title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The game begins on January 1, 1999, with the player choosing a location for their first base on the Geoscape screen: a global view representation of Earth as seen from space (displaying X-COM bases and aircraft, detected UFOs, alien bases, and sites of alien activity). The player can view the X-COM bases and make changes to them, equip fighter aircraft, order supplies and personnel (soldiers, scientists and engineers), direct research efforts, schedule manufacturing of advanced equipment, sell alien artifacts on black market to raise money, and deploy X-COM aircraft to either patrol designated locations, intercept UFOs, or send X-COM ground troops on missions using transport aircraft.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Funding is provided by the 16 founding nations of X-COM. At the end of each month, a funding report is provided, where nations can choose to increase or decrease their level of funding based on their perceived progress of the X-COM project. Any of these nations may quit if the nation's government has been infiltrated by the invaders. Through reverse engineering of recovered alien artifacts, X-COM is able to develop better technology to combat the alien menace and eventually uncover how to defeat it.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Gameplay switches to the tactical combat phase whenever X-COM ground forces come in contact with aliens.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: One of three mission outcomes is possible: either the human forces are eliminated, the alien forces are neutralized, or the player chooses to withdraw. The mission's score and the result are based on the number of X-COM operatives lost (either dead, unconscious, or under alien control), civilians saved or perished, aliens killed or captured, and the number and quality of alien artifacts obtained. Troops may also increase in rank or abilities if they made successful use of their primary attributes (e.g. killing enemies). Instead of gaining experience points, surviving human combatants might get an automatic rise (a semi-random amount depending on how much of the action in which they participated) to their attributes, such as Psi or Accuracy. The soldiers who have been killed on a mission will remain dead, but can be replaced with raw recruits back at base. In addition to combat personnel, the player may use unmanned ground vehicles that are outfitted with heavy weapons and well armored but large, costly, and not gaining experience. Recovered alien artifacts can then be researched and possibly reproduced. Captured live aliens may produce information, possibly leading to new technologies and even an access to psionic warfare.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: One reason for the game's success is the strong sense of atmosphere it evokes. Soldiers are vulnerable to alien attacks even when armored (a single shot from an alien has a good chance of bringing a soldier in perfect condition to death), and the use of features such as night-time combat, a line of sight, and opportunity fire allows for alien sniper attacks and ambushes. The enemy comes in numerous forms, and the players that are new to the game will run into new kinds of aliens without any knowledge of their characteristics and capabilities beforehand. The course of skirmishes is also dictated by the individual morale levels of their participants on both sides; a low morale can result in them either dropping their weapons and fleeing in panic or going berserk and opening fire indiscriminately.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Fan-made patches fix a notorious bug which results in the game always resetting to the easiest difficulty level ("Beginner") after completing the first Battlescape mission, no matter what difficulty level has been selected. This glitch was not noticed by MicroProse and was not fixed in the official patches, resulting in the very high difficulty of due to many complaints from veteran players who believed that the original game was still too easy even on seemingly higher levels. IBM Master Inventor Scott T. Jones' noted 1995 patch-turned-mod, named XComUtil, fixes it as well as addressing many interface problems and better balancing the game; in 2010, a task of its further development was given to David Jones.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: "OpenXcom" is an open-source reimplementation of that game to fix all the known bugs and limits, improve the AI and user interface, localize in more languages, and to provide cross-platform builds, e.g. for Linux and Android. The second focus of OpenXcom is to enable customizing, modding and expansions like the notable total conversion "X-Piratez".


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The game was originally conceived by a small British video game developer company, Mythos Games – led by Julian Gollop – as a sequel to their 1988 science fiction tactical game "Laser Squad", "but with much neater graphics using an isometric style very similar to "Populous"." The initial 1991 demo presented a relatively simple, two-player tactical game then known as "Laser Squad 2" (or "Laser Squad II"), which ran on the Atari ST. The Gollop brothers (Julian and Nick) approached three video game publishers, Krisalis, Domark and MicroProse, eventually brokering a deal with MicroProse. Julian Gollop was especially happy about it because he greatly respected MicroProse and believed it was probably the best video game company in the world at the time.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Although supportive of the project, the publisher expressed concerns that the demo lacked a grand scale in keeping with MicroProse's hit strategy game "Civilization". The Civilopedia feature of "Civilization" also inspired an addition of the in-game encyclopedia, called the UFOpaedia. All that and the UFO theme was suggested by MicroProse UK head of development Pete Moreland. Julian Gollop's personal inspirations included several traditional games, in particular, the board wargame "Sniper!" and the tabletop role-playing game "Traveller".


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Under MicroProse's direction and working at its Chipping Sodbury studio, Julian Gollop said that while the research and technology tree somewhat emulates the role of advances in "Civilization", "it also helped to develop the storyline." He changed the setting to modern-day Earth and expanded the strategy elements, among them the ability to capture and reproduce alien technology. He has cited the 1970s British television series "UFO" as one of the influences for the game's storyline, in particular, an idea of an international counter-UFO organization and the psionic powers of some alien races, even as the series itself was "a bit boring". A book by Bob Lazar, where he describes his supposed work with recovered UFOs at Area 51, inspired the concept to reverse-engineer captured alien technology. Timothy Good's 1991 book "Alien Liaison" provided inspiration for several of Julian Gollop's revisions, such as the notion that world governments might seize alien technology or secretly conspire with the invaders (a negative result which can occur in-game). Inspirations also included Whitley Strieber's book "Communion" and other "weird American stories".


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: MicroProse UK graphics artists John Reitze and Martin Smillie provided what MicroProse described as "popular 'manga' look and feel" visuals. Julian Gollop credited Reitze with "a distinctive comic book style" and Smillie with "very detailed environment graphics". John Broomhall composed the music while Andrew Parton handled the sound effects. There were also major contributors who were not acknowledged in the game's credits, such as the designer Steve Hand, a "Laser Squad" fan who helped the project get signed, put input into the "big game" concept, actually came up with the name "X-COM" (derived from Mike Brunton's initial idea of "X-CON", where "CON" originally stood for "contact"), and helped to define the comic book-like art style. Hand thought the original design document was poorly written, especially regarding the initial, more interactive and action-oriented UFO interception system; nevertheless, the final game turned out to be very close to it. Certain creature types deemed "boring" were removed during the development, as were the Men in Black, who were unused due to a perceived conflict with MicroProse's abortive project to make an MIB-themed standalone game.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: A public demo of the game was released under the North American version's working title "X-COM: Terran Defense Force". Despite numerous changes from the first demo, the tactical part of the game remains true to the turn-based layout of "Laser Squad" and the Gollop brothers' earlier "Rebelstar" series. The AI system of those games formed the basis for enemy tactics, with Julian Gollop programming his own unique algorithms for pathfinding and behavior; in particular, the aliens were purposely given an element of unpredictability in their actions. It was the first game programmed by them for the PC. In retrospect, Julian thought he should have concentrated on game design and left all of the programming work to Nick. Producer Tim Roberts was described by him positively as "very laid back" and for most of the time allowed them to work on the game without any interference and schedules, only checking in once in a month to conduct meetings in a pub.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The original contract was for the game be completed within 18 months. In the course of its development, the game was nearly canceled twice: in the first instance due to the company's financial difficulties, and the second time under the pressure from Spectrum HoloByte after it had acquired Bill Stealey’s shares in MicroProse in 1993. Julian Gollop said the quality assurance team (Andrew Lucket, Phil McDonnel, and Jason Thompson) helped save the game from cancellation; their feedback also helped to polish the game. The game was in fact officially ordered to be canceled by Spectrum HoloByte, but MicroProse UK bosses Pete Moreland, Adrian Parr, and Paul Hibbard held a meeting and decided to ignore it and simply not inform Gollop about any of that. Thus, the development team continued their work without any knowledge of the parent company's executives, until it was eventually completed in March 1994, after 30 months in development since the initial contract. During the final three months, after Spectrum HoloByte was eventually informed of the game still being in production, the Gollop brothers were forced to work 7–12 in order to finish it before the end of the fiscal year. The overall development of the PC version cost £115,000.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The finished product was marketed as "UFO: Enemy Unknown" in Europe, Quebec and Australia and as "X-COM: UFO Defense" in North America. The latter features a different box cover, faithful to the game's contents (the original cover of "UFO: Enemy Unknown" depicts the aliens and their spacecraft design that are unlike anything actually seen in the game) and its cartoonish art style. In Japan, the game was renamed by Culture Brain as and released with a cover using a different art style and better reflecting the actual game content.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The Amiga conversion was done by Julian Gollop's brother Nick and "it was quite tough because the Amiga wasn’t quite as fast as PCs were becoming at that time." The Amiga ECS/OCS version displays lower quality graphics than the PC version and is missing light source shading during combat missions, but the sound quality is improved; the graphics are better in the AGA Amiga version. A "Limited Edition" for the Amiga CD32 came with a MicroProse travel alarm clock.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The 1995 PlayStation port has retained the original graphics due to time restraints (adding only some 3D models as illustrations for the UFOpaedia) but features much higher quality music than the PC version (55 minutes of CD-quality tracks and 8 minutes of 16-bit tracks instead of the 8-bit MIDI music). The new music was composed by Allister Brimble, who later also created the music for the first sequel, "". It is compatible with the highly recommended PlayStation Mouse and requires five PlayStation memory card blocks for a Battlescape saved game.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The game was re-released as part of the compilations "X-COM: Unknown Terror" by MicroProse and Prima Games in 1996, "X-COM (Collector's Edition)" by MicroProse in 1998, "X-COM Collection" by Hasbro Interactive in 1999, "X-COM: Complete Pack" by 2K Games in 2008 and "2K Huge Games Pack" in 2009, as well as in the "Classic Games Collection" CD featured with the July 2000 issue of "PC Gamer". In "X-COM: Complete Pack" (also known as "X-COM Collection"), all five "X-COM" games were released for paid download on Steam with added Windows XP and Windows Vista support.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Diane Duane's 1995 "X-COM: UFO Defense – A Novel" () tells the story of Jonelle Barrett, commander of X-COM's newly established Swiss base. According to Rock, Paper, Shotgun's negative review of Duane's novel, it is hampered by a poor understanding of the game, a lack of focus, emotional resonance and tension, and an unstructured plot.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Another novelization of the game, "Враг неизвестен" ("Enemy Unknown") written by Vladimir Vasilyev, was published in Russia in 1997. The book tells the story of one of the original eight X-COM troops from beginning of the conflict to the final raid on Cydonia.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The game was released to very positive reviews and commercial success, selling more than 600,000 units on the PC DOS platform, not counting the later ports—for the Amiga platforms and the PlayStation—and re-releases. Half of the game's net sales were in the United States, a rarity for a European title at the time. Gollop has attributed the game's North American success to its title ("X-COM"), as the television series "The X-Files" had premiered a year earlier. More than 400,000 units were sold at full price, with little marketing from its publisher. Together with its sequel, "", its sales had passed 1 million copies by March 1997. The game earned the Gollop brothers just over £1 million in royalties. The game became very popular also in Russia, even as there were no royalties from that market as it was only distributed there via software piracy.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: "Computer Gaming World" rated "X-COM" five stars out of five. Describing it as "one of those rare and dangerous games capable of drilling into your brain, putting a vice-grip on your imagination, and only releasing you when it has had enough", the magazine praised its detailed and varied combat system and lengthy gameplay, concluding "Resistance is futile". A preview of the PlayStation version in "Next Generation" called it "one of the best PC strategy games ever". GameSpot said, "put simply, "X-COM" is a "bona fide" modern classic, standing proudly alongside "Civilization" and "Populous" as a benchmark in the evolution of strategy gaming". "Electronic Gaming Monthly" stated of the PlayStation version that "any person who likes strategy games will fall in love with this title ... if you could afford to buy one game for the PS over the next year, "X-COM" would be it. It has it all and then some!" A reviewer for "Next Generation" criticized the PlayStation version for being little more than a straight port, arguing that the game could have been improved if the console's capabilities were used. However, he praised the game itself for sophisticated, enjoyable gameplay, and concluded, ""X-COM" was a smashing PC title, it's lost nothing of practical value in the translation, and makes a marvelous addition to the console market". "GamePro" disagreed: "You have to be a major sim-freak to enjoy "X-COM". It's an interesting and complex game about planet colonizing, but the extensive manuals and one-dimensional music really bore you to alien tears after a while".


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: Amiga ports received lower ratings than the PC original (which holds an average score of 93.60% at GameRankings), according to Amiga HOL database having averaged scores of 79% on the ECS/OCS Amigas, 82% on the AGA Amigas and 73% for the Amiga CD32 version. A common point of criticism for the floppy disk version was the need to frequently swap the disks in the Amiga systems not equipped with a hard disk drive, while the CD-ROM based CD32 version does not allow the users to save the progress of any other game without wiping out the save game of "UFO". Nevertheless, a review in "Amiga Action" called it "easily the most original and innovative game in the history of the Amiga", a review in "Amiga World" called in "the shortest path to heaven" for a strategy gamer, and a review in "CU Amiga" of the 1997 budget range re-release called it the "game everyone loves".


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: "Computer Gaming World" gave "X-COM" its Game of the Year award. "PC Gamer US" presented "UFO Defense" with its 1994 "Best Strategy Game" award. The editors wrote, ""X-COM"s classic mix of action and strategy will have you hooked for hours, and made this one of the finest games of the year."


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: In 2009, "Edge" called "X-COM" "the title that first brought turn-based wargaming to the masses." It has often appeared in top video game lists by various publications. "Computer Gaming World" ranked it as the 22nd (1996) and third (2001) best computer game of all time; the magazine's readers also voted it for tenth place in 2001. It was ranked as the 26th top game of all time by "Next Generation" in 1996 ("breathed new live into turn-based strategy genre"), the 35th best video game of all time by GameSpy in 2001 ("stellar game design can withstand the test of time"), as the second best video game since 1992 by Finnish magazine "Pelit" in 2007, and as the 78th best video game "to play today" by "Edge" in 2009. Polish web portal Wirtualna Polska ranked it as the 13th best Amiga game, as well as the third most addictive game "that stole our childhood"; it was also retrospectively ranked as the eighth best Amiga game by the Polish edition of "CHIP". In 1999, "Next Generation" listed "X-Com UFO Defense" as number 37 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, ""X-COM" revamp the turn-based subgenre by strengthening the resource management elements and adding highly intuitive interface." In 2015, Rock, Paper, Shotgun listed it as their 6th "Best Strategy Games Ever Made" ("in the thick of a terror mission, with chrysalids seeming to pour out of the walls, or in those last hours when you finally seem capable of taking the fight to the aliens, there’s nothing else quite like X-COM") In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 48th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time."


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: IGN named it as the number one top PC game of all time in 2000 ("the finest PC game we have ever played") and 2007 ("there's still no PC game that can compete with the mighty "X-COM""), as well as ranking it as the second top "modern PC game" in 2009. IGN also included it on several lists of the best video games of all time on all platforms, including it at eighth place in 2003 ("a game that will live on in the annals of computer gaming history"), at 12th place in 2005 ("for us 1994 will always be remembered as the year of "X-COM""), and at 21st place in 2007 ("one of the most memorable and perfectly executed strategy games ever seen"). "PC Gamer" ranked it as the seventh (1997), eighth (1998), third (2001), eighth (2005), tenth (in both 2007 and 2008, as a "truly groundbreaking game" that "still plays fresher than almost anything else that begs passage through these pages"), 11th (2010, the editors adding that everyone who would not vote for this game is "dead" to them) and 12th (2011, describing it as a "brilliant game whose individual elements have been copied many times but whose charm has never been duplicated") best PC game of all time; it was also voted at 15th place by the magazine's readers in 2000.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: It was also inducted into several halls of fame, including by "CGW" in 2005 ("a great game which proves that pushing the technological envelope is often less important than stoking the gamer's competitive fire"), by GameSpot in 2003 (featured among The Greatest Games of All Time as "one of the defining games of the turn-based strategy genre"), and by IGN in 2007 ("if this game were a woman, we'd marry it"). In 1996, "CGW" ranked it as the number one sleeper hit of all time. In 1999, the game's Xenomorph-inspired alien race of Chryssalids was ranked as fourth on the list of best monsters in gaming by GameSpot, where "X-COM" was also called "one of the scariest computer games ever". In 2012, while awaiting the remake, "The Escapist" ran a feature article about "why "X-COM" is the greatest game ever" and game designer Ken Levine named it as one of his all-time personal favorites. That same year, 1UP.com ranked it as the 90th most essential game of all time, commenting that "with its unrivaled balance of tactics and tension, "XCOM" remains a masterpiece."


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The success of the game resulted in several sequels and spin-off games, as well as many unofficial remake and spiritual successor titles, both fan-made and commercial. Julian Gollop himself designed the third game in the "X-COM" series, 1997's "", which was also developed together by Mythos Games and MicroProse. The game also received an unofficial sequel in the 1997 expansion set "Civ II: Fantastic Worlds" for MicroProse's "Civilization II", in a scenario set on the Phobos moon of Mars.


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: An official remake, titled "", was developed by Firaxis Games, led by MicroProse's co-founder Sid Meier. The game's prototype was actually a modernization of the original, with all the classic gameplay features, but then gradually evolved into a completely "reimagined" version. The game was released by 2K Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October 2012, winning multiple Game of the Year awards. In a retrospective article in Eurogamer, Alec Meer compared both games with "a sort of objectivity from me that hasn't been remotely possible over the last two decades of worshipping at its VGA shrine," stating: "I can see a game that can and will co-exist with rather than be supplanted by its remake. "X-COM" and "XCOM" are completely different games, both ingenious and both flawed in their own ways. I'd kill for a hybrid of the two, but having two rather than one sure is nothing to sniff at." In a positive review of the remake, Dan Stapleton of GameSpy added: "I leave the title of Best Game Ever with the original." Julian Gollop himself commented that "Firaxis did a terrific job with the new "XCOM"," although he "would have done things differently for sure. (...) I tried many times for many years to get a remake underway, but Firaxis finally did it. Also, there is a promising and more faithful remake called "Xenonauts"."


title: X-COM: UFO Defense

text: The game also had a big influence on the development team of the role-playing video game "Fallout". Project director Tim Cain said they "all loved "X-COM"" and that the original version of "Fallout" (known as "Vault 13", before the game was redesigned after they lost the "GURPS" license) had a very similar combat system.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The Piedmont Triad (or simply the Triad) is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of North Carolina anchored by three cities: Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group of cities lies in the Piedmont geographical region of the United States and forms the basis of the Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point Combined Statistical Area. As of 2012, the Piedmont Triad has an estimated population of 1,611,243 making it the 33rd largest combined statistical area in the United States.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The metropolitan area is connected by Interstates 40, 85, 73, and 74 and is served by the Piedmont Triad International Airport. Long known as one of the primary manufacturing and transportation hubs of the southeastern United States, the Triad is also an important educational, healthcare, and cultural region and occupies a prominent place in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The Triad is not to be confused with the "Triangle" region (Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill), directly to the east.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: As part of a redefining of metropolitan areas by the US Census Bureau, the old Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area was broken up in 2003 into five separate areas—three Metropolitan Statistical Areas and two Micropolitan Areas. In some ways, however, the region still functions as a single metropolitan area.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: † Indicates municipalities in Montgomery and Caswell (counties usually locally included as part of Piedmont Triad)


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The area is served by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and Guilford County Schools. The area is home to a number of religious schools, as well as a number of independent schools including Wesleyan Christian Academy and High Point Christian Academy in High Point, Summit School in Winston-Salem, Forsyth Country Day School in Lewisville, Greensboro Day School and Greensboro Montessori School in Greensboro.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: Three prominent boarding schools also call the Triad home: Salem Academy, Oak Ridge Military Academy, and the American Hebrew Academy.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: Major art and historical museums contribute to the cultural climate of the region, including the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), The Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Old Salem, High Point Historical Museum, Mendenhall Plantation, the Weatherspoon Museum of Modern Art (located on the campus of UNCG), Blandwood Mansion and Gardens, the Greensboro Historical Museum, Guilford Battleground National Military Park, and the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Museum. The area also has its fair share of scientific museums, such as SciWorks, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, the Wake Forest Museum of Anthropology, and the Greensboro Science Center. The North Carolina Zoo, the world's largest open-air natural habitat zoo, is located just outside the Randolph County city of Asheboro.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The Triad area is notable for large textile, tobacco, and furniture corporations. The Triad remains a national center for textile manufacturing, represented by corporations including Hanes based in Winston-Salem, Glen Raven, Inc. based in Glen Raven, and International Textile Group, based in Greensboro. Tobacco remains a prominent crop in the Triad's rural areas and many tobacco companies like Lorillard Tobacco Company of Greensboro and Reynolds American, based in Winston-Salem, call the Piedmont Triad home. Numerous furniture manufacturers are also headquartered in the Triad area, especially in the cities of High Point (deemed the "Furniture Capital of the World"), Thomasville (known as the "Chair City"), and Lexington. The furniture and textile industries have in turn spawned large trucking, logistics, and warehousing businesses in the area. Popular brands like "Thomasville" and "Lexington" are derived from the names of these cities. Recently, however, many furniture and tobacco factories have been closing and/or laying off workers across the region in response to escalating industrial globalization.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: After many of the old industries in the area began to die out, many Piedmont Triad cities began encouraging technological businesses to move into the Triad. Winston-Salem, for instance, founded within its downtown the Piedmont Triad Research Park, now known as Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, a highly interactive, 200-acre, master-planned innovation community developed to support life science and information technology research and development. Dell, Inc. in the early 2000s struck a deal with local officials allowing for the construction of a new computer assembly plant near the Triad city of Kernersville. Dell pulled out of its contract with the city, however, and left after only a few years. Additionally, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the largest institution of higher learning in the region, and North Carolina A&T State University have joined forces to establish the Gateway University Research Park, a technology-based entity that will focus its efforts on a host of biological, life, and environmental science research projects. Upon full build out of the project, it is expected to be housed by two campuses, employ approximately 2,000 people, and generate $50 million per year to the Triad economy. LabCorp, one of the largest clinical laboratories in the world, has its corporate headquarters and several of its testing facilities in Burlington.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The Triad is home to an extensive freeway network, which is in the process of undergoing a major expansion. Four major Interstate highways and numerous secondary Interstate routes and US routes serve the region:


title: Piedmont Triad

text: Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) is the Triad's 10-county regional organization with the goal of enhancing all forms of transportation through regional cooperation. PART Express Bus provides express service to each major Triad city from Piedmont Triad International Airport, while Connections Express connects the Triad to Duke and UNC Medical Centers. PART also has Express Bus service to outlying counties that surround the Triad including Surry, Stokes, Davidson, Yadkin, and Randolph Counties and soon to be Davie County. PART is also administering and developing several rail service studies that include both commuter and intercity rail.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The region is served by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC). The PTRC was formed by the merger of the Northwest Piedmont Council of Governments and Piedmont Triad Council of Governments on July 1, 2011. The PTRC is a membership organization of the 12 counties and 62 municipalities in the Triad region.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: The following are prominent newspapers in the Piedmont Triad region and the counties each newspaper covers.


title: Piedmont Triad

text: All of the Piedmont Triad region belongs to the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point television designated market area (DMA). The following are stations that broadcast to this DMA. These stations are listed by call letters, virtual channel number, network and city of license.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: Mamayev Kurgan () is a dominant height overlooking the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in Southern Russia. The name in Russian means "tumulus of Mamai".


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: The formation is dominated by a memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). The battle, a hard-fought Soviet victory over Axis forces on the Eastern Front of World War II, turned into one of the bloodiest battles in human history. At the time of its installation in 1967 the statue, named "The Motherland Calls", formed the largest free-standing sculpture in the world; today it is the tallest sculpture of a woman in the world.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: When forces of the German Sixth Army launched their attack against the city centre of Stalingrad on 13 September 1942, Mamayev Kurgan (appearing in military maps as "Height 102.0") saw particularly fierce fighting between the German attackers and the defending soldiers of the Soviet 62nd Army. Control of the hill became vitally important, as it offered control over the city. To defend it, the Soviets had built strong defensive lines on the slopes of the hill, composed of trenches, barbed-wire and minefields. The Germans pushed forward against the hill, taking heavy casualties. When they finally captured the hill, they started firing on the city centre, as well as on the city's main railway station under the hill. They captured the Volgograd railway station on 14 September 1942.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: On the same day, the Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division commanded by Alexander Rodimtsev arrived in the city from the east side of the river Volga under heavy German artillery fire. The division's 10,000 men immediately rushed into the battle. On 16 September they recaptured Mamayev Kurgan and kept fighting for the railway station, taking heavy losses. By the following day, almost all of them had died. The Soviets kept reinforcing their units in the city as fast as they could. The Germans assaulted up to twelve times a day, and the Soviets would respond with fierce counter-attacks.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: The hill changed hands several times. By September 27, the Germans again captured half of Mamayev Kurgan. The Soviets held their own positions on the slopes of the hill, as the 284th Rifle Division defended the key stronghold. The defenders held out until January 26 1943, when the counterattacking Soviet forces relieved them. The battle of the city ended one week later with an utter German defeat.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: When the battle ended, the soil on the hill had been so thoroughly churned by shellfire and mixed with metal fragments that it contained between 500 and 1,250 splinters of metal per square meter. The earth on the hill had remained black in the winter, as the snow kept melting in the many fires and explosions. In the following spring the hill would still remain black, as no grass grew on its scorched soil. The hill's formerly steep slopes had become flattened in months of intense shelling and bombardment. Even today, it is possible to find fragments of bone and metal still buried deep throughout the hill.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: After the war, the Soviet authorities commissioned the enormous Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex. Vasily Chuikov, who led Soviet forces at Stalingrad, lies buried at Mamayev Kurgan, the only Marshal of the Soviet Union to be buried outside Moscow. Among the other people buried there, sniper Vasily Zaytsev was also reburied there in 2006.


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: The monumental memorial was constructed between 1959 and 1967, and is crowned by a huge allegorical statue of the Motherland on the top of the hill. The monument, designed by Yevgeny Vuchetich, has the full name "The Motherland Calls!" ( "Rodina Mat Zovyot!"). It consists of a concrete sculpture, 52 meters tall, and 85 meters from the feet to the tip of the 27-meters sword, dominating the skyline of the city of Stalingrad (later renamed Volgograd).


title: Mamayev Kurgan

text: The construction uses concrete, except for the stainless-steel blade of the sword, and is held on its plinth solely by its own weight. The statue is evocative of classical Greek representations of Nike, in particular the flowing drapery, similar to that of the Nike of Samothrace.


title: Hawaiian alphabet

text: The Hawaiian alphabet (in ) is an alphabet used to write Hawaiian. It was adapted from the English alphabet in the early 19th century by American missionaries to print a bible in the Hawaiian language.


title: Hawaiian alphabet

text: In 1778, British explorer James Cook made the first reported European voyage to Hawaii. In his report, he wrote the name of the islands as "Owhyhee" or "Owhyee". In 1822, a writing system based on one similar to the new "New Zealand Grammar" was developed and printed by American Protestant missionary Elisha Loomis. The original alphabet included five vowels and seven consonants:


title: Hawaiian alphabet

text: In 1826, the developers voted to eliminate some of the letters which represented functionally redundant interchangeable letters, enabling the Hawaiian alphabet to approach the ideal state of one-symbol-one-sound, and thereby optimizing the ease with which people could teach and learn the reading and writing of Hawaiian.


title: Hawaiian alphabet

text: Due to words with different meanings being spelled alike, use of the glottal stop became desirable. As early as 1823, the missionaries made limited use of the apostrophe to represent the glottal stop, but they did not make it a letter of the alphabet. In publishing the Hawaiian Bible, they used the okina to distinguish ' ('my') from ' ('your'). It was not until 1864 that the okina became a recognized letter of the Hawaiian alphabet.


title: Hawaiian alphabet

text: As early as 1821, one of the missionaries, Hiram Bingham, was using macrons in making handwritten transcriptions of Hawaiian vowels. The macron, or "", was used to differentiate between short and long vowels.


title: Hawaiian alphabet

text: The current official Hawaiian alphabet consists of 13 letters: five vowels (A a, E e, I i, O o, and U u) and eight consonants (H h, K k, L l, M m, N n, P p, W w, and ). Alphabetic order differs from the normal Latin order in that the vowels come first, then the consonants. The five vowels with macrons – Ā ā, Ē ē, Ī ī, Ō ō, Ū ū – are not treated as separate letters, but are alphabetized immediately after unaccented vowels. The okina is ignored for purposes of alphabetization, but is included as a consonant.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The Aermacchi or Macchi MB-326 is a light military jet trainer designed in Italy. Originally conceived as a two-seat trainer, there have also been single and two-seat light attack versions produced. It is one of the most commercially successful aircraft of its type, being bought by more than 10 countries and produced under licence in Australia, Brazil and South Africa. It set many category records, including an altitude record of 56,807 ft (17,315 m) on 18 March 1966. More than 800 MB-326s were constructed between 1961–1975.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The MB-326 had been developed and ordered during a period in which "all-through" jet training was considered by many air forces to be the most cost-effective model for training of military pilots. It was intended to provide a single type of aircraft that could be used to perform both elementary and advanced training right through to a near combat-ready standard. In practice, it was soon discovered that the simplicity and economy of scale of operating just one type for all training purposes was outweighed by the purchase and operating costs of a large all-jet training fleet. Many operators soon switched to operating the MB-326 in conjunction with a cheaper piston-engined type for basic training purposes. Over time, the MB-326 found its primary role as a lead-in trainer to prepare pilots for transition to very high performance fighter aircraft.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: During the 1950s, a number of countries began to operate compact jet-powered trainer aircraft that possessed similar performance to frontline operational aircraft, often having been produced as two-seat adaptions of these aircraft. Recognising the potential to better fulfil this role, several different companies independently chose to commence the development of purpose-built aircraft to serve as trainers; these included the French Fouga Magister, the American Cessna T-37 Tweet, the British Jet Provost, and the Czechoslovakian Aero L-29. In the aftermath of the devastating Second World War, Italy spent a number of years recuperating and reestablishing its economy; as such, the nation found itself unable to prioritise the necessary financing for the independent development of high-end combat aircraft that would be competitive with the upcoming generation of supersonic interceptors or bombers; accordingly, Italian aviation company Aermacchi elected to instead focus its resources and development efforts upon the production of a line of light fighters and trainer aircraft.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: What would become the MB-326 had its origins in a private venture project by Macchi; it was developed by a team headed by Italian aeronautical engineer Ermanno Bazzocchi, the company's technical director and chief engineer. Reportedly, Bazzocchi had considered many different configurations for the tentative trainer before the design team chose to proceed with a single-engined design. In accordance with its intended primary use, the airframe was a robust and light all-metal structure, being relatively simple and cheap to construct and to maintain. The design was also to be powered by the British Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojet engine, an efficient powerplant for the time. The Viper engine had been originally designed as a short-life unit destined for use upon disposable target drones, however, the engine had showed itself to be far more reliable and useful in other roles. During 1954, initial representations by Bazzochi were made to the Italian Air Ministry. During 1953, the designed airframe and engine combination led to Macchi formally launching the MB-326 programme.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Around the time of the programme's launch, the Italian Air Force took interest in the proposed aircraft. The service was considering options for the potential replacement of its existing trainer fleet, thus, upon the commissioning of a competition to select a suitable successor, the MB-326 was an obvious early entrant. A detailed specification was released for the competition, the requirements stated included a maximum load of 7 g when flown at the maximum weight, a lifespan of 5,000 flight hours, an interval of at least 50–60 hours between servicing, ample warning in advance of stalls (to be at least 15 km/h (9 mph) above the aircraft's stall speed), the ability to take-off at maximum weight in 800 m (2,625 ft) over a 15 m (50 ft) high obstacle (or 500 m (1,640 ft) when flown at a light weight), being able to land within 450 m (1,480 ft) at minimum weight, a minimum speed of 110/130 km/h and a maximum speed of 700 km/h, a rate of climb at least 15 m/s (2,950 ft/min), and an endurance time of at least three hours at 3,000 m (9,840 ft).


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Interest in the proposed MB-326 led to the awarding of the development contract for three prototypes. The programme was subject to significant refinement around this stage, leading to several modifications being made. Amongst these changes was the elimination of the negative dihedral angle previously present on the horizontal tail surfaces and the substitution of a pair of wing-based airbrakes into one located at a ventral position. During 1956, the AMI gave its official approval of the project and issued a request for the production of a pair of prototypes (later designated as "MM.571" and "MM.572") as well as a single airframe for static tests. These prototypes were not intended to include several features, such as the ability to equip and deploy armaments or refinements such as cabin pressurization, however, Bazzocchi chose to introduce them regardless.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: On 10 December 1957, the first prototype performed its maiden flight, flown by Macchi's chief test pilot Guido Carestiato. This prototype, designated as "I-MAKI," was first publicly demonstrated over France. During its flight test programme, the MB-326 prototypes demonstrated highly favourable flight characteristics of the design; however, several of the modifications made had negatively affected the overall weight of the aircraft; allegedly, at one stage, the excess weight was 400 kg (880 lb) greater than that given in the initial estimates. The original Viper 8 engine was capable of producing 7.8 kN (1,750 lbf) of thrust; to address the increased weight, the more powerful Viper 9 model was adopted instead, which was capable of generating 0.7 kN (147 lbf) more thrust.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: On 22 September 1958, the first prototype was joined by the similarly-configured second prototype. It did feature some differences from the earlier aircraft; chiefly, it was powered by a newer model of the Viper engine, the Viper 11, which had been rated to produce 11.1 kN thrust (1,134 kgf, 2,500 lbf). The Viper 11 would be the same standard of engine used on subsequent production standard aircraft. Direct competition to the MB-326 came in the form of the Fiat G.80; this aircraft was both more powerful and was the first real Italian jet, having flown five years earlier. However, the G.80 had several disadvantages, including being heavier, considerably larger and more expensive than its rival; as such, it ultimately lost the trainer contest and remained without a market.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: On 15 December 1958, having been suitably impressed, the Italian government placed an order for a batch of 15 pre-series examples on behalf of the AMI. A production line was established at Macchi's facility in Masnago, Varese, Northern Italy. Shortly thereafter, the AMI issued its first order for the MB-326 for an initial group of 50 production standard aircraft. During 1960, a larger follow-on order for 100 aircraft was received by Macchi; this sizable commitment was viewed as being a major step towards establishing the company's supremacy in jet trainer market.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The Aermacchi MB-326 was a low-wing monoplane with an all-metal structure composed of light alloys. It was one of the first jet trainers to be developed with the aim of catering to both for ab initio and advanced instruction. As originally developed, the MB-326 functioned as a refined but simple aircraft capable of covering the considerably wide range of performance characteristics required to cover both ab initio training and advanced instruction alike; other major characteristics of the type included the capacity to deliver a high rate of utilization in conjunction with minimised servicing and maintenance requirements. According to Flight International, the type was suitable for the teaching of the majority of advanced flying techniques. In addition to being relatively easy to fly, a high degree of safety was also intentionally built into it, including adoption of new Martin-Baker-built ejection seats.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The MB-326 was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Viper non-afterburning turbojet engine, initial production aircraft were powered by the Viper 11 model, capable of generating up to 2,500 lb of thrust. The engine possessed multiple favourable attributes, including its general simplicity and robustness, relatively low revolutions per minute (RPM) and turbine entry temperature (TET), rapid acceleration, ease of installation, and its somewhat forgiving nature to mishandling in the air by students. Air was provided to the engine via a pair of low-profile intakes set into the wing roots. The Viper was produced under licence by Italian aviation company Piaggio following an agreement established with its original manufacturer, the British engine firm Bristol Siddeley, during 1959.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: In a structural perspective, the MB-326 was relatively straightforward. Both the fuselage and the wing were constructed in three sections; of these, the centre section of the wing was integral to the fuselage. The fuselage was divided into a forward, central, and rear section; the forward section contained the nose wheel and radio systems; the centre part, accommodated the cockpit, fuel tanks and the engine; and the rear section which comprised both the tail unit and jet pipe. The fuel system had one large tank in the middle-fuselage and two in the wingtips; a single-point pressure-fuelling system is located on the starboard side of the aircraft to provide a total refuelling time of around five minutes. The rear of each wing had flaps, and ailerons with a trim surface; each wing had 22 ribs and two spars. Wing fences were added mid-wing to increase the lift characteristics. Accordingly, the MB-326 was readily capable of performing relatively slow speed take-off and landing while retaining an excellent rate of climb.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The MB-326 was outfitted with a tandem cockpit configuration, this arrangement had been chosen to result in a slimmer and more aerodynamically efficient fuselage in comparison to the more usual side-by-side arrangement. It was covered by a bubble canopy for excellent external visibility; it featured a windscreen anti-icing system powered by the engine compressor using bleed air. The cockpit was also pressurised, enabling the MB-326 to conduct high altitude flight. The ability to fly at higher altitudes was favourable for multiple purposes, including during the execution of aerobatic and navigational training, as well as improving fuel efficiency for long distance flights. The onboard systems were typically pre-manufactured units which were easy both to access and to remove; several elements were also intentionally interchangeable. The exterior of the aircraft was covered by a total of 80 inspection panels and doors; in-situ engine inspection could be performed via a pair of large access panels set above and below the engine bay while another pair of doors allow access to the intake duct's interior for the inspection of the first-stage compressor rotor blades.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The MB-326 was one of the last Italian aircraft to hold the distinction of breaking multiple world records. Perhaps the most notable of these occurred during August 1961, when pilot Guido Carestiano set the C1D group 1 category altitude record of 15,489 meters. The record-breaking flights also provided publicity for the MB-326. In particular, one pilot, Massimo Ralli, was responsible for the establishment of several different records while flying the type:


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: These high-profile successes functioned as objective statements of the capable performance of the MB-326 and established the type as being one of the best aircraft amongst its contemporaries in its category. Another pilot Riccardo Peracchi, who was employed by for AMI, frequently demonstrated the manoeuvrability and controllability of the aircraft at airshows for a number of years. While Peracchi displayed the MB-326's agility, Ralli concentrated on exploring its cutting-edge performance; meanwhile, early customers of the aircraft were typically reporting their satisfaction with the type to Macchi.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The first production MB-326s, following a relatively protracted development cycle, were first delivered to the Lecce-Galatina school of the AMI's 214° Group, these were temporarily fielded at Brindisi, Apulia. On 22 March 1962, the MB-326 formally entered squadron service with 43° Flyer course. The type was soon used to replace the aging North American T-6 Texan; typically, within the space of 130 hours, pilots would be as prepared to graduate as they would have been after receiving 210 hours training in the older T-6.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: As a training solution, the MB-326 was considerably costlier but was met with enthusiasm amongst students; additionally, when used in combination with the Fiat G.91T advanced trainer, it enabled the enactment of an "entirely-jet" training course for AMI pilots, and moreover these were domestically designed and produced aircraft. According to aerospace publication Flight International, during the early 1960s, the AMI's flight training programme was heavily influenced by the impending entry into service of the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: As well as being amongst the first customers to procure the aircraft, the AMI would be amongst the final customers of the later-built models of the MB-326 as well. The service ordered a batch of 12 MB-326E, comprising six MB-326 updated to MB-326G, and six newly produced (MM.54384/389). They had provisions for armament, but the engine was the Viper 11 Mk 200 and not the Viper 20 Mk 540. In Italian service, the MB-326 was replaced by the MB-339 between 1981 and 1984, acting after that as fast linkage aircraft, replacing the old T-33s that were slightly faster. Unusually, the MB-326 did not see service with the Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team, who kept their faster G.91PANs (they were later replaced by MB-339s).


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: In addition to its AMI service, the MB-326 was also employed in a civilian capacity within Italy. National flag carrier Alitalia placed an order for four trainer-configured aircraft, designated as the "D" version; these were expressly demilitarized and equipped with specialised instrumentation in order to train the airliner's pilots in preparation for the arrival of the new generation of jetliners that were being procured by the airliner.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Neither the "A" and "C" models of the MB-326 would ever be realized. The "A" variant had been intended to be operated as a light attack aircraft, armed with a pair of 7.62 mm machine guns which were to be installed upon the aircraft's nose. While none were originally built, a number of MB-326s were later referred to by the "A" designation, however, this was meant to indicate that these had been provisioned with a Marconi-built AD-370 automatic direction finder (ADF). The "C" version was envisioned as being provisioned with a nose-mounted North American Search And Ranging Radar (NASARR) unit and other electronic equipment in order to be used for the training of AMI F-104 pilots, however, this variant only appeared as a mock-up.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) used the MB-326H as a jet trainer. A total of 97 were ordered: 12 were delivered by Macchi, 18 assembled from kits in Australia, and another 67 were built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation and Hawker Aircraft with the designation CA-30. They were essentially similar to the MB-326G but with improved avionics. The RAAF's aerobatic team, The Roulettes, flew the MB-326H from December 1970 until 1989. RAAF pilot training until 1975 consisted of 60 hours pre-selection on CAC Winjeels (from 1975 onwards the PAC CT/4 Airtrainer, aka Plastic Parrot), 150 hours medium and another 75 hours advanced training on MB-326H, before finally progressing to the Mirage IIIOD.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Although widely liked for its excellent handling and well-suited to its task, the service career of the MB-326 was cut short because of structural fatigue problems. The Australian fleet, for example, had a life of type extension program in the 1980s and were then re-winged in the early 1990s after a fatigue-related crash. Even so, the MB-326 was supplemented by new Pilatus PC-9 trainers to reduce flying hours, and the last examples had been withdrawn by 2001 when they were replaced by the Hawk 127.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Brazil was the main customer for the MB-326, in 1970 ordering two prototypes and 166 MB-326GCs, called the AT-26 "Xavante". It was produced under license by Embraer with a further six for Togo and 10 for Paraguay.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The aircraft was important also for two developments: from the MB.326K the MB.326L was produced, this was the direct ancestor of the Aermacchi MB.339. With license-building in Brazil, the MB.326 opened the field to further collaborations, leading to the AMX. Neither the MB.339 nor the AMX were as successful as the MB.326, but this machine was capable of further steps in technology and commerce.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: South Africa obtained a license to produce the MB-326M (similar to the 'G' model), as the "Impala" Mk I in 1964 with production starting in 1966. It received 40 Italian-built aircraft followed by about 125 built locally by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation, using them both as trainers and in an armed configuration. Seven examples of the MB-326K were also bought as light attack aircraft, with a further 15 assembled from kits, while around 78 were license-produced and known as the "Impala" Mk II. Licence production of the single seat version began in 1974. The Impala Mk II, locally manufactured and equipped with French armament, was also advanced with a South African ECM suite.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The South African Defence Force employed Impalas during campaigns against the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and Cuban expeditionary troops in Angola between 1975 and 1989. Impala pilots typically flew at 550–650 km/h at a height of 15 m to avoid Angolan air defences. Over the course of the South African Border War, one was downed by an SA-7; another returned with an unexploded missile in its exhaust.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The aircraft had many advantages over expensive supersonic jets. Although slower, it could operate from relatively primitive airfields and strike swiftly. The South African Air Force (SAAF) used up to 6 x 120 kg or 4 x 250 kg bombs. The main armament consisted of 68 mm SNEB rocket-launchers (four x 6 or two x 18), and two 30 mm autocannon (with 300 rounds). These cannons were the real bonus for the Impala Mk II, helping to give a superior performance compared to earlier two-seat versions. The latter could also carry a pair of 30 mm DEFA guns in under-wing pods. However, dual capability as trainer-attackers was better appreciated, as was the availability of six hard points and so dual-seat versions were far more common. Six squadrons were equipped with the Impala Mk II in the SAAF during the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to Operation Moduler, most Impalas were withdrawn from their operating bases in South-West Africa, leaving the work to Mirage IIIs and Blackburn Buccaneers.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Impala Mk IIs were also opportunistically used as interceptors. In several encounters in 1985 with Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters, they shot down a total of six. This happened during a crucial phase of the ground war, when Angolan and Cuban troops were checked in an offensive against UNITA bases. This ended in disaster for the Angolan/Cuban alliance when their supplies were cut off by UNITA and the SAAF and front line troops ran out of ammunition. Helicopters were being used to supply the besieged troops and the SAAF cut off this link. Two Mi-24s were shot down in the first encounter while escorting Mi-17s. The MiG-21s that escorted them flew too high to react in time. Two days later the Impala Mk IIs struck again, downing two Mi-24s and two Mi-17s. Attacks on unsuspecting helicopters were carried out with only two guns per aircraft. The single seat Impala Mk IIs were also sometimes armed with Matra R550 Magic air-to-air missiles for self-defence. The Impala Mk II operated at extreme ranges and had to fly very low, climbing only when helicopters were seen at medium altitude. After each attack they returned to low level to avoid interception by enemy MiGs.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The flying school for Impalas was Flying Training School at Langebaanweg while operational squadrons were 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Squadrons, with 85 Combat Flying School also having a small number of Impalas to supplement their Mirage trainers.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: A number of MB-326 aircraft, together with the more modern MB-339, formed the equipment of the Argentine Navy's "1 Escuadrilla de Ataque" in 1982, when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. A number of MB-326s were deployed to bases along the Argentine coast immediately following the Argentine invasion, but soon returned to the squadron's base at Punta Indio. While several MB-339s were deployed to the Falklands, the MB-326s remained on the mainland. After the end of the war, 11 EMB-326GBs were received from Brazil to replace losses and restore "1 Escuadrilla de Ataque"s strength.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: In stark contrast to the competing Fiat G.91, which was often considered to be not very convincing as a light fighter, the MB-326 was quick to achieve several export successes in this capacity. The type had ultimately failed to impress other NATO nations, who only sparsely adopted it into their air forces. However, the MB-326 did achieve a visible measure of success amongst many Third World countries, leading to the MB-326 seeing considerable use as a front-line combat aircraft in a number of regional conflicts.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Eight MB-326Bs were ordered by Tunisia in 1965. These were developed from basic MB-326s with a weapons capability, with the 37th series AMI aircraft being converted (it had civilian markings "I-MAKC"). The main innovation was its ground attack capability, with six underwing pylons, holding a maximum of 907 kg of stores. In the same year, Ghana ordered nine similar MB-326Fs.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Other MB-326Gs used the Viper Mk 20 engine which provided 1,524 kg of thrust, and were consequently faster and had an increased payload of 1,814 kg max. Argentina ordered eight, initially as the MB-326K, later called the MB-326GB.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Another 17 MB-326GCs were built in Italy for Zaire (Force Arienne Zairoise) and 23 for the Zambian Air Force.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The MB-326K (originally known as the MB-336) was the last generation model, fitted with the Viper Mk 600 engine, capable of 1,814 kg thrust to give an even better performance. The first flight took place on 22 August 1970. The two prototypes were "I-AMKK" and "I-KMAK", the MB-326G was converted to this new model.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: Dubai bought three in 1974, and a further three in 1978 (MB-326KD), Tunisia eight (MB-326KT), Ghana nine (MB-326KB) and Zaire eight (MB-326KB).


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The MB-326L was essentially the MB-326K with two seats. Two MB-326LD were supplied to Dubai and four MB-326LD to Tunisia.


title: Aermacchi MB-326

text: The measures to save costs led the MB-326 to be frequently substituted for by propeller-driven models, however, the Macchi was often flexible enough to act as a medium trainer and light attack aircraft.


title: Color TV-Game

text: The is the first video game system ever made by Nintendo. The system was released as a series of five dedicated home video game consoles between 1977 and 1980 in Japan only. Nintendo sold three million units of the first four models: one million units of each of the first two models, Color TV-Game 6 and 15; and half a million units of each of the next two models, "Block Breaker" and "Racing 112". The Color TV-Game series has the highest sales figures of all the first generation of video game consoles.


title: Color TV-Game

text: By the late 1970s, Nintendo began moving away from toys and playing cards and into the rapidly-growing video game market. This decision was based on the smash success of the arcade video game "Space Invaders" (1978) by Taito and the 1973 oil crisis making toys expensive to produce. Nintendo's first foray into video gaming was the arcade game "Computer Othello" in 1978. This was followed by games such as "Sheriff", "Space Fever", and . Most of these were unsuccessful but made Nintendo view video games as its next major market. The home console market also rose in popularity, particularly in North America with the release of Atari's "Pong" system in 1975. The market was flooded with similar video tennis games as companies scrambled to cash in on its success. Nintendo made its own dedicated "Pong" system to import this popularity to Japan.


title: Color TV-Game

text: The Color TV-Game consoles were produced jointly by Nintendo Research & Development 2 (R&D2) and Mitsubishi Electronics. Nintendo had no prior experience in manufacturing electronics, and had previously contracted Mitsubishi for production of "EVR Race", so this continued. For the first two consoles, Color TV-Game 6 and Color TV-Game 15, Nintendo acquired a license from Magnavox production of its own "Pong" clone game consoles. Magnavox created the original concept for "Pong" for its Magnavox Odyssey console, which inspired Atari to create a similar game for arcades. For this, Magnavox sued Atari and other "Pong" console manufacturers for copyright infringement. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi specified that the consoles be produced quickly and with cheaper parts to reduce production costs. He wanted a competitive edge by making the systems cheap for the consumer to purchase. The TV-Game 6 and 15 required little production time due to their simplicity. Mitsubishi made minor changes and corrections to the systems before they were released.


title: Color TV-Game

text: The Color TV-Game 6 was launched on June 1, 1977. It retailed at a price of , significantly lower than competing systems. Nintendo used this as a marketing tool. It contains six variations of "Pong", such as adding additional paddles, decreasing the size of the paddles, and adding deflective shields in the center of the screen. It can be powered by batteries or by a power adapter sold separately. Shortly after its release, Nintendo released an improved version of the TV-Game 6, featuring a cream-white outer casing and removing the power adapter. A second variation was produced as part of a promotion with food company House Foods to promote its House Shanmen instant noodles. It is identical to the original TV-Game 6 but has the House Shanmen logo on the casing. This version was produced in very limited quantities, making it extremely rare. Sharp Electronics produced dark orange-colored versions of the TV-Game 6 to bundle with its television sets.


title: Color TV-Game

text: One week later on June 8, Nintendo released the Color TV-Game 15. It retailed for , roughly 50% more than the TV-Game 6. In a sense, the TV-Game 15 is a re-release of the TV Game 6; the latter has fifteen games, but only six are playable out of the box. The TV-Game 15 has detachable controllers which are stored in a small compartment on the system. Nintendo produced a second model of the TV-Game 15 with a reddish-orange casing, which had a longer production run and are more common. Sharp made a white-colored version that was renamed Color TV-Game XG-115.


title: Color TV-Game

text: The third unit, the Color TV Game Racing 112, was published on June 8, 1978. It is significantly larger than the previous two units, with a larger shipping box to accompany it. Racing 112 was set to be released at , but was lowered to to ensure competitiveness. It was later reduced to . To prevent the machine from requiring a larger box, the wheel is detachable from the console. The built-in game is a top-down racer similar to "Speed Race", an arcade game released by Taito in 1974. Variations include a smaller screen width and opponents that move faster, with all possible game combinations totaling to 112. The console also comes with two paddle controllers for multiplayer support.


title: Color TV-Game

text: Color TV Game Block Kuzushi was released on April 23, 1979, at ¥13,500. The system was produced by Nintendo, allowing its name to be prominently displayed. Block Kuzushi includes six variations of "Breakout", an arcade game released in America by Atari. Nintendo released a clone of "Breakout" titled "Block Fever" for Japanese arcades in 1978. Rival company Epoch released the TV Block console in Japan, which was successful and gave way to steady competition by other companies, including Nintendo. The system's casing was designed by "Mario" creator Shigeru Miyamoto. It is one of his first video game projects after joining Nintendo in 1977. The built-in games for Racing 112 and Block Kuzushi were designed by Takehiro Izushi. Nintendo held competitions in department stores to promote the Block Kuzushi, where winners received a congratulatory note and a medal.


title: Color TV-Game

text: The final console, the Computer TV Game, was released in 1980. Because dedicated consoles were decreasing in popularity, the Computer TV Game was only produced in limited quantities, making it extremely rare. Miyamoto again designed the system's white-colored casing and the packaging. It was produced internally. Computer TV-Game contains a version of "Computer Othello", and is built around an original "Computer Othello" arcade system board. This makes it an arcade-perfect rendition, an uncommon sight during the early 1980s. The entire Color TV-Game series was discontinued in favor of the Family Computer in 1983, a cartridge-based system with a library of hundreds of games. Nintendo sold millions of the Famicom, and its international counterpart, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and solidified the company's presence in the video game hardware market.


title: Color TV-Game

text: The Color TV-Game series was very successful for Nintendo, and was a commercial hit. Nintendo sold one million units each of Color TV-Game 6 and Color TV-Game 15. One half million units each of Racing 112 and Block Kuzushi were sold. Their success prompted Nintendo to continue pursuing the video game console market, leading to the creation of the Family Computer and the Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: Color TV-Game

text: Erik Voskuil, writing for his blog "Before Mario", believes that part of the reason for the success of the Color TV-Game series was its low price point, far below the competition. He wrote: "Almost thirty-five years and multiple generations of ever improving, multi-million selling Nintendo video game consoles on, we can reflect on this moment as the beginning of something very, very big." In his 2004 book "Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life", Chris Kohler claims that the colorful casing played a part in the systems performing well, saying they resembled toys more than video game consoles. Luke Plunkett of "Kotaku" acknowledged the consoles for their importance as Nintendo's first foray into the market, and for it being influential for its next system. Plunkett also said the series was successful for their low price, as it established Nintendo's "consoles must be sold at a profit" attitude that continued onward. "PC Magazine"s Benj Edwards noted that the Color TV-Game 6 and Color TV-Game 15 units in particular gave Nintendo faith in the market due to their commercial success. He noted that the Block Kuzushi marked the debut of Shigeru Miyamoto, an important figure within the company.


title: Color TV-Game

text: Nintendo has referenced the Color TV-Game systems and their built-in games in other franchises. "Alleyway", a launch game for the Game Boy, is believed to be based on the Color TV-Game Block Kuzushi. Jeremy Parish said that "Alleyway" is a throwback to Block Kuzushi, due to it having been cemented in Nintendo's corporate roots. "" includes a minigame based on "Racing 112", where the player has five seconds to dodge the moving cars. It is part of 9-Volt's stage, which comprises minigames featuring older Nintendo video games. A Color TV-Game 6 minigame appears in 9-Volt and 18-Volt's stage in "". An assist trophy based on the TV-Game 15 appears in "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS" and "Wii U" and its follow-up "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". When summoned, it spawns a pair of paddles that launch a ball across the stage, which will inflict damage on fighters that touch it. In late 2020, a Nintendo 3DS game developed by Butterfly called "The Queen TV-Game 2" was influenced by the console series name along with gameplay broadly based on Color TV-Game 6.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: Annapurna Devi, born Roshanara Khan, on 15 April 1927 [confirmed by Lajo ji] at Maihar, a small princely state of British India (now a part of Madhya Pradesh, India). Her father Alauddin Khan was a royal court musician at the court of Maharaja Brijnath Singh (Maihar State), who named the newborn girl 'Annapurna'.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: Her father and guru Alauddin Khan, founder of the "Senia Maihar gharana" or "Senia Maihar School" of Hindustani classical music, was a noted musician and guru of Indian classical music. Her uncles, Fakir Aftabuddin Khan and Ayet Ali Khan, were noted musicians at their native place Shibpur, in the present-day Bangladesh. Her brother Ali Akbar Khan was a legendary Sarod maestro and was considered a "national living treasure" in India and the USA. Annapurna was initially instructed by her father in the sitar and vocals. She then switched to the surbahar which she played in the traditional style of a rudra veena. One of her earliest concerts of note was with the surbahar when she played in honour of the Raja of Maihar. She was rewarded with a large tract of land for her performance.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: On 15 May 1941, Annapurna Devi converted to Hinduism and married renowned sitarist, Ravi Shankar, in Almora. Between 1946 and 1955, Annapurna appeared on stage with Shankar in a handful of sitar-surbahar duets in Delhi and Bombay (now Mumbai). They had a son, Shubhendra Shankar (1942–1992), who was also a musician. The couple got divorced in 1982.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: Annapurna married Rooshikumar Pandya in Bombay on 9 December 1982. Rooshikumar Pandya, who was 42 years old at the time of their marriage, was a well known communication expert and a successful sitarist in the United States. Rooshikumar had been learning sitar from her since 1973 at the recommendation of her brother, Ali Akbar Khan, who was also his guru (as was Ravi Shankar). He died in 2013 suddenly of a cardiac arrest at the age of 73. Annapurna Devi died of age related issues on 13 October 2018 in Mumbai.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: Annapurna Devi became a very accomplished surbahar (bass sitar) player of the Maihar gharana (school) within a few years of starting to take music lessons from her father Alauddin Khan. She started guiding many of her father's disciples, including Nikhil Banerjee and Bahadur Khan, in classical music as well as in the techniques and intricacies of instrumental performances. In 1941, age 14, she married one of her father's talented students, Ravi Shankar. She converted to Hinduism upon marriage.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: In the 1950s, Ravi Shankar and Annapurna Devi performed duets in Delhi and Calcutta, principally at the college of her brother, Ali Akbar Khan. But later, Shankar she decided not to reduce and finally stop performing in public. Her student Vinay Ram says that she was uncomfortable accepting payment for concerts, as it was her belief that it was akin to selling Saraswati (the Goddess of learning).


title: Annapurna Devi

text: Devi and Shankar's son, Shubhendra Shankar, (or "Subho", as he was popularly known) received rigorous training in sitar under her tutelage, until his father chose to interrupt his musical talim or training and took him to the United States. Shubhendra died at an early age, after a marriage and the birth of three children. Shubhendra did not have a solo career in classical music, but did for a period accompany his illustrious father Ravi Shankar in concerts in the USA and abroad. As per one of her students Vinay Ram, a conflict regarding the upbringing and musical teaching of Subho was the main reason for Devi and Shankar's separation, though they continued to remain in touch on amicable terms till the end.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: Annapurna Devi was an acclaimed instructor and one of the first women gurus of note in modern times. Her pupils were not restricted solely to sitar or surbahar players and encompassed various fields in Hindustani classical music. They included the sitarists Debi Prasad Chatterji, Bahadur Khan (a cousin), Hiren Roy, Indranil Bhattacharya, Kartik Kumar, and Nikhil Banerji, the sarodists, Dhyanesh Khan and Ashis Khan (sons of Ali Akbar), Basant Kabra, Pradeep Barot and Suresh Vyas, the bansuri players, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Nityanand Haldipur, the dilruba artist Dakshina Mohan Tagore, and the violinist Satyadev Pawar.


title: Annapurna Devi

text: She was also the key figure of Acharya Alauddin Music Circle (an association in the memory of the late Alauddin Khan for promoting Indian classical music), in Mumbai.


title: Sterno

text: Sterno is a brand of jellied, denatured alcohol sold in a can and meant to be burned directly in its can. Its primary uses are in food service for buffet heating, in the home for fondue, and as a chafing fuel for heating chafing dishes. Other uses are for portable stoves and as an emergency heat source. It is also a popular fuel for use with toy and model steam and other external combustion engines.


title: Sterno

text: The Sterno brand and trademark is owned by Sterno Products, a portfolio company of Westar Capital LLC, based in Corona, California. The brand was purchased from Blyth, Inc. in late 2012. Blyth had acquired the business from Colgate-Palmolive in 1997.


title: Sterno

text: The name comes from that of the original manufacturer, S. Sternau & Co. of Brooklyn, New York, a maker of chafing dishes, coffee percolators and other similar appliances since 1893. It had previously applied the name to its "Sterno-Inferno" alcohol burner. In 1918, it promoted its Sterno Stove as being a perfect gift for a soldier going overseas. In his book "With the Old Breed", E. B. Sledge describes its use on the battlefields of the Pacific Theatre in 1944 and 1945.


title: Sterno

text: Invented around 1900, Sterno is made from ethanol denatured by adding methanol, water, and an amphoteric oxide gelling agent, plus a dye that gives it a characteristic pink color. The methanol is added to denature the product, which is intended to make it too toxic for consumption. Designed to be odorless, a can will burn for up to two hours. It was discovered as a byproduct of the nitrocellulose manufacturing process.


title: Sterno

text: There are many instances of people drinking Sterno to become intoxicated as a form of surrogate alcohol. Since the alcohol it contains is denatured, Sterno is poisonous. Moreover, the methanol it contains can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerves. Bluesman Tommy Johnson alludes to the practice in his song "Canned Heat Blues" recorded in 1928. The blues band Canned Heat derived their name from the song.


title: Sterno

text: The practice is said to have become popular during Prohibition and during the Great Depression in hobo camps, or "jungles", when the Sterno would be squeezed through cheesecloth or a sock and the resulting liquid mixed with fruit juice to make "jungle juice", "sock wine", or "squeeze".


title: Sterno

text: The 1956 American documentary "On the Bowery" includes footage of three homeless men straining Sterno cooking fuel to make "squeeze" and then drinking the alcohol.


title: Sterno

text: In an article for the "Journal of the American Medical Association" in 1961, Capt. James H. Shinaberger, MC, writes about a study of three people who had suffered methanol poisoning as a result of drinking Sterno. One of the patients "had been drinking Sterno for about a week and had been in the city prison for 48 hours when severe abdominal pain and vomiting occurred".


title: Sterno

text: In December 1963, a rash of 31 deaths in Philadelphia's homeless population was traced to a local store that knowingly sold Sterno to people for them to consume and get drunk.


title: You're the Inspiration

text: "You're the Inspiration" is a song written by Peter Cetera and David Foster for the group Chicago and recorded for their fourteenth studio album "Chicago 17" (1984), with Cetera singing lead vocals. The third single released from that album, it reached on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in January 1985 and also climbed to the top position on the Adult Contemporary chart at the same time. The song won honors for Cetera from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), in 1986 in the most-performed songs category.


title: You're the Inspiration

text: Peter Cetera re-recorded the song for his 1997 solo album "". That same year he also recorded a single version with the vocal R&B group Az Yet.


title: You're the Inspiration

text: Peter Cetera stated in a 2004 interview that "You're the Inspiration" started out as a song for Kenny Rogers:


title: You're the Inspiration

text: The video depicted the band performing intercut with scenes of embracing couples of varying ages ranging from young kids to a couple resembling Billy Idol and Madonna at the time. Lead singer Peter Cetera is seen wearing a T-shirt from the British goth band Bauhaus. During his performance, Cetera is sitting the whole time. It also uses an alternate version of the song without the guitar sting between the second and third choruses.


title: You're the Inspiration

text: In 1997, Peter Cetera re-recorded "You're the Inspiration" for his 1997 solo album "". Due to Cetera featuring on R&B vocal group Az Yet's cover of "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" earlier in the year, they collaborated on a remix of Cetera's solo recording of "You're the Inspiration", which was released as a single. This version reached No. 77 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and No. 29 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Like Az Yet's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry", Cetera and Az Yet's version of "You're the Inspiration" was also produced by Babyface.


title: You're the Inspiration

text: The music video for Peter Cetera and Az Yet's "You're the Inspiration" was directed by Steven R. Monroe and was filmed at Westward Beach (Malibu, California).


title: Song Hye-rim

text: Song Hye-rim (; 24 January 1937 18 May 2002) was a North Korean actress, best known for being the one-time favored mistress of Kim Jong-il.


title: Song Hye-rim

text: Song was born in Changnyeong when Korea was under Imperial Japanese rule. She entered Pyongyang Movie College in 1955, but left the following year to give birth to a daughter. She later re-enrolled and graduated, having her film debut in 1960. She became a popular actress in the 1960s, appearing in movies including "Onjŏngryŏng" () and "Baek Il-hong" ().


title: Song Hye-rim

text: Most accounts of Song are drawn from the memoirs of her sister, Song Hye-rang. Her former friend Kim Young-soon published her memoir "I was Song Hye-rim's Friend", and revealed that she and her family were sent to a concentration camp for ten years after she found out Hye-rim's secret, namely, that she was Kim Jong-il's mistress, a fact that was hidden at the time even from Kim Il-sung. This resulted in death of her parents and children, and her husband was taken away to never be seen again. She managed to defect to South Korea in 2003.


title: Song Hye-rim

text: Song began dating Kim Jong-il in 1968, after divorcing her first husband; she is believed to have been his first mistress.The birth of her son is said to have been kept secret from Kim Il-sung until 1975.


title: Song Hye-rim

text: Starting in the early 1980s, Song travelled to Moscow frequently for medical care. In 1996, Song was reported to have defected to the West, but intelligence officials in South Korea denied the story. She is reported to have died on 18 May 2002. Some reports say she died in Moscow.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: "Broken Wings" is a 1985 song recorded by American pop rock band Mr. Mister. It was released in June 1985 as the lead single from their second album "Welcome to the Real World". The song peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in December 1985, where it remained for two weeks. It was released as the band was just about to embark on a US tour opening for Tina Turner. "Broken Wings" became the first of two consecutive number ones of the band on the American charts, the other chart-topper being "Kyrie". Outside of the United States, "Broken Wings" topped the charts in Canada, peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and West Germany, and the top twenty of the charts in Austria, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: The ballad was co-written with lyricist John Lang, who was inspired by Kahlil Gibran's novel "Broken Wings." The song is a mix of synth, digitally delayed guitar, bass and drums. The song's hissing intro was an effect created by the sound of a crash cymbal played in reverse.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: Although the 1968 Beatles song, "Blackbird" contains an identical lyric, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly", Richard Page has described this as "a mindless unintentional reference" attributable to both compositions being influenced by the Gibran novel.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: The music video for "Broken Wings" was directed by Oley Sassone and filmed in black and white. It features lead vocalist/bassist Richard Page driving through the desert in a classic Ford Thunderbird, the first allusion to birds. There is a scene where Page is sitting in a church when a Harris's Hawk flies in through the window and lands next to him on the pew and they exchange a gaze. The full band is also featured in performance scenes. Also appearing in the video are an unknown man and woman dancing tango. They are only shown from the waist down. At the end of the video Page is seen next to the Thunderbird with the vehicle's hood open.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: In 1998, C-Block covered the song and released it on the album "Keepin' It Real". Large parts of the original were retained but supplemented by rap passages. The success was modest in German-speaking countries.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: The music video is split into two acts: Mr. P sings his part on a platform in the sea, while Goldie "Gold" Holloway does his part in a demonstration. Also, Theresa "Misty" Baltimore sings her part. The plot is also accompanied by landscape and sky photographs. In the end, all three band members are united.


title: Broken Wings (Mr. Mister song)

text: "Broken Wings" was sampled in the posthumous Tupac Shakur's single "Until the End of Time". The song also features Richard Page, lead singer of Mr. Mister, on vocals, and reached No. 4 in the UK.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In an interview for Jethro Tull's video "20 Years of Jethro Tull", released in 1988, Wright states ""Chrysalis Records" might have come into being anyway, you never know what might have happened, but "Chrysalis Records" really came into being because Jethro Tull couldn't get a record deal and MGM couldn't even get their name right on the record". This was after the single "Sunshine Day/Aeroplane" was incorrectly credited to 'Jethro Toe'.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: Chrysalis entered into a licensing deal with Chris Blackwell's Island Records for distribution, based on the success of bands like Jethro Tull, Ten Years After and Procol Harum, which were promoted by the label. Jethro Tull signed with Reprise Records in the United States, which led Chrysalis to an American distribution deal with Reprise's parent company, Warner Bros. Records. This lasted from 1972 until U.S. Chrysalis switched to independent distribution in 1976. PolyGram handled international distribution and Festival Records covered Australia and New Zealand. In 1973, it signed British rock band UFO. Towards the end of the 1970s, the label began to extend its range of music, incorporating acts from the punk rock scene such as Generation X. The Chrysalis offshoot 2 Tone Records brought in bands such as The Specials and The Selecter.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In 1979, Chrysalis bought and distributed U.S. folk label Takoma Records, naming manager/producer Denny Bruce as president, who signed The Fabulous Thunderbirds and T-Bone Burnett. Jon Monday who was Vice President of Takoma Records prior to the acquisition continued as General Manager, later becoming Director of Marketing of Chrysalis Records.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: Chrysalis made history in 1979 by creating the first "music video album", a videocassette featuring a corresponding music video for each song on Blondie's "Eat to the Beat" album (released at the same time as the LP).


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In the 1980s, Chrysalis was at the forefront of the British new romantic movement with bands such as Gen X, Ultravox, and Spandau Ballet. The 1980s proved to be the most successful time for the label, whose roster then included Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, Blondie and Huey Lewis and the News. Chrysalis also distributed Animal Records, the short-lived label founded by Blondie guitarist, Chris Stein. In 1983, after the label re-established itself in New York, Eric Heckman, formally of Atlantic and Epic Records promotion took over as Senior Director of Promotion and Marketing. Also in 1983, Daniel Glass moved to Chrysalis as Director of New Music Marketing, advancing later to Senior Vice President. During the next two years Chrysalis broke Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Idol and Spandau Ballet in the United States, whilst Pat Benatar continued to find success on both the traditional and dance music charts.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In 1984, Chrysalis bought Ensign Records, a record label Nigel Grainge started in 1976 (with the label's name coming from the idea that 'N. signs' as in 'Nigel Signs') which would go on to have The Waterboys, World Party and Sinéad O'Connor on its roster in the late 1980s. Ensign joined TV marketing/compilations company Dover Records and dance label Cooltempo as part of the Chrysalis family, with Grainge staying on to run the label that he founded.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: 50% of the Chrysalis Records label was sold in 1989, then the remaining half in 1991 to Thorn EMI, with the Chrysalis Group (primarily a music publisher with other interests in radio and television production) setting up new indie labels such as Echo and Papillon in the mid 1990s. Chrysalis Records was folded into EMI subsidiary and flagship label EMI Records in 2005, with catalogue and artists such as Starsailor being shifted to EMI's main imprints. In 2010, BMG Rights Management bought Chrysalis Music's assets (the publishing division and The Echo Label), whilst the British Chrysalis Records catalogue (minus Robbie Williams, whose catalogue stayed behind with Universal's Island Records) was put up for sale by Universal Music Group in 2012 after its acquisition of EMI.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In July 2013, Warner Music Group completed acquisition of Parlophone Label Group, which includes the British Chrysalis catalogue, for £487 million. When Universal Music Group purchased EMI ownership of Chrysalis passed to UMG, and Warner Music Group acquired a part of EMI from UMG, including the original Chrysalis Records Ltd with its catalogue of 130 artists.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: The American and Canadian Chrysalis catalogue, including artists such as Blondie, Huey Lewis and The News, and Pat Benatar, was acquired by CEMA, later EMI-Capitol Special Markets, which was folded into EMI Records Group (ERG) North America, and was then merged into Capitol Music Group, parent of former sister label Capitol Records, and is currently distributed by that label. Debbie Harry's only Chrysalis album released in the US, "KooKoo", was later divested by Capitol after the merger. The Ramones' North American distribution catalogue was later acquired by another sister label of Capitol's, Geffen Records, distributed by Universal Music Enterprises, but the British distribution of Ramones' Chrysalis catalogue remained with Parlophone.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: Chrysalis Records was bought in May 2016 from WMG in a deal led by Blue Raincoat Music's Jeremy Lascelles and Sade's "Diamond Life" producer Robin Millar. The agreement saw the co-founder and original owner of Chrysalis, Chris Wright, reunited with the label as non-executive chairman, 27 years after selling the company to EMI. Former Virgin Media boss Robert Devereux was also part of the original consortium.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: Chrysalis Records has represented over 20,000 recordings comprising many British and other, chiefly American, rock and pop tracks from the 1960s to 1990s. Artists on the roster include The Specials, Sinead O'Connor, The Waterboys, Ten Years After, Debbie Harry, Fun Boy Three, Ultravox, Lucinda Williams, Dario G, Generation X, the Two Tone label, Grant Lee Buffalo, Everything but the Girl, Athlete, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Suzi Quatro, Steve Harley, Naked Eyes and many more.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: After the 2016 purchase, the pre-2013 Chrysalis catalogues of namely Spandau Ballet, The Proclaimers, Jethro Tull and Ramones (only in the UK) stayed behind with WMG. The non-Ramones British reissues from Parlophone are distributed outside Europe by Rhino Entertainment, while the North American rights to Naked Eyes' albums, originally released by EMI America, stayed with Capitol Records, and the non-American rights to Belinda Carlisle's only Chrysalis album, "A Woman & a Man", were ceded to her former label, Virgin Records.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In 2018, the Cooltempo label was relaunched by Blue Raincoat Music with the release of the "Eye Ring EP" by Francesca Lombardo and Infinity Ink's debut album "House of Infinity". In August 2019, music rights company, Reservoir, partnered with Blue Raincoat, to make the Chrysalis record label part of Reservoir's extended global infrastructure and network.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: Chrysalis Records relaunched itself as a front line label in February 2020, marking a return to releasing new music for the first time in over two decades. The first signing was in partnership with award winning independent label Partisan Records. The labels came together to sign British singer/songwriter Laura Marling in a fully co-branded global release. As the first project released on Chrysalis' re-launched frontline label, Marling's album, "Song for Our Daughter", debuted in April 2020 to critical acclaim and a Mercury Prize nomination.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: In September 2020, Chrysalis signed the indie singer-songwriter Liz Phair. Her raw lyrical style made her a trailblazer for a raft of female artists in alternative music, when she began to make records at the start of the 1990s. Phair's first album in a decade, "Soberish", came out later in 2021.


title: Chrysalis Records

text: On 6 August 2021, the second album from Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay's project, Lump (styled in all caps), titled "Animal" charted at number 65 on the UK Albums Chart, and was one of the Top 20 selling albums for that week (6 August - 12 August 2021).


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: Associazione Calcio Reggiana 1919, commonly referred to as Reggiana, is a professional football club based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The club was formed in 2018 upon an idea of 1919, and plays in the Serie C, the third tier of Italian football. Reggiana is known as "i Granata" ("the Maroons") in reference to the club's main colour: maroon.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: The club was refounded two times after going bankrupt: in 2005 as Reggio Emilia Football Club, and in 2018 as Reggio Audace Football Club. In both occasions, the club subsequently regained the naming rights and the trophies of A.C. Reggiana via judicial auction. The club has participated in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian football, seven times; their last appearance dates back to the 1996–97 season.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: The club was originally found in 1919 under the name A.C. Reggiana, and played in the Italian First Division for several seasons in the 1920s. More recently, it played in the Italian Serie A in 1993–94, 1994–95, and 1996–97. Their highest ranking was 13th place in the 1993–94 Serie A championship, where its main name was Brazilian goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel, who would go on to win the 1994 FIFA World Cup after the season.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: In July 2005, the sports title of A.C. Reggiana S.p.A. was transferred to a new investor, Reggio Emilia F.C. S.p.A., before being renamed as A.C. Reggiana 1919 S.p.A. soon after the start of the 2005–06 season.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: In the 2007–08 Serie C2 regular season, the team finished first in Group B, and won direct promotion to Lega Pro Prima Divisione (formerly known as Serie C1 until that year) for the 2008–2009 season. Reggiana also won 2008 Supercoppa di Serie C2, a competition for three group stage winners of Serie C2.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: The club was acquired by Italian-American former baseball player Mike Piazza in 2016. After the 2017–18 season, the Piazza family decided not to register the team in the 2018–19 Serie C season, leading the club to the loss of its sporting title and subsequent exclusion from the Italian professional leagues.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: On 31 July 2018, a new entity was formed in Reggio Emilia, called Reggio Audace F.C.. The name was given in honour of a precursor entity of the 1910s, where Reggiana founder Severino Taddei used to play before founding the granata club. The new club, whose ownership was the expression of local entrepreneurs from Reggio Emilia, subsequently announced former Ravenna manager Mauro Antonioli as the new gaffer of the newborn club, admitted into the 2018–19 Serie D. Two days later a three-year partnership was signed with Macron. On 20 August 2018 striker Nicola Luche became the first ever signing of the club.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: The club gained promotion to the Serie B, after having been admitted by repechage to the Serie C due to vacancies left by bankrupt clubs in the third tier of Italian football and winning the 2019-20 Serie C playoff, returning to Serie B after an absence of 21 years, gaining subsequently two consecutive promotions.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: The team's home jersey color is "granata" (maroon), hence the nickname "Granata" or "Regia". However, the team's shorts are traditionally dark blue, and their badge has traditionally been an orange football surrounded by the text: "Associazione Calcio Reggiana " surrounded by a Granata border.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: Reggiana played all of its matches in Stadio Mirabello until 1994, when it moved to a modern arena, Stadio Città del Tricolore (a site previously known as "Stadio Giglio"). The stadium was subsequently bought by U.S. Sassuolo Calcio.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: Like other Italian cities, the birth of the "ultras" phenomenon in the 1980s also affected A.C. Reggiana. With Reggiana battling for Serie B and Cantine Riunite Reggio Emilia competing in Lega Basket Serie A, the youth of the city formed and gathered in ultras every Sunday.


title: A.C. Reggiana 1919

text: The leading group of Reggiana "Curva Sud" was "Ultras Ghetto", which was famous for its choreography. Since the late 1990s, the leading groups are "Teste Quadre" and "Gruppo Vandelli", which situate themselves in the East Stand of the stadium. Reggiana fans have always had good numbers on away days with a peak of 10,000 fans in Milan in 1994.