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Gregory Helms

Gregory Shane Helms (born July 12, 1974) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE under a legends contract, as a wrestler and as a backstage producer. In WWE, Helms has wrestled as The Hurricane, Gregory Helms, and Hurricane Helms. He is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he wrestled as "Sugar" Shane Helms.

Helms first began wrestling in 1991 at the age of 17, and wrestled in numerous independent promotions, including the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts, winning numerous light heavyweight and tag team championships. In 1999, he signed with WCW, and gained fame as "Sugar" Shane Helms, a member of 3 Count. During his time there he won both the WCW Hardcore Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), Helms' contract was kept by WWF. Helms renamed himself "The Hurricane" and won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. He later picked up a sidekick, Rosey, and they won the World Tag Team Championship together.

He dropped the superhero gimmick in 2005, and began wrestling under his real name. He once again won the Cruiserweight Championship in early 2006, and held it for over a year, becoming the longest reigning Cruiserweight Champion and the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown history. After being out of action for over a year after neck fusion surgery Helms returned to SmackDown in September 2008, referring to himself as Hurricane Helms, before moving to the ECW brand where he reverted to his Gregory Helms name, and became a backstage interviewer. In mid-2009, he brought back The Hurricane character, and appeared as both Gregory Helms and The Hurricane on the ECW brand. After the ECW brand ended, Helms was released by WWE in February 2010, however he returned as a surprise entrant in the 2018 and 2021 Royal Rumble matches.

Early career (1991–1999)
Helms began wrestling at the age of 17 in 1991. He won his first championship shortly afterwards, by defeating "Playboy" T.C. Cruise to become the Southern Wrestling Alliance (SWA) Light Heavyweight Champion. Helms spent the majority of his early career in his home state of North Carolina, winning numerous light heavyweight championships.

Helms began calling himself "The Show" Shane Helms, and teamed with "Big Daddy" Mike Maverick, initially using the team name Assault and Battery. They later dubbed themselves The Serial Thrillaz, and won several independent tag championships. The pair also began wrestling in the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA), which was founded by The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff). The Serial Thrillaz won the OMEGA Tag Team Championship twice between 1997 and 1998, before they began competing for Southern Championship Wrestling (SCW). They won the SCW Tag Team Championship, and Helms also won the SCW Heavyweight Championship. SCW would mark the end of the Serial Thrillaz, as Helms vacated both titles before moving on to NWA Worldwide. Once there, Helms joined the Bad Street Boys with Shannon Moore, Christian York, and Joey Matthews.

World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)
Helms and his friend Shannon Moore signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in May 1999. In WCW, Helms, along with Moore and Evan Karagias, formed the heel (villainous) stable (faction) 3 Count, and the trio debuted on the December 23 episode of WCW Thunder. The trio was a parody of the boy bands 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, and their gimmick involved making music videos and performing songs before their matches.

3 Count collectively won the WCW Hardcore Championship on WCW Monday Nitro in February 2000. This win made 3 Count the first trio to win the Hardcore Championship. At Uncensored, Brian Knobbs defeated all members of 3 Count to win the Hardcore Championship. During a match, Helms suffered a broken nose, and was sidelined while he recovered. Upon his return, Tank Abbott had been added to the group, as a fan, and was utilized in an enforcer role. 3 Count had a long-running feud (scripted rivalry) with The Jung Dragons, with the Dragons attempting to steal 3 Count's fictional recording contract. This led to a ladder match between the two teams at New Blood Rising, which 3 Count won due to Abbott's interference. As a result, Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, and was kicked out by the other three members, leading to a feud.

3 Count later disbanded as Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of the group for attempting to steal the spotlight. At the same time, the Jung Dragons turned on Jamie Noble, who formed a team with Karagias. The three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem, which 3 Count won. They also wrestled each other in a number one contendership ladder match at Starrcade, to earn a WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at the same time. As a result, they later wrestled for the opportunity to wrestle for the championship, which Helms won, although he lost the subsequent championship match to Chavo Guerrero Jr. at the Sin pay-per-view.

Moore and Helms would leave WCW briefly in 2001 to wrestle in NWA Wildside, where they held the Wildside Tag Team Championship for one day. Helms became the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship after winning a match at SuperBrawl Revenge, but was attacked by Karagias and Moore afterwards. Despite the attack, Helms would go on to defeat Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Greed and was the reigning Cruiserweight Champion immediately before WCW was bought out by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Helms' contract with WCW was one of twenty-five that were included in WWF's purchase of WCW.

Early appearances (2001–2002)
Helms made his WWF debut on the July 5, 2001 episode of SmackDown!, using the name "Hollywood" Gregory Helms. He was part of the Invasion storyline as a member of The Alliance losing his Cruiserweight Championship in a one-on-one match to another Alliance member, Billy Kidman.

Helms began wrestling as "The Hurricane" on August 27, and also began wearing a superhero costume. That night, he won the WWF European Championship from Matt Hardy with help from Ivory, but lost it to Bradshaw on October 22, 2001. In September 2001, Hurricane formed a tag team with Lance Storm who was now managed by Ivory and Hurricane later picked up a sidekick, in Molly Holly who began to call herself "Mighty Molly", and the two came to the arena in a custom "Hurri-Cycle" (with Molly in the sidecar). The team of Hurricane and Storm began feuds with teams like The Hardy Boyz and Big Show and Spike Dudley. Hurricane and Storm got a shot at the WCW Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz at No Mercy in a losing effort.

During 2002, The Hurricane won the WWF Hardcore Championship at WrestleMania X8, but Molly betrayed him, hitting him in the back of the head with a frying pan, and defeating him for the championship. Hurricane was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand following the brand extension, and he won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Tajiri and Billy Kidman in a triple threat match. He lost it to Jamie Noble at King of the Ring. Later in 2002, he was traded to the Raw brand, won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kane, and held them for around a month in an alliance known as Hurri-Kane.

Teaming with Rosey (2003–2006)
In early 2003, Hurricane feuded with The Rock. In backstage segments, The Rock referred to The Hurricane as "The Hamburglar" (in part because his mask was similar to the Hamburglar's). The feud culminated in a match on the March 10 episode of Raw, in which The Rock dominated. Hurricane, however, was able to roll up The Rock from behind after The Rock was distracted by Stone Cold Steve Austin's appearance on the ramp.

In August 2003, Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a superhero and christened him "Rosey, the Super Hero in Training" (the "S.H.I.T."). On May 1, at Backlash, The Hurricane and Rosey defeated La Résistance in the finals of a Tag Team Turmoil match to win the World Tag Team Championship. Not long after winning the championship, Stacy Keibler joined Rosey and The Hurricane as their sidekick, "Super Stacy". In August 2005, Rosey and The Hurricane lost Keibler as their sidekick when she and Christy Hemme were traded to the SmackDown! brand. On September 5, 2005 Hurricane and Rosey were defeated by Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch during Cade and Murdoch's debut match on Raw. As a result, Cade and Murdoch earned a title match at the Unforgiven pay-per-view. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused Hurricane to suffer a storyline "stinger" and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat the injured Hurricane later in the match to win the World Tag Team Titles.

During the next few weeks, the pair began a losing streak, mainly caused by Hurricane's on-screen injuries. During the October 17 episode of Raw, The Hurricane was assaulted by Kurt Angle at the request of Vince McMahon. After the beating, footage was shown of The Hurricane ripping off his mask and striking Rosey because he did not help him fend off Angle. The next week, The Hurricane no-showed a World Tag Team Title match, leaving Rosey to face the champions alone. During the match, The Hurricane (out of costume) appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, reverting to his real name, Gregory Helms, and watched as Rosey was double teamed and defeated. After the match, Helms announced that he was fed up with being funny for the crowd, and that he was sick of carrying Rosey as a tag team partner. This turned him into a heel in the process. On the November 7 episode of Raw, Helms and Rosey faced off in a singles match, which Helms won. Subsequently, Helms wrestled mostly on Raw's sister show, Heat. On the January 2, 2006 episode of Raw Helms confronted Jerry Lawler over jokes that Lawler had been making at Helms' expense, and Lawler said that when Helms was The Hurricane, he was entertaining and called Helms a joke. Helms responded by slapping Lawler, who hit Helms back. This confrontation led to Lawler defeating Helms in a match at New Year's Revolution.

Cruiserweight Champion (2006–2007)
At the 2006 Royal Rumble, Helms participated in an Open Invitational match for the Cruiserweight Championship and won, even though he was a Raw superstar and the championship was defended solely on SmackDown!. As a result, he returned to the SmackDown! brand in February 2006 to start a feud with Nunzio, Kid Kash and the other cruiserweights. During this time, Helms defeated Nunzio in a one-on-one match. The next week, he was supposed to defend against Kid Kash, but Kash was away on a family emergency, so Scotty 2 Hotty took his place. Helms defeated him and declared that he was better than all the other cruiserweights. As a result, all the cruiserweights at the show invaded the ring and attacked Helms. It was later announced by SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long that at the No Way Out pay-per-view event, Helms would face all the cruiserweights in a match for the title. Helms was able to retain the championship. Later, Long mandated that Helms had to defend his title against a cruiserweight each week on SmackDown! to prove that he truly was better than all the cruiserweights. Helms' first defense under this new rule was against Psicosis of The Mexicools; Helms retained by cheating.

In early March 2006, Helms suffered a broken nose. After complaining to Long about having to wrestle on the March 10 episode of SmackDown!, Long told Helms that he did not have to defend his title, but put Helms in a champion versus champion match against the United States Champion, Chris Benoit. During the match, Helms attempted to leave, but was blocked by other cruiserweights who threw Helms back into the ring, resulting in Helms losing the match. Helms underwent successful surgery on his nose and was expected to miss five to six weeks. During this time SmackDown! announcers stated that Helms had a no-compete clause in his contract allowing him to waive the thirty-day title defense rule due to any injury. Helms returned to the ring on the April 28 episode of SmackDown!, teaming with MNM to face Super Crazy, London and Kendrick in a six-man tag team match. Helms continued to defend his belt during pay-per-views, but he made more regular appearances on SmackDown!'s sister show, Velocity.

Helms continued defending his title against other cruiserweights, while on occasion facing off against SmackDown!'s other title holders in champion versus champion matches. Helms faced World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio on June 16 and United States Champion Bobby Lashley on July 7 but lost both matches. Eventually, Helms became the longest cruiserweight champion in WWE history, as well as the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown! history. For much of late 2006, he feuded with Matt Hardy, with whom Helms exchanged several victories in matches on SmackDown!. In Helms' hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, at No Mercy, Hardy beat Helms. The two rivals also joined opposing teams at Survivor Series, where Helms was in Team Rated-RKO, and Hardy was a member of Team D-X; Team Rated-RKO lost the match.

Helms went on to feud with Jimmy Wang Yang over the Cruiserweight Championship, after a tag team match in which Matt Hardy and Yang defeated Helms and Sylvan on the November 10 episode of SmackDown!. The feud ended after Helms defeated him to retain the title at Armageddon in December 2006. In 2007, Helms once again feuded with the entire Cruiserweight division on SmackDown!. During this feud, Helms' reign as Cruiserweight Champion came to an end at No Way Out, when he was unable to win a Cruiserweight open invitational, which saw Chavo Guerrero win the championship. Shortly after losing the championship, Helms formed a tag team with Guerrero, but they did not win any matches as a team.

On May 18, 2007, WWE reported that Helms had broken two vertebrae in his neck, one of which was pressing on his spinal cord. He underwent surgery with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood to repair them approximately a week later. Following the surgery, Helms was announced to be out for a year and a half due to the injury.

The Hurricane's return (2008–2010)
Helms returned on the September 19, 2008, episode of SmackDown in a non-wrestling role. Throughout the show, he appeared in short video promos, called "Hurrapops", referring to himself as "Hurricane Helms", a modified version of his old ring name "The Hurricane", and mocked heel superstars including Shelton Benjamin and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. In the following weeks, he mocked several other superstars in the "Hurrapops", ending each promo with the phrase, "I'm just sayin'!" On the November 28 episode of SmackDown, a "Hurrapop" appeared in which Helms announced that he would make his return to the ring on the next episode of SmackDown. On the December 5 episode of SmackDown, Helms defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in his ring return. Helms was quickly scripted into a feud with the United States Champion Shelton Benjamin, defeating him in two non-title matches on SmackDown, although he failed to win a championship match on December 26. In January 2009, Helms worked in house shows against Vladimir Kozlov and Umaga until February he became inactive.

On April 15, 2009, Helms was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. Helms made his ECW debut as a backstage interviewer on April 28, 2009, reverting to his Gregory Helms ring name, interviewing Evan Bourne. He started a storyline where, while he was interviewing someone, a scripted accident would occur, leading to Helms leaving the interview seconds before the person in distress was saved by The Hurricane. On the August 11, 2009 episode of ECW, Helms was attacked by Paul Burchill after Helms denied being The Hurricane. The Hurricane later attacked Burchill in the ring dressed in his Hurricane attire, to save Yoshi Tatsu. The next week on ECW, he made his in-ring debut for the brand as The Hurricane, and defeated Burchill. He continued to feud with Burchill, who attempted to expose The Hurricane's true identity, until the November 17 episode of ECW when The Hurricane defeated Burchill in a mask versus career match. He would then feud with Zack Ryder.

On February 26, 2010, Helms was released from his WWE contract.

Independent circuit (2010–2015)
Following his WWE release, Helms began wrestling on the independent circuit, including for the Canadian Wrestling's Elite as Hurricane Helms. On October 23, 2010, Helms made his debut for Jersey All Pro Wrestling, where he, under his Hurricane gimmick, defeated Azrieal. On January 10, 2011, Helms signed a contract with Lucha Libre USA. In the promotion, Helms allied himself with Marco Corleone, and in his debut for the promotion at the January 22 tapings, he defeated Corleone's rival and Lucha Libre USA Champion Lizmark Jr. via disqualification.

On January 29, 2011 Helms made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend, in a match, where he was defeated by Joey Ryan. He also took part in 20-Man Legends Battle Royale, making his second appearance of the night. He eliminated Cruel Connection, but later was thrown out by Shane Douglas and Terry Funk.

In April 2011, Helms wrestled at Carolina Wrestling Federation (Mid-Atlantic) where he defeated Ric Converse and won the vacant PWI International Heavyweight Championship. In 2013, Helms returned to the revived OMEGA, now called OMEGA Championship Wrestling, and on October 12, he defeated Shane Williams to advance in a tournament for the OMEGA Championship. On November 16, 2013, Helms was defeated by Chris Hero at a Pro Wrestling Syndicate event.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling (2015–2017)
In March 2015, Helms received a tryout for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling) as an agent and began working for the company within that capacity that same month. At Bound for Glory, Helms made his on-screen debut under his full birth name to congratulate the TNA X Division Champion Tigre Uno.

On the February 2, 2016 episode of Impact Wrestling, Helms assisted Trevor Lee in defeating Tigre Uno for the X Division Championship, turning villainous in the process. Helms would then soon bring in Andrew Everett to officially form The Helms Dynasty. On the December 15 episode of Impact Wrestling dubbed "Total Nonstop Deletion," Helms was thrown into the "Lake of Reincarnation," and emerged as his 3 Count alter ego "Sugar" Shane Helms, and after insulting Lee and Everett's dance moves, was once again knocked into the lake by his teammates, Helms would later emerge from the lake as the Hurricane, where he would go on to assist Matt Hardy in defeating Lee and Everett.

On June 19, 2017 Helms announced his departure from Impact Wrestling.

Ring of Honor (2018–2019)
In June 2018, it was announced that Helms signed with Ring of Honor. He worked as wrestler and producer, including a feud against Marty Scurll.

Return to WWE (2018–present)
On January 28, 2018 at the Royal Rumble, Helms, as The Hurricane, entered the titular match as a surprise entrant at number 21 but was quickly eliminated by John Cena. One year later on January 28, 2019, it was announced that he would return to WWE in a backstage producer role. On July 19, 2019, The Hurricane attempted to win the WWE 24/7 Championship from R-Truth whilst he was being interviewed by IGN, though he was unable to do so. On July 22, 2019, The Hurricane made an appearance for the special Raw Reunion episode of Monday Night Raw. On April 15, 2020, Helms was furloughed by WWE, but returned to the promotion on November 22. The Hurricane once again appeared at the 2021 Royal Rumble event on January 31 in the namesake match. He entered at number 23 and was quickly eliminated by Big E and Bobby Lashley.

Helms announced on March 24, 2022 that he’d signed a Legends deal with WWE.

All Elite Wrestling (2020)
Helms made an appearance in All Elite Wrestling on November 7, 2020 during the Elite Deletion match under both The Hurricane and reporter Gregory Helms personas, in a supporting effort for Matt Hardy against Sammy Guevara.

Other media
The Wrestling Figure Checklist records that Helms has had 20 different action figures released in the 2000s and 2010s.

As The Hurricane, Gregory Helms has been featured in several WWE video games, including WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It (2001), WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain (2003), WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 (2005), and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 (2007) for the Playstation, WWE WrestleMania X8 (2002) for the Nintendo GameCube, and WWF Raw (2002) and WWE Raw 2 (2003) the video game for the Xbox. Additionally, he is featured in WWE 2K22 as a DLC character (Stand Back Pack) alongside A-Kid, Wes Lee, and Stacy Keibler.

Personal life
Helms was born in Smithfield, North Carolina, but he was raised in Wooster, Ohio. Helms is a comic book fan, and one of his favorite characters is the Green Lantern. He has a tattoo on his right shoulder which is the Lantern's logo and his original WWE character, The Hurricane, is inspired by the Green Lantern. It was picked and inked the same days as his cousin, fellow pro wrestling trainee, and comic book fan Mike Helm had the symbol of his favorite character, Green Lantern tattooed on his own bicep. In 2008, he got a tattoo of his last name on his upper back. Helms owns a motorcycle called "The Hurri-Cycle", which he got when he was using The Hurricane gimmick. Helms is good friends with Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore. He appears on The Hardy Show, The Hardys' internet show. He also performed as the stunt double of actor David Arquette in the movie Ready to Rumble.

On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website an article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Helms who was alleged to have obtained HGH. WWE has since made a statement on this situation, mentioning that the allegations preceded the Talent Wellness program WWE launched in April 2006. On August 30, 2007, an article by Sports Illustrated named Helms and nine other wrestlers to be given growth hormone not in compliance with the WWE Talent Wellness program. He was said to have received testosterone, HGH and nandrolone between November 2003 and February 2007.

In June 2012, Helms' girlfriend gave birth to his first child, a boy named Sebastian.

Helms is a weekly guest on the podcast "Keepin it 100" on the Jericho network. In 2016 and 2017, he appeared on a weekly podcast for Fightful.com.

Legal troubles
On May 6, 2008, Helms was assaulted in a club in Johnston County, North Carolina, by an acquaintance, Dustin Narron. An argument between the two of them led to Narron hitting Helms in the face. Narron was later charged with assault and battery.

On January 27, 2010, Helms and fellow WWE wrestler Chris Jericho were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky after leaving a bar. A police report stated that Helms had punched Jericho and the other passengers in the cab they were sharing. Helms and Jericho were given tickets for public intoxication and released after each posted a $120 bail bond.

On March 13, 2011, Helms was cited for affray following an altercation at a bar in Smithfield, North Carolina.

On May 5, 2011, Helms and his girlfriend were involved in a motorbike accident in North Carolina, for which Helms was charged with driving under the influence. Helms suffered a broken leg, ankle, jaw and nose during the accident, as well as sustaining other fractures and receiving over 200 stitches, while his girlfriend sustained a broken neck. As a result of the accident, Helms' foot had to be reconstructed with four plates and 22 screws.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Carolina Championship Wrestling Alliance
 * CCWA Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
 * Carolina Wrestling Federation Mid-Atlantic
 * CWF Mid-Atlantic Television Championship (1 time)
 * Coastal Championship Wrestling
 * CCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Super Hero In Training
 * Empire State Wrestling
 * ESW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Johnny Adams
 * New Dimension Wrestling
 * NDW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mike Maverick
 * North American Pro Wrestling
 * NAPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * NWA Wildside
 * NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shannon Moore
 * Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts
 * OMEGA Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Mike Maverick
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him 21 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2003
 * Pro Wrestling International
 * PWI International Heavyweight Championship (2 time)
 * Southern Championship Wrestling
 * SCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * SCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mike Maverick
 * Southern Wrestling Alliance
 * SWA Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * Texas Championship Wrestling
 * TCW Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Lenny Lane
 * World Championship Wrestling
 * WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)
 * WCW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
 * Wrestling For A Cause
 * WFC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kryptonite
 * World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
 * WWE Cruiserweight Championship (2 times)
 * WWF European Championship (1 time)
 * WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
 * World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kane (1) and Rosey (1)
 * World Wrestling Organization
 * WWO Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Best Gimmick (2001)

title: Gregory Helms


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Literacy test

A literacy test assesses a person's literacy skills: their ability to read and write. Literacy tests have been administered by various governments, particularly to immigrants.

Between the 1850s and 1960s, literacy tests were used as an effective tool for disenfranchising African Americans in the Southern United States. Literacy tests were typically administered by white clerks who could pass or fail a person at their discretion based on race. Illiterate whites were often permitted to vote without taking these literacy tests because of grandfather clauses written into legislation.

Other countries, notably Australia, as part of its White Australia policy, and South Africa adopted literacy tests either to exclude certain racialized groups from voting or to prevent them from immigrating to the country.

Voting
From the 1890s to the 1960s, many state governments administered literacy tests to prospective voters, to test their literacy in order to vote. The first state to establish literacy tests in the United States was Connecticut.

State legislatures employed literacy tests as part of the voter registration process starting in the late 19th century. Literacy tests, along with poll taxes, residency and property restrictions, and extra-legal activities (violence and intimidation) were all used to deny suffrage to African Americans.

The first formal voter literacy tests were introduced in 1890. At first, whites were generally exempted from the literacy test if they meet alternate requirements that in practice excluded blacks, such as a grandfather clause, or a finding of "good moral character", the latter's testimony of which was often asked only of white people. Some locales administered separate literacy tests, with a more simplified literacy tests being administered to whites who had registered to vote.

In Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections (1959), the U.S. Supreme Court held that literacy tests were not necessarily violations of Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment nor of the Fifteenth Amendment. Southern states abandoned the literacy test only when forced to do so by federal legislation in the 1960s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stated that literacy tests used as a qualification for voting in federal elections be administered wholly in writing and only to persons who had completed at least six years of formal education.

To curtail the use of literacy tests, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Act prohibited jurisdictions from administering literacy tests, among other measures, to citizens who attained a sixth-grade education in an American school in which the predominant language was Spanish, such as schools in Puerto Rico. The Supreme Court upheld this provision in Katzenbach v. Morgan (1966). Although the Court had earlier held in Lassiter that literacy tests did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, in Morgan the Court held that Congress could enforce Fourteenth Amendment rights—such as the right to vote—by prohibiting conduct it deemed to interfere with such rights, even if that conduct may not be independently unconstitutional.

As originally enacted, the Voting Rights Act also suspended the use of literacy tests in all jurisdictions in which less than 50% of voting-age residents were registered as of November 1, 1964, or had voted in the 1964 presidential election. Congress amended the Act in 1970 and expanded the ban on literacy tests to the entire country. The Supreme Court then upheld the ban as constitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell (1970), but just for federal elections. The Court was deeply divided in this case, and a majority of justices did not agree on a rationale for the holding.

Immigration
When introduced in the 1890s, the literacy test was a device to restrict the total number of immigrants while not offending the large element of ethnic voters. The "old" immigration (British, Dutch, Irish, German, Scandinavian) had fallen off and was replaced by a "new" immigration from Italy, Russia and other points in Southern and eastern Europe. The "old" immigrants were voters and strongly approved of restricting the "new" immigrants. The 1896 Republican platform called for a literacy test.

The American Federation of Labor took the lead in promoting literacy tests that would exclude illiterate immigrants, primarily Eastern Europe and countries that had national waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

Corporate industry however, needed workers for its mines and factories and opposed any restrictions on immigration. In 1906, the House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon, a conservative Republican, worked aggressively to defeat a proposed literacy test for immigrants. A product of the western frontier, Cannon felt that moral probity was the only acceptable test for the quality of an immigrant. He worked with Secretary of State Elihu Root and President Theodore Roosevelt to set up the "Dillingham Commission," a blue ribbon body of experts that produced a 41-volume study of immigration. The Commission recommended a literacy test and the possibility of annual quotas. Presidents Cleveland and Taft vetoed literacy tests in 1897 and 1913. President Wilson did the same in 1915 and 1917, but the test was passed over Wilson's second veto.

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

title: Literacy test


text:
Sopwith Cuckoo

The Sopwith T.1 Cuckoo was a British biplane torpedo bomber used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its successor organization, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The T.1 was the first landplane specifically designed for carrier operations, but it was completed too late for service in the First World War. After the Armistice, the T.1 was named the Cuckoo.

Design and development
In October 1916, Commodore Murray Sueter, the Air Department's Superintendent of Aircraft Construction, solicited Sopwith for a single-seat aircraft capable of carrying a 1,000 lb torpedo and sufficient fuel to provide an endurance of four hours. The resulting aircraft, designated T.1 by Sopwith, was a large, three-bay biplane. Because the T.1 was designed to operate from carrier decks, its wings were hinged to fold backwards. The T.1 could take off from a carrier deck in four seconds, but it was not capable of making a carrier landing and no arresting gear was fitted. A split-axle undercarriage allowed the aircraft to carry a 1,000 lb Mk. IX torpedo beneath the fuselage.

The prototype T.1 first flew in June 1917, powered by a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba engine. Official trials commenced in July 1917 and the Admiralty issued production orders for 100 aircraft in August. Contractors Fairfield Engineering and Pegler & Company had no experience as aircraft manufacturers, however, resulting in substantial production delays. Moreover, the S.E.5a had priority for the limited supplies of the Hispano-Suiza 8. Redesign of the T.1 airframe to accommodate the heavier Sunbeam Arab incurred further delays.

In February 1918, the Admiralty issued a production order to Blackburn Aircraft, an experienced aircraft manufacturer. Blackburn delivered its first T.1 in May 1918. The aircraft immediately experienced undercarriage and tailskid failures, requiring redesign of those components. The T.1 also required an enlarged rudder and offset vertical stabilizer to combat its tendency to swing to the right. Fairfield and Pegler finally began production in August and October, respectively.

A total of 300 T.1s were ordered, but only 90 aircraft had been delivered by the Armistice. A total of 232 aircraft had been completed by the time production ended in 1919. Blackburn Aircraft produced 162 aircraft, while Fairfield Engineering completed 50 and Pegler & Company completed another 20. After the Armistice, many T.1s were delivered directly to storage depots at Renfrew and Newcastle.

Operational history

After undergoing service trials at RAF East Fortune, the T.1 was recommended for squadron service. Deliveries to the Torpedo Aeroplane School at East Fortune commenced in early August 1918. Training took place in the Firth of Forth, where Cuckoos launched practice torpedoes at targets towed by destroyers. Cuckoos of No. 185 Squadron embarked on HMS Argus in November 1918, but hostilities ended before the aircraft could conduct any combat operations.

In service, the aircraft was generally popular with pilots because the airframe was strong and water landings were safe. The T.1 was easy to control and was fully aerobatic without a torpedo payload. The Arab engine proved unsatisfactory, however, and approximately 20 T.1s were converted to use Wolseley Viper engines. These aircraft, later designated Cuckoo Mk. IIs, could be distinguished by the Viper's lower thrust line. The Arab-engined variant was designated Cuckoo Mk. I.

The Cuckoo's operational career ended when the last unit to use the type, No. 210 Squadron, disbanded at Gosport on 1 April 1923. The Cuckoo was replaced in service by the Blackburn Dart.

Planned use
Throughout 1917, Commodore Sueter proposed plans for an aerial torpedo attack on the German High Seas Fleet at its base in Germany. The carriers HMS Argus (I49), HMS Furious (47), and HMS Campania, and the converted cruisers HMS Courageous and HMS Glorious, were to have launched 100 Cuckoos from the North Sea. In September 1917, Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, proposed a similar plan involving 120 Cuckoos launched from eight converted merchant vessels.

Survivors
Today, no complete Cuckoo airframe survives, but a set of Cuckoo Mk. I wings are preserved at the National Museum of Flight in Scotland.

Variants

 * Cuckoo Mk. I : Main production variant. Powered by a 200 hp (149 kW) Sunbeam Arab engine.
 * Cuckoo Mk. II : Mk. I converted to use a 200 hp (149 kW) Wolseley Viper engine.
 * Cuckoo Mk. III : Prototype powered by a 275 hp (205 kW) Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine.
 * Sopwith B.1 : Single-seat bomber powered by a 200 hp (149 kW) Hispano-Suiza 8 engine. Two prototypes built.

Operators

 * Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service - Operated six Cuckoo Mk. II aircraft.
 * Royal Naval Air Service
 * Royal Air Force
 * No. 185 Squadron RAF - Used Cuckoo from October 1918 but was disbanded the following year.
 * No. 186 Squadron RAF - Used Cuckoo from late 1918. Was renamed No. 210 Squadron in 1920.
 * No. 210 Squadron RAF - Formed in 1920 from No. 186 Squadron, and continued to use the Cuckoo until 1 April 1923 when the unit disbanded.
 * No. 186 Squadron RAF - Used Cuckoo from late 1918. Was renamed No. 210 Squadron in 1920.
 * No. 210 Squadron RAF - Formed in 1920 from No. 186 Squadron, and continued to use the Cuckoo until 1 April 1923 when the unit disbanded.

title: Sopwith Cuckoo


text:
File talk:Catedral de Segovia.jpg

The gothic style castle is gorgeouse and illuminates the page like a full moon in midnight. It shines into my soul like a razor slicing tender flesh. The gothic style of architecture is very old but exceedingly more beautiful. --63.77.108.2 17:33, 20 May 2004 (UTC)shaunah estrin--63.77.108.2 17:33, 20 May 2004 (UTC) 14, Los angeles, CA

title: File talk:Catedral de Segovia.jpg


text:
Monclova

Monclova, is a city and the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the 2015 census, the city had 231,107 inhabitants. Its metropolitan area has 381,432 inhabitants and a population density of 29.88 inhabitants per square kilometer. Monclova is the third-largest city and metropolitan area in the state in terms of population, after Torreón and Saltillo.

The city accounts for the highest production of steel in Mexico as well as Latin America, hence its nickname "The Steel Capital".

Today Monclova has one of the highest levels of commercial, industrial, and financial development, and is currently has one of the lowest poverty rates among Mexican cities. Its metropolitan area is among the 10 most competitive urban areas in the country, and it also has one of the highest labor productivity rates.

History
Established on July 25, 1577 by Spanish colonists, Monclova became the first city in the region known as Coahuila, which later became the State of Coahuila.

During the colonial period and the early 19th century, Monclova served as the capital of Nueva Extremadura. It remained the capital for a few years after Mexico's independence. Prior to 1840, haciendas near Monclova were the headquarters of the Sánchez Navarro latifundio, the largest private landholding in the Americas.

During the initial battle for independence from Spain, fleeing rebel leaders who had been captured at the Wells of Baján were first taken to Monclova before the long trip to the city of Chihuahua. The captured leaders were Juan Aldama, Ignacio Allende, Miguel Hidalgo, and José Mariano Jiménez.

With the adoption of the 1824 Constitution, which created the state of Coahuila y Tejas, the capital was transferred to Saltillo. In 1828, the decision was overturned when Monclova was declared the capital of the new state, but the state legislature continued to convene in Saltillo. On March 9, 1833, the state legislature settled the dispute in Monclova's favour, and the decision was ratified by President Antonio López de Santa Anna on December 2, 1834.

With the enactment of the 1836 Constitutional Laws, by which the federal republic was converted into a centralised one, the state of Coahuila y Tejas was divided into two departments, Coahuila and Tejas (or Texas, as it would later become). Saltillo was confirmed as Coahuila's capital. However, 1835-36 was also the period of the Texas Revolution, and Texas became an independent republic.

Geography
Monclova sits at an altitude of 620 m above sea level. It is located at 26.91028°N, -101.42222°W, in the state's central region (Región Centro), in the east-central part of the state.

Climate
Monclova experiences a warm semi-arid climate (BSh), with a median yearly temperature of 22.0 °C.

The median temperature of the coolest month, January, is 13.6 °C, although the temperature can climb as high as 30 °C during some days and it can drop to 0 °C some nights. Probably the coldest snap in recent history took place on December 25, 1983 when the temperature plunged to -9.5 °C.

On the other hand, temperatures during late spring and summer can have bouts of extreme heat, with evenings above 40 °C for many consecutive days. In recent decades the hottest records have climbed as high as 43 °C on July 13, 2005 and 45 °C on May 4, 1984. However nighttime low temperatures are typically 15 degrees cooler than daytime highs, due to the very arid conditions. Even in July, the warmest month, temperatures have gotten as low as 10.6 °C in 1975. The median temperature July is 28.6 °C. A typical summer day has a low around 21 °C and a high near 35 °C.

In 1976 the wettest month on record took place in July, with 287.3 mm of rain, more than half the median yearly value of 376.7 mm; however the average wettest month is September with 78.5 mm. The warmer months of the year are typically wetter than the cooler ones. Cold fronts in winter have the possibility of drastically reducing temperatures in the area, and are responsible for the little rainfall of such period. Even snowfall has occurred in Monclova some winters, although most years it is a phenomenon reserved only to the nearby mountains. Precipitation occurs an average of 47 days, out of which 6 will be thunderstorms and at least one day with hail.

Economy
The city accounts for the highest production of steel of Mexico and Latin America, hence its nickname "The Steel Capital". In 1942 the steel factory Altos Hornos de Mexico was founded, accelerating the industrial development of Monclova.

Today Monclova has one of the highest commercial, industrial and financial developments, and it is currently one of the cities with the lowest poverty rates in Mexico. Its metropolitan area is among the 10 most competitive urban areas in the country, and it also has the highest labor productivity.

Buildings and monuments

 * The Santiago Apostol Parish Church - Construction of this building began in the second half of the eighteenth century. Its façade consists of carved cantera stone.
 * The San Francisco de Asis Parish Church - St. Francis of Assisi Church, seventeenth century.
 * Ermita de Zapopan Church - Due to damage caused during the revolution and to conserve original details like its bells and walls, restoration was carried out at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
 * El Polvorin (The Powder Magazine) - Museum with collections of anthropology, biology, sociology, watercolor art, geology, mathematics, communications, archery, guns, other weapons, and Mexican sexual culture.
 * Pape Museum Library - For 28 years, this cultural and recreational center, promoted by the Pape Foundation, has given seasonal expositions of artistic works. Its permanent exhibit chronologically illustrates the life and work of the couple Harold and Lou Pape. It also has an auditorium for 300 people where plays and musical concerts are performed. Next to the museum is the Harold R. Pape Library.
 * Meteorological Observatory - The observatory is the largest in the state with a 16-inch opening. Controlled by a computer, it integrates a highly sophisticated video system that projects live images of the sun, the moon, and the planets onto a black and white screen. This observatory was constructed by the government to educate the people about the difference between astronomy and astrology.
 * Venustiano Carranza International Airport - The city's airport.

Parks and gardens

 * Xochipilli Park I and II - More than 20 ha intended for relaxation and recreational activities form this original concept from the Papes. Its complete facilities include large sports and cultural spaces surrounded by green areas, lakes, rivers, fountains, and waterfalls.
 * The Main Square
 * The Zoo

Sister cities

 * 🇺🇸 San Marcos

Notable people

 * El Hijo de L.A. Park, professional wrestler
 * Andrés Espinosa, long-distance runner who specialized in marathon races
 * Jerry Estrada, professional wrestler
 * Hispana, rapper
 * Francisco Ríos, baseball pitcher
 * Nora Rocha, track and field athlete, gold medalist at the 1999 Pan American Games.
 * Cynthia Rodríguez, singer and reality television personality
 * Joakim Soria, major league baseball relief pitcher who has played for the Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers.
 * Volador Jr., professional wrestler
 * Susana Zabaleta, soprano singer and actress

title: Monclova


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Obsolete

Just another dicdef. I can't imagine this fleshing out to an article. - Lucky 6.9 17:35, 20 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirected to Obsolescence, which is quite good. and covered all that this did. Smerdis of Tlön 19:30, 20 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep redirect. -- Cyrius|&#9998 02:44, May 21, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep as a redirect. --Starx 05:07, 21 May 2004 (UTC)


text:
Kathryn C. Thornton

Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton (born August 17, 1952) is an American scientist and a former NASA astronaut with over 975 hours in space, including 21 hours of extravehicular activity. She was the associate dean for graduate programs at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, currently a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Thornton was inducted in the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010.

Education and organizations
Kathyrn Thornton graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama in 1970. She later received a B.S. degree in physics at Auburn University in 1974. In 1977 received an M.S. degree in physics and in 1979 a Ph.D. degree in physics at the University of Virginia.

Thornton is also a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the following honor societies: Sigma Pi Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi.

Physicist
After Thornton earned her doctoral degree at the University of Virginia in 1979, she was awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her research at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.

In 1980, Thornton became a physicist at the United States Army Foreign Science and Technology Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.

NASA

Selected by NASA in May 1984, Thornton became an astronaut in July 1985. Her technical assignments have included flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), serving as a team member of the Vehicle Integration Test Team (VITT) at Kennedy Space Center, and as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM). A veteran of four space flights, Thornton flew on STS-33 in 1989, STS-49 in 1992, STS-61 in 1993, and STS-73 in 1995. She has logged over 975 hours in space, including more than 21 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA).

Thornton was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-33 which launched at night from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 22, 1989, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission carried Department of Defense payloads and other secondary payloads. After 79 orbits of the Earth, this five-day mission concluded on November 27, 1989, at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

On her second flight, Thornton served on the crew of STS-49, May 7 – 16, 1992, on board the maiden flight of the new Space Shuttle Endeavour. During the mission the crew conducted the initial test flight of Endeavour, performed a record four EVA's (spacewalks) to retrieve, repair and deploy the International Telecommunications Satellite (Intelsat), and to demonstrate and evaluate numerous EVA tasks to be used for the assembly of Space Station Freedom. Thornton was one of two EVA crew members who evaluated Space Station assembly techniques on the fourth EVA. STS-49 logged 213 hours in space and 141 Earth orbits prior to landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

On her third flight, Thornton was a mission specialist EVA crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing and repair mission. STS-61 launched at night from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1993. During the 11-day flight, the HST was captured and restored to full capacity through a record five spacewalks by four astronauts, including Thornton. After having traveled 4,433,772 miles in 163 orbits of the Earth, the crew of Endeavour returned to a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center on December 13, 1993. Then, after Expedition 14, Sunita Williams surpassed her for woman with the most spacewalks.

From October 20 to November 5, 1995, Thornton served aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-73, as the payload commander of the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission. The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the pressurized Spacelab module. In completing her fourth space flight, Thornton orbited the Earth 256 times, traveled over 6 million miles, and logged a total of 15 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 21 seconds in space.

Thornton left NASA on August 1, 1996.

She was inducted into the 2010 class of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Leadership
Thornton is a Director Emeritus of the Space Foundation’s Board of Directors, having joined the organization in 2010 and serving in various capacities, including as Chairwoman from 2020 to 2022.

In November 2020, Thornton appeared at WomenTech Network's Women in Tech Global Awards. During her appearance, she shared her experiences as a scientist and astronaut, aiming to support and inspire women in the technology sector.

Personal life
Thornton is married to Stephen T. Thornton from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. She has two stepsons and three daughters. In her spare time, she enjoys skiing and scuba diving. On October 16, 2019, Thornton completed a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

title: Kathryn C. Thornton


text:
Kabukichō

Kabukichō (歌舞伎町, ) is an entertainment district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabukichō is considered a red-light district with a high concentration of host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the "Sleepless Town" (眠らない街, Nemuranai Machi, ). Shinjuku Golden Gai, famous for its plethora of small bars, is part of Kabukichō.

The district's name comes from late-1940s plans to build a kabuki theater, and although the theater was never built, the name stuck.

The area has many movie theaters, and is located near Shinjuku Station, Seibu Shinjuku Station, and several other major railway and subway stations.

History

Originally, the area was known as Tsunohazu (角筈) and was a swamp. After the Meiji Period, the area became a duck sanctuary. As the Yodobashi Purification Plant was built in 1893, the ponds were filled in. In 1920, a girls' school was built there, and the surroundings were developed into a residential area. Prior to World War II, the district was one of the areas open to foreign-born property owners (primarily from Taiwan and Korea), who mainly operated tsurekomi yado, predecessors to today's love hotels.

During the war, a bombing raid on April 13, 1945, razed the area to the ground. After the war, Hideyuki Suzuki from the Association of Readjustment and Reconstruction of Shinjuku worked with the major landowner, Mohei Minejima to draw up plans for Kiku-za, a kabuki theatre, in the area; they believed that performers from the Kabuki-za theatre in Ginza would accept their invitation to perform at Kiku-za. As a result, Hideaki Ishikawa, a regional planner, dubbed the town Kabukichō, which was adopted on April 1, 1948. Although the theatre was cancelled due to financial problems, the name remained. The Tokyu Cultural Hall (to the south, in Shibuya), Tokyu Milano-za movie theater, Tokyo Ice Skating Rink, and Shinjuku Koma Theater were all completed in 1956, cementing the area's reputation as an entertainment center.

Kabukichō was quickly redeveloped after the war, mainly due to the efforts of the overseas Chinese in Japan who bought land left unused after the expos and greatly developed them. The "three most renowned overseas Chinese of Kabukicho" include the founder of Humax, Lin Yi-wen, who started his business with a cabaret; Lin Tsai-wang, who built the Fūrin Kaikan; and Lee Ho-chu, owner of the Tokyo Hotel Chinese restaurant. In 2002, it was estimated that 70% of the land in Kabukichō was owned by foreign-born Japanese residents and their descendants. The rise of home video entertainment decreased the demand for live performances and film theaters, and Kabukichō became home to a number of video arcades, discos, and fuzoku (businesses offering sexual services).

Watanabe Katsumi, a portrait photographer who took pictures and sold prints back to his subjects for a modest ¥200, documented the citizens of Kabukichō during this transition period in the 1960s and 1970s. His portraits of Kabukichō residents received critical attention and praise from fellow photographers,and are today exhibited in museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1971, Takeshi Aida, a former mattress salesman, opened "Club Ai", the first host club in Kabukichō; at its peak, Aida's company reported ¥2.7 billion in annual revenue.

By 1999, the area had been named "Asia's largest adult entertainment district", and tabloids were regularly running candid photographs of drunken Kabukichō patrons fighting and being arrested. However, starting in 2003, joint citizen and police patrols began enforcing business licensing, and the 1948 Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act was more strictly enforced as well starting in April 2004, forcing adult-themed businesses to start removing customers at midnight in preparation to close by 1 AM. Kabukichō leaders attributed the change in enforcement to Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and the Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Today, the 36 ha Kabukichō district has all the hallmarks of a red-light district, with over three thousand bars, nightclubs, love hotels, massage parlours, and hostess clubs. However, there are no red lights in the literal sense with prostitutes in the windows as in Amsterdam.

With increased tourism from China and South Korea, tourists can now be seen in Kabukichō even during daytime. After several large hotels opened in the district, the Kabukicho Concierge Association was formed to recommend businesses that would be safe for foreign patrons, as the area is notorious for the practice known as bottakuri, where some businesses add exorbitant hidden fees to bring the final bill well beyond the initial advertised prices.

Geography and statistics
Kabukicho is generally bounded by:

 * Railroad tracks (on the west)
 * 靖国通り (Yasukuni-Dōri) (on the south)
 * Tokyo Metropolitan Route 305 (Meiji-Dōri (明治通り), on the east)
 * Tokyo Metropolitan Route 302 (Shokuan-Dōri (職安通り), on the north)

Notable locations
The red Kabuki-chō Ichiban-gai (歌舞伎町一番街) gate, near the southwest corner along Yasukuni-Dōri, is often photographed as the main entrance to Kabukichō. Other major entrances, east of Ichibangai-Dōri along Yasukuni-Dōri, include Central Road (セントラルロード), where the Kabukichō branch of Don Quijote is; and another neon-lit arch at Sakura-Dōri (さくら通り).

The Shinjuku Koma Theater was a landmark in Kabukichō. By 2008, it had moved to its third location; since it opened in 1956, it has hosted concerts and other performances by top stars, including enka singers Saburō Kitajima, Kiyoshi Hikawa, and actor Ken Matsudaira. The management announced that they would close after the December 31, 2008 show, and the building was demolished in 2009. The site was redeveloped and the Toho Shinjuku Building was completed there in 2014, including the 12-screen Toho Cinemas Shinjuku theatre and the Hotel Gracery Shinjuku. A "life-size" replica of Godzilla (from the neck up) was added to an outdoor terrace in 2015; it has since become a local landmark.

The Tokyu Milano-za movie theater, just west of Cinecity Square, was the largest in Japan when it opened in 1956. The cinema showed many of the latest movies in Japan, including anime films. As well as a cinema, which had four screens at the time of closure, the Tokyu Milano-za complex also had a skate rink when it first opened which was converted into a bowling alley called the Milano Bowl a few years later, a Japanese restaurant (both the bowling alley and the Japanese restaurant closed alongside the cinema), a Chinese restaurant (closed in 2008), a fast food restaurant (Wimpy until the mid 1990s, Mos Burger afterwards; closed in 2011) and a casino. Its last day of operation was December 31, 2014, closing after a screening of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. A 225 m high skyscraper called the Tokyu Kabukicho Tower (which is being developed by the former owners of the Tokyu Milano) is built and was opened on 14 April 2023.

Crime

In 2004, according to a spokesperson of Metropolitan Tokyo, there were more than 1,000 yakuza in Kabukichō, and 120 different enterprises under their control.

Entering the new millennium, laws were more strictly enforced and patrols became more frequent. In addition, fifty closed-circuit cameras were installed in May 2002 after the Myojo 56 building fire that killed 44; the patrols and cameras reduced criminal activities in Kabukichō, amidst controversy.

Private citizens and government agencies launched a joint effort in July 2003, called the Shinjuku Shopping Center Committee to Expel Organized-Crime Groups, with the aim to replace unlicensed and adult-oriented businesses (which were believed to pay protection fees to organized crime groups) with legitimate businesses. In 2004, the police undertook an operation clamping down on illegal clubs and brothels, causing many to go out of business. An amendment to the 1948 Adult Entertainment law made aggressive catching of female patrons by male hosts illegal. Also, the Kabukichō Renaissance organization started in April 2008 to rid Kabukichō of the yakuza; office manager Yoshihisa Shimoda stated "[a]t the end of the day, we want Kabukicho to be clean. We want security, safety and a pleasant environment."

In 2011, Tokyo began to enforce the Organised Crime Exclusion Ordinance, which makes it a crime for businesses or individuals to deal with the yakuza. Although the punishment for violating the ordinance ranges up to one year in prison and a fine of ¥50000, it is intended to provide an excuse for refusing to make protection payments.

Bottakuri
Bottakuri is a form of bait-and-switch, where patrons are attracted by a low advertised price but then charged numerous hidden fees. In one instance, a group of nine was lured into a bar under the promise the all-inclusive cost was ¥4000; the hostesses inside consumed 172 drinks and the final bill was ¥2663000. The staff at the bar allegedly threatened the patrons to ensure payment. In 2015, there were 1,052 reported cases of bottakuri in the first four months of the year alone, particularly targeting foreign tourists from China and Korea, prompting a crackdown that began in May; in July, there were only 45 reported cases of bottakuri and 28 bars had been shut down.

In 2007, local businessman Takeshi Aida founded the Shinjuku Kabukicho Host Club Anti-Organized Crime Gang Association to disassociate host and hostess clubs from organized crime, reduce the aggressive "catching" street solicitations, and eliminate the bottakuri practice.

Education
The Shinjuku City Board of Education operates public elementary and junior high schools.

Kabuki-cho 2-chome and a portion of Kabuki-cho 1-chome is zoned to Ōkubo Elementary School (大久保小学校) and Shinjuku Junior High School (新宿中学校). Another portion of Kabuki-cho 1-chome is zoned to Hanazono Elementary School (花園小学校) and Yotsuya Junior High School (四谷中学校).

In media
Kabukichō has been featured in:

 * A Place Further than the Universe (anime)
 * Case File nº221: Kabukicho (anime television series)
 * City Hunter (manga)
 * Cells at Work! Code Black as "kanzō (肝臟)" ("Liver")
 * Gintama (manga)
 * Ichi the Killer (both film and manga)
 * Black Lagoon (manga)
 * Midnight Diner (Japanese TV series)
 * Odd Taxi (anime)
 * Persona 5 (video game) as "歓楽街" ("Entertainment District")
 * Shin Petshop of Horrors (manga)
 * Tokyo Afterschool Summoners (role-playing game)
 * Tokyo Vice (2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein)
 * Weathering with You (film)
 * Yakuza and Judgment (video game series), as Kamurochō
 * Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle (multi media project)
 * Lost in Translation 2003 film, with some scenes done there
 * Watamote (anime) Episode 5

title: Kabukichō


text:
Pierre J. Thuot

Pierre Joseph Thuot (born May 19, 1955) is a retired United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He went into space three times, spending over 650 hours in space, including over 15 hours in three space walks. He is a former U.S. record holder for time spent on one spacewalk, and participated in the first three-person spacewalk.

Early life and education
Born on May 19, 1955, in Groton, Connecticut, Thuot considers Fairfax, Virginia and New Bedford, Massachusetts to be his hometowns. Thuot graduated from Fairfax High School, Fairfax, Virginia, in 1973.

In 1967, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the United States Naval Academy. In 1985, he received a Master of Science degree in systems management from the University of Southern California. He attended Harvard Business School's six-week Advanced Management Program in 2004.

Flight experience
Thuot graduated 30th in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1977 and commenced Naval Flight Officer training in July 1977. He received his wings in August 1978 and then reported to Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, for initial F-14 Tomcat training as a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). He was then assigned to Fighter Squadron 14 (VF-14) and deployed to the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas aboard the aircraft carriers USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and USS Independence (CV-62). While assigned to VF-14, he attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). He was then selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in May 1982. Upon graduation in June 1983, he worked as a project test flight officer at the Naval Air Test Center flying the F-14A Tomcat, A-6E Intruder and the F-4J Phantom II until June 1984 when he returned to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School as a flight instructor.

He has over 3,500 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft, and has over 270 carrier landings.

NASA career
Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1985, Thuot has served in a variety of technical assignments. As the remote manipulator system (robot arm), crew equipment, and extravehicular activity (EVA) representative for the Astronaut Office, he participated in the design, development and evaluation of Space Shuttle payloads, crew equipment and crew procedures. He performed Space Shuttle flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) and served as a CAPCOM in the Mission Control Center, responsible for communications with the crew for numerous Space Shuttle missions. He served as the lead astronaut for Space Station integrated assembly and maintenance operations within the Astronaut Office. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch, as well as supervising astronaut candidate training for the class of 1995. A veteran of three space flights, STS-36 in 1990, STS-49 in 1992 and STS-62 in 1994, Thuot has logged over 654 hours in space, including 17.7 hours on three space walks. Thuot was the first member of NASA Astronaut Group 11 to fly a shuttle mission.

On his first flight, Thuot was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-36 which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 28, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This mission carried Department of Defense payloads and a number of secondary payloads. Following 72 orbits of the Earth in 106 hours, the STS-36 mission concluded with a lakebed landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on March 4, 1990, after traveling 1.87 million miles.

Thuot was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-49, the maiden voyage of the, which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 7, 1992. During that mission, Thuot, along with astronaut Richard Hieb, performed three spacewalks which resulted in the capture and repair of the stranded Intelsat VI F3 communications satellite. The third spacewalk, which also included astronaut Thomas Akers, was the first-ever three-person spacewalk. This 8 hour and 29 minute spacewalk, the longest in history, broke a twenty-year-old record that was held by the Apollo 17 astronauts. The mission concluded on May 16, 1992, with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base after orbiting the Earth 141 times in 213 hours and traveling 3.7 million miles.

On March 4, 1994, Thuot was launched aboard on STS-62, a microgravity science and technology demonstration mission that carried the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-2) and the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST-2) payloads. More than sixty experiments or investigations were conducted in scientific and engineering disciplines including materials science, human physiology, biotechnology, protein crystal growth, robotics, structural dynamics, atmospheric ozone monitoring and spacecraft glow. During the spacecraft glow investigation, Columbia's orbital altitude was lowered to 105 nmi, the lowest ever flown by a Space Shuttle. STS-62, one of the longest Space Shuttle missions, concluded on March 18, 1994, with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center after orbiting the Earth 224 times in 13 days, 23 hours, and 16 minutes and traveling 5.8 million miles.

With the completion of his third mission, Thuot has logged over 654 hours in space, including over 17.7 hours on three spacewalks.

Thuot left NASA in June 1995 and returned to active service with the United States Navy.

Post-Navy career
Thuot retired from the U.S. Navy in 1998 and took a job with Orbital Sciences Corporation as a vice president in the Dulles, Virginia-based firm's Space Systems Group. He is currently a Senior Systems Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Professional membership
Thuot is a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, the Association of Naval Aviation, the University of Southern California Alumni Association, the Association of Space Explorers, the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Honors
He has been awarded three Defense Superior Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, the National Defense Service Medal, two Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations, two Navy Battle Efficiency Awards, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the AAS Flight Achievement Award and Victor A. Prather Award for 1993, three NASA Space Flight Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, and seven NASA Group Achievement Awards. He held the U.S. and absolute world records for total time spent on space walks: 8 hours and 29 minutes from 1992 until 2001.

Personal life
Thuot is married to the former Cheryl Ann Mattingly of Leonardtown, Maryland, and they have two children. Thuot enjoys boating, golf, running, music, flying and family activities.

title: Pierre J. Thuot


text:
Daniel M. Tani

Daniel M. Tani (born February 1, 1961) is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He was born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, but considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown.

With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station.

Education
Tani graduated from Glenbard East High School, Lombard, Illinois, in 1979, and received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984, and 1988, respectively. While at MIT, Tani became a brother of the Lambda Phi chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

Tani's Space suit is featured prominently in the main hallway of Glenbard East High School, where he graduated from in 1979.

Career
After Tani received his bachelor's degree from MIT, he worked at Hughes Aircraft Corporation in El Segundo, California as a design engineer in the Space and Communications group. In 1986, he returned to MIT and received his master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1988, specializing in human factors and group decision making. After graduation, Tani worked for Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the experimental psychology department. In 1988, Tani joined Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) in Dulles, Virginia, initially as a senior structures engineer, and then as the mission operations manager for the Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS). In that role, he served as the TOS flight operations lead, working with NASA/JSC mission control in support of the deployment of the ACTS/TOS payload during the STS-51 mission in September 1993. Tani then moved to the Pegasus program at OSC as the launch operations manager. In that capacity, he served as lead for the development of procedures and constraints for the launching of the air-launched Pegasus uncrewed rocket. Tani also was responsible for defining, training, and leading the team of engineers who worked in the launch and control room.

NASA career
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, Tani reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. After completing two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist in 1998. He performed technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch and Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) Branch, and served as a crew support astronaut for Expedition 2.

STS-108
Tani flew on STS-108 in 2001, and logged over 11 days in space, including over 4 EVA hours in one spacewalk. STS-108 Endeavour (December 5–17, 2001) was the 12th shuttle flight to visit the International Space Station. During the mission, Tani served as mission specialist 2. Endeavour's crew delivered the Expedition 4 crew to the station, and returned the Expedition 3 crew. The crew transferred over three tons of supplies, logistics and science experiments from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. Tani performed a spacewalk to wrap thermal blankets around the ISS Solar Array Gimbals. STS-108 was accomplished in 185 Earth orbits, traveling 4.8 million miles in 283 hours and 36 minutes, including an EVA of 4 hours and 12 minutes.

NEEMO 2
In May 2002, Tani served as an aquanaut on the NEEMO 2 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) crew aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory. Tani and his fellow crew members lived and worked for one week beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

Expedition 16
Following his return from STS-108, Tani was assigned as the Expedition 9 backup flight engineer. Tani was eventually assigned to Expedition 16 as flight engineer, and launched to the station aboard STS-120 on October 23, 2007. Tani completed one EVA with the crew of STS-120, and four additional spacewalks during his increment aboard the space station. Originally scheduled to return to Earth with the crew of STS-122 in December, the mission was delayed due to engine cutoff sensor issues during countdown. Instead, it launched on February 7. Tani returned on STS-122 on February 20, 2008.

Extra Vehicular Activities
Dan Tani has performed five spacewalks or EVAs to date.

Retirement from NASA
Tani left NASA in August 2012 to become the Vice President of Mission and Cargo Operations in the Advanced Programs Group of Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia.

In August 2016, Tani left Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Orbital ATK) to join the High School Faculty at the American School in Japan, where he taught science, engineering and design.

Organizations
Member, Japanese American Citizens League, Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Patron of Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork, Ireland.

Awards

 * Orbital Sciences Corporation Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, 1993
 * Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (Russia, 12 April 2011) – for outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in crewed space flight

Personal life
Tani is married to Jane Egan from Cork, Ireland, and enjoys golf, flying, running, tennis, music, and cooking. Tani threw out the ceremonial first pitch and sang the "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field on August 20, 2008.

His parents, Rose and Henry N. Tani, are both deceased. During World War II, they and their children were relocated from their California farm to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, where they lived for several months in converted horse stables at the Tanforan Racetrack, and then Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah as part of the Japanese American internment program of the U.S. government. On December 19, 2007, during Tani's stay on the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 16, he was informed by the ground team that his mother had been killed when a freight train collided with her car.

title: Daniel M. Tani


text:
The Simpsons: Hit & Run

The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. It is based on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and is the twenty-second installment in the Simpsons series of video games.

The game follows the Simpson family and their friend Apu Nahasapeemapetilon as they witness many strange incidents that occur in Springfield; security cameras, mysterious vans, crop circles, and a "new and improved" flavor of the popular soft drink Buzz Cola that causes insanity. Taking matters into their own hands, they discover numerous shocking secrets, and soon realize these incidents are part of a larger alien conspiracy, caused by Kang and Kodos. The gameplay largely focuses on exploration and missions; players often race enemies and interact with supporting characters on timed quests. The game also features many elements found in role-playing games, such as explorable worlds and side tasks.

Development of The Simpsons: Hit & Run began in late 2001 as a spiritual successor and serves as a standalone sequel to Radical Entertainment's previous game The Simpsons: Road Rage. Production was extensive, as the team sought to differentiate the game from Road Rage, deeming that their new entry in the franchise required a different direction. The game was heavily inspired by the Grand Theft Auto series, and the development team re-purposed the open-world design and nuanced character development for the game. This encouraged collaboration with the show's writers and cast, who helped to craft the story and dialogue. It was released in September 2003 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It was then ported to Windows two months later.

Upon release, it received positive reviews from video game critics, with praise particularly focused on the interpretation of The Simpsons television series as a video game, its parodical take on Grand Theft Auto III, and graphics, while criticism mostly surrounded some aspects of gameplay, such as bugs and glitches. It is often considered to be the best Simpsons tie-in game and has gained a cult following. The game was also a commercial success, with recorded sales of over 3 million worldwide by July 2007. It received the award for Fave Video Game at the 2004 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards. On the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, it earned Greatest Hits, Player's Choice, and Platinum Hits respectively.

Gameplay
The Simpsons: Hit & Run features seven levels over three separate maps, each with missions and a sub-plot. The player can control one specific character in each level. The game's playable characters are Homer (played twice), Bart (played twice), Lisa, Marge, and Apu. When travelling on foot, the player character can walk, jump, run, and perform three types of melee attacks: a normal kick, a jumping kick, and a smashing move. To drive, the player can either hitchhike and control the driver in one of the many civilian vehicles that drive endlessly around town, or use a phone booth to select a car. Several hidden vehicles are present in each level and can also be used by the player if found. The game's driving missions are also similar to those of Grand Theft Auto III. In both games, the player races against other characters, collects items before a timer runs out, and wrecks other cars.

The game has a sandbox-style format that emphasizes driving, and the player controls their character from a third-person view. The character can perform certain acts of violence, punching, such as attacking pedestrians, blowing up vehicles, and destroying the environment. The Simpsons: Hit & Run has a warning meter that indicates when the police will retaliate for bad behavior. Located in the bottom-right corner of the screen, the circular "hit and run" meter fills up when the character runs people over or destroys objects, and decreases when they cease doing so. When full, several police cars chase the character for the duration of the hit and run.

Each level contains items the player can collect, such as coins, which can be gathered by either smashing Buzz Cola vending machines, Buzz Cola boxes or wasp cameras, the latter of which become more elusive as the game progresses. The coins can be used to buy new cars and player outfits, some of which are required to progress through the game. The player can also collect trading cards, with seven cards hidden in each level. When the player collects all seven cards in a level, they will unlock one of seven tracks for the 'Bonus Game' racing mini-game. When all 49 cards in the game are collected, the player unlocks a special The Itchy & Scratchy Show video. Several events cause the player to lose coins; because the character cannot die, injuries cause the player to lose coins. If the player is apprehended during a hit and run, they will be fined 50 coins.

Plot
Mysterious happenings are occurring in Springfield; a horde of robot wasps descend upon the city, a "new and improved" brand of Buzz Cola is launched by television personality Krusty the Clown and introduced to store shelves, and black vans begin appearing around town. Homer suspects that a black van outside his house is spying on his family, and he takes it upon himself to investigate who it belongs to, with the van eventually stopping in front of Mr. Burns' mansion. After helping Marge destroy numerous copies of Bonestorm 2, Homer accuses Burns of spying on Springfield, to which Burns reveals to Homer that the black vans were simply pizza vans and fires Homer for the accusation.

The next day, Bart tries to get a copy of Bonestorm 2, only to find that the game is sold out. After doing odd chores in the hopes of finding a copy, Bart eventually learns that Professor Frink is using many copies of video games to help power the Truckasaurus, and Bart agrees to help him build it, as well as set up a safe environment for it to operate in. After escaping Truckasaurus' wrath, a tractor beam abducts Bart outside the stadium. Lisa attempts to find her brother by exploring the town for clues. She learns that black sedans, which have been appearing around town, are connected to Bart's disappearance. Lisa eventually finds Bart on a ship in Springfield harbor, albeit with memory loss and mumbling unintelligibly while occasionally mentioning the sedans and cola.

Hoping to cure Bart, Marge sets out to learn what has affected him. Her investigation leads to a crop circle that recently appeared in Cletus Spuckler's crop field. While Grampa describes the look of a crop circle, Marge realizes that his description is reminiscent of the Buzz Cola logo. Marge shows a can of the cola to Bart, which snaps him out of his stupor. Bart reveals that Buzz Cola is a mind-control cola produced by aliens to make the townspeople insane. Marge decides to purge Springfield of the cola; despite her valiant efforts, the drink maintains its presence and popularity amongst the public.

Wracked with guilt upon realizing that he was selling a tainted product, Apu sets out to redeem himself and discover who owns the cola trucks supplying Buzz Cola around town. After helping Snake Jailbird with his community service, Apu learns that the cola trucks are registered to the Springfield Museum of Natural History. After acquiring the key from the museum curator, Apu and Bart visit the museum, where they find a meteor as the source of the cola, which inadvertently reanimates a T-Rex skeleton. After destroying the meteor and the skeleton, they eavesdrop on a conversation between aliens Kang and Kodos, who are masterminding a scheme. Apu and Bart learn that the wasp cameras are filming the antics of Springfield for Kang and Kodos' struggling intergalactic reality show, Foolish Earthlings. The aliens intend to attract many viewers to their show by spreading the cola into the town's water supply and distributing laser guns among the populace to drive the town to a violent massacre.

Apu is too frightened of the aliens to help further, so Bart asks Krusty for help to foil Kang and Kodos' plan, but Krusty does not believe Bart. Once Bart gets proof of a functional laser gun, Krusty informs Bart that he has already helped the Duff Brewery set up free laser gun stands around Springfield, which Bart promptly destroys. Bart then informs Homer of the aliens' plot, and the duo quickly pursue Kang and Kodos to the brewery in Homer's old sports car. However, the aliens escape after revealing that they have already released the cola throughout Springfield's water supply. As the cola seeps into the ground, it releases the undead from the Springfield Cemetery, who invade Springfield on the night of Halloween.

After Homer collects supplies to protect his family and home from the marauding zombies, he decides to pursue an alien probe vehicle to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Upon reaching the power plant, he encounters Frink, who has discovered the aliens' weakness: nuclear waste. He plans to use the spaceship's tractor beam to suck up cars that are loaded with drums of nuclear waste, which has situated itself over the Springfield Elementary School playground. After successfully loading Frink's car into the spaceship, Homer gets permission from Burns to take nuclear waste drums from the power plant to use against the aliens. After loading three more vehicles with nuclear payloads into the spaceship, including sacrificing Snake and Grampa, the ship crashes down, killing Kang and Kodos.

The following day, Springfield is returned to normal, while the Foolish Earthlings finale reaches peak popularity even on Earth. Homer is hailed as a hero and has gained a large following of alien fans. Kang and Kodos are annoyed that they went to Earth Heaven, and Kang screams in horror and frustration upon learning that they have to watch the game's credits.

Development
The developer, Radical Entertainment, received the rights to create games for The Simpsons franchise when they demonstrated a playable prototype. Radical released its first The Simpsons game in 2001, called The Simpsons: Road Rage. After Road Rage was released, the 60-person development team for Hit & Run decided not to create a direct sequel to Road Rage; instead, Radical wanted to steer the franchise's video game series in a different direction by giving the game engine a complete overhaul. The developers felt that everything else needed a new approach, while only the driving portion of Road Rage was worth keeping; in Hit & Run, enhanced traffic artificial intelligence is introduced, which makes computer-controlled vehicles react better to the player's driving. The internal development name for The Simpsons: Hit & Run was simply "Simpsons", as referenced by the executable file of the game. They also decided to add an exploration element to the game to make players get out of the car and navigate the area on foot, so that the game offered a better experience of Springfield. Lead programmer Cary Brisebois considered the GameCube version the hardest to develop, with its 24MB of RAM necessitating tricks such as loading animations into audio memory. A port for the PlayStation Portable entered development, but never released due to return on investment, as by then the voice actors had renegotiated their contracts to increase their fees.

When developing the graphics, the team decided to include landmarks from Springfield. The player is able to enter some of them, including the Kwik-E-Mart, Moe's Tavern, Springfield Elementary School, and The Android's Dungeon and Baseball Card Shop. During Hit & Run's development, 20th Century Fox, Gracie Films and Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, played important roles in bringing The Simpsons universe into a 3D environment. All character voices were supplied by the actual cast, and the series' writers wrote the entire story for the game, including dialogue, with a total of 12,231 recorded lines. Voice samples original to the game, as well as one-liners from the show, can be heard in Hit & Run. Some of the dialogue from Road Rage was reused. Tim Ramage, the associate producer of the game's publisher, Vivendi Universal Games, considered it a blessing to have the opportunity of working with The Simpsons cast, along with the writers, with Ramage saying "...you have no concerns about quality; you know you’re getting the best there is."

The game's soundtrack was primarily composed by Marc Baril, with additional compositions by Jeff Tymoschuk and Allan Levy. The soundtrack includes various arrangements of the original Simpsons theme by Danny Elfman, and features specific melodies for each playable character; for example, Bart's gameplay is accompanied by hard rock, while Lisa has laid-back motifs that Steven Hopper of GameZone compared to beach party films.

After release, Radical immediately began work on a sequel, but had to cancel it when Vivendi chose not to reobtain the Simpsons license.

Reception
The Simpsons: Hit & Run received "generally favorable" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic,   and many consider it to be the best Simpsons game to date.

Over one million copies of the game were sold as of June 2004, and three million as of July 2007. It had sold 500,000 copies in the United Kingdom by January 2004. The game's PlayStation 2 version received a "Diamond" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 1 million copies in the United Kingdom. According to Fox executive producer John Melchior, Hit & Run sold 8-10 million units in its lifetime.

Praise focused on the move from the Simpsons television series to the video game format, while criticism targeted some aspects of gameplay. Hit & Run won the award for Fave Video Game at the 2004 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

A number of reviews complimented the transposition of the Simpsons television series to a video game. Justin Leeper of Game Informer and Alex Navarro of GameSpot commented on how well the game depicted the fictional city of Springfield from the television series, and called it the most accurate representation of Springfield ever put into a game. Official Xbox Magazine said that the game did the show justice, and Play felt that it was "essentially the show in real time", summing up its review by calling the game a "truly great cross-over product". Navarro thought that the humor that the game offered included many excellent self-referential jokes, and Eric Bush of TeamXbox concluded its review by predicting that the game would be extremely appealing to gamers, especially hardcore Simpsons fans. Entertainment magazine Variety surmised that Hit & Run was the first Simpsons game to include humor comparable to what was in the television series.

Hit & Run's parodical take on the Grand Theft Auto III video game was praised by several reviewers. Zach Meston of GameSpy considered it to "deftly satirize Grand Theft Auto while being almost as entertaining", and suggested that Hit & Run improved several gameplay aspects that it borrowed from Grand Theft Auto, including instant mission restarts, a superior guidance system, and an easily accessible collection of vehicles. Official Xbox Magazine agreed that Hit & Run was an excellent game in its own right, and found the game to be a "brilliant" clone of Grand Theft Auto. The combination of the Simpsons universe with the gameplay of the Grand Theft Auto series was also praised by Douglass C. Perry of IGN as "pure brilliance".

Positive reviews of Hit & Run focused on its graphics and gameplay. Play appreciated the virtual world that the game offered, describing it as "grandiose in its expanse and artistic rendering". Navarro found the gameplay to be very engaging. Meston found the game to be "very fun and very funny", and Leeper called it "nothing short of astonishing". Despite positive reactions, the game also had serious issues that were brought up in several reviews, which focused on the game's bugs and glitches. Both Bush and Mr. Tickle of Game Revolution pointed out that Hit & Run had a few gameplay issues and graphical shortcomings that included strange artificial intelligence behavior and a broken camera system, which they felt hindered the overall experience of the game.

Non-video game publications gave positive reception on the game as well. Nick Catucci of The Village Voice gave the Xbox version a score of nine out of ten and stated, "This delightful, deep, and detailed (but unfortunately not cartoon-style cel-shaded) rip on the Grand Theft Auto series critiques itself better than any untenured academic could." Marc Saltzman of The Cincinnati Enquirer gave the game four stars out of five and said that "What it lacks in originality it more than makes up for with its fun and easy-to-pick-up game play that will appeal to fans of the long-running comedy." Geoff Keighley of Entertainment Weekly gave it a B and said, "If some of the missions seem repetitive, others stand out, like the one that has you confiscating copies of a particularly violent videogame (wink, wink) corrupting Springfield's youth." In Japan, Famitsu gave the Xbox version a score of two eights, one seven, and one eight, for a total of 31 out of 40.

During the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated The Simpsons: Hit & Run for "Console Action/Adventure Game of the Year".

title: The Simpsons: Hit & Run


text:
Joseph Tanner

Joseph Tanner may refer to:

 * Joseph M. Tanner (1859–1927), American educator and missionary and leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Joseph R. Tanner (born 1950), American aviator and astronaut
 * Joseph Robson Tanner (1860–1931), English historian

title: Joseph Tanner


text:
Joseph R. Tanner

Joseph Richard Tanner (born January 21, 1950) is an American instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder, mechanical engineer, a former naval officer and aviator, and a former NASA astronaut. He was born in Danville, Illinois. He is unusual among astronauts as he did not have a background in flight test nor did he earn any advanced academic degrees. Typically those who did not do military flight test have an M.D. or Ph.D., if not a master's, whereas Tanner's path to becoming an astronaut followed operational military flying and then into NASA for operational jet training before being selected into the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1992, following an unsuccessful application in 1987.

Background
Tanner was born January 21, 1950, in Danville, Illinois. He is married with two children, sons William and Matthew. Tanner is an Eagle Scout from Troop #19 (Danville, IL) with the Boy Scouts of America. Following graduation from Danville High School in 1968, he attended and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1973. His hobbies include: swimming, camping, mountaineering, spending time with his family.

He had an identical twin brother, David, who graduated from Indiana University, Phi Beta Kappa, with a double major in mathematics and physics and also held master's degrees in computer science and exercise science and a Ph.D. in human performance from the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University.

Tanner's mother comes from Llanddewi Brefi, Wales. He is a cousin of the former National Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis.

Navy service
After he graduated from the University of Illinois in 1973 as an engineer, Tanner joined the U.S. Navy. He received his Naval Aviator wings in 1975, before serving as an A-7E pilot with Light Attack Squadron 94 (VFA-94) aboard the USS Coral Sea (CV-43). He finished his active service as an advanced jet instructor pilot with Training Squadron 4 (VT-4) in Pensacola, Florida.

He has accumulated almost 9,000 hours in military and NASA aircraft, and over 1,000 hours in space, including nearly 50 hours in spacewalks.

NASA career
Tanner flew aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-66, November 3–14, 1994, performing the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-3 (ATLAS-3) mission. ATLAS-3 was the third in a series of flights to study the Earth's atmosphere composition and solar effects at several points during the Sun's 11-year cycle. The mission also carried the CRISTA-SPAS satellite that was deployed to study the chemical composition of the middle atmosphere and retrieved later in the mission. Tanner logged 262 hours and 34 minutes in space and 175 orbits of the Earth.

Tanner performed two spacewalks as a member of the STS-82 crew to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in February, 1997. The STS-82 crew of seven launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on February 11 and returned to a night landing at Kennedy Space Center on February 21. During the flight the crew completed five spacewalks to improve the science capability of the telescope and replace aging support equipment, restoring HST to near perfect working condition. The crew boosted HST's orbit by 8 nautical miles (15 km) before releasing it to once again study the Universe. Tanner's two space walks totaled 14 hours and 01 minutes. The flight orbited the Earth 150 times covering 4.1 million miles (6,600,000 km) in 9 days, 23 hours, 37 minutes.

Tanner's third mission was STS-97 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour (November 30 to December 11, 2000), the fifth Space Shuttle mission dedicated to the assembly of the International Space Station. While docked to the station, the crew installed the first set of U.S. solar arrays, in addition to delivering supplies and equipment to the station's first resident crew. Tanner performed three space walks totaling 19 hours 20 minutes. Mission duration was 10 days, 19 hours, 57 minutes, and covered 4.47 million miles (7,190,000 km).

Tanner's fourth mission, STS-115 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on September 9, 2006. On September 13, he participated in the 5 hour 26 min spacewalk to connect the P3/4 truss to the ISS. STS-115 returned to Earth on September 21, 2006. A photo that he took during his spacewalk was later listed on Popular Science's photo gallery of the best astronaut selfies.

Post-NASA career
Tanner joined the University of Colorado Boulder's Aerospace Engineering Science Department as a senior instructor in September 2008. He assists with senior project course and master's project course. He is also a self-employed aerospace systems consultant.

Awards and honors

 * NASA Exceptional Service Medal
 * NASA Space Flight Medals (four)
 * NASA Stuart M. Present Flight Achievement Award
 * JSC Superior Achievement Award
 * Outstanding Alumnus of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois
 * Distinguished graduate from Navy Flight Training
 * Captain of the Swimming Team and "Top 100 Seniors" Award at University of Illinois
 * Eagle Scout—Troop #19, Prairielands Council, Boy Scouts of America, Danville, IL.

title: Joseph R. Tanner