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The Darwin Awards (film)
''The Darwin Awards'' is a 2006 American adventure comedy film based on the website of the same name written and directed by Finn Taylor, the film premiered January 25, 2006, at the Sundance Film Festival. The film features Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Wilmer Valderrama, Chris Penn, Julianna Margulies, Robin Tunney, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Brad Hunt, Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman and Metallica. This was Chris Penn's last movie before his death on January 24, 2006, the day before the film's premiere. The film includes several full and partial re-enactments of "Darwin Awards", the earliest of which were fictitious, most notably the debunked JATO Rocket Car story. Plot The film opens with a car with a JATO rocket strapped to it. The movie then shifts to Michael Burrows, a criminal profiler for the San Francisco Police Department. Shot in documentary style, the film is ostensibly a dissertation by a film school grad that follows Michael throughout the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finn Taylor
Finn Taylor (born July 4, 1958) is an American film writer and director. Background Taylor was born in Oakland, California, and lived in Norway for a few years in his childhood. He attended the University of Montana and later San Francisco State University. He studied poetry and playwriting at San Francisco State before moving into screenwriting in 1993.Sony Classics About the Filmmakers: Dream with the Fishes Retrieved 9 February 2006. Taylor frequently works and produces films in the San Francisco bay area rather than for major studios in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Taylor told the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', "I feel really strongly that I stay based up here. My roots in San Francisco go way back to when I ran a literary series at Intersection for the Arts. I see no reason to work anywhere else." Taylor has also cited the greater creative control and the ability to make unconventional films as a reason for remaining independent. In 1994, Taylor wrote his first feature film, ''Po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darwin Awards
The Darwin Awards are a tongue-in-cheek honor that originated in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985. They recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool by dying or becoming sterilized via their own actions. The project became more formalized with the creation of a website in 1993, followed by a series of books starting in 2000 by Wendy Northcutt. The criterion for the awards states: "In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival." Accidental self-sterilization also qualifies, but the site notes: "Of necessity, the award is usually bestowed posthumously." The candidate is disqualified, though, if "innocent bystanders" are killed in the process, as they mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hematophobia
Blood phobia (also known as hemophobia or hematophobia in American English and haemophobia or haematophobia in British English) is an extreme irrational fear of blood, a type of specific phobia. Severe cases of this fear can cause physical reactions that are uncommon in most other fears, specifically vasovagal syncope (fainting). Similar reactions can also occur with trypanophobia and traumatophobia. For this reason, these phobias are categorized as blood-injection-injury phobia by the DSM-IV. Some early texts refer to this category as "blood-injury-illness phobia." Causes Blood phobia is often caused by direct or vicarious trauma in childhood. Though some have suggested a possible genetic link, a study of twins suggests that social learning and traumatic events, rather than genetics, is of greater significance.. Blood-injection-injury phobia (BII) affects about 4% of the population in the United States. The inclusion of BII within the category of specific or simple phobias i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criminal Profiler
Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative strategy used by law enforcement agencies to identify likely suspects and has been used by investigators to link cases that may have been committed by the same perpetrator. Multiple crimes may be linked to a specific offender and the profile may be used to predict the identified offender's future actions. In the 1980s, most researchers believed offender profiling was relevant only to sex crimes, like serial rape or sexual homicide, but since the late 1990s research has been published to support its application to arson (1998), and then later terrorism (2000) and burglary (2017). Theory Psychological profiling is described as a method of suspect identification which seeks to identify a person's mental, emotional, and personality characteristics based on things done or left at the crime scene. There are two major assumptions made when it comes to offender profiling: behavioral consistency and homology. Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JATO
JATO (acronym for jet-assisted take-off) is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term ''JATO'' is used interchangeably with the (more specific) term RATO, for ''rocket-assisted take-off'' (or, in Royal Air Force, RAF parlance, RATOG, for ''rocket-assisted take-off gear''). Early experiments and World War II In 1927 the Soviet research and development laboratory Gas Dynamics Laboratory developed solid-propellant rockets to assist aircraft take-off and in 1931 the world's first successful use of rockets to assist take-off of aircraft were carried out on a :ru:У-1, U-1, the Soviet Union military aircraft designation systems, Soviet designation for a Avro 504 trainer, which achieved about one hundred successful assisted takeoffs. Successful assisted takeoffs were also achieved on the Tupolev TB-1. and Tupolev TB-3 Heavy Bombers. The official test of the Tupolev TB-1 in 1933 shorten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JATO Rocket Car
The account of the JATO Rocket Car was one of the original Darwin Awards winners: a man who supposedly met his death in a spectacular manner after mounting a JATO unit (a rocket engine used to help heavy aircraft to take off) onto an ordinary automobile. It was originally circulated as a forwarded email. In 1996, after numerous inquires, the Arizona Department of Public Safety issued a news release posted on their website concerning the story. It termed the story "an Arizona myth." The story was also debunked in 2003 on the pilot episode of '' MythBusters'', titled " Jet Assisted Chevy". Usenet posting This is the text as it appears, possibly most frequently, in usenet repostings: History The original Darwin Awards were fictitious. Both were contained in a 1990 Version posted to rec.models.rockets of the JATO Rocket Car urban legend. When this urban legend was debunked, it was specifically pointed out that the mentioned Darwin Awards were fictitious. It contained a referen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from the band, and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band. Metallica first found commercial success with the release of its third album, ''Master of Puppets'' (1986), which is cited as one of the heaviest metal albums and the band's best work. The band's next album, '' ...And Justice for All'' (1988), gave Metallica its first Grammy Aw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamie Hyneman
James Franklin Hyneman (born September 25, 1956) is an American special effects expert who is best known as the former co-host of the television series ''MythBusters'' alongside Adam Savage, where he became known for his distinctive beret and walrus moustache. He is also the owner of M5 Industries, the special effects workshop where ''MythBusters'' was filmed. He is known among '' Robot Wars'' devotees for his robot entry Blendo, which was deemed too dangerous for entry in the competition. He is the inventor of the Sentry, an unmanned firefighting robotic vehicle. He is also one of the designers of the aerial cable robotic camera system Wavecam used in sports and entertainment events. Early life Hyneman was born in Marshall, Michigan, and grew up on a farm in Columbus, Indiana. He said, "I was a problematic kid, to be sure. I left home when I was 14 and hitchhiked all over the country." As a child, Hyneman would spend time at Indiana University, where his mother was a graduate lib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adam Savage
Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, best known as the former co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel television series ''MythBusters'' and '' Unchained Reaction''. His model work has appeared in major films, including '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' and ''The Matrix Reloaded''. He is the host of the TV program ''Savage Builds'', which premiered on the Science Channel on June 14, 2019. He is most active on the platform Adam Savage's Tested which includes a website and a YouTube channel. Early life Savage was born in New York City and was raised in North Tarrytown, New York, which was renamed Sleepy Hollow in 1996. He graduated from Sleepy Hollow High School in 1985. His maternal grandfather Cushman Haagensen was a surgeon who pioneered breast cancer surgery. His father Whitney Lee Savage (1928–1998) was a painter, filmmaker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brad Hunt (actor)
Brad Hunt is an American actor, singer and songwriter, born in Moberly, Missouri Moberly is a city in Randolph County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,974 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area. History Moberly was founded in 1866, and named after Colonel William E. Moberly .... Filmography Film Television External links * American male film actors Living people People from Moberly, Missouri Male actors from Missouri Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-film-actor-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, Ferlinghetti was best known for his second collection of poems, ''A Coney Island of the Mind'' (1958), which has been translated into nine languages and sold over a million copies. When Ferlinghetti turned 100 in March 2019, the city of San Francisco turned his birthday, March 24, into "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day". Early life Ferlinghetti was born on March 24, 1919, in Yonkers, New York. Shortly before his birth, his father, Carlo, a native of Brescia, died of a heart attack; and his mother, Clemence Albertine (née Mendes-Monsanto), of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish descent, was committed to a mental hospital shortly after. He was raised by an aunt, and later by foster parents. He attended the Mount Hermon School for Boys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
