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Jan Hammer

Jan Hammer (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the 1980s television program Miami Vice. He has continued to work as both a musical performer and producer.

Hammer has collaborated with some of the era's most influential jazz and rock musicians such as John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, Billy Cobham, Al Di Meola, Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, Stanley Clarke, Tommy Bolin, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, John Abercrombie and Elvin Jones. He has composed and produced at least 14 original motion picture soundtracks, the music for 90 episodes of Miami Vice and 20 episodes of the television series Chancer.

His compositions have won him two Grammy Awards.

Early life
Jan Hammer was born in Prague, then capital of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). His mother was Vlasta Průchová, a well-known Czech singer, and his father was a doctor who worked his way through school playing vibraphone and bass guitar. Hammer began playing the piano at the age of four and his formal instruction started two years later. He aspired to follow his father into medicine until a family friend convinced him to develop his musical talents instead. Hammer formed a jazz trio in high school, performing and recording throughout Eastern Europe at the age of fourteen. Upon entrance to the Prague Academy of Musical Arts, he completed many compulsory classes including harmony, counterpoint, music history, and classical composition.

When the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia on 20 August 1968, Hammer's studies at the Academy were cut short. Hammer recorded a jazz trio live album at "The Domicile" in Munich on 30 August 1968. This was released as Malma Maliny by the German label MPS Records. Hammer decided to move to the United States and resolved to become a citizen after receiving a scholarship at Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Upon completion of his studies, Hammer spent a year touring with Sarah Vaughan, recorded with Elvin Jones and Jeremy Steig, then moved to New York City and joined the original lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra with guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham in 1971. A successful jazz fusion band, they performed some 530 shows before their farewell concert on 30 December 1973. Hammer was an early pioneer of playing the Minimoog Moog synthesizer in a live setting.

Hammer joined Billy Cobham, Leland Sklar, Tommy Bolin and additional personnel on Billy Cobham's debut solo album, Spectrum released in 1973. After recording albums with Goodman and John Abercrombie (ECM session Timeless with Jack DeJohnette) in 1974, Hammer's solo career began with the release of The First Seven Days (1975). He produced and recorded the album at Red Gate Studio, which he'd built in his upstate New York farmhouse and which has been the location of his recordings ever since.

In 1976, he featured with jazz/rock guitarist Jeff Beck on Beck’s RIAA platinum album Wired, produced by George Martin. A tour featuring songs from Wired and Blow By Blow ensued resulting in the Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live album, a chronicle of their 117-show tour which was certified gold.

The Jan Hammer Group was also formed in 1976 and supported The First Seven Days on tour, receiving good reviews from both jazz and rock critics. The group turned out two LPs Oh, Yeah? and Melodies.

Hammer composed music for the Czech cinematic fairy-tale The Incredibly Sad Princess.

Late 1970s and early 1980s
In 1977, Hammer recorded Elegant Gypsy with Al Di Meola. Casino, Splendido Hotel and Electric Rendezvous followed. He then joined Di Meola for a tour chronicled the same year on Tour De Force - Live; and finally appeared throughout Scenario, using a Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer and contributing to more than half of the album's compositions.

During the mid 70s to early 80s he also recorded and played with Joni Mitchell, Billy Cobham, Santana, Tommy Bolin, Harvey Mason and Stanley Clarke.

Hammer also returned to solo work with the release of Black Sheep in 1978. He then formed a new band, known as "Hammer". Also in 1978, he wrote and performed on three songs for Jeff Beck's next album, There and Back, which was released in 1980. One of the album tracks, "Star Cycle," went on to become the theme for the British television series The Tube.

He formed Schon & Hammer, a duo with ex Santana and Journey guitarist Neal Schon, that recorded Untold Passion in 1981 and Here to Stay in 1982.

Hammer took the stage with Jeff Beck in December 1983 for the nine U.S. benefit concerts that raised money for Ronnie Lane's A.R.M.S. (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis), featuring Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and a host of others. Into 1984, his various talents were employed on recordings as diverse as James Young's (Styx) first solo album, City Slicker, for which he co-wrote and produced; John Abercrombie's Night; Mick Jagger's first solo album, She's the Boss; and Jeff Beck's Flash which included Hammer's song "Escape", winner of the 1985 Grammy award for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance".

Miami Vice and successes
Hammer's original scores for three major motion pictures complement a long list of credits for documentaries, television movies in the U.S., commercials, and station identifications. But his greatest challenge came in the fall of 1984, when the producers of Miami Vice enlisted him to commence the rigorous weekly schedule of scoring the series.

The popular success of his music on the series was evident after just one season when, on 2 November 1985, the Miami Vice Soundtrack hit number one on the Billboard Top Pop album charts. The album achieved quadruple-platinum status with U.S. sales of more than four million copies.

At the Grammy awards in February 1986, "Miami Vice Theme" earned Hammer two awards; one for "Best Pop Instrumental Performance" and one for "Best Instrumental Composition". He also earned Emmy award nominations in 1985 and 1986, for "Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition". At the end of 1986, Hammer won Keyboard Magazine poll as "Best Studio Synthesist" for a second consecutive year. He had previously won the "Best Lead Synthesist" honor for seven years, at which time he was inducted into the Keyboard Hall of Fame.

In 1988, Hammer bowed out of full-time musical chores for Miami Vice. The theme song he composed remained in use until the show ended its five-season run in 1989.

The first project to spring from the new Red Gate was Hammer's original soundtrack for Clinton and Nadine for HBO Films.

Hammer's next two assignments contributed greatly to his next album. First, at the end of the summer, he was commissioned to compose and perform a theme entitled "The Runner" for a major series of television advertisements in England that starred Bob Geldof. Second, Hammer composed and performed the theme music for the top-rated new bi-weekly pan-European television series, Eurocops, which premiered in seven countries that November.

Snapshots was the first full album from the new Red Gate studio in 1989, with Hammer composing, performing and producing every track. The promo video for "Too Much to Lose," the album's first European single, featured Jeff Beck, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Ringo Starr.

The 1990s
In the early 1990s, Hammer toured with drummer Tony Williams. Notably, they featured as Jan Hammer / Tony Williams Group on July 4, 1991, at Spectrum de Montréal (Montreal International Jazz Festival). The show was documented on both DVD and audio CD.

The 1990s saw a renewed focus on scoring, starting with I Come in Peace (a.k.a. Dark Angel, composed in 1989 but released in 1990), Curiosity Kills and all twenty episodes of the British television series, Chancer, several episodes of HBO's Tales from the Crypt; a television spot for Amnesty International, featuring Czech president Václav Havel, two pilots for NBC, Knight Rider 2000 and News at 12, The Taking of Beverly Hills (Columbia Pictures) and New Line Cinema's Sunset Heat.

"Crockett's Theme" was re-released with Hammer's theme tune for Chancer in the UK in 1991, after the former featured in a series of commercials for NatWest.

Hammer's next project was as composer and performer of the original score for the Miramar Productions video album, Beyond the Mind's Eye.

In late 1993 (and through 2000) Hammer was commissioned to compose all the original music for TV Nova, the first commercial television network in Eastern Europe, based in his native Czech Republic, which had its launch on February 4, 1994. He composed everything—including themes for 23 original shows produced by the network, 50 separate station ID's, the music for all of the network's special broadcasts, plus the music for all the news, sports and weather programs.

1994 saw Hammer recording Drive, his first full-fledged album of original new non-soundtrack material under his name in several years. He was reunited with longtime partner Jeff Beck on "Underground", reminiscent of their collaborations of the past.

In 1995, Hammer returned to his scoring and soundtrack work. He began with the one-hour Universal drama Vanishing Son, then went on to compose the theme and score for 13 episodes of the series. He composed and performed the original music for two feature films, both released in 1996: A Modern Affair and In the Kingdom of the Blind the Man with One Eye Is King. Hammer wrapped up the year scoring Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus.

In 1996, Hammer's scoring assignments included the NBC Movie of the Week, The Babysitter's Seduction, The Secret Agent Club, and The Corporate Ladder.

In 1997, Hammer also composed the hard-driving rock soundtrack for the new CD-ROM game, Outlaw Racers (MegaMedia). His next project was the theme and original music score for the pilot and the series of Prince Street.

Hammer started off 1999 by writing, performing and producing a tune, "Even Odds" for Jeff Beck's latest album Who Else! (Epic). Also, 1999 saw the release of The Lost Trident Sessions, the third (and last) studio album from his former group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album was recorded in 1973 just prior to the band's breakup.

2000 to present
Hammer produced the original score for Cocaine Cowboys, a 2006 documentary depicting the infamous Miami drug trade scene of the 1980s. Hammer's soundtrack of the film was released in 2007.

Also in the autumn of 2004 Hammer released the album The Best of Miami Vice on the Reality label in the U.S. The Best of Miami Vice contains newly recorded versions of "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", as well as one bonus track never before released on CD.

In February 2005, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first season of Miami Vice on three double-sided DVDs. One of the package's discs contained bonus material, including an extensive interview and archival footage of Hammer creating music for the show back in 1985.

To coincide with the release of the DVD, Reality Records released a newly recorded version of "Crockett's Theme" to AC (Adult Contemporary) radio in America.

In 2006 Hammer was asked to collaborate with the singer/rapper TQ for a brand new version of his song "Crockett's Theme". The result of their work was The Jan Hammer Project Featuring TQ (Terrance Quaites): Crockett's Theme. A CD single of this new version climbed up the charts in Europe, hitting No. 1 on the iTunes Europe download list.

In a 2012 interview, Hammer indicated that he is working on a compilation of unreleased works.

In a 2014 interview with the Rolling Stone he claimed he always felt halfway between experimental music and prog-rock. He also claimed to have recorded the theme song for Miami Vice before the series was made, and that it had been the piece he presented to Michael Mann when announcing his interest of being involved with the series. He stated that he used a Fairlight CMI to compose the music to the series while sampling drums and percussion into it with real acoustic sound. He added that he would have been interested in scoring the 2006 film version of Miami Vice, but that he was never approached by Michael Mann about it.

He recorded a version of the Squidbillies theme in 2014.

On 20 July 2018 he released his first album of new material in over 10 years: Seasons - Part 1.

Personal life
Hammer became a US citizen in 1978. He has a son, Paul, who fronts the band Savoir Adore.

title: Jan Hammer


text:
Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (doing business as Kraft Foods Group) was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July 2, 2015.

A merger with Heinz, arranged by Heinz owners Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, was completed on July 2, 2015, forming The Kraft Heinz Company, the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.

Spinoff of Kraft Foods Group from Kraft Foods Inc.
In August 2011, Kraft Foods Inc. announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies — a snack food company and a grocery company.

On April 2, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it had filed a Form 10 Registration Statement to the SEC to split the company into two companies to serve the "North American grocery business".

On October 1, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. spun off its North American grocery business to a new company called Kraft Foods Group, Inc. The remainder of Kraft Foods Inc. was renamed Mondelēz International, Inc., and was refocused as an international snack and confection company. Burt P. Flickinger III of Strategic Resource Group said the strategy "worked for Mondelez, but not for Kraft."

On November 19, 2013, an arbitration ruling ordered Starbucks to pay Kraft Foods Inc. $2.7 billion because of an early contract termination. The money would go to Mondelēz International, Inc. In October 2013, Kraft announced that it would remove artificial dyes from three macaroni and cheese varieties made in kid-friendly shapes, but not its plain elbow-shaped Kraft Macaroni and Cheese product with "original flavor". This was in response to a petition by activist Vani Hari and blogger Lisa Leake who delivered a petition to the company to remove controversial synthetic dyes Yellow 5 (labeled as Tartrazine) and Yellow 6 from its signature macaroni and cheese products.

Kraft and Heinz merger
On March 25, 2015, Kraft Foods Group Inc. announced that it would merge with the H.J. Heinz Company, owned by 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Kraft's shares rose about 17 percent in premarket trading after the announcement of the deal, which will bring Heinz back to the public market following its takeover over two years prior. The companies completed the merger on July 2, 2015.

Sponsorships and promotions
Kraft is an official partner and sponsor of both Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League. Since 2006, Kraft Foods has sponsored Kraft Hockeyville, a reality television series produced by CBC/SRC Sports, in which communities demonstrate their commitment to the sport of ice hockey in a contest revolving around the theme of community spirit. The winning community gets a cash prize dedicated to upgrading their hometown arena, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL preseason game. In 2007, it was then relegated to segments aired during Hockey Night in Canada. In 2015, Kraft Hockeyville was expanded to the United States with a separate competition for communities there.

From 2002 to 2014, Kraft sponsored the Kraft Nabisco Championship, one of the four "majors" on the LPGA tour. The company also sponsored the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, a post-season college football bowl game, from 2010 to 2012.

Brands
The company's core businesses are in beverage, cheese, dairy foods, snack foods, and convenience foods. Kraft's major brands include:

 * A.1.
 * Boca Burger
 * Capri-Sun (U.S. Licensee)
 * Claussen pickles
 * Gevalia
 * Grey Poupon
 * Horsemen
 * Jell-O
 * Kool-Aid
 * Kraft
 * Kraft Dinner
 * Kraft Singles
 * Kraft Mayo
 * Kraft Ketchup
 * Kraft Dressings
 * Lunchables
 * Maxwell House
 * Oscar Mayer
 * Philadelphia Cream Cheese
 * Primal Kitchen
 * Pudliszki
 * RIDG's Finer Foods, licensing name used by Kraft addressing Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce
 * Seven Seas – salad dressings
 * Velveeta

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Kraft Foods


text:
Talk:Afterimage

Afterimage
Don't want to complain, but that afterimage I get from the "Afterimage"-thing is definitely blue on pink rather than blue on maroon.--91.180.143.27 (talk) 15:35, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

 * Just noticed, in the bit beneath it, it says "a green image should produce a magenta afterimage" and that's exactly it, so I'm editing maroon into magenta, then.--91.180.143.27 (talk) 15:37, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Flag Image
Any pictures besides the United States flag (with appropriate color substitution) to include in the main Afterimage page??

The inverse U.S. flag is a fairly classic example of the afterimage effect; I've seen it elsewhere. Why do you want to change it?

It is unbelievable the subversiveness of having to fix our eyes on the USA flag. Why not another country? If you saw it, it was probably in a US book. The image should be abstract and impartial. It is unacceptable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.199.152 (talk) 18:08, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

You want another image, make another image. All you have to do is invert the colours! Leushenko (talk) 03:13, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually upon thinking about it, a more neutral image would be great, but what would it be? The only thing that comes to mind is a selection of flags.... and then we could be upset about precedence instead...Leushenko (talk) 14:51, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I once saw an afterimage effect that included movement. You stared at a spiral/whirlpool thing for thirty seconds, and then looked at a picture of clouds. The result was that the clouds then started to shimmer like water, due to the afterimage of the spiral overlaid on the clouds. It was a really interesting effect and would only require a simple animated gif. --ErgoSum88 (talk) 15:57, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Switzerland maybe? (which might also be close to the emblem of the International Red Cross) Jimw338 (talk) 18:57, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

Not rods and cones
There is not universal agreement about wheither a negative afterimage results from adaption of cones; increasingly people are looking at adaption in ganglion cells in the retina and cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the brain.--Heida Maria 14:46, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

 * But I thought one can rule out LGN neurons' being primarily responsible for afterimages by showing that pressure blinding abolishes afterimages. That would be consistent with afterimages' being mediated by the photoreceptors or by the retinal ganglion cells. Robert P. O'Shea 07:06, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

 * Pressure blinding eliminates afterimages? Not according to Craik, K. J. W. (1940) Origin of the visual after-image. Nature, 145, 512? He induced an afterimage in participants while pressure blinding them. JohnB90 (talk) 21:12, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

 * Yes. You are right. There is at least one mysterious thing about that paper. Craik viewed a bright light with both eyes, including the pressure-blinded one; this will ensure that an afterimage is developed though the normal eye, which in my opinion would be difficult to distinguish from that from the pressure-blinded eye. Craik seemed to claim that the afterimage from the normal eye could be abolished by closing it, which is unlikely (closing the eye is one of the usual techniques for seeing an afterimage). Nevertheless, Craik said he was able to see the afterimage from the pressure-blinded eye because it was not at fixation, the pressure blinding having turned that eye away from the light slightly. If we accept Craik's observations, then we are left with his conclusion that the afterimage *is* generated in the photoreceptors, because he says that the pressure blinding allows the photochemical processes in the rods and cones to continue but blocks activity in the retinal ganglion cells.Robert P. O'Shea (talk) 05:34, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

I agree with Heida. There is not a single research paper which confirms the whole "retinal burn in" type of theory which this article suggests. There is only one citation to "support" this in the current article. But when this citation's research publication is actually read, it says nothing about any proof for this theory. It merely mentions it as an afterthought and an as suggestion with no evidence whatsoever. Furthermore, there are several afterimage illusions which confound such a theory. For example, viewing a white area surrounded by a colored background leads to an afterimage the size and shape of the white area but with the color of the background. The background does not necessarily take a complementary afterimage color. There is also strong evidence that afterimages are strongly modulated by attentional processes. One such illusion is called something like "afterimage after the image" and can be found by looking that up on the web. This illusion shows how only partial afterimages tend to appear after being cued by an outline which corresponds to the shape of a certain color (sorry for the poor explanation here; please look at it for yourself to see what I mean). If anything, this seems to show that afterimages do not likely occur in the retina itself, but could rather be the effect of feedback inhibition of the cortex to the thalamus at multiple levels, most notably the LGN and pulvinar portions for visual aftereffects. This could also easily be extended to explain other aftereffects (e.g. paradoxical heat in the somatosensory system, "aftertones" in the hearing system (maybe not many know about this one, though), etc.) --119.83.246.205 (talk) 02:31, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Whoops. I wasn't signed in. That last entry was mine. --Aphidz (talk) 02:58, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

 * Here's the (or at lest a page about this - I think): Jimw338 (talk) 19:13, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

YouTube links
This article is one of thousands on Wikipedia that have a link to YouTube in it. Based on the External links policy, most of these should probably be removed. I'm putting this message here, on this talk page, to request the regular editors take a look at the link and make sure it doesn't violate policy. In short: 1. 99% of the time YouTube should not be used as a source. 2. We must not link to material that violates someones copyright. If you are not sure if the link on this article should be removed, feel free to ask me on my talk page and I'll review it personally. Thanks. ---J.S (t|c) 07:29, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Not just copyright (potentially), but also I assume that all videos on YT eventually get taken down? Otherwise the YT library I assume would grow to.. what - at least an exabyte?  I don't remember the stats on how fast YT grows.  Then again, Google does seem to be able put an (I presume) unbelievable amount of storage space somewhere (where are Google's server/disk farms - or is that a state secret?)

 * Spoke too soon - (Some) estimated stats are here, and it works out to about a quarter of a quarter of a petabyte per year (20 TB/month*12*1/1000 TB/PB). Maybe about $12,000 a year, at consumer hard drive prices?  Of course, I'm sure Google can get them for less (do they perhaps make their own hard drives?), and they I'm sure they're looking into - or perhaps already using - up-and-coming HDD technologies (SMR, spin-tronic methods, holographic [?]) Jimw338 (talk) 19:32, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

This article needs to be improved
I'm sorry to be negative, but the level of explanation in this article is simplistic in some places and possibly incorrect in others. Dubious statements include:
 * "This is closely related to the phenomenon called the persistence of vision". If so then persistence of vision would have to involve positive afterimages but the explanation is for negative afterimages. For that matter, positive and negative afterimages are not distinguished.
 * "Normally the eye deals with this problem by rapidly moving the eye small amounts". This does not make sense linguisitically or logically. The eye does not move itself.
 * "the motion later being "filtered out" so it is not noticeable". Citation needed here.
 * "When the eyes are then diverted to a blank space, the tired photoreceptors send out little signal and those colors remain muted." This is very a very confusing sentence.
 * "The green color tires out the green photoreceptors". Although Hering thought there were green photoreceptors, no one thinks that nowadays. There are three cone types that respond to virtually all wavelengths of light but with peak sensitivities for short (S), middle (M), and long (L) wavelengths. A green light will stimulate the M cones the most, the L cones almost as much, and the S cones only a little. The ratios of these activities signal green. After adaptation, the ratios of activities of L, M, and S cones when exposed to white light are supposed to be the same as if the retina had been exposed to light of the complementary colour to the green light.

Perhaps Heida Maria can improve it. She seems to be better up on the literature than I am.Robert P. O'Shea 07:04, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Images
The change to Che Guevara as the main image is not exactly any more neutral than the US flag. I propose expanding the gallery with a selection of images, and am wondering if anyone has any ideas for an apolitical image for the article's introduction? The WP logo comes to mind... not sure if that would work. I can't put it to the test on this computer, but will try later. At any rate, more pictures would be good, and none of the current three I think are appropriate for the lead. The flag and portrait are too politically biased and the "Jesus" picture, aside from being totally unencyclopaedic in tone, is also a crappy image (I for one couldn't work it out without looking at the filename). Leushenko (talk) 19:56, 25 July 2008 (UTC)
 * How is the Jesus picture unencyclopedic? Just because you cant do that one doesnt mean that it doesnt work! I can do it. For 22 more see Here —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.105.134.147 (talk) 16:23, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It's unencyclopaedic because it's blatant propaganda and extremely low-quality. It's not a problem to have a religious image, but I object to the subversive portrayal here. Not to mention a standard objection to depictions of Jesus as extremely hirsute, which is irrelevant to the article's content, but factual inaccuracy should not be encouraged. Leushenko (talk) 11:29, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Are you required to blink?
Because the only way I can noticeably see most of the afterimages is blinking vigorously after having stared at it for about a minute. 97.118.32.250 (talk) 23:19, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Intersting artist with afterimage paintings
Could you create an article about this artist? I do not know how, thank you--Thgiled (talk) 08:39, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

 * As someone else pointed out on your talk page, there is a article-requesting page. If you feel so passionate about this artist, collect references and learned to edit Wikipedia yourself. Posting the same thing to multiple article talk pages isn't going to help you much. Fred Hsu (talk) 03:25, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

The Color dove illusion redirect
Apparently there used to be something here about a "Color dove illusion" because there's a redirect by that name that is still used on a figure in the Opponent process article. Anyone know what became of that? Probably the figure in that article should be changed and the redirect removed, but I figured I'd ask first. 71.197.166.72 (talk) 07:44, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ I've just stumbled upon the same problem and solved it by restoring the illustration, which had been carelessly removed. This had also turned the remaining reference to a bird into a headscratcher. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 18:04, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
 * A personal comment: I believe I have understood how the color dove illusion works now. When I tried it here, I noticed that when I choose, for example, a green background, not only the white dove appears to have acquired a greenish tint as soon as the background switches to white, but also the white background of the page surrounding the Flash box. What really happens, however, is that the white surrounding the bird acquires a reddish tint as an effect of color vision fatigue, i. e., an afterimage from the green. In contrast with this reddish tint, the white of the bird and the background surrounding the Flash box, which did not change, appears to have a greenish tint as the visual system defaults to the white area surrounding the bird (which has just switched from green to white) as the "true" white. Why the visual system insists that this "new" white is the "true" white is not completely clear to me (I'm reminded of the infamous blue-black/white-gold dress, where the choice of the "true" white and black through the visual system, which turns out to be individually different in this case, determines colour perception), but the reason is probably that the "new" colour is more perceptually salient (like changes and motion in the visual field in general) than the unchanging white of the bird and the background of the page. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 18:32, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Afterimage


text: Template:Commencement Bay class escort carrier


text:
Complex structure

A complex structure may refer to:

In mathematics

 * Almost complex manifold
 * Complex manifold
 * Linear complex structure
 * Generalized complex structure
 * Complex structure deformation
 * Complex vector bundle

In law

 * Complex structure theory in English law

title: Complex structure


text:
User:Benad

'Have to start somewhere...

--Benad 02:12, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

title: User:Benad


text:
Villains (Stray from the Path album)

Villains is the third studio album by Stray from the Path. The album was released on May 13, 2008, on Sumerian Records and Victory Records.

Track listing

 * 1) "Callous" - 1:41
 * 2) "Villain" - 2:33
 * 3) "To Vanish" - 2:13
 * 4) "The White Flag" - 1:42
 * 5) "Superstructure" - 1:40
 * 6) "Soviet" - 1:45
 * 7) "Lessons in Freud" - 1:41
 * 8) "The Art of Reprisal" - 1:42
 * 9) "The Spectre and His Mantra" - 1:04
 * 10) "Capital" - 2:08
 * 11) "Ataxia" - 2:08

Personnel

 * Andrew "Drew York" Dijorio - lead vocals
 * Tom Williams - lead guitar
 * John Kane - guitar
 * Frank Correira - bass guitar
 * Justin Manas - drums

 * Production
 * Kurt Ballou - producer, mixing, engineer

title: Villains (Stray from the Path album)


text: User talk:210.87.254.42

title: User talk:210.87.254.42


text:
George Huff (singer)

George Clayton Huff, Jr. (born November 4, 1980) is an American singer. He placed first among male contestants and overall fifth-place finalist on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol.

Biography
Huff is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. Huff auditioned for the third season of American Idol in Houston, Texas; he was a member of the fourth group of semi-finalists. He was actually not among those originally chosen for the semi-final round, but was put through when contestant Donnie Williams was disqualified for a drunk driving arrest.

American Idol
Huff was not voted through to the final round from his group of semi-finalists, but got another second chance when he was brought back for the wildcard round and put through as a finalist by contest judge Simon Cowell. During this period, New Orleans Fox Affiliate WVUE would hold specials including Huff's family cheering George on during the latest episodes.

On May 5, 2004, Huff was voted off in fifth place after two renditions of Fred Astaire's "Cheek to Cheek" and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" during big band week.

After Idol
His album, Miracles, was released by Word Records, on October 11, 2005. The first single off that album was "Brighter Day". It sold 18,000 copies.

In 2005, his Louisiana home was affected by Hurricane Katrina. He left New Orleans and stayed at his brother's house in Dallas. His recent performances have included an October 2006 concert at West Virginia University and a December 2006 Christmas show in Salinas, California. He also had a recent brief performance at New York's Dr. Susan S. Mckinney Secondary School for the Arts on November 10, 2008.

In 2007 Huff's song "Brighter Day" was briefly featured in Tyler Perry's movie "Why Did I Get Married?" starring Janet Jackson.

On April 7, 2009 George Huff released his self-titled sophomore effort, featuring the songs "I Belong To You(Yours)", "Victory", "Free", "Destiny" (featuring Coko of SWV and Tasha Collins from the first season of BET's Sunday Best) and the lead single "Don't Let Go".

On March 24, 2011, Huff performed as a back-up singer to longtime friend and fellow Idol alum Jennifer Hudson during the third week of finals on the tenth season of American Idol, where she performed her current album's lead single, "Where You At." Huff has been singing background vocals for many of Hudson's live performances since then, and works as her vocal arranger for live performances.

Singles

 * Go Tell It on the Mountain
 * Brighter Day
 * Miracles
 * You Know Me (Number 32 Hot Gospel Songs)
 * Don't Let Go

title: George Huff (singer)


text:
Talk:Teuta/Archive 1

Comments
Something's wrong with the article, Teuta wasn't 3 years old when she died!!

 * You are right, that was a bit confusing. Those are the years that she was in power. Dori | Talk 03:09, Mar 11, 2004 (UTC)

Teuta is a very famous Albanian name to this day, This clearly proves that illyians are the present day Albanians Teuta was the one bigeer queen. She is the most famous queen I like very much the name TEUTA.

She was born on the island of Vis, in present day Croatia. Back then the island was known as Issa. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.146.103 (talk) 03:32, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

CApital city

 * She was in Rhizon or Scodra?, the article is confused.Megistias (talk) 13:06, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Rhizon was her Throne thus capital and Scodra her military base aka pirate lair Megistias (talk) 13:10, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Teuta/Archive 1


text:
Crusader tank

Crusader, in full "Tank, Cruiser Mk VI, Crusader", also known by its General Staff number A.15, was one of the primary British cruiser tanks during the early part of the Second World War. Over 5,000 tanks were manufactured and they made important contributions to the British victories during the North African campaign. The Crusader tank would not see active service beyond Africa but the chassis of the tank was modified to create anti-aircraft, fire support, observation, communication, bulldozer and recovery vehicle variants.

The first Crusader Mark I tanks entered service in 1941 and though manoeuvrable, they were relatively lightly armoured and under-armed. The following Crusader Mark II had a maximum armour of 49 mm. The main armament for the Crusader Mark I and IIs was a 40 mm Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun; the following Crusader Mark III was fitted with a 57 mm Ordnance QF 6-pounder gun at the expense of one member of the crew in the turret. This variant was more than a match for the mid-generation German Panzer III and Panzer IV medium tanks that it faced in combat. As part of the 1st Armoured Brigade, the Crusader was to prove vital during the Second Battle of El Alamein, at the siege of Tobruk and in the Tunisia campaign.

Retained in service because of delays with its replacement, by late 1942, the lack of armament upgrades, plus reliability problems due to the harsh desert conditions and the appearance of uparmoured and upgunned German tanks in the Afrika Korps, saw the Crusader replaced as the main tank by US-supplied M3 Grant and then by the M4 Sherman medium tanks but it was retained in combat use until the end of the war in North Africa and after that for training in Britain.

Design and development
In 1938, Nuffield Mechanizations and Aero Limited produced their A16 design for a heavy cruiser tank based on Christie suspension. Looking for a lighter and cheaper tank to build, the General Staff requested alternatives from British industry. To this end, the A13 Mk III cruiser tank, which was to enter service as the "Tank, Cruiser Mk V" (known as the Covenanter), was designed by London Midland and Scottish. Nuffield was, in 1939, offered the opportunity to take part in the production of the Covenanter.

Nuffield, however, preferred to work on its own version of the A13—though it still provided design work for the Covenanter's turret. This new tank was adopted as "Tank, Cruiser, Mk VI Crusader", under General Staff specification A15. Although Crusader is often referred to as an improved version of the Covenanter, in fact it was a parallel design. Both tanks were ordered "off the drawing board" without building prototypes first. Despite a later start, the pilot model of the Crusader was ready six weeks before the first Covenanter.

Unlike earlier "Christie cruisers" (the A13 Mark III and Mark IV tanks and the Mark V Covenanter) that were built with four road wheels, Crusader had five road wheels each side to improve weight distribution in a tank that weighed almost 20 tons instead of the 14 tons of the previous cruisers. The 32 in-diameter wheels were of pressed steel with solid rubber tyres. The hull sides were built up of two separated plates, with the suspension arms between them.

It had a different engine from the Covenanter, different steering system and a conventional cooling system with radiators in the engine compartment. Covenanter used a brand new engine design, whereas Crusader adapted the readily available Liberty engine to fit into a lower profile engine compartment. At the left side of the front hull—a place occupied by the engine radiator in the Covenanter—was mounted a small hand-traversed auxiliary turret armed with a Besa machine gun. The auxiliary turret was awkward to use and was often removed in the field or remained unoccupied.

Both the A13 Mk III Covenanter and the A15 Crusader designs used the same main turret. The turret was polygonal—with sides that sloped out then in again—to give maximum space on the limited turret ring diameter. Early production vehicles had a "semi-internal" cast gun mantlet, which was quickly replaced in production by a better protected larger cast mantlet with three vertical slits for the main gun, a coaxial Besa machine gun, and the sighting telescope. There was no cupola for the commander, who instead had a flat hatch with the periscope mounted through it.

The main armament, as in other British tanks of the period, was balanced so that the gunner could control its elevation through a padded shaft against his right shoulder rather than using a geared mechanism. This fitted well with the British doctrine of firing accurately on the move.

When it was understood that there would be delays in the introduction of successor heavy cruiser tanks (the Cavalier, Centaur and Cromwell), the Crusader was adapted with a six-pounder gun.

Performance
Initial performance of the Crusader was found to be better than the comparable Stuart light tanks. Despite reliability problems, the tanks formed the primary unit for British cruiser tank armoured regiments, while the Stuart was used for reconnaissance.

The Crusader suffered from chronic reliability problems in desert use as a result of several factors. Tanks arriving in North Africa were missing many of the essential tools and servicing manuals needed to maintain operation—stolen or lost in transit. As tanks broke down, a lack of spare parts meant that many components were replaced with worn parts recovered from other tanks. When the tanks were returned to the base workshops upon reaching service intervals, many were serviced with components that had already achieved their design lifespan.

A rapid ramp-up in manufacturing within the UK caused quality issues as inexperienced workers began assembling tanks. This placed further pressure on the receiving base workshops who had to carry out the necessary re-work.

The new tanks also had a number of design flaws which needed to be worked out. The reconfiguration of the Mk. III Liberty engine into a flatter format to fit into the Crusader engine compartment had badly affected the tank's water pumps and cooling fan arrangements, both of which were critical in the hot desert temperatures. Several official and unofficial in-theatre modifications were applied in attempts to improve reliability and conserve water, which otherwise had to be prioritised on keeping the vehicles running. Rectification of these issues took a very long time, by which time confidence in the Crusader had been lost. Calls were made at various points for the vehicles to be replaced with the Valentine infantry tank or US-made M3 Grant tank.

As time moved on, more and more were being returned to base workshops, leading to a shortage of battle-ready tanks and a massive backlog of repair works to be completed. The number of vehicles available on the frontline dwindled, and US-made replacements were brought in.

While the 2-pounder gun had good performance when the tank was introduced, ammunition supply was focused on solid armour-piercing (AP) rounds. When German tanks moved to face-hardened armour, an effective Armour-piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped (APCBC) ammunition was not available. By the time it was, German tanks had adapted specifically to counter it. Delays in producing the next generation of cruiser tanks meant the Crusader was later up-armed with the 6-pounder, which had much better anti-tank performance.

In keeping with a highly mobile cruiser tank, the vehicle had lighter armour than the Axis tanks that it encountered. It was among the first to have additional armour fitted to the ammunition storage. This greatly improved vehicle survivability with only a slight reduction in the number of rounds that could be carried. A significant area of concern, however, was the driver's compartment, the side of which had been left exposed by the removal of the secondary Besa machine gun turret. The angle left behind became a shot trap, with some incoming shells being deflected into the tank.

Despite the many problems, the Crusader was successful in combat against Axis tanks, using its better mobility and greater capability to fire on the move to strike at vehicle weak spots. This caused a change in German tactics, whereby Axis tanks would feign retreat, drawing Crusader units onto a pre-positioned anti-tank gun screen. With no high explosive (HE) ammunition, the Crusader struggled to engage these emplaced enemies. This situation continued until the introduction of US-produced vehicles, such as the Grant and then the Sherman, with dual-purpose 75 mm guns.

North Africa
With the Axis forces in North Africa having pushed the British back to the Egyptian border and the remaining British armour being a mixed force of older tanks with a few Matilda infantry tanks, tanks were hurriedly shipped via the Mediterranean arriving on 12 May 1941. There were sufficient Crusaders to equip the 6th Royal Tank Regiment (6RTR) which with the older cruiser tanks of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) formed the 7th Armoured Brigade. The rest of the tanks were Matilda infantry tanks for the 4th Armoured Brigade giving the 7th Armoured Division only four tank regiments.

Although there was pressure from London for the 7th Armoured Division to go into action, outfitting for the desert and training delayed the first use of Crusaders until Operation Battleaxe, an attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk in June. As the brigade swept round the flank, the Crusaders were caught by concealed anti-tank guns and lost 11 tanks. The 6 RTR lost further tanks to action and defects in the fighting withdrawal during the next two days.

The 7th Armoured Brigade was re-equipped with further Crusaders, but, as the brigade had been expanded by the addition of 7th Hussars, there were not sufficient Crusaders to replace the older cruiser tanks.

The 22nd Armoured Brigade comprising three inexperienced armoured regiments equipped with Crusaders, transferred to North Africa to bring the 7th Armoured up to a strength of three armoured brigades. The 8th Hussars was added to the 4th Armoured Brigade, but these had to be equipped with M3 Stuart light tanks as there were still insufficient cruisers. The 22nd was able to take part in Operation Crusader in November 1941.

In Operation Crusader, the two British corps were disposed such that they could not support each other, but it was expected that, as the British outnumbered the German and Italian forces in tanks, the tank against tank battles would be decided in their favour. However, in the resulting encounters, Rommel did not put his tanks en masse into action against the British ones, and the large numbers of German anti-tank (AT) guns working offensively with the tanks and infantry proved effective. The Germans were mostly equipped with the PaK 38, a long-barrelled 50 mm gun with a range of 1000 yd. This superiority in quality and tactical deployment of anti-tank guns was to be a feature of the Afrika Korps throughout the "Desert War". The Crusader's 2-pounder (40 mm) gun was as effective as the short-barrelled 50 mm of the Panzer III, although it was out-ranged by the short-barrelled 75 mm of the Panzer IV.

Although the Crusader was faster than any tanks it opposed, its potential was limited by a relatively light QF 2-pounder gun, thin armour, and mechanical problems. A particular tactical limitation was the lack of a high-explosive shell for the main armament (these existed but were never supplied). Axis tank forces developed an extremely effective method of dealing with attacking tank forces by retiring behind a screen of concealed anti-tank guns. The pursuing tanks could then be engaged by the artillery. With the German anti-tank guns out of range of the tanks' machine guns and without a high-explosive shell to return fire, the tanks were left with the equally unpalatable options of withdrawing under fire or trying to overrun the gun screen.

The Crusader proved prone to "brew up" when hit, a problem that was identified as being due to the ammunition being ignited by hot metal penetrating the unprotected racks. The angled underside of the turret created shot traps that deflected rounds downward, through the hull roof.

The Crusader proved unreliable in the desert. This started with their transport from the UK to North Africa. Poor preparation and handling caused problems that had to be rectified before they could be passed to the regiments and ate into the supply of spare parts. Once in use, the sand caused erosion in the cooling system and the stresses of hard cross-country travel caused oil leaks between the engine block and the cylinders. Since there were few tank transporters or railways in the desert, the tanks had to travel long distances on their tracks, causing further wear.

By the end of 1941, there was only one brigade, the 2nd, which was operating with only Crusaders. In March 1942, US-built Grant medium tanks arrived and replaced one in three Crusader squadrons. While the Grant with its effective 75 mm gun gave better firepower against anti-tank guns and infantry, had better armour, and was more mechanically reliable, it was slower, limiting the Crusaders when they had to operate together. From May 1942, Mk IIIs (with the 57 mm 6-pounder gun) were delivered. Of the 840 tanks available to the British, 260 were Crusaders. The German tanks they were facing were improved types with face-hardened frontal armour, which caused 2-pounder shot to shatter rather than penetrate.

As part of British deception operations, Crusaders could be issued with "Sunshade", which was a metal framework with canvas covering that disguised the tank as a lorry to German aerial reconnaissance. Dummy tanks were also deployed.

Later in the campaign, shipping was improved, Nuffield put an engineering team in Egypt, and crews were better at preventing problems but the reputation of the Crusader could not recover.

After Montgomery took over command, the imbalance between British and German armour was redressed by better control and the addition of more American-supplied Grant and Sherman tanks. The Crusader was replaced in the main line of battle and used for "light squadrons" trying to flank the enemy when it engaged the heavier units. The 9th Australian Infantry Division operated Crusaders for reconnaissance and liaison.

The First Arrmy landed as part of the Tunisia campaign; some of its units were using the Crusader and these saw action from 24 November. These were not solely Crusader regiments, but mixed Crusader and Valentine tanks; within each squadron, two troops were Crusader IIIs, and there were Crusader II CSs attached to the Squadron HQ. These units of the 26th Armoured Brigade were used as an independent armoured column, "Blade Force", with the 78th Infantry Division. The operations of Blade Force were on terrain different from the desert of the earlier campaigns, and the fighting took place with smaller numbers of vehicles. These actions were similar to what would be seen later in Europe. The 1st Army converted to Shermans during the Tunisia campaign, but Crusaders remained in use with the Eighth Army for longer. The last major actions for Crusaders were the Battle of the Mareth Line and the Battle of Wadi Akarit. The North Africa campaign finished shortly afterwards.

Other use
After the completion of the North African Campaign, the availability of better tanks, such as the Sherman and Cromwell, relegated the Crusader to secondary duties, such as anti-aircraft mounts or gun tractors. In these roles, it served for the remainder of the war. The Crusader, along with the Covenanter, equipped regiments at home; particularly those of the 11th Armoured Division. A Crusader bulldozer was developed, but not used operationally. One of these bulldozer tanks was converted for removing munitions following a fire at Royal Ordnance Factory Kirkby.

The Crusader anti-aircraft guns were designed for use in North West Europe but given Allied air supremacy, the AA troops were disbanded. An AA Crusader wireless operator/gun loader recounted arriving in Normandy in Crusaders in Mid July 1944, but were switched to Cromwell fairly quickly,

The Crusader gun tractors operated with 76.2 mm Ordnance QF 17-pounder 17-pounder anti-tank gun regiments attached to armoured divisions and with XII Corps. One Crusader was used for testing the 600 hp Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, the increased horsepower over the standard Liberty engine giving a maximum speed in excess of 40 mph. The turret of a Crusader tank was used by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps to defend the city of Hanoi at the beginning of the first Indochina War.

Crusader I (Cruiser Mk VI)
Original production version. The auxiliary turret was often removed in the field, eliminating the hull machine gunner position.
 * Crusader I CS (Cruiser Mk VI CS) ('Close Support') mounted a Ordnance QF 3 inch howitzer (76.2 mm) in the turret instead of the 2-pounder.

Crusader II (Cruiser Mk VIA)
The Crusader II had increased armour on hull front and turret front. As with the Mk I, the auxiliary turret was often removed.
 * Crusader II CS (Cruiser Mk VIA CS) mounted a 3-inch (76.2 mm) howitzer in the turret.
 * Command tank version existed with dummy gun and two No. 19 radios.

Crusader III
Due to delays with the Cruiser Mark VII Cavalier and the need for cruiser tanks, the Crusader was up-gunned with the 57 mm 6-pounder, the first British tank to mount this gun. Design work for a new turret started in March 1941, but Nuffield was not involved until late in the year, when they adapted the existing turret with a new mantlet and hatch.

The turret also received an extractor fan to clear fumes from the firing of the gun. The larger gun restricted turret space, so the crew was reduced to three, with the commander also acting as gun loader, a role previously performed by the wireless operator. The auxiliary turret space was given over to ammunition stowage.

Crusader III also saw the introduction of the Mk. IV Liberty engine, fixing many of the reliability issues previously encountered. This featured the Mk. III engine's later updated water pumps along with a shaft drive replacing chain drive for the cooling fans.

Production started in May 1942 and 144 were complete by July. The Crusader III first saw action, with about 100 participating, at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

This was a tank converted to a mobile armoured observation post for direction of artillery. The turret was fixed in place, the gun was removed and a dummy barrel fitted to give it the same outward appearance of a regular tank. With no requirement for ammunition, the interior was given over to the radios, two No. 19 radios and No. 18 radio, map boards and related equipment. The Royal Artillery could then operate the OP tank up front among the fighting units directing artillery fire in their support.
 * Observation post

Crusader III, AA Mk I
The 6-pounder was replaced with a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun with an autoloader and powered mounting in an open-topped turret. The crew numbered four: gun commander, gun layer, loader, and driver. However, those Crusader III, AA Mk I used in NW Europe from D-day on did not have the turret, but a 40 mm Bofors gun mounted directly on the hull top with its standard shield.

Crusader III, AA Mk II / Mk III
A Crusader armed with twin Oerlikon 20 mm guns for anti-aircraft use and a single .303 (7.7 mm) Vickers GO machine gun. The turret was a small polygonal turret with heavy armour, but poor situational visibility for spotting approaching aircraft. The Mk III only differed from the Mk II by the position of the radio, which was moved to the hull in order to free some space inside the turret.

A variation with triple Oerlikons was produced in very limited quantities but seem to have been used only for training.

Due to Allied air superiority over the battlefields of north-west Europe, none of the AA versions saw much action against aircraft but a few - especially with the 1st Polish Armoured Division - were used against ground targets. The AA troops - attached to HQ squadrons - were disbanded after the Normandy landings.

Crusader II, Gun Tractor Mk I
The Crusader gun tractor came out of a need for a vehicle to tow the heavy 76.2 mm QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun. It was a Crusader tank hull with a simple boxy superstructure replacing that of the gun tank. The 14 mm thick structure protected the driver and the gun crew of six. The tractor also carried ammunition on the rear and within the crew area.

Although nearly as heavy as the gun tank, it was still capable of high speed and was officially limited to 27 mph. This was still hard on the towed 17 pounder guns. They were used in northwest Europe from the Normandy landings of 1944 to the end of the war in 1945.

One such unit was 86 Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, part of XII Corps. In 86, the Crusader gun tractor replaced earlier Morris C8 gun tractors in two out of the four batteries. Unit veterans reported that the Crusader was popular with the crews and were often driven by former Armoured Corps drivers seconded to the Royal Artillery because of their driving experience. Some veterans of regiment 86 claimed they removed the 'governors' that normally limited tank speeds and credited an empty Crusader with speeds up to 55 mph. They also claimed to be able to outrun Military Police motorcycles, which were limited to a wartime speed of 50 mph due to low grade petrol.

Some vehicles were also used by battery commanders as armoured command and reconnaissance vehicles.

Crusader ARV Mk I
Armoured recovery vehicle based on turretless Crusader hull. One prototype was built in 1942.

Crusader self-propelled guns

 * A post-war modification was built, probably for testing purposes only, with a 5.5-inch (140 mm) Medium Gun installed at the front of the vehicle, facing back.
 * Some Crusader gun tractors sold after the war to Argentina were converted to self-propelled guns, with French 75 mm or 105 mm gun installed in a large, boxy superstructure.

Additional variants

 * Crusader with Anti-Mine Roller Attachment (AMRA) Mk Id: a mine clearing device consisting of four heavy rollers suspended from a frame. Weight of the rollers could be increased by filling them with water, sand etc.

Crusaders were used for experimentation such as a flotation kit, consisting of two pontoons attached to hull sides, special blades attached to tracks to propel the vehicle in water and a cowl over engine air intakes and cooling louvres.

Operators

 * 🇦🇷 Argentina – converted gun tractors
 * 🇦🇺 Australia
 * one squadron of the 9th Division Cavalry Regiment; North Africa (1941–43)
 * at least one Crusader was trialled in Australia (1941) by the 1st Armoured Division
 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt - 2 Battalions - around 60 Tanks of the Egyptian Army Cavalry and Armoured Corps used it till the early 1960s. Along with 1 Battalion of Crusader AA as Anti-Aircraft Artillery from 1944 till the late 1960s. Saw action in the Suez War in Anti-aircraft role.
 * Free French Forces
 * undefined – Captured vehicles used in the 15th Panzer Division. Designated Kreuzer Panzerkampfwagen Mk VI 746 (e).
 * undefined – captured vehicles used in the 133rd Littorio Armoured Division.
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands
 * 🇵🇱 Poland – Used by the 1st Armoured Division
 * undefined
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Surviving vehicles
Around 21 tanks survive in various degrees of preservation, ranging from running-condition museum vehicles to wrecks. Eight survive in various collections in South Africa.

Notable examples include the Crusader III in running condition at The Tank Museum in the United Kingdom. The Musée des Blindés in France preserves a Mk III anti-aircraft Crusader and the Overloon War Museum in the Netherlands owns a gun-tractor variant.

title: Crusader tank


text:
Soot

Soot is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolysed fuel particles such as coal, cenospheres, charred wood, and petroleum coke that may become airborne during pyrolysis and that are more properly identified as cokes or char.

Soot causes various types of cancer and lung disease.

Description
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) adopted the description of soot particles given in the glossary of Charlson and Heintzenberg (1995), "Particles formed during the quenching of gases at the outer edge of flames of organic vapours, consisting predominantly of carbon, with lesser amounts of oxygen and hydrogen present as carboxyl and phenolic groups and exhibiting an imperfect graphitic structure".

Formation of soot is a complex process, an evolution of matter in which a number of molecules undergo many chemical and physical reactions within a few milliseconds. Soot always contains nanoparticles of graphite and diamond, a phenomenon known as gemmy soot. Soot is a powder-like form of amorphous carbon. Gas-phase soot contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The PAHs in soot are known mutagens and are classified as a "known human carcinogen" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Soot forms during incomplete combustion from precursor molecules such as acetylene. It consists of agglomerated nanoparticles with diameters between 6 and 30 nm. The soot particles can be mixed with metal oxides and with minerals and can be coated with sulfuric acid.

Soot formation mechanism
Many details of soot formation chemistry remain unanswered and controversial, but there have been a few agreements:
 * Soot begins with some precursors or building blocks.
 * Nucleation of heavy molecules occurs to form particles.
 * Surface growth of a particle proceeds by adsorption of gas phase molecules.
 * Coagulation happens via reactive particle–particle collisions.
 * Oxidation of the molecules and soot particles reduces soot formation.

Hazards
Soot, particularly diesel exhaust pollution, accounts for over one-quarter of the total hazardous pollution in the air.

Among these diesel emission components, particulate matter has been a serious concern for human health due to its direct and broad impact on the respiratory organs. In earlier times, health professionals associated PM10 (diameter < 10 μm) with chronic lung disease, lung cancer, influenza, asthma, and increased mortality rate. However, recent scientific studies suggest that these correlations be more closely linked with fine particles (PM2.5) and ultra-fine particles (PM0.1).

Long-term exposure to urban air pollution containing soot increases the risk of coronary artery disease.

Diesel exhaust (DE) gas is a major contributor to combustion-derived particulate-matter air pollution. In human experimental studies using an exposure chamber setup, DE has been linked to acute vascular dysfunction and increased thrombus formation. This serves as a plausible mechanistic link between the previously described association between particulate matter air pollution and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Soot also tends to form in chimneys in domestic houses possessing one or more fireplaces. If a large deposit collects in one, it can ignite and create a chimney fire. Regular cleaning by a chimney sweep should eliminate the problem.

Soot modeling
Soot mechanism is difficult to model mathematically because of the large number of primary components of diesel fuel, complex combustion mechanisms, and the heterogeneous interactions during soot formation. Soot models are broadly categorized into three subgroups: empirical (equations that are adjusted to match experimental soot profiles), semi-empirical (combined mathematical equations and some empirical models which used for particle number density and soot volume and mass fraction), and detailed theoretical mechanisms (covers detailed chemical kinetics and physical models in all phases).

First, empirical models use correlations of experimental data to predict trends in soot production. Empirical models are easy to implement and provide excellent correlations for a given set of operating conditions. However, empirical models cannot be used to investigate the underlying mechanisms of soot production. Therefore, these models are not flexible enough to handle changes in operating conditions. They are only useful for testing previously established designed experiments under specific conditions.

Second, semi-empirical models solve rate equations that are calibrated using experimental data. Semi-empirical models reduce computational costs primarily by simplifying the chemistry in soot formation and oxidation. Semi-empirical models reduce the size of chemical mechanisms and use simpler molecules, such as acetylene as precursors. Detailed theoretical models use extensive chemical mechanisms containing hundreds of chemical reactions in order to predict concentrations of soot. Detailed theoretical soot models contain all the components present in the soot formation with a high level of detailed chemical and physical processes.

Finally, comprehensive models (detailed models) are usually expensive and slow to compute, as they are much more complex than empirical or semi-empirical models. Thanks to recent technological progress in computation, it has become more feasible to use detailed theoretical models and obtain more realistic results; however, further advancement of comprehensive theoretical models is limited by the accuracy of modeling of formation mechanisms.

Additionally, phenomenological models have found wide use recently. Phenomenological soot models, which may be categorized as semi-empirical models, correlate empirically observed phenomena in a way that is consistent with the fundamental theory, but is not directly derived from the theory. These models use sub-models developed to describe the different processes (or phenomena) observed during the combustion process. Examples of sub-models of phenomenological empirical models include spray model, lift-off model, heat release model, ignition delay model, etc. These sub-models can be empirically developed from observation or by using basic physical and chemical relations. Phenomenological models are accurate for their relative simplicity. They are useful, especially when the accuracy of the model parameters is low. Unlike empirical models, phenomenological models are flexible enough to produce reasonable results when multiple operating conditions change.

Applications
Historically soot was used in manufacturing artistic paints and shoe polish, as well as a blackener for Russia leather for boots. With the advent of the printing press it was used in the printing ink well into the 20th century. In modern technical applications it is referred to as "carbon black".

title: Soot