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Presbyopia

Presbyopia is physiological insufficiency of accommodation associated with the aging of the eye that results in progressively worsening ability to focus clearly on close objects. Also known as age-related farsightedness (or age-related long sight in the UK ), it affects many adults over the age of 40. A common sign of presbyopia is difficulty reading small print which results in having to hold reading material farther away. Other symptoms associated can be headaches and eyestrain. Different people will have different degrees of problems. Other types of refractive errors may exist at the same time as presbyopia. This condition is similar to hypermetropia or far-sightedness which starts in childhood and exhibits similar symptoms of blur in the vision for close objects.

Presbyopia is a typical part of the aging process. It occurs due to age related changes in the lens (decreased elasticity and increased hardness) and ciliary muscle (decreased strength and ability to move the lens), causing the eye to focus right behind rather than on the retina when looking at close objects. It is a type of refractive error along with nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Diagnosis is by an eye examination.

Presbyopia can be corrected using glasses, contact lenses, multifocal intraocular lenses, or LASIK (PresbyLASIK) surgery. The most common treatment is glass correction using appropriate convex lens. Glasses used to correct presbyopia may be simple reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lens.

People over 40 are at risk for developing presbyopia and all people become affected to some degree. Around 25% of people (1.8 billion globally) are currently affected.

Signs and symptoms
The first symptoms most people notice are difficulty reading fine print, particularly in low light conditions, eyestrain when reading for long periods, blurring of near objects or temporarily blurred vision when changing the viewing distance. Many extreme presbyopes complain that their arms have become "too short" to hold reading material at a comfortable distance.

Presbyopia, like other focal imperfections, becomes less noticeable in bright sunlight when the pupil becomes smaller. As with any lens, increasing the focal ratio of the lens increases depth of field by reducing the level of blur of out-of-focus objects (compare the effect of aperture on depth of field in photography).

The onset of presbyopia varies among those with certain professions and those with miotic pupils. In particular, farmers and homemakers seek correction later, whereas service workers and construction workers seek correction earlier. Scuba divers with interest in underwater photography may notice presbyopic changes while diving before they recognize the symptoms in their normal routines due to the near focus in low light conditions.

Interaction with myopia
People with low near-sightedness can read comfortably without eyeglasses or contact lenses even after age forty, but higher myopes might require two pairs of glasses (one for distance, one for near), bifocal, or progressive lenses. However, their myopia does not disappear and the long-distance visual challenges remain. Myopes considering refractive surgery are advised that surgically correcting their nearsightedness may be a disadvantage after age forty, when the eyes become presbyopic and lose their ability to accommodate or change focus, because they will then need to use glasses for reading. Myopes with low astigmatism find near vision better, though not perfect, without glasses or contact lenses when presbyopia sets in, but the more astigmatism, the poorer the uncorrected near vision.

A surgical technique offered is to create a "reading eye" and a "distance vision eye", a technique commonly used in contact lens practice, known as monovision. Monovision can be created with contact lenses, so candidates for this procedure can determine if they are prepared to have their corneas reshaped by surgery to cause this effect permanently.

Mechanism
The cause of presbyopia is lens hardening by decreasing levels of -crystallin, a process which may be sped up by higher temperatures. It results in a near point greater than $25 cm$ (or equivalently, less than 4 diopters).

In optics, the closest point at which an object can be brought into focus by the eye is called the eye's near point. A standard near point distance of $25 cm$ is typically assumed in the design of optical instruments, and in characterizing optical devices such as magnifying glasses.

There is some confusion over how the focusing mechanism of the eye works. In the 1977 book, Eye and Brain, for example, the lens is said to be suspended by a membrane, the 'zonula', which holds it under tension. The tension is released, by contraction of the ciliary muscle, to allow the lens to become more round, for close vision. This implies the ciliary muscle, which is outside the zonula, must be circumferential, contracting like a sphincter, to slacken the tension of the zonula pulling outwards on the lens. This is consistent with the fact that our eyes seem to be in the 'relaxed' state when focusing at infinity, and also explains why no amount of effort seems to enable a myopic person to see farther away.

The ability to focus on near objects declines throughout life, from an accommodation of about 20 dioptres (ability to focus at $50 mm$ away) in a child, to 10 dioptres at age 25 ($100 mm$), and levels off at 0.5 to 1 dioptre at age 60 (ability to focus down to $1 metres$ only). The expected, maximum, and minimum amplitudes of accommodation in diopters (D) for a corrected patient of a given age can be estimated using Hofstetter's formulas: expected amplitude (D) = 18.5 − 0.3 × (age in years); maximum amplitude (D) = 25 − 0.4 × (age in years); minimum amplitude (D) = 15 − 0.25 × (age in years).

Diagnosis
A basic eye exam, which includes a refraction assessment and an eye health exam, is used to diagnose presbyopia.

Treatment
In the visual system, images captured by the eye are translated into electric signals that are transmitted to the brain where they are interpreted. As such, in order to overcome presbyopia, two main components of the visual system can be addressed: image capturing by the optical system of the eye and image processing in the brain.

Image capturing in the eye
Solutions for presbyopia have advanced significantly in recent years due to widened availability of optometry care and over-the-counter vision correction options.

Corrective lenses
Corrective lenses provide vision correction over a range as high as +4.0 diopters. People with presbyopia require a convex lens for reading glasses; specialized preparations of convex lenses usually require the services of an optometrist.

Contact lenses can also be used to correct the focusing loss that comes along with presbyopia. Multifocal contact lenses can be used to correct vision for both the near and the far. Some people choose contact lenses to correct one eye for near and one eye for far with a method called monovision.

Surgery
Refractive surgery has been done to create multifocal corneas. PresbyLASIK, a type of multifocal corneal ablation LASIK procedure may be used to correct presbyopia. Results are, however, more variable and some people have a decrease in visual acuity. Concerns with refractive surgeries for presbyopia include people's eyes changing with time. Other side effects of multifocal corneal ablation include postoperative glare, halos, ghost images, and monocular diplopia.

Image processing in the brain
A number of studies have claimed improvements in near visual acuity by the use of training protocols based on perceptual learning and requiring the detection of briefly presented low-contrast Gabor stimuli; study participants with presbyopia were enabled to read smaller font sizes and to increase their reading speed.

Eye drops
Pilocarpine, eye drops that constrict the pupil, has been approved by the FDA for presbyopia. Research on other drugs is in progress. Eye drops intended to restore lens elasticity are also being investigated.

Etymology
The term is from πρέσβυς and ὤψ ( GEN ὠπός).

History
The condition was mentioned as early as the writings of Aristotle in the 4th century BC. Glass lenses first came into use for the problem in the late 13th century.

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

title: Presbyopia


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Talk:Little Ice Age

Freudian melting pot
Communities often lashed out via violent crimes, including robbery and murder.

This sentence is unciteable. You might find a citation for gang rape, but you won't find a citation for the communal id charged with theft over. — MaxEnt 15:44, 16 April 2023 (UTC)

Biased chart
What a biased chart you have. Medieval warm period colder than years before? :) It was well written in ClimateGate emails that they make an additional work to lower the temperatures in "Medieval warm period", so current GW would more alarming. Biased chart, biased science. 95.103.178.167 (talk) 07:26, 10 May 2023 (UTC)
 * The so-called climategate "conspiracy" was proven in multiple studies to have involved no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct. — RCraig09 (talk) 13:30, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

Misplaced chart.
It seems rather inappropriate for the introduction to have a chart asserting what the little ice age is not, rather than some sort of graphic describing what the little ice age is. 2600:4040:B506:FC00:909F:AF32:58:AE52 (talk) 00:24, 1 July 2023 (UTC)
 * The chart (you're apparently referring to this chart), shows what the LIA was. The chart's caption explains away a common misperception (what the LIA was not). — RCraig09 (talk) 03:58, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

The invention of reliable weather thermometers
It is common knowledge that during most of the era refered to as The Little Ice Age, that weather thermometers did not exist. It wasn't until 1724 that Gabriel Fahrenheit invented a thermometer, using mercury and inscribed sufficient to maintain temperature records from diverse locations.

So if attempting to prove or disprove "Climate Change" in the modern era, researchers do not have an accurate record of "normal" or mean temperatures as they existed before the advent of "The Little Ice Age". Physical evidence in various forms that all require interpretation, but not approaching the accuracy of data used in the modern era to measure and make temperature charts previous to those recorded in Central England. So it is impossible to prove just how much warmer it was before the cooling took place.Bicketcharge (talk) 03:35, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Scientists use indirect temperature measurements like ice cores, corals and tree rings, called proxies, for periods before instrumental temperature records became available. See the scientific sourcing provided at File:Common Era Temperature.svg. Talk Pages are used to suggest specific changes or additions to articles, provided the changes or additions are reliably sourced. — RCraig09 (talk) 03:53, 13 August 2023 (UTC)

Thermometers
Were the thermometers is use at the time made with mercury ? Kensington-Philly (talk) 18:19, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

 * To answer your question, No Thermometers during thid time period weren't made with Mercury, as Mercury wouldn't be used in Thermometers until the late 17th and early 18th century. according to the National library of Medicine, Thermometers during this time period were made in the same method in which a bulb and tube, but the bulb was filled with Alcohol. Historysgrad224 (talk) 21:41, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

The article says ice age, not the "Little Ice Age" text, but I think it should say glacial period
The Earth is in a 2.56 million-year ice age named the Quaternary Glaciation. The ice age is composed of about 90,000 year glacial periods that alternate with about 10,000 year interglacial periods, such as the current Holocene interglacial period that has in effect for the past 11,700 years. If something is in the 2.56 million-year time frame it is either in a glacial period or an interglacial period. For the Quaternary Glaciation to end all natural ice on Earth will have to melt. Scvblwxq (talk) 03:12, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Of the 176 uses of "Ice Age" in the article, the first 30 (all I could be bothered to check) all say "Little Ice Age" except the 2nd sentence, which reads "It was not a true ice age of global extent", so I think your "The article says ice age, not the "Little Ice Age" text [?]" is just incorrect (as well as ungrammatical and unclear). "Little Ice Age" is an established term, used by many sources, and I suspect predating the contemporary terminology. Johnbod (talk) 04:57, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Little Ice Age


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Jacob's Ladder (1990 film)

Jacob's Ladder is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, produced by Alan Marshall and written by Bruce Joel Rubin. The film stars Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer, an American postman whose experiences before and during his military service in Vietnam result in strange, fragmentary visions and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him. As his ordeal worsens, Jacob desperately attempts to figure out the truth. The film's supporting cast includes Elizabeth Peña and Danny Aiello.

Jacob's Ladder was made by Carolco Pictures ten years after being written by Rubin. Despite only being moderately successful upon its release, the film garnered a cult following, and its plot and special effects became a source of influence for various other works, such as the Silent Hill video game series. The film's remake by the same title was released in 2019.

Plot
On October 6, 1971, American infantryman Jacob Singer is with the 1st Air Cavalry Division, deployed in a village in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, when his close-knit unit comes under sudden attack. As many of Jacob's comrades are killed or wounded, others exhibit abnormal behavior with some suffering catatonia, convulsions, and seizures. Jacob flees into the jungle, only to be stabbed with a bayonet by an unseen assailant.

Jacob awakens in the New York City Subway, where, after glimpsing what he believes to be a tentacle protruding from a sleeping homeless person, an inexplicably locked subway station exit results in him almost being hit by a train. The year is 1975, he works as a postal worker, and lives in a rundown apartment in Brooklyn with his girlfriend, Jezebel. Jacob misses his old family and experiences visions of them, especially the youngest of his sons, Gabe, who had died in an accident before the war. Jacob is increasingly beset by disturbing experiences and apparitions, including glimpses of faceless vibrating figures, and narrowly escapes being run over by a pursuing car. He attempts to contact his regular doctor at the local VA hospital, but after being told that there is no record of him ever being a patient there, Jacob is told that his doctor has died in a car explosion.

At a party thrown by friends, a psychic reads Jacob's palm and tells him that he is already dead, which Jacob dismisses as a joke. After declining to dance with her, he appears to witness an enormous creature penetrating Jezebel before he collapses. At home, Jacob experiences a dangerous fever, which Jezebel attempts to bring down with a painful ice bath. Jacob briefly wakes up in another reality where he lives with his wife and sons, including a still-alive Gabe. First-person perspective scenes of apparent flashbacks to his time in Vietnam show Jacob, badly wounded, being discovered by American soldiers before being evacuated under fire in a helicopter that is then shot down.

One of Jacob's former platoon mates, Paul, contacts him to reveal he is suffering from similar experiences, but is soon afterwards killed when his car explodes. Commiserating after the funeral, other surviving members of the platoon confess that they have all been experiencing horrifying hallucinations. Believing that they are suffering the effects of a military experiment performed on them without their knowledge or consent, they hire a lawyer to investigate. However, the lawyer quits the case after reading military files documenting that the soldiers were never in combat and were discharged for psychological reasons. Jacob's comrades soon back down while Jacob suspects they have been threatened into doing so. He is abducted by suited men who try to intimidate him. Jacob fights them and escapes but is injured and nearly paralyzed in the process. He is taken to a nightmarish hospital, where he is told he has been killed and this is his home, but his chiropractor friend Louis comes to his rescue and heals him. Louis quotes the 14th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart:

"Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: 'The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you', he said. 'They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and ... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.'"

Jacob is approached by a distressed man who had been following him from a distance and who also dragged him away from Paul's burning car. Introducing himself as Michael Newman, he tells a story of having been a chemist with the Army's chemical warfare division where he designed a drug he called the Ladder, which massively increased aggression. Michael claims that, to test the drug's effectiveness, a dose was secretly given to Jacob's unit before the battle, causing some of them to turn on each other in a homicidal frenzy. Michael's story triggers a vision of Jacob wounded in Vietnam, which shows his attacker as a fellow American soldier. Jacob returns to his family's home, where he finds Gabe, who takes him by the hand and leads him up the staircase into a bright light. The scene turns to a triage tent in 1971 as military medics declare Jacob dead, commenting that he had put up a tremendous fight to stay alive but now looks peaceful in death.

Cast

 * Tim Robbins as Jacob "Professor" Singer
 * Elizabeth Peña as Jezebel "Jezzie" Pipkin
 * Danny Aiello as Louis "Louie" Denardo
 * Matt Craven as Michael Newman
 * Pruitt Taylor Vince as Paul Gruneger
 * Jason Alexander as Mr. Geary
 * Patricia Kalember as Sarah Singer
 * Eriq La Salle as Frank
 * Ving Rhames as George
 * Brian Tarantina as Doug
 * Lewis Black as Jacob's doctor
 * Macaulay Culkin as Gabriel "Gabe" Singer

Production
The film's title refers to the Biblical story of Jacob's Ladder, or the dream of a meeting place between Heaven and Earth (Genesis 28:12). Its little-known alternative title is Dante's Inferno, in a reference to Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Screenwriter and co-producer Bruce Joel Rubin perceived the film as a modern interpretation of the Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State, the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Rubin said: "The inspiration in a sense is my entire spiritual upbringing. Once you have a meditative life you start to see that the world is really far different than what it appears to be. What appears to be finite is really couched in the infinite, and the infinite imbues everything in our lives." Before writing his scripts for Jacob's Ladder and Ghost, which too was released in 1990, the Jewish-born Rubin spent two years in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal; previously, he had also written afterlife-themed Brainstorm and Deadly Friend.

Rubin's work on Jacob's Ladder began in 1980, sparked by his nightmare in which he dreamt about being trapped in a New York City Subway station. For several years, Rubin tried to sell the script, without success. He was immediately given offers from studios specializing in low-budget horror productions, but insisted on holding out in favor of better funded studios and directors. The script began attracting attention after getting listed as one of American Film magazine's top ten unproduced screenplays. Thom Mount of Universal Pictures said he "loved it, but it was not for his studio". Directors Michael Apted, Sidney Lumet and Ridley Scott all expressed an interest in making the film, but still no major studio was ready to invest in Rubin's "too metaphysical" stories as "Hollywood does not make ghost movies". Eventually, after Deadly Friend was filmed by Wes Craven in 1986, Rubin's screenplays for both Jacob's Ladder and Ghost were picked by Paramount Pictures. In 1988, Adrian Lyne, who described Rubin's work as "certainly one of the best scripts I've ever read", decided then to direct it instead of an adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities as he had originally planned (incidentally, Tom Hanks, an actor originally considered by Lyne for the role of Jacob, ended up starring in Bonfire). The ownership and policy changes at Paramount resulted in the cancellation of the project; the executives had doubts about the film's ending and the scenes taking place in Vietnam. The independent film studio Carolco Pictures decided to take over the production of Jacob's Ladder, giving Lyne a greater creative control and a budget of $25 million. Rubin became the film's co-producer, along with Mario Kassar, Alan Marshall and Andrew G. Vajna.

Lyne, who downplayed Rubin's "intimidating" Old Testament themes, said that he prepared for making the film by watching "endless" documentary films about the war in Vietnam and reading "countless" chronicles of near-death experiences. The film's plot device of a long period of subjective time passing in an instant has been explored by several authors. A particularly strong inspiration for both Rubin and Lyne was Robert Enrico's 1962 short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, one of Lyne's favorite films, which was in turn based on Ambrose Bierce's 1890 short story of the same title. Cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball based the film's dream sequences on the art of Francis Bacon.

Tim Robbins and Elizabeth Peña were among the first actors to audition for the roles of Jacob and Jezzie, but Carolco Pictures initially demanded more established stars in the role. Dustin Hoffman, Richard Gere, and Al Pacino were considered for the role of Jacob while Andie MacDowell, Julia Roberts, Demi Moore, and Madonna were considered for the role of Jezzie. Lyne ultimately decided to cast Robbins and Peña anyway. Cast in the role of Jacob, Tim Robbins said the film presented for him "a great opportunity to go in a different direction. I love doing comedy, but I know I can do other things as well."

Filming began in New York City on September 11, 1989, and took place on location in Staten Island, Queens, and Brooklyn. Jacob and Jezzie's apartment was filmed on a soundstage in West 23rd Street, while the subway dream sequences were shot on an abandoned level of Bergen Street station. The Seaview Hospital of Staten Island; the Essex County Veterans Courthouse of Newark, New Jersey; and Madison Square Garden were also featured as locations in the film. The film's military advisor was Vietnam veteran Captain Dale Dye, who provided a five-day boot camp military training for the actors playing soldiers in the Vietnam storyline (including Robbins, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Eriq La Salle and Ving Rhames). The war scenes were filmed in the jungles near Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, featuring the UH-1 helicopters provided by the Puerto Rico National Guard. Filming concluded at Tortuguero Lagoon in January 1990 with a $40 million budget.

All of the film's special effect sequences were filmed in camera, with no use of post production effects. In several scenes of Jacob's Ladder, Lyne used a body horror technique in which an actor is recorded shaking his head around at a low frame rate, resulting in horrifically fast motion when played back. In the Special Edition's commentary track, Lyne said he was inspired by the art of the painter Francis Bacon when developing the effect. In his screenplay, Rubin used traditional imagery of demons and hell. However, Lyne decided to use images similar to thalidomide deformities to achieve a greater shock effect. After many heated arguments, Lyne managed to convert Rubin to his vision. Lyne and Rubin used the works of the artist H. R. Giger and the photographers Diane Arbus and Joel-Peter Witkin for inspiration; another influence came from the Brothers Quay's 1986 stop motion short film Street of Crocodiles.

In the film, Jacob is told by Michael that the horrific events he experienced on his final day in Vietnam were the product of an experimental drug called "the Ladder", which was used on troops without their knowledge. At the end of the film, a message is displayed saying that reports of testing of BZ, NATO code for a deliriant and hallucinogen known as 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, on U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War were denied by the Pentagon. Lyne said a part of the inspiration for this motif was Martin A. Lee's book Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and Sixties Rebellion, but noted that "nothing in the book suggests that the drug BZ—a super-hallucinogen that has a tendency to elicit maniac behavior—was used on U.S. troops."

According to Lyne's audio commentary, test screenings indicated that the initial version of the film was overwhelming for the audience. In response, about 20 minutes of disturbing scenes, mostly from the last third of the film, were removed from the final cut.

Theatrical release
Jacob's Ladder opened on November 2, 1990, distributed by TriStar Pictures. Jacob's Ladder: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with the music by Maurice Jarre was released by Varèse Sarabande in 1993 and then by Waxwork Records in March 2020 on a single LP. Rubin's companion book, released by Applause Theater Book Publishers on the same day as the film, features a final draft of the screenplay, including the deleted scenes, and his essay on making of the screenplay and the film.

Home media
The Special Edition DVD was released by Artisan Entertainment on July 14, 1998, containing three deleted scenes ("Jezzie's Transformation", "The Antidote" and "The Train Station") along with several other special features, such as audio commentary by Adrian Lyne and a 26-minute making-of documentary "Building Jacob's Ladder". On September 14, 2010, the film was released on Blu-ray Disc by Lions Gate Entertainment and retains all of the special features of the DVD version, along with two promotional trailers, omitting only a TV spot that came with the DVD.

Box office
The film took the number one spot at the weekend box office in North America, garnering ticket sales of $7.5 million from 1,052 screens. However, the attendance dropped fast and its overall domestic box office result was only $26,118,851.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 68 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus reads: "Even with its disorienting leaps of logic and structure, Jacob's Ladder is an engrossing, nerve-shattering experience". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that watching it left him "reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair," and called it a "thoroughly painful and depressing experience — but, it must be said, one that has been powerfully written, directed and acted." He awarded the film three and a half out of a possible four stars. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that this "slick, riveting, viscerally scary film about what in other hands would be a decidedly unsalable subject, namely death," is "both quaint and devastating."

Desson Thomson of The Washington Post felt disappointed with the film that is "ultimately flat on its surrealistic face, the victim of too many fake-art sequences." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Jacob's Ladder is so 'dark' it sucks Robbins right down with it. By the time Jacob is being strapped to a bed and wheeled down a hospital corridor strewn with bloody limbs, it's hard to care whether the Orwellian image is a hallucination or not. You just want out." Kim Newman called the film "effectively the blunt remake" of Carnival of Souls.

According to IGN's review of the DVD release in 2004, "After movies like Se7en, it may not pack the same subtle horror for today's audiences it did when it was first released, but it's still a great film." IGN's review of Jacob's Ladder's 2010 Blu-ray release called it "an emotionally poignant, creepy horror masterpiece." According to Slant Magazine, Jacob's Ladder is "a bizarrely cohesive hybrid of war movie, character study, art film, and horror flick" and "the very act of watching the film is so emotionally draining that the viewer leaves the film feeling worked-in; the thought of repeat viewings is daunting yet insatiable." John Kenneth Muir called the film's nightmarish hospital scene "one of the most terrifying moments in all of 1990s horror cinema." Muir further wrote: "In its musings about death, about the end we all fear, Jacob's Ladder proves a deeply affecting and meaningful motion picture. After a screening, you'll immediately want to hug the people you love and then go outside and breathe the fresh air, or otherwise affirm your very existence."

Rubin's script was included on the list of "Hollywood's ten best unproduced screenplays" by American Film magazine in 1983. In 1991, Jacob's Ladder was nominated at Horror Hall of Fame II for best horror film of the year, losing to The Silence of the Lambs. The film was also featured in Bravo's 2004 documentary miniseries The 100 Scariest Movie Moments and in the 2009 book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. In 2013, the Jacob Burns Film Center projectionist Andrew Robinson chose it as his favorite scary movie. LA Weekly and Letterboxd list this movie as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre.

Legacy
Jacob's Ladder greatly inspired the horror franchise Silent Hill, including the video games Silent Hill (1999), Silent Hill 2 (2001), Silent Hill 3 (2003), Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004), and Silent Hill: Homecoming (2008), as well as the series' 2006 film adaptation by Christophe Gans. The film's influence on their works was also recognized by Ryan Murphy, writer of the 2011 TV series American Horror Story: Asylum, and by Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series and director of the 2014 video game The Evil Within. Kim Manners prepared for directing The X-Files episode "Grotesque" by listening to the music from Jacob's Ladder. The music video for the 2010 song "Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold is a homage to the famous hospital scene from the film, chosen by the director Wayne Isham, because the band's deceased drummer The Rev was a fan of the film. Director Christopher Nolan has said that Jacob's Ladder, specifically its use of abstract imagery, was an influence on his 2023 film Oppenheimer.

Jacob's Ladder as a film is directly referred to in Silent Hill 2 and especially Silent Hill 3. Other references to the film itself include the mentions in the 2002 The Twilight Zone episode "Night Route" (dialog ) and the 2010 The Simpsons episode "The Squirt and the Whale" (visual). Rick and Morty references the film in the 2020 episode "Never Ricking Morty" with a flashback when Morty stabs Rick with a bayonet, reminiscent of what happens to the main protagonist at the beginning of the film.

In music, Claytown Troupe used a sample of Michael's quote 'It's a fast trip ... ' at the beginning of the track "Rainbow's Edge" from their 1991 album Out There. UNKLE sampled dialogue from the film in their 1998 "Rabbit in Your Headlights" and again in 2003 in "Inside". VNV Nation's track "Forsaken" from the 1998 album Praise the Fallen ends with the quotation from Eckhart. "Devils" from IVardensphere's 2011 album APOK begins with the same quotation. A sample of Jacob's cry 'Stop it, you're killing me!' is used in "Next in Line" from Nevermore's 1996 album The Politics of Ecstasy.

The film's possible influence can be arguably seen in many other works ranging from M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 hit psychological horror film The Sixth Sense to Peter Arnett's controversial 1998 CNN report "Valley of Death" about the 1970 Operation Tailwind. Jeff Millar of Houston Chronicle wrote that Giuseppe Tornatore's 1994 psychological thriller A Pure Formality uses the plot device of Jacob's Ladder mixed with several other sources. According to Premiere, Massy Tadjedin's 2005 psychological thriller The Jacket "is a film for those who don't remember Jacob's Ladder, perhaps for someone like Jacob himself," as it "resembles Jacob's Ladder too much for its own good."

Remake
A remake directed by David M. Rosenthal and written by Jeff Buhler, Sarah Thorp and Jake Wade Wall was released in 2019, to negative reception. The film stars Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams, Nicole Beharie, Karla Souza, and Guy Burnet.

title: Jacob's Ladder (1990 film)


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Ernesto Geisel

Ernesto Beckmann Geisel (, ; 3 August 1907 – 12 September 1996) was a Brazilian Army officer and politician, who was President of Brazil from 1974 to 1979, during the Brazilian military dictatorship.

Early life and family
Ernesto Geisel was born in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul province. His father was Guilherme Augusto Geisel (born Wilhelm August Geisel), a German teacher from Herborn who immigrated to the Empire of Brazil in 1883 at age 16. His mother was the homemaker Lydia Beckmann, born in Brazil in Teutônia, to German parents from Osnabrück.

In Bento Gonçalves, where Ernesto was raised, there were only two families of German origin (Geisels and Drehers), and most of the population was composed of Italian immigrants. Remembering the contact with the local Italian immigrants during his childhood Geisel described the cultural contrasts between the strict and rigorous education that his German parents imposed compared to the freedom and more relaxed way of life of his Italian friends had that he admired.

Geisel was raised in a Lutheran family, they belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, and his grandfather was a priest. He claimed to come from a relatively poor family of lower middle class. At home, Geisel spoke German as well as Portuguese because his father, who spoke Portuguese so well that he became a teacher of that language, did not want his children to speak Portuguese with a foreign accent. As an adult, Geisel reported that he was able to understand German but could not write it and had some difficulty speaking it.

Geisel married Lucy Markus, the daughter of an army colonel, in 1940. They had a daughter, Amália Lucy (later a university professor), and a son, Orlando, from whose 1957 death in a train accident Geisel never completely recovered. His widow died in an automobile accident in March 2000.

Military career
Geisel along with his brother Orlando (1905–1979, who would be Minister of Army in Emílio Garrastazu Médici's government), entered the army in 1921 and in 1925 was the first of his class when he graduated from the Military High School of Porto Alegre. He acquired higher military education at the Military School of Realengo, and graduated it in 1928 as the first in his class and joined artillery unit as an Aspirante. Promoted to lieutenant in 1930.

Geisel witnessed and participated in the most prominent events of Brazilian history in the 20th century, such as the Revolution of 1930, the Getúlio Vargas dictatorship of Estado Novo and its overthrow in 1945. Geisel was military attache in Uruguay (1946–47).

Promoted to brigadier-general in 1960, Geisel participated in the 1964 military coup d'état that overthrew the leftist president João Goulart. Geisel was an important figure during the coup and became Chief of the Military Staff of President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco from 1964 until 1967.

In 1964 he was promoted to Lieutenant-General and in 1966 to the highest 4-star General de exército rank. In 1969 he was made president of the state-owned oil company Petrobras.

Presidency (1974–1979)
In 1973, President Emílio Garrastazu Médici selected Geisel to be his successor as the president. There had been intense behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the hard-liners against him and by the more moderate supporters of Castelo Branco for him. Fortunately for Geisel, his older brother, Orlando Geisel was the Minister of Army, and his close ally General João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo the chief of Médici's military staff.

At that time the president of Brazil was chosen by the military command and then approved by the Congress to keep up the appearance of democracy. However, since the pro-military party, the National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA), had an overwhelming majority in Congress, the military's chosen candidate could not possibly be defeated. For the first time during the era of military rule, the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) actually put up a candidate in the person of longtime deputy Ulysses Guimarães. When Guimarães accepted the nomination, he decided to run an "anticandidacy" for president, knowing that Geisel's victory was a foregone conclusion. As expected, Geisel was elected by a vast majority (400-76, with 21 blank votes and six abstentions) and was inaugurated on March 15, 1974 for a five-year mandate.

Economy
During the Brazilian Miracle from 1968 to 1973, the Brazilian economy had grown at a rate of more than 10% per year, the fastest in the world. But due to the oil shock crisis in 1974, development fell to 5–6% per year. Because much of the country's oil had to be imported, Brazil's foreign debt began to rise. This strategy was effective in promoting growth, but it also raised Brazil's import requirements markedly, increasing the already large current-account deficit. The current account was financed by running up the foreign debt. The expectation was that the combined effects of import substitution industrialization and export expansion eventually would bring about growing trade surpluses, allowing the service and repayment of the foreign debt.

President Geisel sought to maintain high economic growth rates, while dealing with the effects of the 1973 oil crisis. He maintained massive investments in infrastructure – highways, telecommunications, hydroelectric dams, mineral extraction, factories, and atomic energy. Fending off nationalist objections, he opened Brazil to oil prospecting by foreign firms for the first time since the early 1950s.

Relaxation of dictatorship
Geisel adopted a more moderate stance with regards to political opposition. Together with his Chief of Staff, Minister Golbery do Couto e Silva Geisel devised a plan of gradual, slow democratization that would eventually succeed despite all the threats and opposition from hard-liners. He replaced several regional commanders with trusted officers and labeled his political program abertura and distensão, meaning a gradual relaxation of authoritarian rule. It would be, in his words, "the maximum of development possible with the minimum of indispensable security.". In 1974 elections opposition won more votes than before. However, the torture of regime's left-wing and Communist opponents by DOI-CODI was still ongoing, as demonstrated by the 1975 murder of Vladimir Herzog.

In 1977 and 1978, the presidential succession issue caused further political confrontation between Geisel and hard-liners. Noting that Brazil was only a "relative democracy," Geisel attempted in April 1977 to restrain the growing strength of the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party by allowing other opposition parties to run, thereby splitting the opposition vote. In October, he dismissed far-right Minister of Army, General Sylvio Couto Coelho da Frota, who had tried to become a candidate.

In 1978 Geisel had to deal with the first labor strikes since 1964 and electoral victories of the opposition MDB. In late December 1978 he announced the end of the authoritarian Institutional Act 5, allowed exiled citizens to return, restored habeas corpus and full political rights, repealed the extraordinary powers of the president, and planned the indirect election of General João Figueiredo as his successor.

In 2018, an unearthed CIA memorandum from 11 April 1974 sent by William Colby to U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger details the summary executions of over 100 "subversives" which were personally authorized by Ernesto Geisel himself.

Foreign policy
In his 5 years of government, Geisel adopted a more pragmatic foreign policy. Despite being a conservative and deeply anti-communist, Geisel made significant overtures towards the communist bloc. Brazil established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and socialist-led governments of Angola and Mozambique, signaling a growing distance between Brasília and Washington. Although both countries remained allies, Geisel was keen to seek new alliances and, more importantly, new economic opportunities in other parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia.

Brazil shifted its foreign policy to meet its economic needs. "Responsible pragmatism" replaced strict alignment with the United States and a worldview based on ideological frontiers and blocs of nations. Because Brazil was 80% dependent on imported oil, Geisel shifted the country from a critical support of Israel to a more neutral stance on Middle Eastern affairs. Brazil moved closer to Latin America, Europe and Japan.

The 1975 agreement with West Germany to build nuclear reactors produced confrontation with the Carter administration, which also scolded the Geisel government for abusing human rights. Frustrated with what he saw as the highhandedness and lack of understanding of the Carter administration, Geisel renounced the military alliance with the United States in April 1977.

Foreign honours

 * Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (French Republic, 26 April 1976)
 * Order_of_the_Bath_(ribbon).svg Honorary Knight Grand Cross of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (United Kingdom, 4 May 1976)
 * JPN Daikun'i kikkasho BAR.svg Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japan, 10 September 1976)
 * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Cross BAR.svg Grand Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (Portuguese Republic, 1 June 1977)
 * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Cross BAR.png Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (Portuguese Republic, 13 February 1979)

title: Ernesto Geisel


text:
Talk:Yuri Gagarin

Propaganda Jargon
The early part of the biography smells a bit like BS. Typical propaganda jargon from the period. Can we please remove that? After all Gagarin can't talk back any longer. 105.4.6.55 (talk) 10:54, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes, wikipedia is an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. That's both a blessing and a curse. To avoid having an edit like the one you suggest reverted, justifying it here with e.g. WP:NPOV would be a good approach. (— 𝐬𝐝𝐒𝐝𝐬 — - talk) 11:13, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Correction for the date of birth
He was born at 1937 not 1934 2A04:241A:8400:980:79B1:C2A2:F41A:48A1 (talk) 15:04, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

 * Britannica says 1934, as does the European Space Agency, and Purdue University and New Scientist, etc. etc. What's your source? Thanks Martinevans123 (talk) 15:24, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Yuri Gagarin


text:
Jacob's Ladder (disambiguation)

Jacob's Ladder is a staircase to heaven from a dream of Jacob described in the Old Testament.

Jacob's Ladder may also refer to:

Film and television

 * Jacob's Ladder (1990 film), a horror film
 * Jacob's Ladder (2019 film), a remake of the 1990 film
 * "Jacob's Ladder", an episode of the television series Rectify

Literature

 * Jacob's Ladder (Oppenheim novel), a 1921 novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim
 * Jacob's Ladder (Keaney novel), a 2005 novel by Brian Keaney
 * Jacob's Ladder, a 1998 novel by Donald McCaig
 * Jacob's Ladder, a 2003 autobiography by Colin Mackay
 * Jacob's Ladder (Yakov's Ladder), a 2015 novel by Lyudmila Ulitskaya

Music

 * Die Jakobsleiter, an early 1920s unfinished oratorio by Arnold Schoenberg
 * Jacob's Ladder (the Filthy Tongues album)
 * Jacob's Ladder (Brad Mehldau album)

Songs

 * "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder", a traditional African American slave spiritual
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 1965 adaptation of "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder" by the Staple Singers from Freedom Highway
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 1978 song by Cedar Walton from Animation
 * "Jacob's Ladder" (Rush song) (1980)
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 1984 song by The Monochrome Set
 * "Jacob's Ladder" (Huey Lewis and the News song) (1987)
 * "Jacob's Ladder" (Mark Wills song) (1996)
 * "Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name)", a 2002 song by Chumbawamba
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 2003 song by Converge from Unloved and Weeded Out
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 2005 song by Chimp Spanner from Imperium Vorago
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 2005 song by Patrick Wolf from Wind in the Wires
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 2006 song by Fucked Up from Hidden World
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 2006 song by Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band from We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
 * "Jacob's Ladder", a 2013 song by Terence Blanchard from Magnetic

Australia

 * Jacob's Ladder, Brisbane, Queensland
 * Jacob's Ladder, a road to the top of Ben Lomond, Tasmania
 * Jacob's Ladder (Perth), Kings Park, Western Australia

New Zealand

 * Jacobs Ladder Bridge, a bridge between Westhaven and Saint Marys Bay, in Auckland

United Kingdom

 * Jacob's Ladder, Derbyshire a scenic path on Kinder Scout in the Peak District of England
 * Jacob's Ladder, a set of steps and a beach in Sidmouth, Devon, England
 * Jacob's Ladder, a scenic path in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England
 * Jacob's Ladder, a set of stone steps at Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion, Wales
 * Jacob's Ladder, a set of stone steps in Edinburgh, Scotland
 * Jacob's Ladder, a flight of granite steps in Falmouth, Cornwall
 * Jacob's Ladder, a stone staircase in Ramsgate, Kent linking the cliff top to the harbour
 * Jacob's Ladder, a concrete staircase in Aberdeen, Scotland providing access to Grandholm Bridge & Grandholm Mill from Woodside,_Aberdeen

Overseas Territories

 * Jacob's Ladder (Saint Helena), a Grade I listed staircase from Jamestown, Saint Helena, up Ladder Hill

United States

 * Jacob's Ladder, a section of U.S. Route 20 as it crosses the Berkshire Hills between the towns of Chester and Lee in western Massachusetts
 * Jacob's Ladder Trail, a hiking trail to Lone Peak in Utah's Wasatch Range

Other uses

 * Jacob's ladder (electrical), a device for producing high-voltage traveling arcs
 * Jacobs Ladder (exercise machine), a self-paced climbing machine
 * Jacob's ladder (flower), a genus of flowering plants
 * Jacob's ladder (knife), a three-part pocket knife
 * Jacob's Ladder (Moskos), a tempera painting by Elias Moskos
 * Jacob's ladder (nautical), specialized ladders used at sea
 * Jacob's ladder (toy), a folk toy consisting of blocks on strings that, when held at one end, appear to cascade down the strings
 * Jacob's ladder surface, a noncompact surface in mathematics
 * Jacobs's ladder, the European name for a solo string figure
 * Crepuscular rays or Jacob's Ladder, rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a point in the sky

title: Jacob's Ladder (disambiguation)


text:
Hans-Ulrich Rudel

Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 – 18 December 1982) was a German ground-attack pilot during World War II and a post-war neo-Nazi activist.

The most decorated German pilot of the war and the only recipient of the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, Rudel was credited with the destruction of 519 tanks, one battleship, one cruiser, 70 landing craft and 150 artillery emplacements. He claimed nine aerial victories and the destruction of more than 800 vehicles. He flew 2,530 ground-attack missions exclusively on the Eastern Front, usually flying the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber.

Rudel surrendered to US forces in 1945 and emigrated to Argentina. An unrepentant Nazi, he helped fugitives escape to Latin America and the Middle East, and sheltered Josef Mengele, the former SS doctor at Auschwitz. He worked as an arms dealer to several right-wing regimes in South America, for which he was placed under observation by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

In the West German federal election of 1953, Rudel was the top candidate for the far-right German Reich Party but was not elected. Following the fall of Perón, Rudel moved to Paraguay, where he acted as a foreign representative for several German companies.

In 1976, Rudel attended a conference in the United States with various members of the United States military and defense industry as part of the development of the A-10 Thunderbolt II; Rudel's status as a highly decorated attack aircraft pilot and particularly his experience at destroying Soviet tanks from the air was considered relevant to a potential conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Early life
Rudel was born on 2 July 1916, in Konradswaldau, in Lower Silesia, Prussia. He was the third child of Lutheran minister Johannes Rudel. As a boy, Rudel was a poor scholar but a keen sportsman. Rudel attended the humanities oriented Gymnasium, in Lauban. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1933. After graduating with Abitur in 1936, he participated in the compulsory Reich Labour Service (RAD). Following the labour service, Rudel joined the Luftwaffe in the same year and began his military career as an air reconnaissance pilot.

World War II
German forces invaded Poland in 1939 starting World War II in Europe. As an air observer, Rudel flew on long-range reconnaissance missions over Poland. During 1940, he served as a regimental adjutant for the 43rd Aviators Training Regiment, based at Vienna.

In early 1941, he underwent training as a Stuka pilot. He was posted to 1 Staffel Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2), which was moved to occupied Poland in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, in June 1941. On 21 September 1941, Rudel took part in an attack on the Soviet battleship Marat of the Baltic Fleet. Marat was sunk at her moorings on 23 September 1941 after being hit by one 1000 kg bomb near the forward superstructure. It caused the explosion of the forward magazine which demolished the superstructure and the forward part of the hull. 326 men were killed and the ship gradually settled to the bottom in 11 m of water. Her sinking is commonly credited to Rudel alone, but Rudel dropped only one of the two bombs that sank her. Rudel's unit then took part in Operation Typhoon, Army Group Center's attempt to capture the Soviet capital.

Rudel's gunner from October 1941 was Erwin Hentschel, who served with Rudel for the next two and a half years, both men earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during that period. Hentschel completed 1,400 sorties with Rudel and drowned on 21 March 1944 when they were making their way to the German lines following a forced landing.

In early 1942, Rudel got married while home on leave. Later in the year, he took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. From May 1941 to January 1942, Rudel flew 500 missions. In February 1943, Rudel flew his 1,000th combat mission, which made him into a national hero. He then participated in the experiments with using the Ju 87 G in the anti-tank role. The anti-tank unit took part in operations against the Soviet Kerch–Eltigen Operation. The footage from an onboard gun camera was used in Die Deutsche Wochenschau, a Reich Ministry of Propaganda newsreel. In April 1943, Rudel was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, receiving the Oak Leaves from Hitler personally in Berlin. Rudel participated in the Battle of Kursk with the same unit. On 12 July 1943 Rudel claimed 12 Soviet tanks in one day. In October 1943, Rudel was credited with the destruction of his 100th tank and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (one of only 160 awarded) on 25 November.

Rudel was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III. Gruppe on 22 February 1944. On 20 March, Rudel performed a forced landing behind Soviet lines and he and Hentschel (his gunner, mentioned above) escaped to the German lines. The men attempted to swim across the Dniester River but Hentschel drowned in the attempt. Upon his return, Ernst Gadermann, previously the troop doctor of III. Gruppe, joined Rudel as his new radio operator and air gunner. Rudel was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (one of only 27 awarded) on 29 March 1944, the tenth member of the Wehrmacht to receive this award. The presentation was made by Hitler personally.

Rudel was promoted to Oberstleutnant on 1 September 1944, and appointed leader of SG 2, replacing Stepp, on 1 October 1944. On 22 December 1944, Rudel completed his 2,400th combat mission, and the next day, he reported his 463rd tank destroyed. On 29 December 1944, Rudel was promoted to Oberst (colonel), and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, the only person to receive this decoration. This award, intended as one of 12 to be given as a post-war victory award for Nazi Germany, was presented to him by Hitler on 1 January 1945, four months before Nazi Germany was defeated.

On 8 February 1945, Rudel was badly wounded in the right foot, and landed inside German lines as his radio operator shouted flight instructions. Rudel's leg was amputated below the knee. He returned to flying on 25 March 1945. He claimed 26 more tanks destroyed by the end of the war. On 19 April 1945, the day before Hitler's final birthday, Rudel met with Hitler in the Führerbunker at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. On 8 May 1945, Rudel fled westward from an airfield near Prague, landing in US controlled territory, and surrendered. The Americans refused to hand him over to the Soviet Union.

Continued National Socialist activities
While Rudel had been interned, his family fled from the advancing Red Army and had found refuge with Gadermann's parents in Wuppertal. Rudel was released in April 1946 and went into private business. In 1948, he emigrated to Argentina via the ratlines, travelling via the Austrian Zillertal to Italy. In Rome, with the help of South Tyrolean smugglers, and aided by the Austrian bishop Alois Hudal, he bought himself a fake Red Cross passport with the cover name "Emilio Meier", and took a flight from Rome to Buenos Aires, where he arrived on 8 June 1948. Rudel authored books on the war, supporting the regime and attacking the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht for "failing Hitler".

In South America
After Rudel moved to Argentina, he became a close friend and confidant of the President of Argentina Juan Perón, and Paraguay's dictator Alfredo Stroessner. In Argentina, he founded the "Kameradenwerk" (lit. "comrades' agency"), a relief organization for Nazi war criminals. Prominent members of the "Kameradenwerk" included SS officer Ludwig Lienhardt, whose extradition from Sweden had been demanded by the Soviet Union on war crime charges, Kurt Christmann, a member of the Gestapo sentenced to 10 years for war crimes committed at Krasnodar, Austrian war criminal Fridolin Guth, and the German spy in Chile, August Siebrecht. The group maintained close contact with other internationally wanted fascists, such as Ante Pavelić and Carlo Scorza. In addition to these war criminals that fled to Argentina, the "Kameradenwerk" also assisted Nazi criminals imprisoned in Europe, including Rudolf Hess and Karl Dönitz, with food parcels from Argentina and sometimes by paying their legal fees. In Argentina, Rudel became acquainted with notorious Nazi concentration camp doctor and war criminal Josef Mengele. Rudel, together with Willem Sassen, a former Waffen-SS and war correspondent for the Wehrmacht, who initially worked as Rudel's driver, helped to relocate Mengele to Brazil by introducing him to Nazi supporter Wolfgang Gerhard. In 1957, Rudel and Mengele together travelled to Chile to meet with Walter Rauff, the inventor of the mobile gas chamber.

In Argentina, Rudel lived in Villa Carlos Paz, roughly 36 km from the populous Córdoba City, where he rented a house and operated a brickworks. There, Rudel wrote his wartime memoirs Trotzdem ("Nevertheless" or "In Spite of Everything"). The book was published in November 1949 by the Dürer-Verlag in Buenos Aires. Dürer-Verlag (1947–1958) issued a variety of apologia by former Nazis and their collaborators. Besides Rudel, among the early editors were Wilfred von Oven, the personal Press adjutant of Goebbels, and Naumann. Sassen convinced Adolf Eichmann to share his view on The Holocaust. Together with Eberhard Fritsch, a former Hitler Youth leader, Sassen began interviewing Eichmann in 1956 with the intent of publishing his views. The Dürer-Verlag went bankrupt in 1958.

Discussion ensued in West Germany on Rudel being allowed to publish the book, because he was a known Nazi. In the book, he supported Nazi policies. This book was later re-edited and published in the United States, as the Cold War intensified, under the title, Stuka Pilot, which supported the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Pierre Clostermann, a French fighter pilot, had befriended Rudel and wrote the foreword to the French edition of his book Stuka Pilot. In 1951, he published a pamphlet Dolchstoß oder Legende? ("Stab in the Back or Legend?"), in which he claimed that "Germany's war against the Soviet Union was a defensive war", moreover, "a crusade for the whole world". In the 1950s, Rudel befriended Savitri Devi, a writer and proponent of Hinduism and Nazism, and introduced her to a number of Nazi fugitives in Spain and the Middle East.

With the help of Perón, Rudel secured lucrative contracts with the Brazilian military. He was also active as a military adviser and arms dealer for the Bolivian regime, Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Stroessner in Paraguay. He was in contact with Werner Naumann, formerly a State Secretary in Goebbels' Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in Nazi Germany. Following the Revolución Libertadora in 1955, a military and civilian uprising that ended the second presidential term of Perón, Rudel was forced to leave Argentina and move to Paraguay. During the following years in South America, Rudel frequently acted as a foreign representative for several German companies, including Salzgitter AG, Dornier Flugzeugwerke, Focke-Wulf, Messerschmitt, Siemens and Lahmeyer International, a German consulting engineering firm.

According to the historian Peter Hammerschmidt, based on files of the German Federal Intelligence Service and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the BND, under the cover-up company "Merex", was in close contact with former SS and Nazi Party members. In 1966, Merex, represented by Walter Drück, a former Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht and BND agent, helped by the contacts established by Rudel and Sassen, sold discarded equipment of the Bundeswehr (German Federal armed forces) to various dictators in Latin America. According to Hammerschmidt, Rudel assisted in establishing contact between Merex and Friedrich Schwend, a former member of the Reich Security Main Office and involved in Operation Bernhard. Schwend, according to Hammerschmidt, had close links with the military services of Peru and Bolivia. In the early sixties, Rudel, Schwend and Klaus Barbie, founded a company called "La Estrella", the star, which employed a number of former SS officers who had fled to Latin America. Rudel, through La Estrella, was also in contact with Otto Skorzeny, who had his own network of former SS and Wehrmacht officers.

Rudel returned to West Germany in 1953 and became a leading member of the Neo-Nazi nationalist political party, the German Reich Party (Deutsche Reichspartei or DRP). In the West German federal election of 1953, Rudel was the top candidate for the DRP, but was not elected to the Bundestag. According to Josef Müller-Marein, editor-in-chief of Die Zeit, Rudel had an egocentric character. In his political speeches, Rudel made generalizing statements, claiming that he was speaking on behalf of most, if not all, former German soldiers of World War II. Rudel heavily criticized the Western Allies during World War II for not having supported Germany in its war against the Soviet Union. Rudel's political demeanor subsequently alienated him from his former comrades, foremost Gadermann. Müller-Marein concluded his article with the statement: "Rudel no longer has a Geschwader (squadron)!" In 1977, he became a spokesman for the German People's Union, a nationalist political party founded by Gerhard Frey.

Public scandals
In October 1976, Rudel inadvertently triggered a chain of events, which were later dubbed the Rudel Scandal (Rudel-Affäre). The German 51st Reconnaissance Wing, the latest unit to hold the name "Immelmann", held a reunion for members of the unit, including those from World War II. The Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Defence, Hermann Schmidt authorized the event. Fearing that Rudel would spread Nazi propaganda on the German Air Force airbase in Bremgarten near Freiburg, Schmidt ordered that the meeting could not be held at the airbase. News of this decision reached Generalleutnant Walter Krupinski, at the time commanding general of NATO's Second Allied Tactical Air Force, and a former World War II fighter pilot. Krupinski contacted Gerhard Limberg, Inspector of the Air Force, requesting that the meeting be allowed at the airbase. Limberg later confirmed Krupinski's request, and the meeting was held on Bundeswehr premises, a decision to which Schmidt still had not agreed. Rudel attended the meeting, at which he signed his book and gave a few autographs but refrained from making any political statements.

During a routine press event, journalists who had been briefed by Schmidt questioned Krupinski and his deputy Karl Heinz Franke about Rudel's presence. In this interview, the generals compared Rudel's past as a Nazi and Neo-Nazi supporter to the career of prominent Social Democrat leader Herbert Wehner, who had been a member of the German Communist Party in the 1930s, and who had lived in Moscow during World War II, where he was allegedly involved in NKVD operations. Calling Wehner an extremist, they described Rudel as an honorable man, who "hadn't stolen the family silver or anything else". When these remarks became public, the Federal Minister of Defense Georg Leber, complying with §50 of the  (Military law), ordered the generals into early retirement as of 1 November 1976. Leber, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), was heavily criticized for his actions by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposition, and the scandal contributed to the minister's subsequent retirement in early 1978. On 3 February 1977, the German Bundestag debated the scandal and its consequences. The Rudel Scandal subsequently triggered a military-tradition discussion, which the Federal Minister of Defense Hans Apel ended with the introduction of "Guidelines for Understanding and Cultivating Tradition" on 20 September 1982.

During the 1978 World Cup, held in Argentina, Rudel visited the Germany national team in its training camp in Ascochinga. The German media criticized the German Football Association, and viewed Rudel's visit as being sympathetic to the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina following the 1976 Argentine coup d'état. During the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, he visited the German team at Malmö on 8 June 1958. There he was welcomed by team manager Sepp Herberger.

Personal life, death and funeral
Rudel was married three times. His 1942 marriage to Ursula Bergmann, nicknamed "Hanne", produced two sons, Hans-Ulrich and Siegfried. They divorced in 1950. According to the news magazine Der Spiegel, one reason for the divorce was that his wife had sold some of his decorations, including the Oak Leaves with Diamonds, to an American collector, but she also refused to move to Argentina. On 27 March 1951, Der Spiegel published Ursula Rudel's denial of selling his decorations, and further stated she had no intention of doing so. Rudel married his second wife, Ursula née Daemisch, in 1965. The marriage produced his third son, Christoph, born in 1969. Rudel survived a stroke on 26 April 1970. Following his divorce in 1977, he married Ursula née Bassfeld.

Rudel died following another stroke in Rosenheim on 18 December 1982, and was buried in Dornhausen on 22 December 1982. During Rudel's burial ceremony, two Bundeswehr F-4 Phantoms appeared to make a low altitude flypast over his grave. Dornhausen was situated in the middle of a flightpath regularly flown by military aircraft, and Bundeswehr officers denied deliberately flying aircraft over the funeral. Four mourners were photographed giving Nazi salutes at the funeral, and were investigated under a law banning the display of Nazi symbols. The Federal Minister of Defence Manfred Wörner declared that the flight of the aircraft had been a normal training exercise.

Summary of military career
Rudel flew 2,530 combat missions on the Eastern Front of World War II. The majority of these were undertaken while flying the Junkers Ju 87, although 430 were flown in ground-attack variants of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. He was credited with the destruction of 519 tanks, severely damaging the battleship Marat, as well as sinking a cruiser (incomplete and heavily damaged Petropavlovsk), a destroyer (the Leningrad-class destroyer SOVIET DESTROYER Minsk) and 70 landing craft. Rudel also claimed to have destroyed more than 800 vehicles of all types, over 150 artillery, anti-tank or anti-aircraft positions, 4 armored trains, as well as numerous bridges and supply lines. Rudel was also credited with 9 aerial victories, 7 of which were fighter aircraft and 2 Ilyushin Il-2s. He was shot down or forced to land 30 times due to anti-aircraft artillery, was wounded five times and rescued six stranded aircrew from enemy-held territory.

Rudel received the following decorations:
 * Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe as Oberleutnant in a Sturzkampfgeschwader (20 October 1941)
 * Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (10 November 1939) & 1st Class (15 July 1941)
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds
 * Knight's Cross on 6 January 1942 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 9./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2
 * 229th Oak Leaves on 14 April 1943 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 1./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann"
 * 42nd Swords on 25 November 1943 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann"
 * 10th Diamonds on 29 March 1944 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Schlachtgeschwader 2 "Immelmann"
 * 1st, and only, Golden Oak Leaves on 29 December 1944 as Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Schlachtgeschwader 2 "Immelmann"
 * Pilot/Observer Badge In Gold with Diamonds
 * Wound Badge In Gold
 * German Cross In Gold
 * Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold with Diamonds and a badge for 2,000 missions
 * Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th class
 * Sudetenland Medal
 * Eastern Front Medal
 * Silver Medal of Military Valor (Italy)
 * 8th (1st and only foreign) Hungarian Gold Medal of Bravery (14 January 1945)

In fringe culture
Rudel remained popular with the German far-right after his death, especially with the German People's Union, the DVU, and its leader Gerhard Frey. Frey and the DVU established the Ehrenbund Rudel – Gemeinschaft zum Schutz der Frontsoldaten (Honour federation Rudel – Community for the protection of the front soldiers) in 1983 during a memorial service for Rudel. British holocaust denier David Irving was given the Hans-Ulrich Rudel Award by Frey in June 1985; he delivered a memorial speech on the death of Rudel.

title: Hans-Ulrich Rudel


text:
Estelle Axton

Estelle Axton (née Stewart; September 11, 1918 – February 24, 2004) was an American record executive and co-founder of Stax Records, along with her brother Jim Stewart.

Biography
Born in Middleton, Tennessee, Estelle Stewart grew up on a farm. She moved to Memphis as a school teacher, married Everett Axton, and was working in a bank when, in 1958, her brother Jim Stewart asked for help to develop Satellite Records, which he had set up to issue recordings of local country and rockabilly artists. She convinced her husband that they should remortgage their house and, in 1959, joined Satellite as an equal partner. The following year, Axton and Stewart turned the Capitol Theatre, in a black Memphis neighborhood, into a recording studio and record shop, and began making hit records with predominantly black artists.

Satellite was forced to change its name in 1961 after it was discovered that a Los Angeles label already owned the title, and it changed its name to Stax, taking its name from Stewart and Axton's surnames. Axton was actively involved with selecting and developing the artists on the label, who included Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, and Isaac Hayes.

She sold her interest in the company in 1970. After a non-compete agreement expired, Axton formed Fretone Records whose biggest hit, "Disco Duck", by Rick Dees, was licensed for distribution by RSO Records.

In December 2006, the Recording Academy announced that Axton would be honored with a Trustee's Award as part of the upcoming Grammys.

Axton was the founder of the Memphis Songwriters Association in 1973, which was formed to foster the education and advancement of local songwriters. There was a focus on the development of the songwriting craft with the intention of producing commercially viable songs and improving performance skills. The association has consecutively maintained membership for over 35 years. The formation of the Memphis Songwriters Association helped to motivate many local songwriters and singer-songwriters to publish their original material. Some of these songs and artists met with some surprising success. Unfortunately, historical records are fragmented and scarce; however, there are a number of MSA alumni that could still tell their stories. As of 2015, the Memphis Songwriters Association is still actively holding meetings and events.

Axton went on, with her friend Cordell Jackson, the founder of Moon Records, to work with the Music Industries of Memphis, later named the Memphis Music Association, to assist in the development of Memphis music as a global force once again. Their collaboration and guidance helped launch the first Memphis Demo Derby, the brainchild of the PR director Brett Hamilton, which was designed to present and showcase Memphis musical talent to A&R reps, studio heads, producers and the like. The event was such a huge success, it continued for several years. Joe Savarin, the founder of the Handy Awards, and Wanda Freeman of Tenant Laboratories lent a hand in spite of public opposition. The MMA was the umbrella organization for all Memphis music and still exists today.

In 2012, Axton was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, along with her brother and Stax co-founder Jim Stewart.

Axton died on February 24, 2004, at Saint Francis Hospital hospice in Memphis. She was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery East in Memphis.

title: Estelle Axton