document_title: Cast Away

question_text: how long is tom hanks on the island in castaway

text: Cast Away

text: Plot[edit]

text: In December 1995, Chuck Noland is a time-obsessed systems engineer, who travels worldwide resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots. He is in a long-term relationship with Kelly Frears, with whom he lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Although the couple wants to get married, Chuck's busy schedule interferes with their relationship. A Christmas with relatives is interrupted when Chuck is summoned to resolve a problem in Malaysia. While flying through a violent storm, his plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Chuck escapes the sinking plane and is saved by an inflatable life raft, but loses the emergency locator transmitter. He clings to the life raft, loses consciousness, and floats all night before being washed up on an island. After he awakens, he explores the island and soon discovers that it is uninhabited.

text: Several FedEx packages from the crashed plane wash up on the shore, as well as the corpse of one of the pilots, which he buries. He initially tries to signal for rescue and makes an escape attempt with the remnants of his life raft, but cannot pass the powerful surf and the coral reefs surrounding the island. He searches for food, water, and shelter, and opens the packages, finding a number of potentially useful items. He leaves one package, which has a pair of angel wings stenciled on it, unopened. During a first attempt to make fire, Chuck receives a deep wound to his hand. In anger and pain, he throws several objects, including a Wilson volleyball from one of the packages. A short time later he draws a face in the bloody hand print on the ball, names it Wilson, and begins talking to it. One night, Chuck calculates that in order for the rescue workers to find the site of the plane crash, they will have to search an area twice the size of Texas, making him doubtful he will ever be found.

text: Four years later, Chuck has adapted to the meager living conditions on the island, having become adept at spearing fish and making fires. He also has regular conversations and arguments with Wilson, which has become his only means of socialization. A large section from a portable toilet washes up on the island; Chuck uses it as a sail in the construction of a raft. After spending some time building and stocking the raft and deciding when the weather conditions will be optimal (using an analemma he has created in his cave to monitor the time of year), he launches, using the sail to overcome the powerful surf. After some time on the ocean, a storm nearly tears his raft apart. The following day, as Chuck sleeps, Wilson becomes untethered and floats away from the raft. Chuck is wakened by the spray of a sounding whale, sees Wilson, and swims after him, but Wilson has gone too far to safely retrieve. Chuck returns to the raft and collapses in tears. Later, a passing cargo ship finds him, drifting.

text: Upon returning to civilization, Chuck learns that he has long been given up for dead; his family and acquaintances have held a funeral, and Kelly has since married Chuck's one-time dentist and has a daughter. After reuniting with Kelly, the pair profess their love for each other but, realizing they cannot be together because of her commitment to her new family, they sadly part. Kelly gives Chuck the keys to the car they once shared.

text: Sometime later, after buying a new volleyball, Chuck travels to Canadian, Texas, to return the unopened FedEx package with the angel wings to its sender, a woman named Bettina Peterson. The house at the address is empty, so he leaves the package at the door with a note saying that the package saved his life. He departs and stops at a remote crossroads. A friendly woman passing by in a pickup truck stops to explain where each road leads. As she drives away, Chuck notices the angel wings on the back of her truck are identical to those on the parcel. As Chuck is left standing at the crossroads he looks down each road, then smiles faintly as he looks in the direction of the woman's truck.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland
Helen Hunt as Kelly Frears
Nick Searcy as Stan
Jenifer Lewis as Becca Twig
Chris Noth as Jerry Lovett
Lari White as Bettina Peterson
Vince Martin as Albert "Al" Miller
Geoffrey Blake as Maynard Graham
Michael Forest as Jack
Jay Acovone as Petrov

text: Production[edit]

text: The film's shooting was between the years 1998 and 2000, but was not shot consecutively. Hanks gained 50 pounds (23 kg) during pre-production to make him look like a pudgy, middle-aged man. After a majority of the film was shot, production was halted for a year so that he could lose the weight and grow his hair and beard to look like he had been living on the island for years. During the year-long hiatus, Zemeckis used the same film crew to make another film, What Lies Beneath.[2]

text: Cast Away was filmed on Monuriki, one of the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji.[3] It is in a subgroup of the Mamanuca archipelago, which is sited off the coast of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. The island became a tourist attraction following the film's release. After Chuck's return, it is identified by Kelly as being "about 600 miles south of the Cook Islands," but there is actually no land between the southernmost Cook Islands of Mangaia and Antarctica.

text: The film essentially begins and ends in the same location, on the Arrington Ranch in the Texas Panhandle south of the city of Canadian, Texas.[4]

text: Music[edit]

text: The film's minimal score was composed by Alan Silvestri for which he won a Grammy Award in 2002. The film's soundtrack is most notable for its lack of score and creature sound effects (such as bird song or insect sounds) while Chuck is on the island, which is intended to reinforce the feeling of isolation.[5] Cast Away contains no original musical score until Chuck escapes the island. However, there is a Russian choral piece heard near the start of the film that was not composed or even recorded by Silvestri, so it does not appear on the film's soundtrack list. It is a traditional Russian song written by Lev Knipper called "Oh, My Field" ("Polyushko, Polye") and it is available on various collections of Red Army hymns. The tracks in Silvestri's score are as follows:

text:
"Cast Away" – 3:44
"Wilson, I'm Sorry" – 1:39
"Drive to Kelly's" – 3:54
"Love of My Life" – 1:47
"What the Tide Could Bring" – 3:39
"Crossroads" – 2:08
"End Credits" – 7:29

tag: ol

text: The official soundtrack CD is an anthology of musical pieces from all films up to that point directed by Zemeckis and scored by Silvestri. The only track from Cast Away itself is the theme from the end credits.[6]

text: FedEx[edit]

text: FedEx provided access to their facilities (Memphis, Los Angeles, and Moscow) as well as airplanes, trucks, uniforms, and logistical support. A team of FedEx marketers oversaw production through more than two years of filming.[7] FedEx CEO Fred Smith made an appearance as himself for the scene where Chuck is welcomed back, which was filmed on location at FedEx's home facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. The idea of a story based on a FedEx plane crashing gave the company "a heart attack at first," but the overall story was seen as positive. FedEx, which paid no money for product placement in the film,[8] saw an increase in brand awareness in Asia and Europe following the film's release.[9]

text: Wilson the volleyball[edit]

text: In the film, Wilson the volleyball serves as Chuck Noland's personified friend and only companion during the four years that Noland spends alone on a deserted island.[10][11][12] Named after the volleyball's manufacturer, Wilson Sporting Goods, the character was created by screenwriter William Broyles, Jr.. While researching for the film, he consulted with professional survival experts, and then chose to deliberately strand himself for one week on an isolated beach in the Gulf of California, to force himself to search for water and food, and obtain his own shelter. During this time, a volleyball washed up on shore. This was the inspiration for the film's inanimate companion. From a screenwriting point of view, Wilson also serves to realistically allow dialogue in a one-person-only situation.[13][14]

text: One of the original volleyball props was sold at auction for $18,500 to the ex-CEO of FedEx Office, Ken May. At the time of the film's release, Wilson launched its own joint promotion centered on the fact that one of its products was "co-starring" with Tom Hanks. Wilson manufactured a volleyball with a reproduction of the bloodied handprint face on one side. It was sold for a limited time during the film's initial release and continues to be offered on the company's website.[15]

text: Reception[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, Cast Away has an approval rating of 90% based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Flawed but fascinating, Cast Away offers an intelligent script, some of Robert Zemeckis' most mature directing, and a showcase performance from Tom Hanks."[16] On Metacritic the film has a score of 73 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17]

text: Cast Away opened in 2,774 theaters in North America and grossed $28,883,406 with an average of $10,412 per theater on its opening weekend.[18] For the four-day Christmas long holiday weekend, it took in a total of $39,852,075.[19] The film kept performing well and ended up earning $233,632,142 domestically and $196,000,000 internationally for a total of $429,632,142, well above its production budget of $90 million.[1]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award
Category
Recipients and nominees
Result

73rd Academy Awards[20]
Best Actor
Tom Hanks
Nominated

Best Sound
Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands and William B. Kaplan
Nominated

54th British Academy Film Awards[21]
Best Actor
Tom Hanks
Nominated

6th Critics' Choice Awards[22]
Best Inanimate Object
Wilson
Won

58th Golden Globe Awards[23]
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Tom Hanks
Won

2001 MTV Movie Awards
Best Action Sequence
Plane crash
Nominated

Best Kiss
Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt
Nominated

Best Male Performance
Tom Hanks
Nominated

Best On-Screen Duo
Tom Hanks and Wilson
Nominated

7th Screen Actors Guild Awards[24]
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Tom Hanks
Nominated

text: The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

text: 2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – Nominated[25]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: A FedEx commercial during the 2003 Super Bowl parodied the final scene of the film, in which Chuck returns a package to its sender. In this version, the woman answers the door, and when Chuck asks what was in the box, the woman replies: "Just a satellite phone, GPS locator, fishing rod, water purifier, and some seeds. Just silly stuff."[26]

text: Media executive Lloyd Braun of ABC Studios first suggested the idea of a Cast Away-type television series at a dinner party in 2003.[27] Thom Sherman later pitched the idea for Cast Away – The Series, but never developed the idea.[27] The concept was later developed and pitched with the title Nowhere, which later turned into the ABC show Lost.[27]


document_title: History of the United States dollar

question_text: when did us dollar stop being backed by gold

root

text: History of the United States dollar

text: Background[edit]

text: By the end of 1778, Continental Currency retained only between 1⁄5 to 1⁄7 of its original face value. By 1780, Continental bills – or Continentals – were worth just 1⁄40 of their face value. Congress tried to reform the currency by removing the old bills from circulation and issuing new ones, but this met with little to no success. By May 1781, Continentals had become so worthless they ceased to circulate as money. Benjamin Franklin noted that the depreciation of the currency had, in effect, acted as a tax to pay for the war.[2] In the 1790s, after the ratification of the United States Constitution, Continentals could be exchanged for treasury bonds at 1% of face value.[3]

tag: p

text: Congress appointed Robert Morris to be Superintendent of Finance of the United States following the collapse of Continental currency. In 1782, Morris advocated the creation of the first financial institution chartered by the United States. The Bank of North America was funded in part by specie loaned to the United States by France. Morris helped finance the final stages of the war by issuing notes in his name, backed by his own money. The Bank of North America also issued notes convertible into specie.[4] On July 6, 1785, the Continental Congress of the United States authorized the issuance of a new currency, the US dollar.

text: However, runaway inflation and the collapse of the Continental currency prompted delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 to include the gold and silver clause in the United States Constitution, preventing individual States from issuing their own bills of credit. Article One states they were prohibited to "make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts."[5] Some people use this clause to argue that federal paper money is unconstitutional. [6][7]

text: The United States Mint was created by Congress following the passing of the Coinage Act of 1792. It was primarily tasked with producing and circulating coinage. The first Mint building was in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. The Mint was originally placed within the Department of State, until the Coinage Act of 1873 when it became part of the Department of the Treasury (in 1981 it was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States). The Mint had the authority to convert any precious metals into standard coinage for anyone's account with no seigniorage charge beyond refining costs.

text: Early history[edit]

text: After the creation of the U.S. dollar, the fledgling American administration of President George Washington turned its attention to monetary issues again in the early 1790s under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury at the time. Congress acted on Hamilton's recommendations in the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the dollar as the basic unit of account for the United States. The word dollar is derived from Low Saxon cognate of the High German Thaler. The most commonly circulated and readily available currency, used by common Americans, at this time, was the Spanish Peso, also known as the "Spanish milled dollar", which was valued for its high silver content.

text: In the early 19th century, gold rose in relation to silver, resulting in the removal from commerce of nearly all gold coins, and their subsequent melting. Therefore, in the Coinage Act of 1834, the 15:1 ratio of silver to gold was changed to a 16:1 ratio by reducing the weight of the nation's gold coinage. This created a new U.S. dollar that was backed by 1.50 g (23.22 grains) of gold. However, the previous dollar had been represented by 1.60 g (24.75 grains) of gold. The result of this revaluation, which was the first devaluation of the U.S. dollar, was that the value in gold of the dollar was reduced by 6%. Moreover, for a time, both gold and silver coins were useful in commerce.

text: In 1853, the weights of U.S. silver coins (except the dollar itself, which was rarely used) were reduced. This had the effect of placing the nation effectively (although not officially) on the gold standard. The retained weight in the dollar coin was a nod to bimetallism, although it had the effect of further driving the silver dollar coin from commerce. Foreign coins, including the Spanish dollar, were also, widely used,[8] as legal tender, until 1857.

text: With the enactment of the National Banking Act of 1863, during the American Civil War and its later versions that taxed states' bonds and currency out of existence, the dollar became the sole currency of the United States and remains so today.

text: During the 19th century the dollar was less accepted around the world than the British pound. Nellie Bly carried Bank of England notes on her 1889-1890 trip around the world in 72 days; she also brought some dollars, Bly wrote, "to use at different ports as a test to see if American money was known outside of America". Traveling east from New York, she did not see American money until she found $20 gold pieces used as jewelry in Colombo; there Bly found that as currency dollars were accepted at a 60% discount.[9]

text: In 1878, the Bland-Allison Act was enacted to provide for freer coinage of silver. This act required the government to purchase between $2 million and $4 million worth of silver bullion each month at market prices and to coin it into silver dollars. This was, in effect, a subsidy for politically influential silver producers.

text: The discovery of large silver deposits in the Western United States in the late 19th century created a political controversy. Due to the large influx of silver, the value of silver in the nation's coinage dropped precipitously. On one side were agrarian interests such as the United States Greenback Party that wanted to retain the bimetallic standard in order to inflate the dollar, which would allow farmers to more easily repay their debts. On the other side were Eastern banking and commercial interests, who advocated sound money and a switch to the gold standard. This issue split the Democratic Party in 1896. It led to the famous "cross of gold" speech given by William Jennings Bryan, and may have inspired many of the themes in The Wizard of Oz. Despite the controversy, the status of silver was slowly diminished through a series of legislative changes from 1873 to 1900, when a gold standard was formally adopted. The gold standard survived, with several modifications, until 1971.

text: Gold standard[edit]

text: Bimetallism persisted until March 14, 1900, with the passage of the Gold Standard Act, which provided that:

text: ...the dollar consisting of twenty-five and eight-tenths grains (1.67 g) of gold nine-tenths fine, as established by section thirty-five hundred and eleven of the Revised Statutes of the United States, shall be the standard unit of value, and all forms of money issued or coined by the United States shall be maintained at a parity of value with this standard...

text: Thus the United States moved to a gold standard, making both gold and silver the legal-tender coinage of the United States, and guaranteed the dollar as convertible to 1.5 g (23.22 grains) of gold.[10]

text: The gold standard was suspended twice during World War I, once fully and then for foreign exchange. At the onset of the war, U.S. corporations had large debts payable to European entities, who began liquidating their debts in gold. With debts looming to Europe, the dollar to British pound exchange rate reached as high as $6.75, far above the (gold) parity of $4.8665. This caused large gold outflows until July 31, 1914, when the New York Stock Exchange closed and the gold standard was temporarily suspended. In order to defend the exchange value of the dollar, the US Treasury Department authorized state and nationally chartered banks to issue emergency currency under the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, and the newly created Federal Reserve organized a fund to assure debts to foreign creditors. These efforts were largely successful, and the Aldrich-Vreeland notes were retired starting in November and the gold standard was restored when the New York Stock Exchange re-opened in December 1914.[11]

text: As the United States remained neutral in the war, it remained the only country to maintain its gold standard, doing so without restriction on import or export of gold from 1915 to 1917. During the participation of the United States as a belligerent, President Wilson banned gold export, thereby suspending the gold standard for foreign exchange. After the war, European countries slowly returned to their gold standards, though in somewhat altered form.[11][12]

text: During the Great Depression, every major currency abandoned the gold standard. Among the earliest, the Bank of England abandoned the gold standard in 1931 as speculators demanded gold in exchange for currency, threatening the solvency of the British monetary system. This pattern repeated throughout Europe and North America. In the United States, the Federal Reserve was forced to raise interest rates in order to protect the gold standard for the US dollar, worsening already severe domestic economic pressures. After bank runs became more pronounced in early 1933, people began to hoard gold coins as distrust for banks led to distrust for paper money, worsening deflation and depleting gold reserves.[11][12]

text: The Gold Reserve Act[edit]

text: In early 1933, in order to fight severe deflation Congress and President Roosevelt implemented a series of Acts of Congress and Executive Orders which suspended the gold standard except for foreign exchange, revoked gold as universal legal tender for debts, and banned private ownership of significant amounts of gold coin. These acts included Executive Order 6073, the Emergency Banking Act, Executive Order 6102, Executive Order 6111, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, 1933 Banking Act, House Joint Resolution 192, and later the Gold Reserve Act.[11] These actions were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the "Gold Clause Cases" in 1935.[13]

text: For foreign exchange purposes, the set $20.67 per ounce value of the dollar was lifted, allowing the dollar to float freely in foreign exchange markets with no set value in gold. This was terminated after one year. Roosevelt attempted first to restabilize falling prices with the Agricultural Adjustment Act; however, this did not prove popular, so instead the next politically popular option was to devalue the dollar on foreign exchange markets. Under the Gold Reserve Act the value of gold was fixed at $35 per ounce, making the dollar more attractive for foreign buyers (and making foreign currencies more expensive for those holding dollars). This change led to more conversion of gold into dollars, allowing the U.S. to effectively corner the world gold market.[14][15]

text: The suspension of the gold standard was considered temporary by many in markets and in the government at the time, but restoring the standard was considered a low priority to dealing with other issues.[11][14]

text: Under the post-World War II Bretton Woods system, all other currencies were valued in terms of U.S. dollars and were thus indirectly linked to the gold standard. The need for the U.S. government to maintain both a $35 per troy ounce (112.53 ¢/g) market price of gold and also the conversion to foreign currencies caused economic and trade pressures. By the early 1960s, compensation for these pressures started to become too complicated to manage.

text: In March 1968, the effort to control the private market price of gold was abandoned. A two-tier system began. In this system all central-bank transactions in gold were insulated from the free market price. Central banks would trade gold among themselves at $35 per troy ounce (112.53 ¢/g) but would not trade with the private market. The private market could trade at the equilibrium market price and there would be no official intervention. The price immediately jumped to $43 per troy ounce (138.25 ¢/g). The price of gold touched briefly back at $35 (112.53 ¢/g) near the end of 1969 before beginning a steady price increase. This gold price increase turned steep through 1972 and hit a high that year of over $70 (2.25 $/g). By that time floating exchange rates had also begun to emerge, which indicated the de facto dissolution of the Bretton Woods system. The two-tier system was abandoned in November 1973. By then the price of gold had reached $100 per troy ounce (3.22 $/g).

text: In the early 1970s, inflation caused by rising prices for imported commodities, especially oil, and spending on the Vietnam War, which was not counteracted by cuts in other government expenditures, combined with a trade deficit to create a situation in which the dollar was worth less than the gold used to back it.

text: In 1971, President Richard Nixon unilaterally ordered the cancellation of the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. This act was known as the Nixon Shock.

text: U.S. dollar value vs. gold value[edit]

text: The sudden jump in the price of gold after the demise of the Bretton Woods accords was a result of the significant prior debasement of the US dollar due to excessive inflation of the monetary supply via central bank (Federal Reserve) coordinated fractional reserve banking under the Bretton Woods partial gold standard. In the absence of an international mechanism tying the dollar to gold via fixed exchange rates, the dollar became a pure fiat currency and as such fell to its free market exchange price versus gold. Consequently, the price of gold rose from $35 per troy ounce (1.125 $/g) in 1969 to almost $500 (29 $/g) in 1980.

text: Shortly after the gold price started its ascent in the early 1970s, the price of other commodities such as oil also began to rise. While commodity prices became more volatile, the average exchange rate between oil and gold remained much the same in the 1990s as it had been in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

text: Fearing the emergence of a specie gold-based economy separate from central banking, and with the corresponding threat of the collapse of the U.S. dollar, the U.S. government approved several changes to the trading on the COMEX. These changes resulted in a steep decline in the traded value of precious metals from the early 1980s onward.

text: In September 1987 under the Reagan administration the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury James Baker made a proposal through the International Monetary Fund to use a commodity basket (which included gold).[citation needed]

text: Silver standard[edit]

text: United States silver certificates were a type of representative money printed from 1878 to 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency.[16] They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, and were used alongside the gold-based dollar notes. The silver certificates were initially redeemable in the same face value of silver dollar coins, and later in raw silver bullion.

text: Since the early 1920s, silver certificates were issued in $1, $5, and $10 denominations. In the 1928 series, only $1 silver certificates were produced. Fives and tens of this time were mainly Federal Reserve notes, which were backed by and redeemable in gold. In 1933, Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act which included a clause allowing for the pumping of silver into the market to replace the gold. A new 1933 series of $10 silver certificate was printed and released, but not many were released into circulation.

text: In 1934, a law was passed in Congress that changed the obligation on Silver Certificates so as to denote the current location of the silver.

text: The last government regulation regarding the silver standard was in 1963, when President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11110, delegating to the Treasury Secretary his authority to authorize the US Department of Treasury to issue silver certificates for any silver held by the U.S. Government in excess of that not already backing issued certificates. This was necessary because of Kennedy's signing of Public Law 88-36 on the same day, one of the effects of which was a repeal of the Silver Purchase Act of 1934-this act had authorized the Treasury Secretary to purchase silver bullion and issue silver certificates against it. Silver certificates continued to be issued for a short period of time in the $1 denomination, but were discontinued in late 1963.

text: Use as international reserve currency[edit]

text: History[edit]

text: World War II devastated European and Asian economies while leaving the United States' economy relatively unharmed.[17] As European governments exhausted their gold reserves and borrowed to pay the United States for war material, the United States accumulated large gold reserves. This combination gave the United States significant political and economic power following the war.[18]

text: The Bretton Woods agreement codified this economic dominance of the dollar after the war. In 1944, Allied nations sought to create an international monetary order that sustained the global economy and prevented the economic malaise that followed the First World War. The Bretton Woods agreement laid the foundations for an international monetary order that created rules and expectations for the international economic system. It created the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the predecessor of the World Bank, and an international monetary system based on fixed exchange rates. It valued the dollar at $35 per ounce of gold and the remaining signatories pegged their respective currency relative to the dollar, leading some economists to argue that Bretton Woods “dethroned”[19] gold as the default asset.[20]

text: While Bretton Woods institutionalized the dollar's importance following the war, Europe and Asia faced dollar shortages. The international community needed dollars to finance imports from the United States to rebuild what was lost in the war.[21] In 1948 Congress passed the European Recovery Program - generally known as the Marshall Plan – giving dollars to European countries to purchase imports needed to rebuild their economies. The plan helped European countries by providing them dollars to purchase the imports needed to produce exports, eventually allowing the countries to export enough of their own goods to obtain the dollars necessary to sustain their economies without reliance on any Marshall-like plan. At the same time, Joseph Dodge worked with Japanese officials and Congress to pass the Dodge Plan in 1949, which worked similarly to the Marshall Plan, but for Japan rather than Europe.[20]

text: The Marshall and Dodge plans' successes have brought new challenges to the U.S. dollar. In 1959, dollars in circulation around the world exceeded U.S. gold reserves, which became vulnerable to the equivalent of a bank run. In 1960, Yale economist Robert Triffin described the problem to Congress: either the dollar was not freely available and other countries could not afford to import American goods, or the dollar was freely available but confidence that the dollar could be converted to gold would wane.[22]

text: Eventually, the United States chose to devalue the dollar. During the early 1960s American officials largely prevented the conversion of dollars to gold with a series of "gentlemanly" agreements and other policies – which included the London Gold Pool - but these actions were not sustainable; the danger of a run on U.S. gold reserves was too high.[23] With Nixon's election in 1968, American officials became increasingly concerned until Nixon finally issued Executive Order 11615 in August 1971, ending the direct convertibility of dollars to gold. He said, "We must protect the position of the American dollar as pillar of monetary stability around the world… I am determined that the American dollar must never again be hostage in the hands of the international speculators."[24] This became known as the Nixon Shock and marked the dollar's transition from the gold standard to a fiat currency.

text: Impact[edit]

text: The United States enjoys some benefits because the dollar serves as the international reserve currency. The United States is less likely to face a balance of payments crisis.

text: The position of the dollar as the international reserve currency also has a cost: the American government is more likely to forego fiscal expansionary policies in order to maintain confidence in the dollar.[25]

text: United States Notes[edit]

text: A United States Note, also known as a Legal Tender Note, was a type of paper money that was issued from 1862 to 1971 in the U.S. Having been current for over 100 years, they were issued for longer than any other form of U.S. paper money. They were known popularly as "greenbacks" in their day, a name inherited from the Demand Notes that they replaced in 1862.

text: While issuance of United States Notes ended in January 1971, existing United States Notes are still valid currency in the United States today, though rarely seen in circulation.

text: Both United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes are parts of the national currency of the United States, and both have been legal tender since the gold recall of 1933. Both have been used in circulation as money in the same way. However, the issuing authority for them came from different statutes.[26] United States Notes were created as fiat currency, in that the government has never categorically guaranteed to redeem them for precious metal - even though at times, such as after the specie resumption of 1879, federal officials were authorized to do so if requested.

text: The difference between a United States Note and a Federal Reserve Note is that a United States Note represented a "bill of credit" and was inserted by the Treasury directly into circulation free of interest. Federal Reserve Notes are backed by debt purchased by the Federal Reserve, and thus generate seigniorage for the Federal Reserve System, which serves as a lending intermediary between the Treasury and the public.

text: Fiat standard[edit]

text: Today, like the currency of most nations, the dollar is fiat money, unbacked by any physical asset. A holder of a federal reserve note has no right to demand an asset such as gold or silver from the government in exchange for a note.[27] Consequently, some proponents of the intrinsic theory of value believe that the near-zero marginal cost of production of the current fiat dollar detracts from its attractiveness as a medium of exchange and store of value because a fiat currency without a marginal cost of production is easier to debase via overproduction and the subsequent inflation of the money supply.

text: In 1963, the words "PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND" were removed from all newly issued Federal Reserve notes. Then, in 1968, redemption of pre-1963 Federal Reserve notes for gold or silver officially ended. The Coinage Act of 1965 removed all silver from quarters and dimes, which were 90% silver prior to the act. However, there was a provision in the act allowing some coins to contain a 40% silver consistency, such as the Kennedy Half Dollar. Later, even this provision was removed, with the last circulating silver-content halves minted in 1969. All previously silver coins minted for general circulation are now clad. During 1982, the composition of the cent was changed from copper to zinc with a thin copper coating. The content of the nickel has not changed since 1946.[citation needed] Silver and gold coins are produced by the U.S. government, but only as non-circulating commemorative pieces or in sets for collectors.

text: All circulating notes, issued from 1861 to present, will be honored by the government at face value as legal tender. This means that the federal government will accept old notes as payments for debts owed to the federal government (taxes and fees), or exchange old notes for new ones, but will not redeem notes for gold or silver, even if the note states that it may be thus redeemed. Some bills may have a premium to collectors.[citation needed]

text: The only exception to this rule is the $10,000 gold certificate of Series 1900, a number of which were inadvertently released to the public because of a fire in 1935. A box of them was literally thrown out a window. This set is not considered to be "in circulation" and, in fact, is stolen property. However, the government canceled these banknotes and removed them from official records. Their value, relevant only to collectors, is approximately one thousand US dollars.[28]

text: According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, there is $1.2 trillion in total US currency in worldwide circulation as of July 2013.[29]

text: Color and design[edit]

text: The federal government began issuing currency like the Spanish dollars during the American Civil War. As photographic technology of the day could not reproduce color, it was decided the back of the bills would be printed in a color other than black. Because the color green was seen as a symbol of stability, it was selected. These were known as "greenbacks" for their color and started a tradition of the United States' printing the back of its money in green. The author of that invention was chemist Christopher Der-Seropian.[citation needed] In contrast to the currency notes of many other countries, Federal Reserve notes of varying denominations are the same colors: predominantly black ink with green highlights on the front, and predominantly green ink on the back. Federal Reserve notes were printed in the same colors for most of the 20th century, although older bills called "silver certificates" had blue highlights on the front, and "United States notes" had red highlights on the front.

text: In 1928, sizing of the bills was standardized (involving a 25% reduction in their current sizes, compared to the older, larger notes nicknamed "horse blankets").[30] Modern U.S. currency, regardless of denomination, is 2.61 inches (66.3 mm) wide, 6.14 inches (156 mm) long, and 0.0043 inches (0.109 mm) thick. A single bill weighs about fifteen and a half grains (one gram) and costs approximately 4.2 cents for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce.

text: Microprinting and security threads were introduced in the 1991 currency series.

text: Another series started in 1996 with the $100 note, adding the following changes:

text:
A larger portrait, moved off-center to create more space to incorporate a watermark.
The watermark to the right of the portrait depicting the same historical figure as the portrait. The watermark can be seen only when held up to the light (and had long been a standard feature of all other major currencies).
A security thread that will glow pink when exposed to ultraviolet light in a dark environment.[31] The thread is in a unique position on each denomination.
Color-shifting ink that changes from green to black when viewed from different angles. This feature appears in the numeral on the lower right-hand corner of the bill front.
Microprinting in the numeral in the note's lower left-hand corner and on Benjamin Franklin's coat.
Concentric fine-line printing in the background of the portrait and on the back of the note. This type of printing is difficult to copy well.
The value of the currency written in 14pt Arial font on the back for those with sight disabilities.
Other features for machine authentication and processing of the currency.

tag: ul

text: Annual releases of the 1996 series followed. The $50 note June 12, 1997, introduced a large dark numeral with a light background on the back of the note to make it easier for people to identify the denomination.[32] The $20 note in 1998 introduced a new machine-readable capability to assist scanning devices. The security thread glows green under ultraviolet light, and "USA TWENTY" and a flag are printed on the thread, while the numeral "20" is printed within the star field of the flag. The microprinting is in the lower left ornamentation of the portrait and in the lower left corner of the note front. As of 1998[update], the $20 note was the most frequently counterfeited note in the United States. The new design of the $5 and $10 notes were released in 2000.

text: May 13, 2003, The Treasury announced that it would introduce new colors into the $20 bill, the first U.S. currency since 1905 (not counting the 1934 gold certificates) to have colors other than green or black. The move was intended primarily to reduce counterfeiting, rather than to increase visual differentiation between denominations. The main colors of all denominations, including the new $20 and $50, remain green and black; the other colors are present only in subtle shades in secondary design elements. This contrasts with notes of the euro, Australian dollar, and most other currencies, where strong colours are used to distinguish each denomination from the other.

text: The new $20 bills entered circulation October 9, 2003, the new $50 bills, September 28, 2004. The new $10 notes were introduced in 2006 and redesigned $5 bills began to circulate March 13, 2008. Each will have subtle elements of different colors, though will continue to be primarily green and black. The Treasury said it will update Federal Reserve notes every 7 to 10 years to keep up with counterfeiting technology. In addition, there have been rumors that future banknotes will use embedded RFID microchips as another anti-counterfeiting tool.[33]

text: The 2008 $5 bill contains significant new security updates. The obverse side of the bill includes patterned yellow printing that will cue digital image-processing software to prevent digital copying, watermarks, digital security thread, and extensive microprinting. The reverse side includes an oversized purple number 5 to provide easy differentiation from other denominations.[34]

text: On April 21, 2010, the U.S. Government announced a heavily redesigned $100 bill that featured bolder colors, color shifting ink, microlenses, and other features. It was scheduled to start circulating on February 10, 2011, but was delayed due to the discovery of sporadic creasing on the notes and "mashing" (when there is too much ink on the paper, the artwork on the notes are not clearly seen). The redesigned $100 bill was released October 8, 2013.[35] It costs 11.8 cents to produce each bill.[36]

text: "The soundness of a nation's currency is essential to the soundness of its economy. And to uphold our currency's soundness, it must be recognized and honored as legal tender and counterfeiting must be effectively thwarted," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said at a ceremony unveiling the $20 bill's new design. Prior to its current design, the most recent redesign of the U.S. dollar bill was in 1996.

text:
Current $20 bill front.

Current $20 bill back.

tag: table

text: As a result of a 2008 decision in an accessibility lawsuit filed by the American Council of the Blind, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to implement a raised tactile feature in the next redesign of each note, except the $1 and the current version of the $100 bill. It also plans larger, higher-contrast numerals, more color differences, and distribution of currency readers to assist the visually impaired during the transition period.[37] In 2016, the Treasury announced a number of design changes to the $5, $10 and $20 bills; to be introduced in this next redesign. The redesigns include:[38][39]

text:
The back of the $5 bill will be changed to showcase historical events at the pictured Lincoln Memorial by adding portraits of Marian Anderson (due to her famous performance there after being barred from Constitution Hall due to her race), Martin Luther King Jr.'s (due to his famous I Have A Dream speech), and Eleanor Roosevelt (who arranged Anderson's performance).
The back of the $10 bill will be changed to show a 1913 march for women's suffrage in the United States, plus portraits of Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
On the $20 bill, Andrew Jackson will move to the back (reduced in size, alongside the White House) and Harriet Tubman will appear on the front.


document_title: Blue Heelers

question_text: how many seasons of blue heelers are there

question_tokens: how many seasons of blue heelers are there

text: Blue Heelers

text: Overview[edit]

text: Blue Heelers was first aired on 10 September 1993, with the episode "A Woman's Place". The last episode, aired on 4 June 2006, was the 510th episode, "One Day More". It was produced by Southern Star for the Seven Network. During its 13-season run it won a total of 32 awards and was nominated for a further 50.[1] This included 25 Logie Awards, five of which were the Gold Logie, the most coveted television award in Australia.[2]

text: As well as everyday policing matters, the series deals with many controversial and "touchy" subjects. The series was the first to examine the stressful world of young police officers who are "thrown into the deep end where they are left to sink or swim".[3]

text: Police procedurals were enormously popular in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the 1980s they had been replaced by home-grown soap operas and mini-series. Blue Heelers, however, was Australia's most popular television drama while it lasted. The series drew more than 2.5 million viewers every week at its peak.[2] Along with Homicide, Blue Heelers holds the Australian record for most episodes produced of a weekly prime-time drama. It was also nearly the longest-running series,[4][5] but Homicide lasted one calendar month longer and, due to five feature-length episodes, had more time on air.

text: Blue Heelers has also gained recognition in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and other countries. It has been sold to 108 territories.[6]

text: Blue Heelers launched the careers of many Australian actors, such as Lisa McCune, Grant Bowler, Ditch Davey, Rachel Gordon, Tasma Walton, Charlie Clausen and Jane Allsop. While many of these actors are still best known for their work on Blue Heelers, some have gone on to bigger roles. Many other actors of today also appeared in guest roles, including Hugh Jackman, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Peter O'Brien and John Howard. John Wood and Julie Nihill remained with Blue Heelers during its entire 12-year run, portraying Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon and the publican Chris Riley respectively.

text: Plot[edit]

text: The series primarily focuses on the daily lives of Victorian police officers working at a police station in the fictional small town of Mount Thomas. Each episode is presented from the perspective of the officers. This was a specific technique that creator Hal McElroy chose to employ.[7]

text: The police officers, commonly referred to as "Heelers", are always active sorting out the town's many problems. These problems range from trivial complaints such as land and fencing disputes to more serious offences, such as homicides and assaults. The small town is also faced with many other significant occurrences including bank robberies, escaped criminals, police shootings, kidnappings and the acts of deluded criminals. Of these, one of the more significant events is the bombing of the police station during the show's eleventh season.

text: Whenever overwhelmed, the Heelers call on the assistance of the police in the larger town of St Davids, home of the resident police inspector Russell Falcon-Price. An antagonist in the series, Falcon-Price often tries to terminate the employment of the Mount Thomas sergeant or to close the entire station.

text: Along with their police work, aspects of the Heelers' personal lives are regularly featured, notably the relationship between Maggie and PJ, which ends with Maggie's death in one of the most watched moments on Australian television.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Actor
Character
Episode count
Season

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

John Wood
Tom Croydon
510
Main

Julie Nihill
Chris Riley
510
Main

Martin Sacks
P.J. Hasham
475
Main

Lisa McCune
Maggie Doyle
249
Main

William McInnes
Nick Schultz
249
Main

Guest
Guest

Grant Bowler
Wayne Patterson
96
Main

Ann Burbrook
Roz Patterson
31
Main

Guest

Damian Walshe-Howling
Adam Cooper
178
Main

Guest

Tasma Walton
Dash McKinley
128

Main

Paul Bishop
Ben Stewart
253

Main

Rupert Reid
Jack Lawson
102

Main

Jane Allsop
Jo Parrish
202

Main

Caroline Craig
Tess Gallagher
139

Main

Ditch Davey
Evan Jones
193

Main

Simone McAullay
Susie Raynor
99

Main

Rachel Gordon
Amy Fox
70

Main

Samantha Tolj
Kelly O'Rourke
69

Main

Danny Raco
Joss Peroni
68

Main

Geoff Morrell
Mark Jacobs
59

Main

Charlie Clausen
Alex Kirby
50

Main

Matt Holmes
Matt Graham
20

Main

text: Recurring/semi-regular cast[edit]

text: Each episode featured a range of guest cast members, and over the run of the series hundreds of actors featured in these roles.[8]

text: As well as the main (regular) cast members, a number of well-known Australian actors frequently appeared as either recurring or semi-regular characters. These included Terry Gill as Superintendent Clive Adamson,[9] Neil Pigot as Inspector Russel Falcon-Price,[10] Jeremy Kewley as Mt Thomas journalist Tony Timms,[10] Frankie J. Holden as Snr. Det. Jack Woodley,[11] Catherine Wilkin,[12] Debra Lawrance,[9] Emily Browning,[13] Josh Lawson,[14] along with Suzi Dougherty as Dr. Mel Carter, Peta Doodson as Inspector Monica Draper, Beth Buchanan as Susan Croydon, Michael Isaacs as Clancy Freeman, and the late Reg Evans as Keith Purvis.

text: Many other notable actors also had one-off or recurring guest roles in Blue Heelers including Shane Bourne,[15] Hugh Jackman,[16] Gerard Kennedy,[17] David Wenham,[18] Marcus Graham,[19] Peter O'Brien,[20] Gary Sweet,[21] Vince Colosimo,[22] Alan Cinis and Alan Dale.

text: Production[edit]

text: On average, 42 episodes of Blue Heelers were broadcast per year on Australian television, with each episode comprising fifty scenes. One episode was made every week. The scripts were written to a formula which allowed one day for rehearsal, two days on location and two days in the studio.[8] Episodes were shot eight to ten weeks ahead of their scheduled broadcast date.[23] There were 16 episodes in various stages of production at any one time (from the conception of new storylines to post-production). In addition, there were always seven complete episodes waiting to go to air.[8] Apart from the regular cast members, the show employed 4,300 guest actors annually, plus 30 extras every week. A total of 150 people were involved in some way with the show's production each week, including cast members, crew, wardrobe, publicists and writers.[8]

text: Conception and development[edit]

text: Blue Heelers creator/producer, Hal McElroy, conceived the idea of Blue Heelers when he heard that an eighteen-year-old friend was planning to become a police officer. Intrigued, he inquired as to why this young boy, fresh out of school, would want to become a police officer, as opposed to the many other opportunities he had open to him. McElroy soon discovered that, at the time, a staggering 60% of Australian police officers were under the age of 26.[24] This, coupled with McElroy's desire to create a country cop show, formed the basis of the programme. When this same young officer left the force only a year later due to the shooting death of his colleague, McElroy was even more intrigued to learn about the very fickle, yet rewarding job of policing the community.[7] McElroy continued his quest by asking ex-police officer Michael Winter to write down what it was like to be a city cop who transferred to a country town. These became the ideas that Blue Heelers was based around.[25] Michael Winter also conceived the name of the programme by recounting the common names for a country police officer: "tyre-biters"—referring to the fact that country cops are often involved in car chases—and "blue heelers"—referring to their blue uniforms and overall similar appearance and persona to a Blue Heeler dog, a protective and intuitive breed of Australian dog.[24] From the time that McElroy's idea was initially conceived, to the time the programme was ready to air, three years passed.

text: During the early development of Blue Heelers two completely different pilots were shot: one depicting the story from the perspective of a police officer and the other from the perspective of a criminal. When these were presented to the Seven Network, the network committed to 13 episodes of the first pilot. The pilot went on to become the official first episode of Blue Heelers, telling the story of a new cop in town, Maggie Doyle, and her beginnings in Mount Thomas. Hal McElroy chose to discard the second pilot, realising it was a fatal mistake to be "with the criminals as they plotted the crime". He also conceived his rule that the producers of the show "couldn't have a camera in a room unless there was a copper there as well" (a rule shared by long-running UK Police drama The Bill). Hence, the basis of the show being from a police officer's perspective became a firm reality.[7] (The only bending of this rule was with scenes featuring publican Chris; as she was billed with the main cast, she was given the same on-screen "rules" as the officers. In early episodes, before she worked at the station, this "rule" also applied to Wayne Patterson's wife Roz).

text: Hal McElroy gives his police adviser's opinion:

text: He had been posted to Yass (in New South Wales) and he really loved it up there because the routine was so simple and straightforward-most often you knew the victim and sometimes you knew the culprit, and someone in charge would give them a clip behind the ear and say 'wash the police car' or 'sweep the yard' and 'don't ever do it again', rather than sending a juvenile to jail.

text: I loved it, and I said 'Hey this is great'. But all the writers said, 'No it's boring, we want that gritty, inner-city police stuff'. (We had Boys in Blue set up in Leichhardt in Sydney.) And I still remember the moment I was driving home up River Road and I thought, 'Then we can have two shows'. I said to this copper 'What are you called in the country? What is your nickname?' And he said they call highway patrol 'tyre biters' and coppers 'blue heelers'. And I thought 'That's the title!' So I rang [scriptwriter] Tony Morphett and said 'Let's do a show about young cops in the country. It's called Blue Heelers.

text: By creating the programme, McElroy and Morphett hoped to close the gap between to police and the public. They hoped to show the human side of the policing and that, like other citizens, police officers have feelings, regrets, aspirations and fears.[3] They also hoped that the show would act as a tribute to the courage of police officers, who risk their lives everyday, never knowing if they'd return home at the end of the day.[24]

text: Filming locations[edit]

text: Only about half of the footage for each episode was shot on location.[23] Most of the scenes, including scenes in the police station and pub, were filmed at the Seven Network studios in Melbourne.[23][26] Much of the filming on location was carried out in towns such as Williamstown,[26] and the more established parts of Werribee.[27] The scenes of the outside of the Mount Thomas police station were actually filmed at the old, disused Williamstown police station, which was then a private residence. Scenes at Mount Thomas High School were filmed at Williamstown High School. The town of Castlemaine was most often used as the backdrop for Mount Thomas, seen in almost every episode.[28][29] Although the Blue Heelers' pilot was shot in Castlemaine, the cast and crew very rarely returned there to shoot further episodes;[23] images of Castlemaine were usually just establishing shots. Chris Riley's fictional Imperial Hotel, for example, was actually the real Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine.[28][29] Mount Thomas' fictional Commercial Hotel was filmed at the Willy Tavern in Williamstown.[26] The second Mount Thomas police station, adopted during the programme's reform of 2004, was filmed at Newport Railway workshops. The Mount Thomas Hospital was filmed at the Werribee Mercy Hospital.[30]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Described by critics before its launch as "A Country Practice meets Cop Shop",[25] and as "the contemporary cousin of British cop show, Heartbeat",[31] Blue Heelers was not anticipated by critics to become a hugely popular programme. However, it became a hit TV show soon after it began airing. During most of its broadcast, Blue Heelers was very popular in Australia, regularly attracting up to 2.5 million viewers,[2] and up to 3.5 million viewers at its peak.[32] Throughout the show's broadcast it continually drew a strong audience, regularly appearing among the top-rating prime time programmes on Australian television. Viewership of Blue Heelers never dropped below 1 million viewers.[6] The episodes "Gold" and "Fool's Gold" (episodes 140 and 141), which aired during the programme's fourth season, were two of the most popular Blue Heelers episodes. Each drew 2.5 million viewers, considered a huge achievement in 1997.[5]

text: Blue Heelers' executive producer, Gus Howard believed the show's popularity was due mainly to the quality of the cast.

text: Much of the success of Blue Heelers has been attributed to one of the best ensemble casts of any drama on television, with most every cast member becoming a household name... The basic vocation for the show has always been about shedding a little light on the human condition, something Australian audiences have readily identified with. The show epitomises and represents the Australian ethos in a way that truly reflects Australian life.

text: Much of the show's sixth season, as well as the first 10 episodes of its seventh season, were the most watched episodes of the series. These episodes focus of the death of Maggie Doyle (played by Lisa McCune). Maggie's being shot and left for dead during episode 255, "One More Day", was ranked by TV Week as the third most memorable moment of a drama series on Australian television.[33]

text:
Season
No. of episodes
Originally Aired
Viewers (in millions)
Rating
Drama Rank

Season premiere
Season finale

1
45
10 September 1993
22 November 1994
N/A

2
41
21 February 1995
21 November 1995

3
41
12 February 1996
26 November 1996

4
42
10 February 1997
25 November 1997

5
41
24 February 1998
25 November 1998
N/A[34]
18.0[34]
#1[34]

6
42
10 February 1999
24 November 1999
N/A[34]
15.6[34]
#2[34]

7
41
9 February 2000
22 November 2000
N/A[34]
13.7[34]
#2[34]

8
41
21 February 2001
28 November 2001
1.757[34]
13.4[34]
#1[34]

9
40
13 February 2002
20 November 2002
1.508[34]
11.3[34]
#2[34]

10
42
12 February 2003
26 November 2003
1.397[34]
10.3[34]
#3[34]

11
39
4 February 2004
5 November 2004
1.264[35]
9.3[35]
#12[35]

12
42
2 February 2005
26 November 2005
1.209[35]
8.7[35]
#19[35]

13
11
1 April 2006
4 June 2006
N/A[35]

text: 2004 Revamp: The Station Bombing[edit]

text: After low ratings in 2003 and 2004, the producers and executives of Blue Heelers realised that there were apparent problems which could potentially lead to the series's downfall. In 2004 Blue Heelers lost the top ratings spot to McLeod's Daughters.[36] During 2003 and 2004, Australian television drama was also at its "lowest point in a decade" and many popular shows were cancelled.[37] As the show remained basically unchanged from its debut, ten years earlier, the production team decided that a revamp was in order.

text: At the beginning of season 11, the revamp began with new, more modern opening credits, using an electric guitar, rather than an acoustic. Later in that season, a live episode, "Reasonable Doubt", was broadcast in hope of offering a short-term ratings boost and encourage more long-term viewers. Although an immediate success, the live episode did not bring about a sustained increase in ratings.[36] Producers also hoped that a shift in direction, a change of mood and setting, and the addition of four cast members would cement Blue Heelers' long-term future.[36] They also wanted the show to remain relevant and more accurately reflect today's modern world:[38]

text: Mount Thomas was created in 1993 and the world has changed... It will now be more reflective of today's country towns, not the sleepy backwater it was. It wasn't an easy task but the creative team responded brilliantly and there's a real feeling of excitement again... The old girl can still dance. And dance to new tunes.

text: The main plot, setting and character changes started in July 2004, with the airing of the episode "End of Innocence". In this episode, the main storyline was the bombing of the Mount Thomas police station. The blast killed popular main character Snr. Const. Jo Parrish (Jane Allsop) and recurring cast member Clancy Freeman, and injured the show's main protagonist,[40] Senior Sergeant Croydon. After the bombing it was revealed that Croydon's wife, the Reverend Curtis, was missing. It was later revealed she had been brutally raped and murdered.[36] These events brought about sweeping changes to the mood of not only Croydon, but also the mood of the entire show. The Daily Telegraph television writer Marcus Casey commented, "Mount Thomas has become a darker, grittier place, the people and cops in it transformed by an invasion of evil".[39] Consequently, the story changed its focus from the old Mount Thomas police station to the new one that was used until the show's cancellation in 2006. The Seven Network feared that in the modern post-9/11 world, a show about country police was no longer what audiences wanted.[41] Storylines of the proceeding five episodes focused on the bombing of the station and the 4 new main characters: Rachel Gordon as Amy Fox, Geoff Morrell as Mark Jacobs, Samantha Tolj as Kelly O'Rourke and Danny Raco as Joss Peroni.[36][39] Popular former cast member William McInnes also returned to the show, temporarily reprising his role as Nick Schultz. Producers hoped the new tone of the series, the new younger actors, and McInnes's role reprisal would lure back viewers who had stopped watching the programme.[39] This new style of programme that Blue Heelers was embracing was a sign of the show trying to keep up with other larger television shows, particularly the CSI franchise.[39]

text: The revamp of the series resulted in a 25% ratings increase, bringing the series's weekly viewership to 1.6 million people.[42] Critical response after the event was reassuring, and it appeared that critics were approving of the drastic moves by Seven and Southern Star:

text: The recent shake-up at the old station has swept aside an unhealthy staleness that had settled on the place and there's some much-needed fresh energy provided by the new recruits, including Samantha Tolj as true-blue Aussie gal Kelly O'Rourke and Danny Raco as Italian stallion Joss Peroni.

text: Cancellation[edit]

text: In the hope that viewing would increase, an 11-episode season in 2006 was commissioned by the Seven Network.[44] However, the ratings spike begun in 2004 was not sufficient for the Seven Network to commit to continuing to produce the show. In January 2006, Seven officially announced that they had cancelled Blue Heelers, but would air a final shortened season of 11 episodes in mid-2006.[45] At the time the show was still drawing 1.2 million viewers per week on average, down from the 3.5 million it was drawing at its peak.[46] The announcement was front-page news on nearly all of Australia's major newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's Daily Telegraph, The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Melbourne Age and Brisbane's Courier Mail.[47] Two different endings were shot for the final episode, which finished filming on 20 December 2005. The first ending wrapped up all the show's storylines, while the second left the show open for another season; the first was version was used.[27]

text: For Blue Heelers' final season in 2006, it was moved from its primetime Wednesday-night timeslot, to a lower rating Saturday-night timeslot.[48] In the Saturday timeslot Blue Heelers competed with The Bill, a British police drama which had become quite popular in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Saturday Night AFL Coverage on Fox Footy Channel and Network Ten.[40] This move was slammed by leading cast member, John Wood.[40] Blue Heelers cancellation may also be related to Seven's AFL broadcast, which saw Seven invest $780m for the 5-year broadcasting rights of the game.[5]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Seasons generally ran in Australia from early February to late November. Each season generally consisted of 41 to 42 episodes. The eleventh season however, only consisted of 39 episodes, as the Seven Network had gained the rights to televise the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In total, 510 episodes were aired: 509 hour-long standard episodes and one live episode. The live episode, titled "Reasonable Doubts", was filmed to celebrate Blue Heelers 10th year on the air.[49] To prepare, the cast was given six days to memorise their lines.[50]

text: The final episode of the 13th season aired as a 2-hour tribute. It opened with an introduction from John Wood and concluded with a compilation of Blue Heelers moments from over its 13-season run.[51]

text: Australian television quiz-show, The Weakest Link, hosted by Cornelia Frances, also aired a Blue Heelers special episode on 9 August 2001. Cast members John Wood, Neil Pigot, Ditch Davey, Jeremy Kewley, Jane Allsop, Suzi Dougherty, Paul Bishop, Caroline Craig and Peta Doodson took part in this special event.[52][53]

text:
Season
Ep. #
Season Premiere
Season Finale

Season 1
45
10 September 1993
22 November 1994

Season 2
41
21 February 1995
21 November 1995

Season 3
41
12 February 1996
26 November 1996

Season 4
42
10 February 1997
25 November 1997

Season 5
41
24 February 1998
25 November 1998

Season 6
42
10 February 1999
24 November 1999

Season 7
41
9 February 2000
22 November 2000

Season 8
41
21 February 2001
28 November 2001

Season 9
41
13 February 2002
20 November 2002

Season 10
42
12 February 2003
26 November 2003

Season 11
39
4 February 2004
5 November 2004

Season 12
42
2 February 2005
26 November 2005

Season 13
11
1 April 2006
4 June 2006

text: Merchandise[edit]

text: A CD Album titled "Music From Blue Heelers" was released in 1995. It included the Blue Heelers theme music, plus other songs related to the program, many of them Country songs.

text: The first full Blue Heelers novel, Maggie's Story, was written by Roger Dunn and released in 1997 by Coronet Books. In August 1998, a second novel, Tom's Story, written by Cassandra Carter was released by Bolinda Publishing.

text:
Name
Format
Release

Music From Blue Heelers
CD
1995

Blue Heelers Maggie's Story
Book
1997

Blue Heelers Tom's Story
Book
August 1998

Blue Heelers
calendar
1999

text: DVD release[edit]

text: All seasons were released to DVD. They are no longer in print and on July 2013 the production company, Endemol Australia has stated there are no plans at this stage to re-release. On November 2, 2015 Channel 7 said that there are still no plans to Re-Release Blue Heelers on DVD or Blu-ray. it was announced on May 6, 2017 that the compete series would be re-released on dvd thought Via Vision.

text: Re-Release[edit]

text:
DVD title
Episodes #
Discs
Region 4 (Australia)
DVD Special Features

Blue Heelers Season 1-3 (Collection 1)
Series 1, Episodes 1-45
Series 2, Episodes 1-41
Series 3, Episodes 1-10

27
5 July 2017
Photo Galleries
Commentary on episodes 19 & 44

Blue Heelers Season 4-7 (Collection 2)
Series 3,Episodes 11-42
Series 4, Episodes 1-42
Series 5, Episodes 1-41
Series 6, Episodes 1-42
Series 7, Episodes 1-12

44
6 September 2017
Photo Galleries (Series 4-7)

Blue Heelers Season 8-10 (Collection 3)
Series 7, Episodes 13-41
Series 8,Episodes 1-42
Series 9,Episodes 1-41
Series 10,Episode 1-11

37
4 October 2017
Photo Galleries (Series 8)

Blue Heelers Season 11-13 (Collection 4)
Series 10,Episodes 12-42
Series 11,Episodes 1-39
Series 12,Episodes 1-42
Series 13, Episode 1-11

31
3 November 2017
Blue Heelers: Live Episode

text: Original Release[edit]

text:
DVD title
Episodes #
Discs
Region 4 (Australia)
DVD Special Features

Blue Heelers Season 1
Season 1, Episodes 1-17
6
2 November 2005
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 2 (Parts 1&2)
Season 1, Episodes 18-45
Season 2, Episodes 1-9

10
1 December 2005
Photo Gallery;
Commentary on episodes 19 and 44 (season 1)

Blue Heelers Season 3 (Parts 1&2)
Season 2, Episodes 10-41
Season 3, Episodes 1-10

11
16 February 2006
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 4 (Parts 1&2)
Season 3, Episodes 11-42
Season 4, Episode 1-11

11
6 April 2006
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 5 (Parts 1&2)
Season 4, Episodes 12-42
Season 5, Episode 1-11

11
6 June 2006
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 6 (Parts 1&2)
Season 5, Episode 12-41
Season 6, Episode 1-12

11
10 August 2006
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 7 (Parts 1&2)
Season 6, Episodes 13-42
Season 7, Episodes 1-12

11
31 July 2008
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 8 (Parts 1&2)
Season 7, Episodes 13-41
Season 8, Episodes 1-12

11
1 October 2008
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 9 (Parts 1&2)
Season 8, Episode 18-42
Season 9, Episodes 1-12

11
5 November 2009
Photo Gallery

Blue Heelers Season 10 (Parts 1&2)
Season 9, Episodes 13-40
Season 10, Episodes 1-12

10
6 May 2010
None

Blue Heelers Season 11 (Parts 1&2)
Season 10, Episodes 13-42
Season 11, Episode 1-10

10
5 August 2010
None

Blue Heelers Season 12
Season 11, Episodes 11-40
8
4 November 2010
Blue Heelers: Live Episode

Blue Heelers Season 13 (Parts 1&2)
Season 12, Episodes 1-20
Season 12, Episodes 21-42

10
3 March 2011
None

Blue Heelers Season 14
Season 13, Episdodes 1-10
3
2 June 2011
None

text: Classic DVD titles[edit]

text:
DVD title
Episodes #
Discs
Region 4 (Australia)
DVD Special Features

Welcome To Mt Thomas
Season 1, Episode 1&2
1
2003
None

The Earth is Made of Glass
Season 1, Episode 3&4
1
2003
None

The Spice of Life
Season 1, Episode 5&6
1
2003
None

The Wheel Of Chance
Season 1, Episode 7&8
1
2003
None

text: VHS[edit]

text: Several episodes were released on VHS video cassette format in the later 1990s, including "In The Gun" and "Fair Crack of the Whip".

text:
VHS title
Episodes #
Tapes
Region 4 (Australia)
VHS Special Features

Paranoia - Parts 1&2
Season 2, Episodes 22&23
1
5 October 1998
None

Double Jeopardy - Parts 1&2
Season 2, Episodes 30&31
1
7 September 1998
None

Brotherly Love - Parts 1&2
Season 2, Episodes 40&41
1
3 August 1998
None

Cops with Heart
?
1
-
Behind The Scenes

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: In terms of awards, Blue Heelers is regarded as one of the most successful programmes on Australian television.[54] Blue Heelers has been the recipient of many awards, including 25 Logie Awards, five of which are the prestigious Gold Logie, 3 AFI Television Awards, 3 People's Choice Awards, and 1 AWGIE Awards.[55][56] Blue Heelers was nominated for a further twelve Gold Logies. Blue Heelers has also won multiple Silver Logies, including numerous Most Popular Actor, Most Popular Actress and Most Popular Programme awards, as well as many Outstanding Awards. Many Blue Heelers cast members have also presented awards at the Logies. In the 2005 50 Years 50 Shows poll,Blue Heelers was voted 37th greatest show on Australian television and ranked within the top ten dramas.

text:
Blue Heelers award summary[1]

Award
Wins
Nominations

Gold Logie Awards[57]
5
5

Silver Logie Awards[58]
20
35

AFI Television Awards[59]
3
4

AWGIE Awards[60][61]
1
1

People's Choice Awards[62][63]
3
6

Australian Screen Editors' Awards[1]
0
1

TOTAL
32
50

text: International broadcasting[edit]

text: Blue Heelers had a strong following not only in Australia, but also worldwide; it has been sold to 108 territories[6] and is shown in over 70 countries.[64]

text: Australia[edit]

text: Blue Heelers originally aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm on the Seven Network, thus it was limited to a PG content level restriction. When the series was hailed as a success it began the transition from this timeslot to the 8:30 pm timeslot on the same day. After the move, writers could explore more diverse storylines, as the show was restricted to an M rating. The third and fourth season premiers aired on Monday nights during the 8:30 pm timeslot, but the show moved back to its original slot before the next episode. In its fifth season, Blue Heelers moved to the Wednesday night 8:30 pm timeslot, which it occupied for most of its run, until the end of its twelfth season. This move was made to make way for hospital drama All Saints.

text: Starting in 2004, the Seven Network aired Blue Heelers weekdays at 2:00 pm. All episodes aired with the final episode airing in 2007. This made way for the broadcast of early episodes of All Saints.

text: in February 2014 Repeats of Series 12, Started Airing. and in May 2014 Repeats of Series 13 Aired. On Channel 7TWO.

text: Blue Heelers has also screened on Foxtel The Hallmark Channel in Australia in various timeslots.

text: New Zealand[edit]

text: In New Zealand Blue Heelers screened on TV One in a popular timeslot. However, following the on-screen death of Maggie Doyle, ratings fell, and the show was moved to a 9:30 pm slot on Friday. Following that, the show moved to a late night Thursday slot where the rest of the episodes played out, with the show beginning anywhere between 11:30 pm and midnight. It aired its final episode on TV One on 20 March 2008.

text: Ireland[edit]

text: Irish broadcaster RTÉ originally began airing Blue Heelers on Friday afternoons at 4:30 pm. Episodes were only a few months behind the Australian broadcast. The series took a two-year break in 2000, before re-commencing in a five-day-a-week timeslot at 10:30 am in early 2002. The show quickly caught up with the Australian broadcast; resulting in the show being scaled back to the original one episode a week in 2004, and moved to a late night Thursday timeslot typically around 1:00 am. RTÉ commenced broadcasting the final season on 30 May 2008 in a late night Saturday timeslot. RTÉ screened the final episode on 30 November 2008. RTÉ began re-airing Blue Heelers weekly from episode one, commencing on 24 June 2009, usually around 4:00 am Sunday mornings. RTÉ screened all episodes in their original unedited state. The drama proved very popular in Ireland and rated very well.

text: USA[edit]

text: Blue Heelers aired briefly in the United States of America in the early 2000s on the short-lived cable channel Trio (carried primarily by DirecTV). No episode after number 76 was ever shown in the United States, and when Trio changed their programming in 2004, Blue Heelers was dropped from the schedule.

text: Canada[edit]

text: Blue Heelers was broadcast on Showcase in Canada, last airing on 15 May 1998.[65]

text: Iran

text: Blue Heelers is broadcasting on IRIB. All episodes were dubbed in Persian.

text: Italy[edit]

text: In Italy Blue Heelers was broadcast on Italia 7 Gold (now called 7 Gold), from the 1st to the 6th season. All episodes were dubbed in Italian.

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: In the United Kingdom the series was broadcast on most stations on the ITV Network. Many companies tended to screen the show as hour-long episodes in the afternoon (occasionally with necessary edits to suit the time slot, usually regarding profanity).

text:
Central Television started in February 1995 with a late night 23.40 slot on Mondays before following other regions with a typically 14.20 slot. Central were one of the most consistent region to broadcast Blue Heelers, completing series 6 by early 2002.
Carlton Television aired Blue Heelers in half-hour episodes originally on Mondays to Wednesdays, starting from 3 January 1995, however the series then switched to airing hour-long episodes; Westcountry Television Also followed the half hour format, from early 1995 until September 2001. When the three Carlton owner station stated a uniformed schedule during 2002 Blue Heelers reverted to two-part half hour episodes; with the final batch of episodes shown in the regions were from Season 7 finishing on Wednesday 20 November 2002.

text: Blue Heelers also aired on Anglia Television, Meridian Television and Channel Television, typically Mondays at 2:20 pm, during the summer school holidays it was broadcast daily in a morning slot, until late 1998. Granada and border also screened the series from 1995 in the hour long format but by 1998 dropped the series. Ulster Television (UTV) began airing Blue Heelers in early 1995. The show initially screened 3 times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 1:50 pm. They then moved it to the 2:20 pm slot later in the series. A few episodes also ran at 11:40 pm on Thursday nights, as they were considered unsuitable for daytime viewing. UTV cancelled Blue Heelers in 1998.

text: Scottish Television began aired hour-long episodes from 1995, airing on Fridays, and then later on Tuesdays from mid 1996, until episode 106, when the series was replaced by Murder She Wrote. The series then reappear on most Saturday afternoon during 1998 until December when the series was dropped.

text: HTV, Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television all chose not to import the show. When the English ITV contractors reformatted as one company in Late 2002, regionally-run programmes such as Blue Heelers (which were at different points of the series in each region) disappeared from screens. No ITV region ever screened the series in full. The show also aired on UK cable channel Carlton Select in the late 1990s, first screening the early episodes daily and then in a weekly slot Fridays at 20.00 as episodes became more recent. Episodes to the later part of the 1997 season were shown before the series was dropped.


document_title: Adipocyte

question_text: where is the nucleus of an adipocyte located and why

text: Adipocyte

text: White fat cells (unilocular cells)[edit]

text: White fat cells or monovacuolar cells contain a large lipid droplet surrounded by a layer of cytoplasm. The nucleus is flattened and located on the periphery. A typical fat cell is 0.1 mm in diameter with some being twice that size and others half that size. The fat stored is in a semi-liquid state, and is composed primarily of triglycerides and cholesteryl ester. White fat cells secrete many proteins acting as adipokines such as resistin, adiponectin, leptin and apelin. An average human adult has 30 billion fat cells with a weight of 30 lbs or 13.5 kg. If excess weight is gained as an adult, fat cells increase in size about fourfold before dividing and increasing the absolute number of fat cells present.[2]

text: Brown fat cells (multilocular cells)[edit]

text: Brown fat cells or plurivacuolar cells are polygonal in shape. Unlike white fat cells, these cells have considerable cytoplasm, with lipid droplets scattered throughout. The nucleus is round, and, although eccentrically located, it is not in the periphery of the cell. The brown color comes from the large quantity of mitochondria. Brown fat, also known as "baby fat," is used to generate heat.

text: Marrow fat cells (unilocular cells)[edit]

text: Marrow adipocytes, like brown and white adipocytes, are derived from mesenchymal stem cells. The marrow adipose tissue depot is poorly understood in terms of its physiologic function and relevance to bone health. Marrow adipose tissue expands in states of low bone density but additionally expands in the setting of obesity;[3]. Interestingly, marrow adipose tissue response to exercise approximates that of WAT[3][4][5][6] exercise reduces both adipocyte size as well as MAT volume as quantified by MRI or μCT imaging of bone stained with the lipid binder osmium.

text: Lineage[edit]

text: Pre-adipocytes are undifferentiated fibroblasts that can be stimulated to form adipocytes. Recent studies shed light into potential molecular mechanisms in the fate determination of pre-adipocytes although the exact lineage of adipocyte is still unclear.[7][8] The variation of body fat distribution resulting from normal growth is influenced by nutritional and hormonal status in dependence on intrinsic differences in cells found in each adipose depot.[9]

text: Mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into adipocytes, connective tissue, muscle or bone.[1]

text: The term "lipoblast" is used to describe the precursor of the adult cell. The term "lipoblastoma" is used to describe a tumor of this cell type.[10]

text: Cell turnover[edit]

text: Even after marked weight loss, the body never loses adipocytes.[citation needed]As a rule, to facilitate changes in weight, the adipocytes in the body merely gain or lose fat content. However, if the adipocytes in the body reach their maximum capacity of fat, they may replicate to allow additional fat storage.

text: Adult rats of various strains became obese when they were fed a highly palatable diet for several months. Analysis of their adipose tissue morphology revealed increases in both adipocyte size and number in most depots. Reintroduction of an ordinary chow diet[clarification needed] to such animals precipitated a period of weight loss during which only mean adipocyte size returned to normal. Adipocyte number remained at the elevated level achieved during the period of weight gain.[11]

text: In some reports and textbooks, the number of adipocytes can increase in childhood and adolescence, though the amount is usually constant in adults. Interestingly, individuals who become obese as adults, rather than as adolescents, have no more adipocytes than they had before.[12]

text: People who have been fat since childhood generally have an inflated number of fat cells. People who become fat as adults may have no more fat cells than their lean peers, but their fat cells are larger. In general, people with an excess of fat cells find it harder to lose weight and keep it off than the obese who simply have enlarged fat cells.[13]

text: According to research by Tchoukalova et al., 2010, body fat cells could have regional responses to the overfeeding that was studied in adult subjects. In the upper body, an increase of adipocyte size correlated with upper-body fat gain; however, the number of fat cells was not significantly changed. In contrast to the upper body fat cell response, the number of lower-body adipocytes did significantly increase during the course of experiment. Notably, there was no change in the size of the lower-body adipocytes.[14]

text: Approximately 10% of fat cells are renewed annually at all adult ages and levels of body mass index without a significant increase in the overall number of adipocytes in adulthood.[12]

text: Adipocyte adaptation[edit]

text: Obesity is characterized by the expansion of fat mass, through adipocyte size increase (hypertrophy) and, to a lesser extent, cell proliferation (hyperplasia).[15] In the fat cells of obese individuals, there is increased production of metabolism modulators, such as glycerol, hormones, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to the development of insulin resistance.[16]

text: Fat production in adipocytes is strongly stimulated by insulin. By controlling the activity of the pyruvate dehydrogenase and the acetyl-CoA carboxylase enzymes, insulin promotes unsaturated fatty acid synthesis. It also promotes glucose uptake and induces SREBF1, which activates the transcription of genes that stimulate lipogenesis.[17]

text: SREBF1 (sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1) is a transcription factor synthesized as an inactive precursor protein inserted into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane by two membrane-spanning helices. Also anchored in the ER membrane is SCAP (SREBF-cleavage activating protein), which binds SREBF1. The SREBF1-SCAP complex is retained in the ER membrane by INSIG1 (insulin-induced gene 1 protein). When sterol levels are depleted, INSIG1 releases SCAP and the SREBF1-SCAP complex can be sorted into COPII-coated transport vesicles that are exported to the Golgi. In the Golgi, SREBF1 is cleaved and released as a transcriptionally active mature protein. It is then free to translocate to the nucleus and activate the expression of its target genes.

text: Clinical studies have repeatedly shown that even though insulin resistance is usually associated with obesity, the membrane phospholipids of the adipocytes of obese patients generally still show an increased degree of fatty acid unsaturation.[19] This seems to point to an adaptive mechanism that allows the adipocyte to maintain its functionality, despite the increased storage demands associated with obesity and insulin resistance.

text: A study conducted in 2013[19] found that, while INSIG1 and SREBF1 mRNA expression was decreased in the adipose tissue of obese mice and humans, the amount of active SREBF1 was increased in comparison with normal mice and non-obese patients. This downregulation of INSIG1 expression combined with the increase of mature SREBF1 was also correlated with the maintenance of SREBF1-target gene expression. Hence, it appears that, by downregulating INSIG1, there is a resetting of the INSIG1/SREBF1 loop, allowing for the maintenance of active SREBF1 levels. This seems to help compensate for the anti-lipogenic effects of insulin resistance and thus preserve adipocyte fat storage abilities and availability of appropriate levels of fatty acid unsaturation in face of the nutritional pressures of obesity.

text: Endocrine functions[edit]

text: Adipocytes can synthesize estrogens from androgens,[20] potentially being the reason why being underweight or overweight are risk factors for infertility.[21] Additionally, adipocytes are responsible for the production of the hormone leptin. Leptin is important in regulation of appetite and acts as a satiety factor.[22]