Red Dust

Red Dust is a 1932 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Mary Astor. The film is based on the 1928 play of the same name by Wilson Collison, and was adapted for the screen by John Mahin.Red Dust is the second of six movies Gable and Harlow made together, and was produced during the pre-Code era of Hollywood. More than twenty years later, Gable would star in a remake, Mogambo (1953), with Ava Gardner starring in a variation on the Harlow role and Grace Kelly playing a part similar to one portrayed by Mary Astor in Red Dust.

The film, which is set in French Indochina, provides a view into the French colonial rubber business. This includes scenes of rubber trees being tapped for their sap; the process of coagulating the rubber with acid; native workers being rousted; gales that can blow the roof off a hut and are difficult to walk in; the spartan living quarters; the supply boat that arrives periodically; a rainy spell that lasts weeks; and tigers prowling in the jungle. The film's title is derived from the large quantities of dust that are stirred up by the storms.

V (franchise)

V is a science fiction franchise created by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson about a genocidal invading alien race known as the "Visitors" – reptilian humanoids disguised as human beings – trying to take over Earth, and the human reaction to this, including the Resistance group attempting to stop them, while others collaborate with the aliens for power and personal wealth.

It debuted in 1983 as the two-part television miniseries V, written and directed by Johnson. It was followed in 1984 by a three-part miniseries, V: The Final Battle, and a nineteen-episode weekly television series, V (sometimes referred to as V: The Series) during the 1984-85 television season. ABC ran a remake known as V: The 2009 TV series which ran for two seasons for a total of 22 episodes between 2009 and 2011.

A number of novels, comic books, video games and other media have been spun off from the franchise. Johnson's novel V: The Second Generation, an alternative sequel to the first miniseries which disregards V: The Final Battle and V: The Series, (because of his non-involvement with them) was released on February 5, 2008. Johnson claimed he was in negotiations for a TV adaptation of his sequel novel, but in October 2008, Warner Bros. Television announced they were producing a complete remake of V instead. This new V series ran for two truncated seasons on ABC, from November 3, 2009 to March 15, 2011.

Red Dust (2004 film)

Red Dust is a 2004 British drama film starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Tom Hooper.

The story, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, is based on the novel Red Dust by Gillian Slovo. The film was predominantly shot on location in South Africa, specifically in the town of Graaff Reinet.

Plot

Sarah Barcant (Hilary Swank), a lawyer in New York City who grew up in South Africa, returns to her childhood dwelling place to intercede for Alex Mpondo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Black South African politician who was tortured during apartheid. Under the Truth and Reconciliation terms, the whole truth must come out. As it is, under duress Mpodo had identified one of his underground comrades, Steve Sizela. But he also confirms that he kept a much more important secret – a buried list that names some new recruits. This is still where he left it, years ago.

The full truth now emerges. Dirk Hendricks (Jamie Bartlett), the local policeman, admits Sizela was killed by his boss, Piet Muller (Ian Roberts). Also that much of the torture was carried out at a ranch rather than at the police station – thus confirming Alex's apparently false memories of a 'dirt floor' and a 'tap in the corridor. Visiting the ranch, he puts details together. Dirk admits where he buried Steve Sizela. The bones are found and dug from the ground; Mpondo decides to allow amnesty as the whole truth has been said. Muller, who denied the charges and pleaded not guilty, ironically applies for amnesty himself, infuriating members of the Black South African community.

OK

"OK" (/oʊkeɪ/; also spelled "okay", "ok", or "O.K.") is a word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, or acknowledgment. "OK", as an adjective, can also express acknowledgment without approval. "OK" has frequently turned up as a loanword in many other languages.

As an adjective, "OK" means "adequate", "acceptable" ("this is OK to send out"), "mediocre" often in contrast to "good" ("the food was OK"); it also functions as an adverb in this sense. As an interjection, it can denote compliance ("OK, I will do that"), or agreement ("OK, that is fine"). As a verb and noun it means "assent" ("the boss OKed the purchase" and "the boss gave his OK to the purchase"). As a versatile discourse marker (or back-channeling item), it can also be used with appropriate voice tone to show doubt or to seek confirmation ("OK?" or "Is that OK?").

Proposed etymologies

Numerous explanations for the origin of the expression have been suggested, but few have been discussed seriously by linguists. The following proposals have found mainstream recognition.

Orenstein & Koppel

Orenstein & Koppel (normally abbreviated to "O&K") was a major German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876 in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel.

Originally a general engineering company, O&K soon started to specialise in the manufacture of railway vehicles. The company also manufactured heavy equipment and escalators. O&K pulled out of the railway business in 1981. Its escalator-manufacturing division was spun off to the company's majority shareholder at the time, Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, in 1996, leaving the company to focus primarily on construction machines. The construction-equipment business was sold to New Holland Construction, at the time part of the Fiat Group, in 1999.

Founding and railway work

The Orenstein & Koppel Company was a mechanical-engineering firm that first entered the railway-construction field, building locomotives and other railroad cars.

First founded in 1892 in Schlachtensee, in the Zehlendorf district of Berlin, and known as the Märkische Lokomotivfabrik, the O&K factories expanded to supply the Imperial German Army under Kaiser Wilhelm II with field-service locomotives, or Feldbahn. O&K supplied all manner of railway equipment to the Army. Because of strained capacity at the Schlachtensee shops, work transferred in 1899 to a site in Nowawes, later Babelsberg, near Potsdam. Around 1908, O&K acquired the firm of Gerlach and König in Nordhausen, building petrol and diesel locomotives there under the trade mark "Montania".

Omar Khadr

Omar Ahmed Algredr Khadr (born September 19, 1986) is a Canadian who was convicted of murder after he allegedly threw a grenade during an armed conflict in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of an American soldier. At the time, he was 15 years old and had been brought to Afghanistan by his father, who was affiliated with an extreme religious group. During the conflict Khadr was badly wounded, and captured by the Americans. He was subsequently held at Guantanamo Bay for 10 years. After extensive torture, he pleaded guilty to murder in October 2010 to several purported war crimes prior to being tried by a United States military commission. He was the youngest prisoner and last Western citizen to be held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay. He accepted an eight-year sentence, not including time served, with the possibility of a transfer to Canada after at least one year to serve the remainder of the sentence.

During a firefight on July 27, 2002, in the village of Ayub Kheyl, Afghanistan, in which several Taliban fighters were killed, Khadr, not yet 16, was severely wounded. After being detained at Bagram, he was sent to Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. During his detention, he was interrogated by Canadian as well as US intelligence officers.