chooses to side with the Autobots rather than joining the Decepticons along with most of his fellow Seekers and becomes one of a handful of Autobots who are flight capable. He proves to be a valuable asset, and remains behind on Cybertron to aid the Wreckers when the "Ark" departs. Despite his valiant efforts, some Autobots-notably Wheeljack-continued to doubt his loyalty and suspected that he was a double-agent for the Decepticons. Jetfire proved his loyalty by joining a mission under Ultra Magnus to rescue Alpha Trion from Shockwave.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is one of the playable Autobots in the 2010 video game "", and speaks with an English accent (similar to his film incarnation). In the Decepticon campaign, he starts out as one of 's partners in charge of guarding the dark energon. He also tries to warn about the deadly effects of dark energon, but his cries fall on deaf ears, as the Decepticon leader immerses himself in it, becoming more powerful. After that Starscream turns his allegiance to Megatron. Jetfire fled the scene, joining the Autobots.


title: Jetfire

text: In the Autobot campaign, Jetfire joins and in flying in orbit of Cybertron to take down the armed Decepticon orbital station , which is preventing Autobot transport ships from leaving the dying planet. The aerial trio enter Trypticon and destroy his cooling systems and plasma reactor, disabling his main weapon. Unfortunately, the attacks are not enough to disable Trypticon, so they enter his core and destroy his transformation cog, forcing him to revert into his true form. Forced to transform into dinosaur mode, Trypticon sets a course toward the Autobot city of Iacon with the intent of decimating it, but the Autobot trio destroy his flight pack, sending him crashing into the planet. This leaves and his ground-based team with the task of finishing off Trypticon before he lays further waste on Iacon.


title: Jetfire

text: Jetfire is playable in the last level of "". The player's mission as Jetfire is to destroy the Decepticon tow cables, and helped Jazz knock Bruticus off the Ark.


title: Mark Slade

text: Mark Van Blarcom Slade (born May 1, 1939) is an American actor, artist, and author, particularly remembered for his role of Billy Blue Cannon on the NBC Western television series, "The High Chaparral".


title: Mark Slade

text: Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Slade is the son of Elinor (née Van Blarcom) and William A. Slade Jr., a Boston businessman and watercolor artist. Along with his two sisters and a brother, he grew up in the Danvers/Hamilton area of the North Shore. His parents divorced when he was 13, and his stepfather, Esmond R. Crowley Jr., became a valuable influence on his life.


title: Mark Slade

text: In 1956, he enrolled in Worcester Academy with the intention of becoming an artist. After he filled in for a sick classmate by playing the role of an English professor in the play "The Male Animal", he decided to study acting. Slade moved to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, supporting himself by working at the 21 Club.


title: Mark Slade

text: During the beginning of his career in the early 1960s, Slade served in the United States Army Reserve.


title: Mark Slade

text: Slade began his career on the Broadway stage appearing in the Josh Logan-directed play, "There Was a Little Girl," Jane Fonda's first Broadway play. He then earned a role in the 1961 film "Splendor in the Grass", directed by Elia Kazan and filmed in upstate New York. In the early 1960s, he moved to the West Coast, where he was cast as Seaman Jimmy "Red" Smith in the feature film "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1961). Despite his character being killed in the movie version, Irwin Allen brought Slade back for the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)" on ABC. He was cast in 1964 as a new character, Seaman Malone. He was hence the only one of six actors to have been cast in both the film and television versions of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". He appeared only in the first half of the first season because he departed to become a semi-regular, Eddie, in the CBS sitcom, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.", starring Jim Nabors. Slade appeared in eight episodes of "Gomer Pyle", all of which were aired during the first half of the first season. He was cast in three episodes of the NBC education drama, "Mr. Novak", starring James Franciscus in the title role. His first television role was as Stu Walters in the 1961 episode "Deadline" of the ABC sitcom, "My Three Sons", starring Fred MacMurray. In 1963, he was cast in the episode "A Girl Named Amy" of Jack Lord's ABC series, "Stoney Burke", a rodeo adventure series. In 1964, he guest-starred in "The Enormous Fist" episode of "Rawhide" opposite Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. That year, he also appeared as the title character Michael Manning, alias Michael Da Vinci, in the "Perry Mason" episode, "The Case of the Careless Kidnapper".


title: Mark Slade

text: In the 1965–1966 television season, Slade played Radioman Patrick Hollis in the NBC sitcom, "The Wackiest Ship in the Army".


title: Mark Slade

text: In 1966, at the age of 27, he obtained one of his most memorable parts, as Billy Blue Cannon, the blond-haired, blue-eyed son of the ranch patriarch, John Cannon (Leif Erickson) on "The High Chaparral", set in the Arizona Territory. The series aired for four seasons. In the same year he was cast in an episode of the western TV series "Bonanza" as Jud Rikeman.


title: Mark Slade

text: He went on to play Taylor Reed in the 1973 film "Salty" and reprised his role in the syndicated adventure series "Salty" (1974–1975).


title: Mark Slade

text: Slade's acting career continued into the early 1990s. He made more than 300 appearances on stage, screen, and television. Slade won international recognition and numerous awards for his efforts: the Belgian Viewers Award, the Bambi, the Bravo Golden Otto, and the Western Heritage Award.


title: Mark Slade

text: As an artist, Slade's illustrations, political cartoons, caricatures, and comic strips have run in numerous newspapers, magazines, and prominent publications around the world. His collaboration with producer/writer Danny Arnold ("Barney Miller" television series) resulted in the long-running comic strip, "Howard and Friends".


title: Mark Slade

text: A number of his later works done in oils and graphite, as well as his hand-pulled prints, are held in private collections.


title: Mark Slade

text: As a writer, Slade is well known for writing and playing the guest role in the "Cliffy" episode of "The Rookies" television series, which won him critical acclaim and numerous citations. In 2012, he authored his first published novel, "Going Down Maine", which explores the loss of innocence and unforeseen consequences of youthful indiscretions. Published in late 2014, "Of Pain and Coffee", a collection of sooth-sayings and soliloquies that explore life's foibles and fears, joys and heartbreaks, with illustrations by the author, was released. In December, 2014, Mark published a companion book, "Someone's Story", that takes the reader on an emotional journey through those brief moments when one can feel another's life. The author's own photography creates a subtle melding of the pictorial and verse. "Hangin' with the Truth", his second novel, was released in 2016.


title: Mark Slade

text: Slade also lent his talents to the Slade Media Group, founded by his wife, Melinda Riccilli Slade, that specialized in corporate image campaigns, crisis management, graphic design, and marketing communications. The firm created national campaigns for diverse public and private companies, along with numerous product introductions. Together, they wrote and developed various media projects through their affiliated company, Slade Square Productions.


title: Mark Slade

text: Slade married Melinda Riccilli in 1968. They have two sons, Morgan and Mitchel. He is currently living in Northern California, where he continues the pursuit of his artistic endeavors.


title: Mark Slade

text: Slade's maternal grandmother, Alice Louise (née Ford) Van Blarcom, was Henry Ford's fifth cousin. His Ford lineage goes back to Martha and John Ford, who reached Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the "Fortune", the second English ship to arrive in Plymouth Colony, on November 9, 1621. John Ford died on the voyage. Martha disembarked with their two sons and gave birth to their third on the same day. The ship's manifest lists among the passengers a John Cannon, also the name of the patriarch in "The High Chaparral".


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: The UEFA Euro 2008 Final was the final match of Euro 2008, the thirteenth edition of the European Football Championship, UEFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria, on 29 June 2008, and was contested by Germany and Spain. The sixteen-team tournament consisted of a group stage, from which eight teams qualified for the knockout phase. En route to the final, Germany finished second in Group B, with a defeat to Croatia and wins over Poland and Austria, after which they defeated Portugal and Turkey in the knockouts. Spain finished top of Group D with three wins, against Russia, Sweden and Greece, before defeating Italy on penalties in the quarter-final and a second victory over Russia in the semi-final.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: The final took place in front of 51,428 supporters and was refereed by Roberto Rosetti from Italy. "The Guardian" Scott Murray commented that Spain had "started very poorly" while Germany had several early attacks. However, it was Spain who took the lead in the 33rd minute through Fernando Torres, who latched onto a through ball from Xavi, beat Philipp Lahm on the edge of the penalty area, and then clipped the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Jens Lehmann into the left-hand corner of the German goal. Andrés Iniesta and Dani Güiza both had chances to double Spain's lead, while Michael Ballack's attempted equaliser went narrowly wide. The game finished with no further goals and Spain won 1–0 to secure their second European Championship. Torres was named the man of the match.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Luis Aragonés, Spain's manager, revealed that he was "full of emotion" after the victory; his German counterpart Joachim Löw expressed satisfaction with his team's performances and optimism for the future. Spain's victory marked the start of a period of dominance for the team that saw them winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and then retaining their European title at Euro 2012. Germany went on to reach the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, before eventually being successful with a win at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: UEFA Euro 2008 was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Football Championship, UEFA's football competition for national teams, held between 7 and 29 June 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. Qualifying rounds were held between August 2006 and November 2007, in which fifty teams were divided into seven groups of seven or eight, playing each other on a home-and-away round-robin tournament basis. The top two teams in each group, along with the two host teams, qualified for the sixteen-team finals. There, they were divided into four groups of four with each team playing one another once. The two top teams from each group advanced to a knock-out phase.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Germany had won the title as West Germany in 1972 and in 1980, and again in 1996 as Germany. In the previous international tournament, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, they were knocked out in the semi-final to Italy, before winning the third-place play-off against Portugal. Spain had advanced to the round of 16 in 2006, in which they were defeated by France. Spain had won the European Championship once before, in 1964. The UEFA Euro 2008 Final was the nineteenth meeting between Germany and Spain, eight of the previous matches being won by Germany, five by Spain, and six draws. They had last faced each other in a competitive game in the group stage of the 1994 World Cup, which finished as a 1–1 draw. Greece were the defending champions after winning the 2004 final against Portugal.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: The final was held on 29 June 2008 at Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, the largest stadium of the eight venues used in the finals of Euro 2008. Opened in 1931, the Ernst-Happel-Stadion was built for the second International Workers' Olympiad. Serving as Austria's national stadium, it had previously hosted finals of the UEFA Champions League, including those in 1964, in 1987, in 1990 and in 1995. The capacity of the stadium was increased before the tournament by the addition of temporary stands in front of the permanent stands.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Germany were pre-tournament favourites to win the final, followed by Spain, although the latter's manager Luis Aragonés cautioned that "Nobody should be deceived by Spain because in the major tournaments we haven't done anything."


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Germany were drawn in Group B for the tournament, alongside Austria, Croatia and Poland. They faced Poland in their first game in Klagenfurt, Austria, on 8 June 2008. Lukas Podolski gave Germany the lead after 20 minutes when he scored following a pass from Miroslav Klose. Podolski then added a second goal 18 minutes before the end with a volley, to give Germany a victory. The win was their first in the tournament since their win over the Czech Republic in the Euro 1996 Final, after they had recorded no wins in 2000 or in 2004. Their second group game took place four days later against Croatia, again in Klagenfurt. Croatia took the lead after 24 minutes through Darijo Srna, before Ivica Olić added a second shortly after the hour mark. Podolski scored for Germany on 78 minutes to make the score , but they had few chances thereafter and Croatia held on for the win. Bastian Schweinsteiger, a German substitute, was sent off in the 90th minute when he pushed Jerko Leko after the latter had tackled him. Germany concluded their group fixtures against co-hosts Austria in Vienna on 16 June needing a draw to secure their progress to the quarter-finals, while their opponents required a win. The game was settled when Michael Ballack scored from a free kick in the second half to give Germany a win. They qualified as runners-up in the group behind Croatia.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Germany's quarter-final match was against Portugal in the Swiss city of Basel on 19 June. Germany raced into a lead in the first half hour of the game with goals from Schweinsteiger and Klose, before Nuno Gomes pulled back a goal for Portugal shortly before half-time. Ballack extended Germany's lead with a header on 62 minutes, and despite Hélder Postiga's late goal for Portugal, Germany held on for a win. They returned to Basel again for their semi-final against Turkey, on 25 June. Turkey had several chances in the opening 20 minutes before taking the lead on 22 minutes; Uğur Boral's shot went under the body of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann after Colin Kazim-Richards had hit the crossbar. Five minutes later Schweinsteiger equalised for Germany with a close-range shot. Klose scored Germany's second on 79 minutes, but Turkey equalised 7 minutes later through Semih Şentürk. With the game heading towards extra time, Germany's Philipp Lahm scored a winning goal in the 90th minute. BBC Sport's Phil McNulty described the 3–2 victory as "barely deserved", but Germany were nonetheless through to the final.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Spain played in Group D, joined by Greece, Sweden and Russia. Their opening fixture was in Innsbruck, Austria, against Russia on 10 June, in which Spain took the lead through David Villa after 20 minutes. Villa added a second on 45 minutes, following a pass from Andrés Iniesta, to give Spain a half-time lead, and he then completed a hat-trick on 75 minutes, the first of the tournament. Roman Pavlyuchenko scored for Russia 4 minutes from full time, before Spain added another goal through substitute Cesc Fàbregas to complete a victory. In their next game, also in Innsbruck, Spain faced Sweden. Spain opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour when Fernando Torres notched a goal following David Silva's cross. Zlatan Ibrahimović equalised for Sweden on 34 minutes, but Spain secured the win through a last-minute goal by Villa. This ensured they had qualified for the knock-out rounds with one game to spare. Manager Aragonés therefore decided to rest most of his first-team players for the final game against Greece in Salzburg, Austria, on 18 June. Greece, who were the tournament's defending champions, scored the first goal of the game shortly before half-time through Angelos Charisteas but goals from Rubén de la Red and Dani Güiza on 61 and 88 minutes sealed another Spanish win. They qualified as group winners, with Russia in second place.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Spain's quarter-final match was against Italy in Vienna, on 22 June. The first half of the game was described by McNulty as "a cautious affair, with chances and quality at a premium", and it finished goalless. In the second half, Italian substitute Mauro Camoranesi had a chance following a goalmouth scramble which was blocked by Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Marcos Senna then had two chances to give Spain the lead, through a long-range free kick and a shot which was fumbled onto the post by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. The match remained 0–0 through extra time, and went to a penalty shoot-out. With Spain taking their penalties first, the opening three in the shoot-out were all scored. Casillas then saved from Italy's Daniele De Rossi, to give Spain a 2–1 lead after two penalties each. The next two were scored, but then Buffon saved from Spain's Güiza. Antonio Di Natale had a chance to restore parity, but Casillas saved again. Fàbregas then scored again, to seal a 4–2 shoot-out win. Spain returned to Vienna for their semi-final on 26 June, in which they faced Russia for the second time in the tournament. The first half, played in rainy conditions, ended goalless with Torres being denied by Russia's goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and Pavlyuchenko shooting wide from a Konstantin Zyryanov cross. Xavi opened the scoring for Spain in the 50th minute after a pass from Iniesta. Torres then missed an opportunity to score after striking a Ramos cross off-target with his knee. In the 73rd minute, Güiza doubled Spain's lead, controlling Fàbregas's pass with his chest before striking the ball over Akinfeev. Silva made it 3–0 in the 82nd minute with a side-footed goal from a Fàbregas cross, concluding a long series of passes by Spain. The win was the largest margin of victory in a semi-final in the history of the European Championship.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Before the 2008 final, former German international Franz Beckenbauer wrote in the German newspaper "Bild" that he hoped "for an attractive finale with lots of goals" but said that he expected "a game of patience". Writing in "The Observer" before the game, journalist Duncan Castles contrasted the styles of play of the two teams, saying that game would hinge on "whether Iberian beauty can conquer German pragmatism". Many Spanish supporters had been pessimistic about the team's chances before the tournament, as a result of their previous lack of success, but according to Steve Kingstone of "BBC News", the mood in the country was much more optimistic about their prospects in the final, following the semi-final victory over Russia. The match was watched by tens of thousands of Spaniards in the Plaza de Colón in Madrid. Tristana Moore, reporting for "BBC News" in Berlin, reported an "air of excitement" before the game, but noted that many Germans had not expected the team to reach the final. A "Fan Mile" was set up at the Brandenburg Gate, where up to 500,000 German supporters were expected to watch the game.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: The referee for the game was Roberto Rosetti of Italy. The assistant referees were Alessandro Griselli and Paolo Calcagno, also of Italy, while Sweden's Peter Fröjdfeldt was the fourth official. The tournament's closing ceremony took place before the final, featuring music by Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias, after which the national anthems of the two teams were played.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Spain kicked off the match at 8:45 pm local time (6:45 pm UTC) in temperatures of at the end of a sunny day, with 51,428 spectators in attendance. Spain began by passing around their defence, but then lost the ball when Sergio Ramos mishit a pass which was retrieved by Klose, who ran towards the Spanish goal. Carles Puyol forced Klose out wide to the left, and the ball eventually went behind for a goal kick. Germany then had another attack on 4 minutes when Ballack's pass found Lahm in space on the left-hand side, but his cross did not reach a German attacker. On 7 minutes, Germany attacked on the left for a third time through Ballack, who took the ball past Puyol. His cross looped close to the corner of the Spanish goal, but eventually passed in front of the goal without danger for Spain. "The Guardian" Scott Murray commented at the time that Spain had "started very poorly indeed". Chris Waddle, working as an analyst for BBC Radio 5 Live, commented that he had "never seen Spain play so many long balls. I don't know why they're not going through the midfield." Thomas Hitzlsperger had the first shot on target of the game on 9 minutes, but it was too weak to trouble Casillas.


title: UEFA Euro 2008 Final

text: Despite having had no meaningful attacks until that point, Spain almost took the lead on 14 minutes when Xavi found Iniesta inside the German penalty area. Iniesta fired a curling shot intended for the top-right corner of the German goal, which was intercepted by Christoph Metzelder. Metzelder's deflection almost took the ball into the left side of the goal, but Lehmann was able to fingertip the ball behind for a corner. They had another chance on 19 minutes when Torres won a free kick for a foul by Metzelder, but the ball was sent in too high for Torres's header to threaten Germany. Two minutes later, Torres hit the post with a header after Ramos had crossed to him. Germany appealed for a penalty for handball on 25 minutes, when Ramos blocked a Ballack shot, but the referee deemed that it had hit his chest. They claimed another penalty five minutes later, when the ball hit Joan Capdevila's hand after bouncing in the penalty area; this appeal was also denied. Torres then ran into the German penalty area, but Per Mertesacker cleared behind for a corner.