In terms of nuclear explosions and other large bombs, the term ground zero (sometimes also known as surface zero as distinguished from zero point) describes the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ground zero refers to the point on the ground directly below the nuclear detonation and is sometimes called the hypocenter. Generally, it is also used in relation to earthquakes, epidemics, and other disasters to mark the point of the most severe damage or destruction.

Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan carried out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time of the attack, the U.S. and Japan were not officially at war and were still negotiating for a possible peace treaty. The event was described as ground zero due to the catastrophic damage inflicted upon the fleet and facilities within the naval base and other areas, as well as the nature surrounding the attack. The attack started at 7:55 am with 353 Japanese planes and lasted for 110 minutes. The most famous example of ground zero was Turret II of the USS Arizona, when an armor-piercing bomb penetrated through that turret towards the forward ammunition compartment which blew the ship apart and sunk it within seconds, killing 1,177 out of the 1,512 people on board. Hickam Field was also described as ground zero due to the devastation the Japanese caused to the airfield, killing 189 people and destroying many aircraft on the ground. In total, 2,467 people were killed in the attack, including 2,403 victims and 64 attackers, and eight battleships and 217 aircraft (including 19 from the attackers) were destroyed, making it the largest peacetime loss of life and property on American soil.

Ground Zero is a 1987 Australian drama-thriller about a cinematographer who, prompted by curiosity about some old film footage taken by his father, embarks on a quest to find out the truth about British nuclear tests at Maralinga. It stars actors Colin Friels, Jack Thompson and Indigenous activist Burnum Burnum.

Production and cast

Ground Zero was produced in 1986 and released in 1987. IMDb, and the DVD release of the film, both credit Michael Pattinson and Bruce Myles as producers, but only Pattinson is named in other sources. Pattinson went on to direct several other Australian feature films, including Wendy Cracked a Walnut (1990), Secrets (1992), One Crazy Night (1993) and The Limbic Region (1997). Myles did not go on to other directing, but acted in numerous subsequent Australian films, including The Bank (2001).

Ground Zero was made for A$7 million, and filmed on location in Coober Pedy and Woomera in South Australia, as well as in Melbourne.

Sound for the film was created by a team including Roger Savage and Gary Wilkins, who had both worked on the Mad Max series of feature movies.

In the sci-fi television series Lexx, the fictional planet "Fire" is the afterlife for all evil souls, and the location for much of Season 3. It shares a tight mutual orbit and an atmosphere with the Planet "Water", which is the afterlife for all good souls in the Lexx universe. Both worlds are locked in a perpetual war.

The souls on Water and Fire have no memory of how they arrived there; they simply "woke up" there one day. They are incapable of sexual reproduction and there are no children on either planet. When anyone dies on Planet Fire or Planet Water, they go to a spiritual holding cell in which time stands still, giving the illusion that no time has passed nomatter how long they have been there. When space opens up they "wake up" again whole and healthy on their respective home planet.

Fire is destroyed by the Lexx under the command of Xev at the end of Season 3. With Fire gone, Prince can not reincarnate so he instead chooses to possess the Lexx and destroy Water. When Water and Fire are both destroyed, it is revealed that both planets were actually on the other side of the Sun in our solar system and that all the souls contained on both worlds will be reincarnated on Earth.

"Fire" is a hit song by R&B/funk band Ohio Players. The song was the opening track from the album of the same name and hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 (where it was succeeded by Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good") and the Hot Soul Singles chart in early 1975. It spent five weeks atop the soul chart. "Fire" was the Ohio Players' only entry on the new disco/dance chart, where it peaked at #10. The tune is considered to be the band's signature song along with "Love Rollercoaster."

The song was recorded at Mercury Records' Chicago-based studio. While performing it in California, the band let Stevie Wonder hear the basic track for the song and he predicted that it would become a big hit. The song is noted for its sound of a siren recorded from a fire truck, heard at the beginning, as well as in the instrumental break in the middle. The edit version avoided much of the repetition of the music.

A cover of the song was released by Canadian New Wave band Platinum Blonde on their third album Contact in 1987. Another cover, also from 1987, is featured on the album Rhythm Killers by Sly and Robbie, produced by Bill Laswell. For their 2014 album For the Love of Money, industrial hip hop outfit Tackhead covered the song.

In linguistics, a numeral is a member of a word class (or sometimes even a part of speech) designating numbers, such as the English word 'two' and the compound 'seventy-seven'.

Identifying numerals

Numerals may be attributive, as in two dogs, or pronominal, as in I saw two (of them).

Many words of different parts of speech indicate number or quantity. Quantifiers do not enumerate, or designate a specific number, but give another, often less specific, indication of amount. Examples are words such as every, most, least, some, etc. There are also number words which enumerate but are not a distinct part of speech, such as 'dozen', which is a noun, 'first', which is an adjective, or 'twice', which is an adverb. Numerals enumerate, but in addition have distinct grammatical behavior: when a numeral modifies a noun, it may replace the article: the/some dogs played in the park → twelve dogs played in the park. (Note that *dozen dogs played in the park is not grammatical, so 'dozen' is not a numeral.)

Zero or Zéro is surname, given name or pseudonym of the following people:

Zero is name of the following notable fictional characters:

"Zero" is a song by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released as the lead single from their third studio album, It's Blitz! (2009). The song received critical acclaim from music critics for its production, and was named the best track of 2009 by both NME and Spin magazines.

The single had minor commercial success, peaking at numbers four and eighteen on the Billboard Alternative Songs and Hot Dance Singles Sales charts, as well as number forty-nine on the UK Singles Chart. A music video for the single, which shows lead singer Karen O walking the streets of San Francisco at night, was released in March 2009.

Critical reception

"Zero" received acclaim from music critics. Paula Carino of AllMusic described the song as "an exhilarating and wide-open expanse of pure electro-pop". Mary Bellamy of Drowned in Sound viewed the track as "the call to arms of a band who desperately want to teleport the refugees of fashion-fizzled pop, the hippest of hipsters and the weirdest outsiders to the dancefloor of their sweaty spaceship", stating it is "perhaps one of the band's finest moments ever committed to tape."