source stringlengths 32 199 | text stringlengths 26 3k |
|---|---|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch%20Open%20Computer%20Chess%20Championship | The Dutch [open] computer chess championship was a chess tournament for computer chess programs held from 1981 to 2012. It was organised yearly by the CSVN (Computer Chess Association of the Netherlands) around October or November.
Champions
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! # !! Year !! Program !! Champion
|-
| 1||1981||YNCT 1.0||Luuk de Vries
|-
| 2||1982||Gambiet 82||Wim Rens
|-
| 3||1983||Chess 0.5X||Wim Elsenaar
|-
| 4||1984||Chess 0.5X||Wim Elsenaar
|-
| 5||1985||Nona||Frans Morsch
|-
| 6||1986||Nona||Frans Morsch
|-
| 7||1987||REBEL||Ed Schröder
|-
| 8||1988||Quest||Frans Morsch
|-
| 9||1989||REBEL||Ed Schröder
|-
| 10||1990||REBEL||Ed Schröder
|-
| 11||1991||The King||Johan de Koning
|-
| 12||1992||REBEL||Ed Schröder
|-
| 13||1993||The King||Johan de Koning
|-
| 14||1994||Quest||Frans Morsch
|-
| 15||1995||The King||Johan de Koning
|-
| 16||1996||CilkChess||MIT team
|-
| 17||1997||Nimzo||Christian Donninger
|-
| 18||1998||The King||Johan de Koning
|-
| 19||1999||Quest||Frans Morsch, Mathias Feist
|-
| 20||2000||Chess Tiger||Christophe Théron, Jeroen Noomen
|-
| 21||2001||Chess Tiger||Christophe Théron, Jeroen Noomen
|-
| 22||2002||Chess Tiger||Christophe Théron, Jeroen Noomen
|-
| 23||2003||Ruffian||Perola Valfridsson, Martin Blume, Djordje Vidanovic
|-
| 24||2004||Diep ||Vincent Diepeveen
|-
| 25||2005||Zappa||Anthony Cozzie, Erdogan Günes
|-
| 26||2006||Rybka||Vasik Rajlich, Jeroen Noomen
|-
| 27||2007||Rybka||Vasik Rajlich, Jeroen Noomen
|-
| 28||2008||Rybka||Vasik Rajlich, Jeroen Noomen
|-
| 29||2009||Rybka||Vasik Rajlich, Lukas Cimiotti (hardware), Jiří Dufek (opening book), Hans van der Zijden (operator)
|-
| 30||2010||Rybka||Vasik Rajlich, Lukas Cimiotti (hardware), Jiří Dufek (opening book), Hans van der Zijden (operator)
|-
| 31||2011||Pandix||Gyula Horváth
|-
| 32||2012||Rybka||Vasik Rajlich
|}
References
Complete results, crosstables and history from the CSVN: 1981-2004 ,1981-2004
Results and crosstables from the CSVN: 2005 edition, 2006 edition
Report from ChessBase: 2004 edition
Results from TWIC: 2006 edition
Web site of the Dutch computer chess association (in Dutch)
Computer chess competitions
Recurring events established in 1981 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik%20I.%20Christensen | Henrik Iskov Christensen (born July 16, 1962 in Frederikshavn, Denmark) is a Danish roboticist and Professor of Computer Science at Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. He is also the Director of the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego.
Prior to UC San Diego, he was a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech, Christensen served as the founding director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM@GT) and the KUKA Chair of Robotics.
Previously, Christensen was the Founding Chairman of European Robotics Research Network (EURON) and an IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Lecturer in Robotics.
Biography
Christensen received his Certificate of Apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering from the Frederikshavn Technical School, Denmark in 1981. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Aalborg University in 1987 and 1990, respectively. His doctoral thesis Aspects of Real Time Image Sequence Analysis was advised by Erik Granum.
After receiving his Ph.D., Christensen held teaching and research positions at Aalborg University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Royal Institute of Technology. In 2006, Christensen accepted a part-time position at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and the KUKA Chair of Robotics, and transitioned to full-time in early 2007. At Georgia Tech, Christensen served as the founding director of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM@GT), an interdepartmental research units consists of the College of Computing, College of Engineering, and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). During his tenure, RIM@GT experienced an unprecedented growth, including (as of 2008) 36 faculty members as well as a dedicated interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Robotics.
He joined UC San Diego the fall of 2016 to be the director of the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute. The institute does research on robots in the context of empowering people in their daily lives from work over leisure to domestic tasks. An important consideration is the context in which the robot is to perform its tasks.
Research
DARPA Urban Grand Challenge
In 2007, Christensen led Georgia Tech's team in the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge as the principal investigator. The 2007 UGC was the third installment of the DARPA Grand Challenges (in 2004 and 2005), and took place on November 3, 2007 at the site of the now-closed George Air Force Base (currently used as Southern California Logistics Airport), in Victorville, California. The course involved a urban area course, to be completed in less than 6 hours while obeying all traffic regulations.
Professional activities
Associate Editor of Journal of Machine Vision and Applications, Springer Verlag (1996–2004).
Associate Editor of International Jo |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viacom18%20Studios | Viacom18 Studios (formerly Studio18 and Viacom18 Motion Pictures) is an Indian film distribution and production company. It is a subsidiary of Viacom18 (a Paramount Networks EMEAA and Network18 joint venture) based in Mumbai and it is one of the first studio model based motion picture & content production business in India, with an operation that involves acquisition, production, syndication, marketing and worldwide distribution of full-length feature films as well as digital only films, web series, short films.
Due to Viacom being one of the partners in the company, Viacom18 Motion Pictures also distributes films from Paramount Pictures in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka since 2011, starting with Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Filmography
Films produced
Films distributed
Web series
References
External links
Viacom18 Motion Pictures at Bollywood Hungama
Network18 Group
Film production companies based in Mumbai
Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies
Film distributors of India
International sales agents
Indian companies established in 2006 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte%20Carlo%20POMDP | In the class of Markov decision process algorithms, the Monte Carlo POMDP (MC-POMDP) is the particle filter version for the partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) algorithm. In MC-POMDP, particles filters are used to update and approximate the beliefs, and the algorithm is applicable to continuous valued states, actions, and measurements.
References
Robot control |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Yours%20Truly%2C%20Johnny%20Dollar%20episodes | The detective radio drama Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar aired on the CBS Radio network from February 18, 1949, until September 30, 1962. Each weekly episode was 30 minutes in duration. However, during Bob Bailey's first year in the role, each story comprised five 15-minute episodes, airing Monday through Friday. There were two exceptions: "The Kranesburg Matter" comprised six episodes, and "The Phantom Chase Matter" comprised nine.
Actor list
Notes
Episode list
1948–1950: Dick Powell & Charles Russell
1950–1952: Edmond O'Brien
1952–1954: John Lund
1955–1960: Gerald Mohr (audition) & Mr. Bob Bailey
1960–1962: Bob Readick & Mandel Kramer
Notes
Lists of radio series episodes |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic%20W.%20Massaro | Dominic W. Massaro is Professor of Psychology and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is best known for his fuzzy logical model of perception, and more recently, for his development of the computer-animated talking head Baldi. Massaro is director of the Perceptual Science Laboratory, past president of the Society for Computers in Psychology, book review editor for the American Journal of Psychology, founding Chair of UCSC's Digital Arts and New Media program, and was founding co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal Interpreting. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a University of Wisconsin Romnes Fellow, a James McKeen Cattell Fellow, an NIMH Fellow, and in 2006 was recognized as a Tech Museum Award Laureate.
Massaro received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1965, and completed his Ph.D. in Mathematical Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1968. After his postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Diego, he was Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from 1970 to 1979, before moving to UCSC where he has remained since.
Massaro's research focuses on applying an information processing approach to the study of language, perception, memory, cognition, and decision making. In collaboration with Gregg Oden, he developed the fuzzy logical model of perception, which stresses the integration of multiple sources of information when modeling perception. This model has been shown to be mathematically equivalent to Bayes' theorem. Massaro's approach conflicts with the motor theory of speech perception and Massaro has been a critic.
Stemming from this early work, Massaro established a research program demonstrating the importance of information from the face in speech perception. As part of this program, Massaro, along with researcher Michael Cohen, developed the computer-animated talking head known as Baldi. The Baldi technology is special in its extraordinary accuracy, and has been expanded to speak in numerous languages. In recent years, Massaro has become more involved with applied research, using his talking head technology to benefit language learners, including those facing learning challenges such as deafness and autism. For this work, he was named a 2006 Tech Microsoft Education Award Laureate by the Tech Museum of Innovation.
One focus of his current research is on the development and theoretical and applied use of a completely synthetic and animated head (iBaldi) for speech synthesis, language tutoring, and edutainment. Massaro founded Psyentific Mind, Inc with the goal of using Behavioral Science and Technology to extend the range of the human mind. The company currently has 8 iPhone/iPad apps in the Apple app store. These include apps for enhancing literacy, phonics, tile matching games for learning vocabulary and phonics, automated speech recognition in face to face communication, and learning to tell time with Kid |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Christmas%20Channel | The Christmas Channel was an American radio network that primarily aired traditional and popular Christmas music to 35 affiliate radio stations across the United States. The Christmas Channel was a property of Cumulus Media Networks (through Cumulus Media) and was active from the day before Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day.
History
"The Christmas Channel" started out as seasonal programming on ABC Radio's Memories/Unforgettable Favorites satellite format in 1998 under The Walt Disney Company's control. On Thanksgiving Day, ABC Radio would switch programming to Christmas music and the day after Christmas Day, it would switch back to regular programming. With the merger of "Unforgettable Favorites" and "Timeless Classics" in 2006, "The Christmas Channel" became a stand-alone network. In 2007, this network (as well as other ABC Radio formats) were transferred to Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
Citadel has indicated that The Christmas Channel would air, instead of on its usual separate channel, in place of the Classic Hits format Citadel distributes for the 2010 season. The stand-alone network returned in 2011, this time launching on November 1 to accommodate early adopters.
Cumulus Media Networks was the only commercial network to carry such a seasonal format; its former competitor, Dial Global, along with its recently purchased assets Jones and Waitt, did not offer such a format. As Cumulus Media Networks merged with Dial Global to form Westwood One, the channel was discontinued.
Sample Hour of Programming
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" - Bing Crosby
"Sleigh Ride" - Boston Pops Orchestra
"Christmastime Is Here (Vocal Version)" - Vince Guaraldi
"Wonderful Christmastime" - Paul McCartney
"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"O Come All Ye Faithful" - Mormon Tabernacle Choir
"Merry Christmas Darling" - The Carpenters
"What Child Is This" - Kenny G
"Rockin' around the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee
"Feliz Navidad" - José Feliciano
"O Holy Night" - Josh Groban
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Gene Autry
"The Christmas Song" - Nat King Cole
"Santa Baby" - Eartha Kitt
Affiliates (partial list)
Chicago, Illinois - WLS-AM
Detroit, Michigan - WJR-AM
New York City, New York - WABC-AM
Oak Ridge, Tennessee - WCYQ
San Francisco, California - KSFO-AM
Data as of December 6, 2007.
References
Christmas music
Defunct radio networks in the United States
Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company
Defunct radio stations in the United States |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar%20%28Xbox%29 | Xbox Avatars are avatars and characters that represent users of the Xbox network service on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S video game consoles, Windows 10, and Windows 10 Mobile. Avatars originally debuted on the Xbox 360 as part of the "New Xbox Experience" system update released on November 19, 2008, updated on Xbox One with "New Xbox One Experience" Xbox One System Software on November 12, 2015, and reimagined with the release of the next generation character for Xbox One on October 11, 2018.
The "Next generation" Avatar
On June 13, 2017, during E3 2017, Microsoft announced a complete overhaul of the Avatars, providing a much greater emphasis of customization and inclusiveness, especially by adding limb customization, clothing that supported all characters – as the old system had different clothing for male and female body types – and support for changing asset color at runtime. Other customization includes cloth and hair that are impacted by physics, fourteen different body types with 20 height options, and Moods and Props that are never "put away" when displaying an Avatar. The new Avatar system was delayed originally slated to release in the Fall 2017 but continued to be active in development through 2018. On June 18, 2018, the Xbox Avatar Editor beta – leveraging the Unity engine – arrived to Xbox Insiders, then on August 8, Microsoft released a Q&A on some of the ways how the new Avatars will be displayed on the Xbox One Dashboard, and as of August 16, the new Avatar Xbox Editor beta arrived for Windows 10 testers. and were officially released for all Xbox Live users on October 11, 2018.
For users that have content from their Xbox 360 account, while the new character cannot support the past generation's assets, a backward compatibility mode is available for customers that want to use their existing content. By selecting "Xbox Original Avatar" from the main menu of the Editor, customers can import their entire Xbox 360-era character and use that to represent themselves across the Xbox One Dashboard. Users can continue to leverage their entire Xbox Original Avatar closet using the original app and importing their changes using the Editor, when they want to share a change.
As of the 1811 release, the Xbox Avatar Editor's built-in Closet includes 566 items enabling 142.67 x 10^33 different characters for customers creating an Avatar, which does not take color changing options into account. There is also an Xbox Avatar Store that allows customers to browse and try on new items as they are released to the public.
History of Xbox Original Avatar
Xbox 360 users are able to customize body shape, sex, facial features, hair style, clothing, and "props". They can then display a 2D picture of their Avatar on their Gamercard (although they are still free to use their previous picture should they so choose).
Xbox Live GM Ben Kilgore stated in 2008 that Avatars will only be available for games that have an E10+ rating or l |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoffman%20Hills%20State%20Recreation%20Area | Hoffman Hills State Recreation Area is a unit of the Wisconsin state park system near Menomonie. A network of trails provides access to wooded hills, prairie, and wetlands. There are three picnic areas and a observation tower. Visitors are allowed to gather edible mushrooms, nuts, and berries, and hunting is allowed in the fall.
External links
Hoffman Hills State Recreation Area official site
Protected areas of Dunn County, Wisconsin
State parks of Wisconsin
Protected areas established in 1980
1980 establishments in Wisconsin |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.A.C.%20Eagles | A.A.C. Eagles is an American soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1940, the team plays in Region II of the United States Adult Soccer Association, a network of amateur leagues at the fifth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They joined the United Premier Soccer League in 2022.
The team's colors are red and white.
History
The Eagles were formed as an ethnic club by Polish American immigrants to the Chicago area in 1940. Originally known as the Polish American Athletic Club Eagles (PAAC Eagles), the team first played in the National Soccer League of Chicago, and played under that name until 1950, when the team became officially known as the Chicago Eagles. Since then the team has been known by various names, swapping between its earlier names (PAAC Eagles, Chicago Eagles), and newer variants (Chicago American Eagles, Polish Eagles), before settling on its current incarnation in the mid-1990s. The Eagles currently play in the Metropolitan Soccer League, which is a member of the United States Adult Soccer Association Region II group of leagues.
The Eagles have a long and distinguished history of competing in the National Challenge Cup. Having already reached the final stages of the competition during its early years in 1948 and 1949, the Eagles reached the semi-finals in 1989, losing on penalties to eventual winners St. Petersburg Kickers, and won the tournament in 1990 in the pre-MLS era, beating the Brooklyn Italians 2–0 in the final thanks to goals from Janusz Kieca and Peter Modrzejewski. Their win in the competition also gave them entry to the 1991 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, where they lost 4–1 on aggregate in the first round to Bermudian club PHC Zebras.
The Eagles qualified for the cup again in 1994, the last all-amateur competition prior to the entrance of teams from Major League Soccer, but lost 2–1 to Bavarian Leinenkugel in the quarter finals. Since the introduction of professional teams into the cup the Eagles have not fared as well. They lost in the first round to the Chicago Stingers in 1995, lost in the first round again in 2002 to New York Freedom, and lost in the first round for a third time in 2005, this time falling 4–1 to USL Premier Development League side Chicago Fire Premier.
In 2008 the club qualified for their fourth modern US Open Cup, beating the Milwaukee Bavarians and Des Moines Menace Reserves in their regional qualification tournament, but lost 4–0 in the first round to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL Second Division.
In addition to their USOC triumph in 1990, the Eagles won the USASA Open Cup in 1989 and 2002. They are nine-time Illinois state champions, eleven-time Metropolitan Soccer League Major Division champions, and also sponsored the Chicago Eagles Select which briefly played in the USL Premier Development League in 2001 and 2002.
In 2022 Eagles announced via social media their joining the United Premier Soccer League.
Players
Current roster
Source:
Year-by-year
Hon |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricochet%20%28TV%20production%20company%29 | Ricochet, part of Warner Bros. Television Studios UK, is an independent television production company that produces factual and entertainment programmes for broadcast by networks in both the UK and US.
Ricochet joined the Shed Media Group in 2005.
Programming
Current Productions
Cowboy Builders (Five)
Unbreakable (Five)
It's Me or the Dog (Channel 4, Sky and Animal Planet)
Supernanny (Channel 4, ABC and Lifetime)
Living in the Sun (BBC One)
Extreme Dreams with Ben Fogle (BBC Two)
The Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo)
The Alaska Experiment (Discovery)
Breaking into Tesco (Five)
Food Unwrapped (Channel 4)
The Repair Shop (BBC One/BBC Two)
Previous Productions
2011
Born to Be Different (Channel 4)
2007
My Child Won't Eat (ITV1)
The Mummy Diaries (Channel 4)
Into The Big Wide World (Channel 4)
Colin and Justin's Home Show (UKTV Style)
My New Home (Channel 4)
Fat March (ABC)
It's Me or the Dog (Channel 4)
My Crazy Life (Channel 4)
The World's Toughest Tribes (Discovery)
Britain's Worst Teeth (BBC Three)
Sex In Court (E4)
Selling Houses Abroad (Channel 4)
Clutter Nutters (CBBC)
2006
Too Big to Walk (Channel 4)
No Going Back (Channel 4)
Risking it All (Channel 4)
Admission Impossible (Channel 4)
Inside Spontaneous Human Combustion (Sky One)
Selling Houses (Channel 4)
How Not to Decorate (Five)
Who Rules the Roost (BBC Three)
2005
Wanted: New Mum and Dad (Channel 4)
Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre (BBC One)
The Ultimate Celebrity Fashion Frock-Ups (Five)
The 20 Worst Interior Design Crimes in Your Home (Five)
The 20 Things We Love to Hate About Builders (Five)
Flying Heavy Metal (Discovery)
It's Me or the Dog (Channel 4)
2004
Tetris: From Russia With Love (BBC Four)
The 20 Quickest Ways to Make Money on your Property (Five)
The 20 Quickest Ways to Lose Money on your Property (Five)
Housetrapped in the Sun (Channel 4)
Supernanny (Channel 4)
Passion Never Dies (BBC Two)
Taking Care: Rough Diamonds (BBC Three)
2003
FightBox (BBC Three) (Co-production with Bomb Productions)
2002
St Tropez Summer (E4)
More Sex Tips for Girls (Channel 4)
Why Pay Men for Sex (Channel 4)
River Cottage Forever (Channel 4) (Co-production with Keo Films)
Future Sex (Channel 4)
The Ultimate Rule Breakers (Channel 4)
Baring All (Channel 4)
Mel B's ex - The Jimmy Gulzar Story (BBC Choice)
Dome Heist (Channel 4)
Changing Sex (Channel 4)
2000
Posh Rock (E4)
Sex Tips for Girls (Channel 4)
Nigella Bites (Channel 4) (Co-production with Pacific)
Real Gardens (Channel 4) (Co-production with Ark Productions)
Strippers (TV programme) (E4)
The Twentieth Century Garden (Channel 4)
References
External links
Warner Bros.
Television production companies of the United Kingdom
Mass media companies established in 1995
2005 mergers and acquisitions |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum%20likelihood%20sequence%20estimation | Maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) is a mathematical algorithm to extract useful data out of a noisy data stream.
Theory
For an optimized detector for digital signals the priority is not to reconstruct the transmitter signal, but it should do a best estimation of the transmitted data with the least possible number of errors. The receiver emulates the distorted channel. All possible transmitted data streams are fed into this distorted channel model. The receiver compares the time response with the actual received signal and determines the most likely signal.
In cases that are most computationally straightforward, root mean square deviation can be used as the decision criterion for the lowest error probability.
Background
Suppose that there is an underlying signal {x(t)}, of which an observed signal {r(t)} is available. The observed signal r is related to x via a transformation that may be nonlinear and may involve attenuation, and would usually involve the incorporation of random noise. The statistical parameters of this transformation are assumed known. The problem to be solved is to use the observations {r(t)} to create a good estimate of {x(t)}.
Maximum likelihood sequence estimation is formally the application of maximum likelihood to this problem. That is, the estimate of {x(t)} is defined to be sequence of values which maximize the functional
where p(r | x) denotes the conditional joint probability density function of the observed series {r(t)} given that the underlying series has the values {x(t)}.
In contrast, the related method of maximum a posteriori estimation is formally the application of the maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation approach. This is more complex than maximum likelihood sequence estimation and requires a known distribution (in Bayesian terms, a prior distribution) for the underlying signal. In this case the estimate of {x(t)} is defined to be sequence of values which maximize the functional
where p(x | r) denotes the conditional joint probability density function of the underlying series {x(t)} given that the observed series has taken the values {r(t)}. Bayes' theorem implies that
In cases where the contribution of random noise is additive and has a multivariate normal distribution, the problem of maximum likelihood sequence estimation can be reduced to that of a least squares minimization.
See also
Maximum-likelihood estimation
Partial-response maximum-likelihood
References
Further reading
Crivelli, D. E.; Carrer, H. S., Hueda, M. R. (2005) "Performance evaluation of maximum likelihood sequence estimation receivers in lightwave systems with optical amplifiers", Latin American Applied Research, 35 (2), 95–98.
Katz, G., Sadot, D., Mahlab, U., and Levy, A.(2008) "Channel estimators for maximum-likelihood sequence estimation in direct-detection optical communications", Optical Engineering'' 47 (4), 045003.
External links
Telecommunications techniques
Error detection and correction
Signal e |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicktoonsters | Nicktoonsters was a short-lived British and Irish television channel which launched on 18 August 2008 on Sky. It was a spinoff channel of Nicktoons.
Programming
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius
All Grown Up!
Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze
As Told By Ginger
CatDog
Doug
The Fairly OddParents
Hey Arnold!
Rugrats
SpongeBob SquarePants
The Wild Thornberrys
History
Nicktoonsters' license first appeared on the OFCOM website in September 2007. The network was targeted to 5-11-year-old children and aired mainly older library content from Nicktoons, broadcasting twelve hours per day from 7am to 7pm daily, with Comedy Central Extra +1 taking the other twelve hours in a channel-sharing arrangement upon the launch of Nicktoonsters.
Nicktoonsters launched with a Rugrats marathon week before it commenced its regular schedule in August 2008, at first exclusively formed of "classic" shows. In later months, newer programmes such as The Fairly OddParents and SpongeBob SquarePants aired on holidays and weekends.
Closure
Nicktoonsters ended its run on 31 July 2009 at 7pm, nearly a year after its launch. Nicktoons +1, known as Nicktoons Replay, replaced it in August 2009.
Comedy Central Extra +1 (Formerly Paramount Comedy 2 +1) eventually reclaimed the full 24 hours of channel space in October 2012 when Nicktoons Replay was discontinued and replaced by Nick Jr. +1.
See also
Nickelodeon (UK and Ireland)
Nicktoons (UK and Ireland)
Nick Jr. (UK and Ireland)
References
External links
NickToonsters microsite from nick.co.uk
Nickelodeon to open new UK toon channel from Digital Spy
Nick UK unveils new toon net from C21media.net
Nicktoons (TV network)
Television channels and stations established in 2008
Defunct television channels in the United Kingdom
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2009
Children's television channels in the United Kingdom |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabo%20Mobiel | Rabo Mobiel was a Dutch Mobile virtual network operator. It was launched on 15 November 2006 into a market where 50 virtual network operators were active at the time. Rabo Mobiel runs in cooperation with mother company Rabobank Nederland, offering on postpaid and prepaid mobile telecommunications services, and other mobile banking and payment services.
Originally launched to target the ca. 3 million Rabobank internet banking customers, Rabo Mobiel has grown to use web and retail channels, and target different segments, including youth, students and small businesses. At the end of 2007, Rabo Mobiel claimed to have 125.000 customers.
Innovations
In addition to core telecommunications and mobile internet services, Rabo Mobiel focuses on promoting mobile banking and payments capabilities and applications. This includes products like SMS alerts, mobile banking via secure WAP, Java apps, smartphone Apps, SMS, mobile phone parking services, mobile banking via Samsung Jet, balance-checking apps, etc. From 2006-2009, Rabo Mobiel also worked extensively on NFC technologies, including trials at C1000 supermarkets (together with KPN, Logica and NXP Semiconductors, as well as Stichting RFID Nederland and Banksys), proof-of-concept programmes and trials with Coca-Cola, FEBO, Albert Heijn, Diergaarde Blijdorp, Achmea and Stichting Diabeter, MyOrder, Carian, and the American School of The Hague.
In July 2008 in conjunction with Rabobank Nederland, Rabo Mobiel launched Rabo SMS Betalen, a product for person-to-person and person-to-merchant payments using SMS and Java apps. The product was operator- and bank-independent, and therefore available to all customers, not only customers of Rabo Mobiel or the Rabobank. SMS Betalen was part of the same family of capabilities as later offered by NFC-based payments services Cashless Betalen, MyOrder and mijnID.
References
Mobile virtual network operators
Telecommunications companies of the Netherlands
nl:Rabobank#Rabo Mobiel |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maas%20International | Maas is through its leading role in the IVA (International Vending Alliance) part of the largest vending machine operating network in the world. Its global head office is in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Maas/IVA with an install base over 600,000 vending machines in operation worldwide is considered one of the largest companies in the industry. The company is organized in 4 regions, EMEA (Europe Middle-East and Africa), Asia Pacific, Latin America and North America
Next to the operations, Maas puts a lot of emphasis on development of new and innovative product lines. All this is done via its wholly owned subsidiary Spengler in Germany and China.
The Maas machines are distinguished by their universal design - black and silver, glass fronted machines all made to the same dimensions. Maas was originally established in 1890 as a cigar producer.
External links
Official Website
Vending
Coffee appliance vendors
Companies based in Eindhoven
Manufacturing companies of the Netherlands
Dutch brands |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperSmart%20Grid | The SuperSmart Grid (SSG) is a hypothetical wide area electricity network connecting Europe with northern Africa, the Middle East, and the IPS/UPS system of CIS countries. The system would unify super grid and smart grid capabilities into a comprehensive network. There are no planned locations for infrastructure or schedule explicitly for the SSG; the name is used to discuss the economic and technological feasibility of such a network and ways that it might gain political support.
The ambitious upgrade and unification of current transmission and/or distribution grids finds support among advocates of large scale utilization of alternative energy, and as well as advocates of enhanced energy security for Europe.
The SSG proposal was initiated by the European Climate Forum and at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research by Antonella Battaglini and colleagues.
History
The concept of a "super grid" is not new- the term itself was used to describe the emerging unification of the Great Britain grid in the 60s.
Europe has been unifying its grids since the 1950s and its largest unified grid is the synchronous grid of Continental Europe serving 24 countries. There are studies and ongoing discussions regarding creation of a synchronous grid spanning 13 time zones that would result from unifying the UCTE grid with that of the IPS/UPS Interconnection serving Russia, Belarus and other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Such mega systems are experiencing scaling problems as a result of network complexity, transmission congestion, and the need for rapid diagnostic, coordination and control systems.
Advocates of schemes such as the SuperSmart Grid claim that such a major technological upgrade is necessary to assure the practical operation and promised benefits of such transcontinental mega grids.
Concept
The concept of a wide-area "super grid" with centralized control and the concept of small-scale, local and decentralized smart grid are two approaches that are often perceived as being mutually exclusive alternatives. The SSG aims at reconciling the two approaches and considers them complementary and necessary to realize a transition towards a fully decarbonized electricity system. The super grid features would deliver inexpensive, high capacity, low loss transmission, interconnecting producers and consumers of electricity across vast distances. Smart grid capabilities use the local grid's transmission and distribution network to coordinate distributed generation, grid storage and consumption into a cluster that appears to the super grid as a virtual power plant.
The name "SuperSmart Grid" was invented by Antonella Battaglini and used the first time in the position paper for the energy conference in Lund in 2007. In the context of the SuperSmart Grid, advocates use the term "super grid" to refer to a network super imposed on top of local grid networks.
Implementation practicalities
The SSG relies on existing technology. The SuperSmart Grid would e |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fame%20Games%20Radio | Fame Games Radio is a music discovery radio program produced by Meer Music International (MMI) for Envision Radio Network in association with Dial Global Radio Network, since February 2010. (The program was previously syndicated through Citadel Media (formerly ABC Radio Networks, through Citadel Broadcasting) since June 2008.)
"Fame Games" is a worldwide competition that has been online since 2006 and on terrestrial radio in Southern Spain since 2004. It is the first music performance competition show on network radio which aims to discover the best new, "unsigned" music from around the world. The show is designed to help promote and break independent artists or "Indies" for short. When unsigned artists submit their songs through MMI's FameGamesRadio website, each song is evaluated through a complex review process before ultimately reaching the broadcast stage. By gaining fan support and positive reviews, a song then advances through several voting stages required to reach the Quarter-Final show (webcast with some terrestrial support). From there the best songs move on to the daily on-air Semi-Final shows and ultimately on the weekend Final shows. Winners are determined by the highest vote totals and review scores based on MMI's proprietary "unanimity formula," with weekly finalists from qualifying events competing for "Track Of The Week", "Track of the Month" and "Track of the Season" honors.
Weekly episodes of "Fame Games" air Monday-Friday through terrestrial as well as online radio affiliates. The program is hosted by the established panel of six judges, which includes singer/songwriter Laura Krier, songwriter/producer Paul Sedkowski and session guitarist Graham Keeling - all independent musicians themselves; as well as Sid Olivera, a former BBC Radio and BFBS Radio personality. The group is rounded out by Jake Waby and Lexy Badger-Ward, two teenage artists-in-training who provide the teen perspective to the group’s discussion and on-air reviews.
"The Global Breakthru Chart" was created in 2009 as a Top-40 format program for independent music, but the show is currently suspended.
The Fame Games weekend Final also includes an exclusive weekly pop music analysis feature called "The Cowell Factor", hosted by author, journalist, head of CowellMedia and brother of Simon Cowell, Tony Cowell.
Concept History
1992-2000: MMI was specialized in artist development and production. Founded by Paul Sedkowski (songwriter/producer, Barcelona Olympics promos, Prince Scandal, Kimera), John Coletta (manager Deep Purple, Whitesnake), Derek Lawrence (producer Hot Chocolate, Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash), Rob Davis (songwriter Mud, Fragma, Spillers Groovejet, Kylie Minogue, N'Sync, Julio Iglesias), Andy Tumi (songwriter Fishbowl, Sugababes, Supafly), Peter van der Meer (businessman).
2001: MMI's first independent-music-based TV formats (never aired) were formulated and circulated in the industry. Re-constituted by Paul Sedkowski, Mary Jane Trokel (TV director/ |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happily%20N%27Ever%20After%202%3A%20Snow%20White%E2%80%94Another%20Bite%20%40%20the%20Apple | Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White—Another Bite @ the Apple is a 2009 computer-animated direct-to-video film and sequel to Happily N'Ever After released on DVD on March 24, 2009, which stars Helen Niedwick, Cam Clarke, Jim Sullivan, Kirk Thornton, Cindy Robinson, David Lodge, and Catherine Lavin. Mambo, Munk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, the Fairy Godmother, and the Dwarves are the only characters to return from the first film.
None of the cast members and crew return for this film. Andy Dick is replaced by Jim Sullivan, Wallace Shawn is replaced by Kirk Thornton, and Michael McShane is replaced by David Lodge. Like its predecessor, the film received negative reviews.
Plot
Once upon a time, Snow White's parents, Queen Grace and the wise King Cole, are very kind to their citizens, as Queen Grace will go around helping any citizen in need. One day, Queen Grace suddenly falls ill and dies but before she does, she tells Snow White "The mirror only tells half the story. True beauty comes from helping others."
Since Queen Grace died when Snow White was young crying her eyes out, she never taught Snow White how to help the citizens. Since then, Snow White has turned into a misguided teenager who only likes to hang out with her friends Goldilocks, Little Bo Peep, and Little Red Riding Hood instead of helping the citizens. A prime example is when Snow White and her friends decide to go to a joust party instead of visiting an orphanage. That day, her father strictly tells her to return before morning and wear the royal robe. Instead, she takes it off and leaves it in the limo. She meets and falls in love with a handsome man. He doesn't return the feeling because of Snow White's behavior towards “riff raff” and his respect for Queen Grace.
When Snow White returns, her father is upset because she did not wear the robe (he found out on the newspaper). Snow White weeps and cries about him being unfair and runs to her room. Her father notices her misguided side and decides to find a wife like Queen Grace to show Snow White how to become a proper lady. His assistant goes to the Fairy Godmother for help, where she begins a marriage service.
Because of Mambo's mischief, the Scales of Good and Evil are tipped to extreme evil, causing Lady Vain to turn evil and Rumpelstiltskin to appear. Rumpelstiltskin (who seems to have become evil again due to the Scales) uses the Magic Mirror to turn Lady Vain's face into a replica of Queen Grace's face. She goes to the marriage service and King Cole accepts her, not knowing that Lady Vain is truly a horrible scheming witch who wants to rule the kingdom.
Snow White is a thorn in Lady Vain's side and she wants Snow White gone from the kingdom. Just then, an apple appears, due to the imbalance of the Scales. When given to Snow White, it will make her say the rudest things she had ever thought. Lady Vain has Rumpelstiltskin give Snow White a new make-over with a twist. They give her the evil apple and with the Mag |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardeh%2C%20Lebanon | Ardeh (also known in pre-Christian times as Ardata) is a village in Zgharta District, in the Northern Governorate of Lebanon. It is an ancient and historic town that was known during the 14th century B.C. as "Ardata".
The "Tallet" (hill) of Ardeh is an artificial one enfolding ruins of ancient edifices. During the 1970s the Lebanese Directorate of Archeology started archeological diggings in Ardeh and discovered important artifacts.
Toponymy
The origin name Ardeh remains uncertain. The most common theory is that the name derivates from the Syriac word Ardata.
Location
The village is 98 km from Beirut, 10 km from Tripoli and 4 km from Zgharta. Ardeh is situated 160 meters above sea level and covers an area of 5.76 km2.
Population
In 1519 there were 38 adult males living in Ardeh (22 Christians and 16 Muslims) and in 1571 they increased to 62 adult males (44 Christians and 18 Muslims), in 1849 it counted 139 males living in 44 houses. During the early 20th century, Ardeh was inhabited by 150 Maronite males, 20 Orthodox males and 15 Muslim males. In the 1932 census, there were 147 houses in Ardeh.
Ardeh's official residents records counted 4554 and 5078 registered voters. Nearly one-third of the registered persons are now living abroad as emigrants. 160 of the registered are emigrants that had cut their relations with their motherland although their names are still in the records.
Touristic sites
The Tower of Saint George: The tower is 33 meters long and located on the Tallet. On the top of the tower sits a statue of Saint George, the intercessor of the Tallet. The statue was placed there by the Lebanese Army on 30 December 2015. The statue can be seen from sky at night (due to its unique lightning) and remains the only building with that perk.
Waterland: Waterland is a summer resort and hotel. It has been found in 2010. This resort attracts many visitors from nearby villages.
Nearby villages
Haref Ardeh is a small village that is a significant part of Ardeh community that shares some of the families with Ardeh. The number of registered in this community has increased significantly in the past 4 decades because many persons moved in from the District of Dannieh. In 1998 there were 1220 registered persons (963 registered in 1988), 30% of them are emigrants. Haref Ardeh is a small village that is enriched with lot of social activities that distinguishes it with all its surroundings and well known by its scouts organization and its music band as well as many other sports and religious organizations.
Beit Awkar and Beit Obeid are two other small villages under the responsibility of the municipality of Ardeh. These villages consist mainly of one family each (like their names indicates).
Agriculture
Olives, oranges, grapes, tobacco, fruits and vegetables are grown in the area.
Water sources
El Kadi spring
Ain Ardeh
Religious aspect
Ardeh is considered to have a very religious community, like every Lebanese countryside. This parish follows t |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xfile | Xfile is a file manager developed by Rixstep, built as a Finder replacement for the Mac OS X operating system. Its features are mostly congruent with those accessible by generic Unix systems.
Some examples of the more advanced features are a consequence of the above. Operating only with generic Unix APIs Xfile is capable of dealing with a wide variety of file systems and not limited to the operating system's native HFS+.
The interface of Xfile is navigational in nature, although Xfile windows can be seen as "document" windows and behave as such.
See also
Comparison of file managers
File manager
External links
Rixstep — Xfile Microsite
Rixstep — Xfile Test Drive
File managers for macOS
MacOS-only proprietary software
Shareware |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC/OSx | DC/OSx (DataCenter/OSx) is a discontinued Unix operating system for MIPS based systems developed by Pyramid Technology. It ran on its Nile series of SMP machines and was a port of AT&T System V Release 4 (SVR4). In 1995, Pyramid Technology was acquired by Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme (SNI), and DC/OSx was superseded by the SINIX operating system.
History
DC/OSx was the first symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) implementation on Unix System V Release 4.
DC/OSx was later superseded by SINIX, a version of the Unix operating system from SNI. Features of DC/OSx were incorporated into SINIX; later versions were branded as Reliant Unix.
See also
BS2000
Timeline of operating systems
References
External links
List of Unix Variants
MIPS operating systems
Siemens
UNIX System V |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuhiko%20Toyama | is a Japanese composer. Toyama is notable for creating music for Bikkuriman, Cyber City Oedo 808 and New Cutie Honey. He is sometimes credited as Kazz Toyama.
Music works
Aconcagua
Ai to ken Camelot: Mangaka Marina Time Slip
A Wind Named Amnesia
Bikkuriman
Chōjin Sentai Jetman
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Cyber City Oedo 808
Darkside Blues
Doomed Megalopolis
Eden's Bowy
Goku Midnight Eye
Goku II Midnight Eye
Idol Defense Force Hummingbird
New Cutie Honey
Ogre Slayer
Ozanari Dungeon: Kaze no Tou
Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko
Tekken: The Motion Picture
Vampire Wars
External links
1956 births
Anime composers
Composers from Tokyo
Japanese film score composers
Japanese male film score composers
Living people
Musicians from Tokyo |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPIKES%20%28magazine%29 | SPIKES is an athletics website and magazine published by Haymarket Network in conjunction with the IAAF.
History and profile
The magazine and website were launched in July 2008 at an event attended by then IAAF vice president Lord Coe, Steve Ovett, Jonathan Edwards, Colin Jackson and Wilson Kipketer.
The aim of SPIKES is to raise awareness of the sport and recognition of the athletes by encouraging discussion through challenging features and profiles. Although funded directly by the IAAF, the editorial staff has a free rein with the content – which typically combines serious debate with more light-hearted features and pop cultural references. Giles Richards of The Observer praised the magazine for its interviews and biographical features: "It's a lot easier to care about a sport if you care about the people involved".
In 2014 SPIKES moved to its new home on the IAAF website (spikes.iaaf.org) and with digital taking over the magazine format to ensure content is available to everyone and everywhere around the world.
SPIKES is universally known as the fun, relaxed and engaged voice of athletics and has established itself as one of the most influential voices in the sport of track and field. It publishes stories from athletes and events around the world to bring fans closer than ever to the sport they love and to inspire the next generation of athletics enthusiasts.
References
External links
SPIKES website
2008 establishments in the United Kingdom
Athletics magazines
Sports magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 2008
Magazines published in London |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzzyxx | Zzyzzyxx is a stand-up coin-operated arcade game developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems, and manufactured by Cinematronics in 1982. It was retitled as Brix for release as a conversion kit in 1983. The title screen and marquee were the only changes.
Game concept
The object of the game is to guide the protagonist, named Zzyzzyxx, through a moving maze of bricks to collect gifts and bring them to the fair-haired Lola, the object of his affection. Zzyzzyxx is opposed by the evil trio by the names Boris, Bluto and Smoot, also known as the Rattifers. These three will try to intercept Zzyzzyxx as he makes his way through the maze. He can collect a helmet in the maze, which can be used to imprison a Rattifer inside a brick, or to break a brick in the row above to move through the maze. As the levels progress, Zzyzzyxx must avoid crumbling bricks, rising missiles, and dropping bombs. The game has a 1up player score and laps tallied at the top of the screen.
References
External links
at Arcade-History
Zzyzzyxx at www.coin op.org
Arcade video games
Arcade-only video games
1982 video games
Platformers
Video games developed in the United States |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven%20Thomas%20%28entrepreneur%29 | Steven Thomas (October 13, 1971 – found dead July 14, 2008) was an American entrepreneur who founded the computer security company Webroot Software.
Career
In 1997, Thomas and business partner and girlfriend Kristen Talley founded Webroot, in Boulder, Colorado. The company offers computer security software and is best known for a software called Spy Sweeper, an antispyware product.
In 2005, Thomas and Talley sold most of their shares in the company to a group of California investors as part of a $108 million deal.
Death
After being diagnosed with "possible" bipolar disorder, he went missing in June 2008. His body was found on July 14, 2008, at the bottom of Pali Lookout near Honolulu. An autopsy showed that his injuries appeared to be consistent with a fall several days earlier. The case is still open with the Honolulu Police and is deemed as an unattended death.
References
Accidental deaths in Hawaii
Accidental deaths from falls
1971 births
2008 deaths
American technology company founders
21st-century American businesspeople |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family%20tree%20mapping | Family tree mapping is the process of geocoding places in family tree files to produce geospatial data suitable for viewing with a virtual globe or 2D mapping program.
Overview
The availability of several free applications for viewing geographic data has led to a growing interest in the use of this technology by genealogists and family history researchers.
The ability to share keyhole markup language (KML) files through sites such as Google Maps means that researchers can find matches based on geographic location rather than just a place name.
Family tree mapping applications
Genealogy software that can be used for family tree mapping include:
Ahnenblatt using the supplied Google-Earth Plug-In.
Ancestral Quest
Family Historian
Family Tree Builder
Family Tree Maker
GEDitCOM II
GenealogyJ
GenoPro - a Windows Genealogy software, whose Report Generator has ability to convert Places and geographical locations and export them in Google Maps.
Gramps
Heredis
Legacy Family Tree automatically map where your ancestors lived.
MacFamilyTree
RootsMagic
Utility applications that can be used for family tree mapping include:
AniMap- contains historical maps that show the changing county boundaries
Centennia Historical Atlas - the map forward or backward in time from the year 1000 to present.
Family Atlas - a Windows application that imports data from genealogy software for mapping with its own internal maps.
Map My Ancestors (as of 3 October 2011 this application was withdrawn from sale and no longer available, due to closure of Yahoo Mapping services see the source site for details) - a Windows application that imports GEDCOM files or comma-separated values (CSV) files and converts them to keyhole markup language (KML) files for viewing with KML compatible programs such as Google Earth or Google Maps.
Map My Family Tree - a Windows application that imports data directly from a number of popular Genealogy programs. The program uses its own location database to resolve places from the source family tree. Viewing data is generally undertaken from within the program using the internal viewer but individual placemarks can be viewed using Google Earth, Google Maps, TerraServer-USA or MapQuest.
See also
Google Earth Virtual Globe software
Google Maps
Keyhole Markup Language (KML)
Bing Maps Platform
References
Family history
Keyhole Markup Language
Windows-only genealogy software |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chessmaster%203000 | The Chessmaster 3000 is a 1991 video game published by The Software Toolworks and an installment of the Chessmaster series.
Gameplay
The Chessmaster 3000 is a game in which the computer opponents range in skill from Novice to Chessmaster.
Reception
Computer Gaming World in 1992 reported that Chessmaster 3000 had added "a lot" to its predecessors, with new tutorial features and a variety of computer opponents making the game "a truly impressive sequel".
Chessmaster 3000 was named the 40th best computer game ever by PC Gamer UK in 1997. The editors wrote that "it remains [...] the premier PC chess title, with just the right balance of fancy game options and high-end gameplay. ChessMaster 3000 runs much faster than subsequent versions of the game and makes a welcome change from guns and guts".
Reviews
Game Players PC Entertainment
Top Secret - May, 1993
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) - Jul, 1993
PC Games (Germany) - Aug, 1993
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) - Sep, 1994
All Game Guide (1998)
Play Time (German) - 1992 May
References
1991 video games
Chess software
Chessmaster
Classic Mac OS games
DOS games
The Software Toolworks games
Video game sequels
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chessmaster%202000 | The Chessmaster 2000 is a computer chess game by The Software Toolworks. It was the first in the Chessmaster series and published in 1986. It was released for Amiga, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Macintosh, and IBM PC compatibles.
Gameplay
The game has a chess engine written by David Kittinger.
Reception
Compute! stated that Chessmaster 2000 "is now the yardstick for which other similar programs will be measured", and favorably cited Software Toolworks' decision to give all versions of the game the same sophisticated engine. In 1986, Computer Gaming World wrote of the IBM PC version, "I wish I could find something negative to include in this review but I can't ... It gets my absolute highest recommendation". It was noted that the game had a sophisticated defense, but would resign in hopeless situations without forcing the human to finish an inevitable win. The magazine also favorably reviewed the Amiga version, calling the graphics "exceptional" and concluding "highly recommended". Info gave the Amiga version five stars out of five, describing it as "the definitive chess program for the AMIGA", praising the graphics, user interface, and options. The magazine gave the Commodore 64 version three stars out of five, stating that it had almost all of the Amiga version's features but criticizing the requirement of using algebraic notation to move. Antic found that Chessmaster 2000 defeated Colossus Chess and Odesta Chess. The magazine criticized the Atari 8-bit version's playability, stating that "the 3-D display is unusable even on a very good monitor-you can't tell the overlapping pieces apart", lack of a chess clock, and poor documentation and controls.
Bob Ewald reviewed Chessmaster 2000 in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 78. Ewald commented that "It is a good program for learning the game, playing on many different competitive levels, ease of movement, and replaying famous games."
Chessmaster 2000 became the first and only chess game to be the top-rated game in Computer Gaming Worlds reader poll, with a score of 7.25 out of 10. In 1988, it was among the first members of the magazine's Hall of Fame, honoring those games rated highly over time by readers. In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared the original Chessmaster the 46th-best computer game ever released.
The game sold 140,000 copies.
References
External links
Images of The Chessmaster 2000 package, manual and screenshots from C64Sets.com
Review in ANALOG Computing
Review in ANALOG Computing
Review in PC World
Review in Family Computing
1986 video games
Amiga games
Amstrad CPC games
Apple II games
Atari 8-bit family games
Atari ST games
Chess software
Chessmaster
Classic Mac OS games
Commodore 64 games
DOS games
MSX games
The Software Toolworks games
Video board games
Video games developed in the United States
ZX Spectrum games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster%20Exploratory | Cluster Exploratory (CluE) was a proposed 2008 U.S. National Science Foundation-funded program to use Google-IBM cluster technology to analyze massive amounts of data to search for patterns, part of the Academic Cluster Computing Initiative (ACCI). "The cluster will consist of 1,600 processors, several terabytes of memory, and hundreds of terabytes of storage, along with the software, including IBM's Tivoli and open source versions of Google File System and MapReduce". Google and IBM announced the first pilot phase of the ACCI in October 2007. The program ended in 2011, according to Google. NSF's call for proposals has been "archived".
References
National Science Foundation |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datas | Datas is a Brazilian municipality in the north-center of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 5,421 living in a total area of 309 km2. The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the statistical microregion of Diamantina. It became a municipality in 1962.
Datas is at an elevation of 1340 meters in the upper Jequitinhonha River valley. It is south of Diamantina to which it is connected by federal highway BR-367. The nearest major population center is Diamantina.
The distance to Diamantina is 27 km; and the distance to Belo Horizonte is 272 km. Neighboring municipalities are: Diamantina (N); Santo Antônio do Itambé and Presidente Kubitschek (E); Conceição do Mato Dentro (S); and Gouveia (W).
The main economic activities are services, and agriculture. The GDP in 2005 was R$13 million, with 10 million from services, 1 million from industry, and 1 million from agriculture. There were 442 rural producers on 10,000 hectares of land. Only 5 farms had tractors (2006). The main crops were sugarcane, beans, corn, and soybeans. There were 2,000 head of cattle (2006).
Social indicators
The social indicators rank it in the bottom tier of municipalities in the state.
Municipal Human Development Index: 0.694 (2000)
State ranking: 572 out of 853 municipalities
National ranking: 3094 out of 5,138 municipalities
Literacy rate: 86%
Life expectancy: 66 (average of males and females)
Infant mortality: 24.39
Percentage of houses in urban area connected to sewers: 93.20
Degree of urbanization: 52.02%
The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568. Nationally the highest was São Caetano do Sul in São Paulo with 0.919, while the lowest was Setubinha. In more recent statistics (considering 5,507 municipalities) Manari in the state of Pernambuco has the lowest rating in the country—0,467—putting it in last place.
There were 7 health clinics and one small private hospital with 18 beds in 2005. Patients with more serious health conditions are transported to Diamantina. Educational needs were met by 7 primary schools and 2 middle schools.
References
See also
List of municipalities in Minas Gerais
Municipalities in Minas Gerais |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My%20Aquarium | My Aquarium (Blue Oasis in Japan) is a virtual pet video game by Hudson Soft for WiiWare and PlayStation Network. It was released in Japan on June 24, 2008, in Europe on August 15, 2008 and in North America on September 1, 2008 for the WiiWare and on September 8, 2010 in Japan for the PlayStation Network.
Overview
The game is a virtual aquarium that sees players caring for fish in up to six aquariums of their own design. The player can choose from 49 species of fish (most of which must be unlocked as only 13 are available at the beginning) to populate an aquarium that can be customized with a choice of decorations, backgrounds, lighting and plant life.
The game also utilizes data from the Forecast Channel, changing lighting and conditions based on the weather. However, there is no emphasis on realism; for example salt water and fresh water fish can be placed together and water temperature is not taken into consideration. While no cheats are available for the game itself, it has been noted that the game runs off of the various aspects of the Wii system and with that in mind, the date from the system settings can be changed repeatedly to unlock new or hidden items.
Players can also send their own aquariums to other players with the game through WiiConnect24.
Sequel
A sequel entitled My Aquarium 2 was released in Japan on August 3, 2010, in North America on August 9, 2010 and in the PAL region on September 10, 2010 for the WiiWare.
Reception
IGN gave it a 6/10, likening it to a screensaver and calling time spent with it a "boot and watch" experience, ultimately leaving readers to decide if My Aquarium appeals to them.
References
External links
Japanese website
US website
My Aquarium at IGN
2008 video games
WiiWare games
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation Network games
Video games developed in Japan
Virtual pet video games
Wii games
Video games set underwater |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munch%20Man | Munch Man (inconsistently written in the manual as Munchman) is a video game written by Jim Dramis for the TI-99/4A home computer and published as a cartridge by Texas Instruments in 1982. Based on Namco's Pac-Man, it includes several variations that alter gameplay. Instead of emptying the maze of dots, Munch Man leaves a chain-like pattern as it moves, and the goal is to fill the entire maze. Dramis later wrote Parsec for the TI-99/4A.
Plot
From the front of the manual:
Gameplay
The player controls Munch Man using either the keyboard or joystick. Like Pac-Man, the goal of a level is to visit every part of the maze, but instead of eating dots the player fills the maze with a chain pattern. Four Hoonos (the equivalent of Pac-Man ghosts) attempt to thwart Munch Man's efforts to complete his mission. However, Munch Man always has his "Energizer" (the equivalent of a Pac-Man power pill) which gives Munch Man the ability to devour the Hoonos. The game ends when the player's lives are depleted.
The shape of the Hoonos changes with each level, but their colors remain consistent. Each level has Hoonos colored red, yellow, blue, and purple. There are 20 unique sets of Hoonos. Beginning with level 21, the Hoonos recycle shape.
In level 20, 40, and 60, the maze is invisible and there are no chains. Instead, Munch Man must eat all the TI logos in the invisible maze. This gives the odd effect of showcasing the maze at first, but slowly hiding the maze as the player removes the indications of the maze paths by eating the TI logos.
Scoring
10 points are earned for every link of the chain made.
70 points are awarded for each of the four Texas-shaped energizers eaten per level.
100 points are given for the first Hoono munched, 200 for the second, 400 for the third, and 800 for the fourth.
For every 10,000 points earned, an extra Munch Man is awarded.
Development
Originally, Munch Man gobbled dots and power-pills, just like Pac-Man. However, TI decided to avoid the risk of a lawsuit to replace the dots with laying down a chain and power pellets were changed out for TI logos.
Reception
References
1982 video games
Pac-Man clones
TI-99/4A games
Video games developed in the United States
Texas Instruments games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVS%20Radio | MVS Radio are a group of four international Spanish-language radio networks owned by the mass media conglomerate MVS Comunicaciones. The group of radio networks consists of Exa FM, La Mejor, Globo and MVS Noticias and are broadcast in a various Latin American countries including Argentina, Costa Rica, Dominic Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the United States.
Exa FM
Exa FM is an international network radio format of MVS Radio in Spanish-language Top 40 outlets broadcasting throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador and Dominican Republic and the United States.
Stations covering Exa FM include:
Mexico
XHVW-FM 90.5 MHz - Acámbaro, Guanajuato
XHNQ-FM 99.3 MHz - Acapulco, Guerrero
XHAGC-FM 97.3 MHz - Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
XHMI-FM 100.3 MHz - Campeche, Campeche
XHZN-FM 104.5 MHz / XEZN-AM 780 kHz - Celaya, Guanajuato
XHLO-FM 100.9 MHz - Chihuahua, Chihuahua
XHDH-FM 91.5 MHz - Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila
XHIT-FM 99.7 MHz / XEIT-AM 1070 kHz - Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche
XHPX-FM 98.3 MHz - Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua for El Paso
XHRLM-FM 91.9 MHz - Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas
XHOX-FM 99.3 MHz - Ciudad Obregón, Sonora
XHBJ-FM 94.5 MHz - Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas
XHPT-FM 91.3 MHz - Córdoba Veracruz
XHCT-FM 95.7 MHz - Cuernavaca, Morelos
XHESA-FM 101.7 MHz - Culiacán, Sinaloa
XHCAV-FM 101.3 MHz - Durango, Durango
XHADA-FM 104.1 MHz - Ensenada, Baja California
XHFRE-FM 100.5 MHz - Fresnillo, Zacatecas
XHMA-FM 101.1 MHz - Guadalajara, Jalisco
XHGSE-FM 98.1 MHz - Guasave, Sinaloa
XHNY-FM 93.5 MHz - Irapuato, Guanajuato
XHLP-FM 89.9 MHz - La Piedad, Michoacán
XHMD-FM 104.1 MHz - León, Guanajuato
XHCCAC-FM 103.9 MHz - Los Cabos, Baja California Sur
XHMPM-FM 98.9 MHz - Los Mochis, Sinaloa
XHOPE-FM 89.7 MHz - Mazatlán, Sinaloa
XHMRA-FM 99.3 MHz - Mérida, Yucatán
XHJC-FM 91.5 MHz - Mexicali, Baja California
XHEXA-FM 104.9 MHz - Mexico City
XHWGR-FM 101.1 MHz / XEWGR-AM 780 kHz - Monclova, Coahuila
XHSR-FM 97.3 MHz - Monterrey, Nuevo León
XHKW-FM 89.3 MHz - Morelia, Michoacán
XHQT-FM 102.7 MHz - Nogales, Sonora
XHNR-FM 98.5 MHz - Oaxaca, Oaxaca
XHPNS-FM 107.1 MHz- Piedras Negras, Coahuila
XHRIC-FM 101.9 MHz - Poza Rica, Veracruz
XHJE-FM 94.1 MHz - Puebla, Puebla
XHOE-FM 95.5 MHz - Querétaro, Querétaro
XHVI-FM 99.1 MHz - San Juan del Río, Querétaro
XHESL-FM 102.1 MHz - San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
XHOX-FM 95.3 MHz - Tampico, Tamaulipas
XHWJ-FM 102.9 MHz - Tehuacán, Puebla
XHGLX-FM 91.7 MHz - Tijuana, Baja California
XHMP-FM 95.5 MHz - Torreón, Coahuila
XHPTUX-FM 101.3 MHz - Tuxtepec, Oaxaca
XHCQ-FM 98.5 MHz - Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas
XHPS-FM 93.3 MHz - Veracruz, Veracruz
XHPZAM-FM 98.1 MHz - Zamora, Michoacán
Costa Rica
102.7 MHz - San José, Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
HIK52 96.9 MHz - Santo Domingo
Ecuador
92.5 MHz - Quito
89.7 MHz - Riobamba
93.9 MHz - Ibarra
90.1 Mhz - Tulcán
El Salvador
91.3 MHz - San Salvador
Guatemala
90.7 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flock%21 | Flock! (stylized as FLOCK!) is a puzzle video game developed by Proper Games and published by Capcom for Windows, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. It was released for Microsoft Windows on April 7, 2009 through Steam and Stardock's digital distribution service Impulse, Xbox Live Arcade on April 8, 2009 and PlayStation Network on April 9, 2009.
Gameplay
The player controls a UFO ("The Flocker") and is tasked with herding farm animals (sheep, cows, chickens, and pigs) back to the mothership, "The Mother Flocker". This is challenging due to the hazardous environments the animals exist in—the players must defend their flock against hungry predators, avoid pits of death, and send their animals flying with catapults. There are 55 single-player levels that span across three seasons: summer, autumn, and winter. There is also a cooperative play mode.
Extensibility
The game also grants access to the same map editor the developers used to make the official levels, so players can make their own puzzles. Players are able to share maps with others via a persistent map server. PC and PS3 users are able to share maps between the two platforms.
Reception
The game received "mixed or average reviews" on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.
References
External links
Official website
2009 video games
Capcom games
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation Network games
Puzzle video games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Windows games
Xbox 360 Live Arcade games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyToons | MyToons was an online business that developed a free online community for animation that supported content sharing and social networking. MyToons.com was headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.
The site was founded in 2006 by Paul Ford, Stacey Ford and Dan Kraus as a spinoff of Bauhaus Software. The Texas Emerging Technology Fund supported it with a $500,000 grant.
After four months of private beta, the site launched publicly in March 2007 during the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and began distributing member-created animation videos to Internet audiences worldwide. Three weeks after its launch, MyToons had received more than 1.5 million unique visitors.
Milestones
In June 2008, MyToons.com became the first global animation community to offer users the ability to upload and view animations in High Definition. At this time, the HD animation contest Get With the Times! was also launched.
In January 2009, MyToons laid off a large part of its staff.
In April 2009, MyToons closed down completely after venture capital funding ceased.
Affiliates
Adobe – Sponsor of Get with the Times! contest, June 2008
Adobe Media Player (AMP) Channel Partner, March 2008
MonsterJam Animation Contest – Co-Sponsor, May 2008
Warner Bros., Entertainment – Contest Partner, May 2008
The Second Annual Animation Book Look – Co-Sponsor, May 2008
Google – Google Search Appliance (GSA), April 2008
YouTube Channel Partner, February 2008
DRAW Exhibit, London – Co-Sponsor, March 2008
IMAX – Contest Partner, February 2008
Krispy Kreme – Contest Partner, February 2008
35th Annual Annie Awards, Hollywood, CA – Silver Sponsor and After-Party Entertainment Sponsor, February 2008
Animation Army – Monthly Meetings Sponsor, 2007 – 2008
INTERspectacular Design and Concept Studio – Bumper Blastoff! contest partner, December 2007
Best In The Southwest Flash Animation Festival – Gold Sponsor, Albuquerque NM, October 2007
Los Angeles Animation Festival (L.A.A.F.) – Major Sponsor, October 2007
Animators: Andrew Gordon, Mike Wellins, Rusty Mills – Bust In and Win! contest Judges, September 2007
Ottawa International Animation Festival – Major Sponsor and Panel Speaker, September 2007
Anime Expo – Event, Promotions and Panel Speaker, June – July 2007
Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) – Bronze Sponsor, May 2007
Limelight Networks – Flash Video Streaming Infrastructure, April 2007
Draw/MyToons Launch – Platinum Sponsor for DRAW exhibit & Gallery Lombardi, SXSW Austin, TX, March 2007
References
External links
MyToons Official Site
Internet properties established in 2007
Internet properties disestablished in 2009
Companies based in San Antonio
Animation organizations
Online advertising
Defunct social networking services
Online companies of the United States |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal%20computer | A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or technician. Unlike large, costly minicomputers and mainframes, time-sharing by many people at the same time is not used with personal computers. Primarily in the late 1970s and 1980s, the term home computer was also used. The advent of personal computers and the concurrent Digital Revolution have significantly affected the lives of people in all countries.
Institutional or corporate computer owners in the 1960s had to write their programs to do any useful work with the machines. While personal computer users may develop their applications, usually these systems run commercial software, free-of-charge software ("freeware"), which is most often proprietary, or free and open-source software, which is provided in "ready-to-run", or binary form. Software for personal computers is typically developed and distributed independently from the hardware or operating system manufacturers. Many personal computer users no longer need to write their programs to make any use of a personal computer, although end-user programming is still feasible. This contrasts with mobile systems, where software is often available only through a manufacturer-supported channel, and end-user program development may be discouraged by lack of support by the manufacturer.
Since the early 1990s, Microsoft operating systems (first with MS-DOS and then with Windows) and Intel hardware - collectively called 'Wintel' - have dominated the personal computer market, and today the term "PC" normally refers to the ubiquitous Wintel platform. Alternatives to Windows occupy a minority share of the market; these include the Mac platform from Apple (running the macOS operating system), and free and open-source, Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux. Other notable platforms until the 1990s were the Amiga from Commodore, and the PC-98 from NEC.
Terminology
The term "PC" is an initialism for "personal computer". While the IBM Personal Computer incorporated the designation into its model name, the term originally described personal computers of any brand. In some contexts, "PC" is used to contrast with "Mac", an Apple Macintosh computer.
Since none of these Apple products were mainframes or time-sharing systems, they were all "personal computers" and not "PC" (brand) computers. In 1995, a CBS segment on the growing popularity of PC reported: "For many newcomers PC stands for Pain and Confusion."
History
In the history of computing, early experimental machines could be operated by a single attendant. For example, ENIAC which became operational in 1946 could be run by a single, albeit highly trained, person. This mode pre-dated the batch programming, or time-sharing modes with multiple users connected through terminals to mainframe computers. Computers in |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONECS | MONECS (Monash University Educational Computing System) was a computer operating system with BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal interpreters, plus machine language facility. Specifically designed for computer science education in Australian secondary schools and at the university undergraduate level.
Alternative designations were DEAMON (Digital Equipment Australia - Monash University) or SCUBA (local designation at Melbourne University) systems.
Overview
For teaching computer science students in Australian schools Monash University created subsets of the FORTRAN language, an elementary version called MINITRAN then an enhanced version called MIDITRAN. MIDITRAN versions were available for a number of different mainframe systems, i.e. Burroughs B5000/B5500 series, CDC 3000, IBM 360 and ICL 1900. Student's programs were submitted on IBM Port-a-Punch cards that can be programmed with an IBM board and stylus or even a bent paper clip. Standard 80-column punch cards were an option for students if a card punch was available.
Before the minicomputer, it was impossible for a class of Australian students to have hands-on access to a computer within a one-hour school period. Mainframes were too expensive for small schools and remote job entry equipment was typically limited to major corporations, universities and research centres.
A group at Monash University under the leadership of Dr Len G. Whitehouse solved the problem with a small PDP-11 minicomputer system that could be used in the classroom. Mark sense cards were used, and a class of 30 children could each get two runs in a one-hour period. The Monash University series of Student FORTRAN predated and was an independent effort not associated with DEC's PDP-8 based EDUSYSTEM series which centred on the BASIC language.
MONECS was optimised for the low end hardware of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-11 minicomputer family. Typical installation would be a PDP-11/03, /04, /05 /10 or D. D. Webster Electronics' Spectrum-IIB (repackaged DEC LSI) processor with 32k Bytes memory.
MONECS systems were based on the PDP-11/05 or PDP-11/10 processors with core memory. This was identical hardware rebadged by the manufacturer DEC just to indicate an OEM version. Student systems were fitted with a custom UNIBUS interface to support the Memorex 651 flexible drive which was an early version of an 8-inch floppy disk.
Next major releases were the DEAMON systems based on PDP-11/04 or PDP/11/34 processors with semiconductor memory and DEC RX01 8-inch floppy disk drive(s). Then the LSI-11 systems based systems which moved away from the UNIBUS based processors and used the PDP-11/03 and Spectrum-IIB systems.
All systems were installed with a mark sense card reader PDI, Hewlett-Packard or Documation M-200, plus a 132 column lineprinter from Tally, DEC, etc.
Student programs were typically submitted as a deck of mark sense cards although punched cards were an option. Due to the 32k Byte memory constraint MONECS se |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle%20C%2B%2B%20Call%20Interface | The Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI), as defined by the database company Oracle Corporation, offers C++ programmers a comfortable interface to access Oracle databases. The OCCI classes have parameters reminiscent of SQL statements. The interface has functioned since Oracle release 9i.
OCCI originated from the Oracle Call Interface (OCI), the interface used by C programmers.
See also
Oracle C++ Call Interface main page
OCCI Developer Reference
Oracle software |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipwrecked%3A%20Battle%20of%20the%20Islands%202009 | Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands 2009 is a United Kingdom reality television series, part of the Shipwrecked strand which aired on Channel 4's youth programming label T4 in different formats from 1999 until 2012. The 2009 series is the seventh series of Shipwrecked overall, and the fourth adopt the "Battle of the Islands" format. The series was recommissioned by Channel 4 on 26 June 2008.
Castaway auditions took place during the summer and filming for the series commenced in September 2008 and finished in early November 2008. It began airing on Sunday 1 February 2009 at 12:30pm on Channel 4.
This is the final original series of Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands, and the penultimate series overall, following the axing of the T4 brand in December 2012. The series, using the "Battle of the Islands" format, returned in 2019 on E4.
The Game
Shipwrecked is a reality television programme in which a number of people from the UK live on one of two islands (Shark Island and Tiger Island) for a period of sixteen weeks. Each week, one or two new arrivals come to the islands, spend equal time on each island as Tribe Leaders who will create their own island laws that the others must follow. At the weekly beach party, the new arrivals must decide on the tribe they wish to live on. At the end of the series, the island with the most castaways wins, with the winning islanders usually sharing a cash prize of £70,000, though in a surprising twist just one castaway will walk away with this year's prize money. It has not been determined if both islands will be eligible for the prize.
This year, T4 viewers selected a wildcard to be the final new arrival. Liran Nathan, a jeweller from North London, beat Maggie and Jarad in the T4 viewers' vote to join the Shipwrecked contestants and potentially choose the winner.
New arrivals spend an equal amount of time on each of the two islands. During this time the new arrivals act as island leaders and have the opportunity to make new rules which must be obeyed by existing tribe members. At the end of week beach party the new arrivals must make a joint decision as to which island they wish to stay on.
This year, island life is a lot more basic than previous series and resembles life on last year's third Hawk island with islanders having to go without luxuries such as mirrors and toilet papers and survive on only basic food rations. Live pigs and chickens reside on the islands as well, meaning the castaways have the opportunity to hunt for their food.
Controversy
This year shipwrecked received a negative response from a section of its viewing audience and devoted fans. Complaints centered around the interference of the production/editing crew with the flow of the reality concept, corrupting the natural progression of the Shipwrecked series. Other complaints related to a lack of airtime due to the removal of supplementary shows for this year's series, missing hutcam diaries, and over editing.
Some of the contestants from |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ping.fm | Ping.fm was an advertising-supported social networking and micro-blogging web service that enabled users to post to multiple social networks simultaneously.
Making an update on Ping.fm pushed the update to a number of different social websites at once. This allowed individuals using multiple social networks to update their status only once, without having to update it in all their social media individually. Ping.fm grouped services into three categories – status updates, blogs, and micro-blogs – and updates could be sent to each group separately.
Ping.fm was shut down on 5 July 2012, to be replaced by Seesmic Ping. Seesmic was later acquired by HootSuite.
History
Ping.fm was created with the intent of making it as easy as possible to post updates to multiple social networking sites simultaneously for free. This service has been discontinued.
Open Beta
After six months of being in closed beta, an announcement was made on 2 September 2008 that would no longer require private invite beta codes to be used to register and use the service. The launch into Open Beta was covered by outlets like Wired, and Mashable.
Comparisons with similar websites
Ping.fm has been compared favorably to other websites with similar functionality like HelloTxt, which shut down in August 2012.
Technology
Ping.fm is powered by LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) with some .NET used in the core software. An API allows programmers to apply for an application key in order to develop third party applications. Users must apply for an API key through their user profile.
Supported services
A user can configure his or her Ping.fm account to aggregate content to the following services:
Bebo
Blogger
Brightkite
Google Buzz (See note below)
custom URL
Delicious
Facebook
FriendFeed
Friendster
hi5
Identi.ca
Jaiku (now owned by Google)
Kwippy
Koornk
StatusNet
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Mashable
MySpace
Plaxo
Plurk
Pownce
Rejaw
Tumblr
Twitter
WordPress.com
Xanga
Yahoo 360
Multiply
YouAre
Note: Google Buzz was discontinued by Google on December 15, 2011.
Acquisition by Seesmic
On 4 January 2010, Seesmic announced that it would be acquiring Ping.fm. In May 2012, Seesmic announced in its blog that Ping.fm would be closed in June 2012.
In September 2012, Seesmic was acquired by HootSuite.
References
External links
PING (closed down site)
Defunct social networking services
Web services
Android (operating system) software
BlackBerry software |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allangrange%20railway%20station | Allangrange railway station was a station on the single track branch of the Highland Railway, in north east Scotland. The line connected villages in The Black Isle peninsula to the railway network via a junction at Muir of Ord.
History
Opened by the Highland Railway, it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was then closed by British Railways.
Authorisation was obtained on 4 July 1890 to build a 15.75 mile (25 km) branch line from Muir of Ord to Rosemarkie; however the line never proceeded beyond Fortrose.
References
Notes
Sources
Station on navigable O.S. map
Vallance, H.A. (1985). The Highland Railway. 4th Extended edition: extra material by C.R. Clinker and Anthony J. Lambert. Newton Abbot: David St John Thomas. .
External links
Allangrange station on navigable O. S. map
Disused railway stations in Ross and Cromarty
Former Highland Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1894
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1951
1894 establishments in Scotland
1951 disestablishments in Scotland
Black Isle |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache%20Cassandra | Cassandra is a free and open-source, distributed, wide-column store, NoSQL database management system designed to handle large amounts of data across many commodity servers, providing high availability with no single point of failure. Cassandra offers support for clusters spanning multiple datacenters, with asynchronous masterless replication allowing low latency operations for all clients. Cassandra was designed to implement a combination of Amazon's Dynamo distributed storage and replication techniques combined with Google's Bigtable data and storage engine model.
History
Avinash Lakshman, one of the authors of Amazon's Dynamo, and Prashant Malik initially developed Cassandra at Facebook to power the Facebook inbox search feature. Facebook released Cassandra as an open-source project on Google code in July 2008. In March 2009, it became an Apache Incubator project. On February 17, 2010, it graduated to a top-level project.
Facebook developers named their database after the Trojan mythological prophet Cassandra, with classical allusions to a curse on an oracle.
Releases
Releases after graduation include
0.6, released Apr 12 2010, added support for integrated caching, and Apache Hadoop MapReduce
0.7, released Jan 08 2011, added secondary indexes and online schema changes
0.8, released Jun 2 2011, added the Cassandra Query Language (CQL), self-tuning memtables, and support for zero-downtime upgrades
1.0, released Oct 17 2011, added integrated compression, leveled compaction, and improved read-performance
1.1, released Apr 23 2012, added self-tuning caches, row-level isolation, and support for mixed ssd/spinning disk deployments
1.2, released Jan 2 2013, added clustering across virtual nodes, inter-node communication, atomic batches, and request tracing
2.0, released Sep 4 2013, added lightweight transactions (based on the Paxos consensus protocol), triggers, improved compactions
2.1 released Sep 10 2014
2.2 released July 20, 2015
3.0 released November 11, 2015
3.1 through 3.10 releases were monthly releases using a tick-tock-like release model, with even-numbered releases providing both new features and bug fixes while odd-numbered releases will include bug fixes only.
3.11 released June 23, 2017 as a stable 3.11 release series and bug fix from the last tick-tock feature release.
4.0 released July 26, 2021.
4.1 released December 13, 2022.
4.1.1 released March 21, 2023
Main features
Distributed
Every node in the cluster has the same role. There is no single point of failure. Data is distributed across the cluster (so each node contains different data), but there is no master as every node can service any request.
Supports replication and multi data center replication
Replication strategies are configurable. Cassandra is designed as a distributed system, for deployment of large numbers of nodes across multiple data centers. Key features of Cassandra’s distributed architecture are specifically tailored for multiple-dat |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xam%27d%3A%20Lost%20Memories | Xam'd: Lost Memories, known in Japan as , is an anime series, conceptualized by Bones and co-developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, Aniplex and Bones, which made its debut on Sony's inaugural launch of the PlayStation Network (PSN) video download service at E3 in the United States on July 16, 2008, in Japan on September 24, 2008.
Plot
Sentan Island exists in a state of dreamlike tranquility, surrounded by the Yuden Sea, cut off from the war between the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. Akiyuki Takehara lives on Sentan Island along with his mother Fusa. Despite his mother's strained relationship with his father, Ryuzo, the town doctor, the bond between father and son remains strong.
One day the island's tranquility is shattered, when Akiyuki, along with his best friends Haru and Furuichi, are caught up in an explosion on a school bus by a mysterious pale, white haired girl named Nazuna. The explosion produces a mysterious light which enters Akiyuki's arm and a blue gem appears. With no time to understand what has happened, and a brief exchange between Nazuna and Akiyuki is transformed into a creature called Xam'd. As Xam'd, Akiyuki uses his newfound powers to fight off monstrous invading forces to save Haru, only to be stopped by a mysterious girl who offers him a choice: come with her and live, or stay and turn to stone. Accepting her offer, Akiyuki embarks on a journey of discovery that will take him to new lands, and help him understand the connection between himself and the world of Xam'd.
Production
Original: Bones
Director: Masayuki Miyaji
Main screenwriters: Megumi Shimizu, Yuichi Nomura
Animation director (direction and layout checks): Masashi Okumura
Character design & Chief animation director: Ayumi Kurashima
Xam'd mechanical design & Chief animation director: Seiichi Hashimoto
Mechanical design: Kimitoshi Yamane
Humanoid weapons mechanical design: Kenji Mizuhata
Art director: Takashi Aoi
Color settings: Hiroko Umesaki
Cinematographer: Yōhei Miyahara, Tōru Fukushi
Editing: Kumiko Sakamoto
Music: Michiru Oshima
Music production: Aniplex
Animation production: Bones
Production: Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., Aniplex, Bones
Media
Anime
The series received its television premiere across Japan on MBS, CBC, Tokyo MX and other Japanese broadcast networks from April 2009, featuring new opening and ending theme sequences. Xam'd: Lost Memories spanned a total of 26 episodes. On its launch week, its pilot episode was the most downloaded video on the PlayStation Network at E3. On June 24, 2010, Sentai Filmworks announced that it had sub-licensed the series for home video distribution across North America, where the first half season set was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on September 21, 2010. The second set was released on November 9, 2010, on DVD and Blu-ray.
Manga
The manga adaptation of the series, written by Masahiro Kawanabe, began serialization in Ace Assault and Shōnen Ace since Decembe |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20F.%20Simon%20Jr. | John F. Simon Jr. (1963, Louisiana) is a new media artist who works with LCD screens and computer programming. He currently lives and works in Warwick, New York.
Simon holds several degrees: a BA in Art Studio and a BS in Geology from Brown University (1985), a Master's degree in Earth and Planetary Science from Washington University in St. Louis (1987), and a MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts (1989). He is the recipient of the Trustees' Award for an Emerging Artist from the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 2000, and the Creative Capital Emerging Fields Award in 1999.
Simon has exhibited internationally, including New York City, Santa Fe, Berlin and Haifa. His work is found in prominent museum collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, University of Iowa Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California. Simon's first European solo exhibition, Color and Time, was held September 17 - October 24, 2008 at Galería Javier López in Madrid, Spain.
In the 1990s, Simon began writing digital software to create visual imagery. His screen works display abstractions that vary infinitely due to random sequencing. The visual elements of each piece are generated in real time by his software.
More recently, Simon has made a series of large-scale compositions that incorporate laser-cut Formica and LCD screens with perpetually changing software. Each LCD screen is housed in cabinet-like structure made from Formica, which is also created by Simon's coding. In addition to his screen work, Simon is also known for his Formica cutouts, drawings on paper and digital projections of his custom software.
Simon's work has been commissioned by curator Xiaoying Juliette Yuan for her series "The Artists Creative Process" that explores world renowned artists and their creative process. In 2014 Simon sculpted the massive hanging wall piece "Moment of Expansion" which is examined from the start of the process to the finished product in Yuan's series.
In 2018 the artist was invited to The New Art Fest, an art and technology festival in Lisbon and exhibited iClock.
"My feeling is that an artist's state of mind when making a work is critical to what the work transmits to the viewer. I have always worked to improve on methods, technique, and materials, but only recently have I found that I can also improve the inner workings; I can develop the mental aspects of my art practice."
- John F. Simon, Jr.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Pollack, Barbara. "John F. Simon Jr.: Winds Across the Inner Sea" Time Out New York (October 2007)
Princenthal, Nancy. "John Simon Jr.: At Gering & López" Art in America, (April 2008)
External links
Art Projects by John F. Simon, Jr.
John F. Simon Jr. at Gering & López Gallery
American contemporary artists
1963 births
Living people
Net.artists
Brown University alumni
Washington U |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudcat%20Caf%C3%A9 | The Mudcat Café is an online discussion group and song and tune database, which also includes many other features relating to folk music.
History
The website was originally founded in October 1996 as a Blues-oriented discussion site. It was named after a Mississippi Delta region catfish, capable of living in muddy waters, known locally as a mudcat. This region was the birthplace of the American Delta Blues style. Mudcat Café later transitioned from a blues music forum to a folk music forum. The website incorporated the Digital Tradition song database after the database lost its original home. Max D. Spiegel, the website's founder, is still its administrator as of 2023.
Content
Membership is free and the site is run by volunteers.
Forum
The discussion group (the Forum) is divided into music-related and non-music-related topics:
The music-related section hosts lively discussions on American folk music, British folk music and that of many other cultures, origins and lyrics of songs, folklore and related information. Information is provided and maintained on a large number of folk clubs, folk festivals, music sessions and dances around the world. Requests for origins, lyrics and chords of songs are answered here. Many performing artists also contribute to the discussions from time to time.
The non-music section contains discussion on everything unrelated to music.
Digital Tradition song database
Mudcat hosts both a web-based and a downloadable version of the Digital Tradition song database (also known as DigiTrad or DT). It was started in 1988 by pooling the song collections of Dennis Cook and Susan Friedman in electronic form, using askSam format.
The song database is updated on a regular basis by members ("Mudcatters") and now contains the words to over 9,000 folk songs, many with an accompanying MIDI file and links to further information.
The downloadable version was last updated in 2002 and is available in MS-DOS askSam format. Versions were previously available for Mac and Windows.
Resources
The Links section of the site provides links to "Festivals and Venues", "Instruments", "Lyrics, Sheet Music & Tabs", "Performers and Composers", among other subjects dealing with folk music and blues.
The Mudcat Songbook on the site presents MP3 recordings of songs written and recorded by Mudcatters.
Events
Mudgatherings
Mudcatters in different countries meet up regularly at "mudgatherings".
Mudcat Worldwide Singaround
Mudcat began a regular online event known as the Mudcat Worldwide Singaround in June 2020.
References
External links
The Mudcat Café
English Folk Dance and Song Society website
The Folkopedia Project
Cited in We Never Will Forget in Voices, The Journal of New York Folklore
Online music and lyrics databases
Folk music publications
Folk music organizations |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill%20Gil%2C%20Volumes%20I%20%26%20II | "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" is the ninth episode of the eighteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 2006. This episode won a Writers Guild of America Award for best animated program. The title of this episode is a reference to Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2. Elvis Stojko guest stars as himself. In the episode, when Gil Gunderson is fired from his job, Marge takes pity on him and invites him to stay at the Simpson home. However, he soon outstays his welcome and they are unable to get rid of him.
Following its broadcast, the episode received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
The Simpson family attends “Krusty’s Kristmas on Ice”, with Elvis Stojko appearing as a special guest. The show ends prematurely when the arena needs to be reset for a basketball game, leading to a brawl between the show's characters and the Utah Jazz. Marge and the kids decide to get up and leave, and Homer is spotted down on the ice grappling with one character, the Grumple (a parody of the Grinch) and demanding he give back the Holiday Cheer. The Grumple repeatedly returns throughout the episode, wanting to kill Homer.
On Christmas Eve, the Simpsons go to Costington's department store where a sad Lisa sits on Santa's lap and explains the one true present she wanted is the Malibu Stacy Pony Beach Party Set, which is sold out everywhere. Santa Claus, who is really Gil Gunderson (this episode reveals his last name), pities Lisa and goes back to the stockroom and finds an extra play set he had seen earlier. An overjoyed Lisa thanks Gil as a cashier rings up the sale. As Marge and the kids exit the store, an angry Mr. Costington comes out of his office and scolds at Gil for selling the Malibu Stacy play set that he had set aside for his daughter. Then when Gil refuses to take the present away from Lisa, Mr. Costington fires him. Marge and the kids witness the scene and feeling sorry for Gil, Marge invites him over for Christmas Eve dinner.
After dinner at home, Gil and the rest of the Simpson family gather around the piano and sing songs. Finishing, Gil gets up to leave; however, Marge insists he stay the night, citing how late and cold it is outside. Gil accepts Marge's offer. On Christmas morning, Gil retrieves items from his bus locker, assuming he had a permanent spot in 742 Evergreen Terrace. Indeed, Gil's weak demeanor and lack of job allows Marge to let him move in, and Homer is too distracted by the Grumple's presence outside the home (where it rhymes about putting Homer's blood in his stew) to pay much notice to Gil.
Gil begins to ruin their holiday. However, Marge continually allows him to stay out of guilt, due to a childhood memory when Patty and Selma stuffed her in her own dollhouse when she refused to hide their cigarettes. Homer's patience wears thin after Marge's inability to say "no" causes Gil to walk in on Homer and Marge's “snuggling” on Valentine's Day, and |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenblatt | Ahnenblatt is a genealogy software application for Microsoft Windows developed by German programmer Dirk Böttcher. It features data entry, plausibility check and creation of charts and reports. The software imports and exports GEDCOM files and exports Web pages.
The name of the software is German and literally means "ancestor sheet".
History
The Beginning (2001–2008)
Ahnenblatt started 2001 as a free software and was available on a webpage in German language only.
There are also portable versions to use Ahnenblatt from a USB stick.
Internationalization (2008–2019)
With release 2.50 Ahnenblatt began to be multi-lingual. Since then Ahnenblatt is available in 24 languages.
At the same time a branded free version of Ahnenblatt called "It's Our Tree Home Edition" was published for genealogy network verwandt.de by OSN GmbH. This branded version of Ahnenblatt was given up in 2010 when OSN was acquired by MyHeritage.
With version 2.99 Ahnenblatt integrated internet search at online genealogy platform MyHeritage.
Commercial (since 2019)
While free software Ahnenblatt 2.99 is still available, in March 2019 a commercial version 3 was released with extended data features
See also
Comparison of genealogy software
List of portable software
References
Windows-only freeware
Windows-only genealogy software |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future%20Islands | Future Islands is an American synth-pop band based in Baltimore, Maryland, comprising Gerrit Welmers (keyboards and programming), William Cashion (bass, acoustic and electric guitars), Samuel T. Herring (lyrics and vocals), and Michael Lowry (percussion). The band was formed in January 2006 by Welmers, Cashion and Herring—the remaining members of the performance art college band Art Lord & the Self-Portraits—and drummer Erick Murillo.
Future Islands came to prominence in 2014 with their fourth album Singles released by 4AD. Its lead single "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was considered the best song of 2014 by Pitchfork, and NME and its performance at the Late Show with David Letterman in March 2014, became the most-viewed video on the show's YouTube page.
History
2003–2005: Origins – Art Lord & the Self-Portraits
Sam Herring and Gerrit Welmers grew up in Morehead City, North Carolina, two streets away from each other, and attended the same middle school in Newport, North Carolina. They became friends around 1998, when they were in 8th grade. Herring had started making hip-hop music when he was 13 or 14, while Gerrit was a skater with interests in metal and punk music who bought his first guitar at age 14. Having different musical backgrounds, they did not consider making music together during high school.
William Cashion started playing guitar when he was around 13, having had a couple of bands as a teenager in Raleigh, where he commuted to high school from Wendell, North Carolina. In 2002 he enrolled in the painting and drawing program at East Carolina University and had drawing classes with Sam Herring.
The idea to form a band came while Cashion was helping Herring study for an art history exam. They invited local record shop personality Adam Beeby to play rhythmic keyboards and fellow art student Kymia Nawabi for percussion and backing vocals. After a tumultuous debut on Valentine's Day February 14, 2003, at Soccer Moms' House, Herring also invited Welmers to join the band. Only Cashion and Welmers already played a musical instrument—the guitar—but Cashion took the bass and Welmers the keyboards, for a Kraftwerk-inspired sound.
Sam Herring played Locke Ernst-Frost, an arrogant narcissistic artist from Germany, Ohio, dressed in a 70s-inspired white suit with slicked-back hair, and a heavy German accent. The character's name originally was meant to be Oarlock Ernest Frost but it got shortened as a reference to John Locke, the seventeenth-century philosopher; Max Ernst, the artist; and Robert Frost, the American poet.
The band quickly gained a local reputation and started touring the underground venues in the Southeast, playing shows with North Carolina acts like Valient Thorr and Baltimore artists such as Height, Videohippos, OCDJ, Nuclear Power Pants, Santa Dads, Ecstatic Sunshine, Blood Baby, Ponytail and electronic musician Dan Deacon whom they met during a show on May 26, 2004.
Nawabi who was already a senior when Cashion, Herring and We |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College%20of%20Information%20and%20Cyberspace | The National Defense University College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC) (formerly the Information Resources Management College (IRMC) or NDU , and the DoD Computer Institute) is a U.S. Department of Defense graduate school that provides information and cyberspace focused education for national security leaders of the United States and beyond. A component of the National Defense University (NDU), it is located at Fort McNair, Washington, DC. NDU CIC is recognized for its excellent graduate-level programs, faculty, and services that provide a strategic advantage for today’s military and civilian leaders in the United States Department of Defense and across government. The NDU CIC's Chancellor provides strategic direction and vision for all faculty, staff, and students.
History
In 1976, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the National War College were brought into one joint educational institution when the National Defense University became a historic pooling of the defense community's intellectual resources. They were joined in 1981 by the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) and in 1982 by the Department of Defense Computer Institute (DODCI). DODCI was established originally in 1964. In 1988, DODCI was re-established and changed to the Information Resources Management College (IRMC) and then was rebranded as the in 2008. Over the last 25+ years, the NDU CIC has expanded its programs and offerings for all of government and has developed robust online and in-person academic programs. The 2017 renaming to the current College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC) reflects the evolving understanding and employment of information as a Joint warfighting function and cyberspace as its own warfighting domain.
Notable people associated with CIC include Admiral Grace Hopper (who served as an instructor and advocate of the school), the current Acting DoD CISO Mr. Mark Hakun (a graduate of the CIC's CISO program), and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Cyber Policy Thomas Wingfield (who served as a Dean and Acting Chancellor of CIC).
References
External links
Official site
Article About National Cyber Director at Conference
National Defense University
Military education and training in the United States |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To%20the%20Top%20%28TV%20series%29 | To the Top is a 2015 Philippine television reality talent show broadcast by GMA Network. Hosted by Christian Bautista, it premiered on July 25, 2015 on the network's Sabado Star Power sa Gabi line up. The show concluded on September 27, 2015 with a total of 20 episodes.
Cast
Host
Christian Bautista
Judges
Ryan Cayabyab
Moy Ortiz
Sweet Plantado
OJ Mariano
Contestants
Three teams were formed among the eighteen contestants of To The Top with six members per team - A, B, and C. Starting out as the team leader, Miko M was grouped with Adrian and Mico C in Team C, while Louie and Joshua were part of the two other teams - A and B respectively.
Ratings
According to AGB Nielsen Philippines' Mega Manila household television ratings, the pilot episode of To the Top earned a 13.5% rating. While the final episode scored a 9.5% rating.
References
2015 Philippine television series debuts
2015 Philippine television series endings
Filipino-language television shows
GMA Network original programming
Philippine reality television series |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shankar%27s%20Virus | Shankar's Virus (also known as W97M.Marker.o) is a polymorphic computer virus that infects Microsoft Word documents and templates. It was discovered on 3 June 1999.
Creation
The virus may have originated as a program initially intended to be used in conjunction with Microsoft Word 1997. Some sources attribute the name Sam Rogers to be the identity of a programmer who may have created the virus or contributed to its creation. One source contests that Shankar's Virus has existed since internet immemorial and cites the on/off code in the eighth sub-line of the viruses main code evidence that Sam Rogers or some other individual simply awoke it from dormancy. The polymorphic nature of its code caused some programmers to believe that the virus cycles between long period of activity and inactivity, during numerous iterations of this cycle it steadily absorbed more data from modern systems becoming much harder to delete over time. Potentially the virus can wield a limitless amount of capability within a system due to it having a unique code even for a polymorphic virus. An internet meme emerged in 2014 with Shankar's Virus as the subject matter
Effects
The virus hooks the Word event handler to close documents in order to run its code.
This virus infects documents and templates when a document is opened. It makes the following modifications to the infected documents:
Also, when opening or closing a Word document, a dialogue box pops up displaying the string text "Did you wish Shankar on his birthday?"
Shankar's virus is also able to affect a computer's time, being able to speed up or reverse time to restore itself (in a way similar to the system restore function) or create a copy of itself to remain inactive until a future time if it should be removed via an antivirus program. It is noted though that these actions visibly weaken its functions as Microsoft Word may stop malfunctioning after the virus manipulates the computer's time.
Should the Shankar's virus be activated on a mobile device or tablet (i.e. Microsoft Word on a mobile phone app) the resulting code of its adaptation could have destructive effects.
See also
List of computer viruses (S-Z)
References
Macro viruses |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GR%2021 | The GR21 is a long-distance hiking trail in Normandy, France. It is part of the GR network of trails. It begins at the port city of Le Havre, a Unesco World Heritage Site (for its post-World War II modernist architecture), climbs through parkland to Montivilliers, then follows the chalk cliffs of the Pays de Caux for most of the route. Étretat is known for its chalk formations, painted by Claude Monet and other artists. It passes through various seaside resorts and fishing villages, including the port of Dieppe and finishes at the resort of Le Tréport, close to the historic town of Eu. The whole route is within the Seine-Maritime département.
External links
GR21 From Le Havre to Veulettes-sur-Mer (Seine-Maritime)
GR21 From Veulettes-sur-Mer to Treport (Seine-Maritime)
Hiking trails in France |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WQCT | WQCT (1520 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a classic hits format. Licensed to Bryan, Ohio, United States, the station is currently owned by Impact Radio, LLC and features programming from ABC Radio and Westwood One.
Previous logo
References
External links
QCT |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerf%20World | In on-line computer gaming, the Yerfworld can refer to two ages in the game of Myst.
For the upper Yerfworld, see FurryMUCK.
For the lower Yerfworld, see Tapestries MUCK. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent%20estimation | In discrete event simulation concurrent estimation is a technique used to estimate the effect of alternate parameter settings on a discrete event system. For example from observation of a (computer simulated) telecommunications system with a specified buffer size , one estimates what the performance would be if the buffer size had been set to the alternate values . Effectively the technique generates (during a single simulation run) alternative histories for the system state variables, which have the same probability of occurring as the main simulated state path; this results in a computational saving as compared to running additional simulations, one for each alternative parameter value.
The technique was developed by Cassandras, Strickland and Panayiotou.
References
Control theory
Events (computing) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred%20Harcourt | Alfred Harcourt (; January 31, 1881 – June 20, 1954) was an American publisher and compiler who co-founded Harcourt, Brace & Howe in 1919.
Biography
Harcourt was the son of Gertrude M. Elting and Charles M. Harcourt. Alfred was born in New Paltz, New York to a fruit farmer and attended the New Paltz Normal School. While at the normal school Harcourt became a member of the Delphic Fraternity. An illness at age 9 led to his love for books and reading.
After his studies at New Paltz, Harcourt attended Columbia University where he was an editor of the student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator. Harcourt graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in 1904 with fellow grad Donald Brace. The two joined Henry Holt and Company before founding Harcourt Brace and Company in 1919.
Alfred Harcourt represented some of the most recognized writers of the time such as Robert Frost Sinclair Lewis, Carl Sandburg, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, and E.E. Cummings.
Harcourt retired from his business due to poor health in 1942 and died in 1954 in Santa Barbara, California. He remained director of Harcourt Brace until his death.
Harcourt's second wife, Ellen Knowles, founded the Alfred Harcourt Foundation in 1962. She died in 1984.
References
External links
The Alfred Harcourt Foundation
(120-page memoir, apparently, and Letters of Sinclair Lewis that includes their correspondence)
American publishers (people)
American book publishing company founders
Columbia College (New York) alumni
People from New Paltz, New York
People from Santa Barbara, California
1881 births
1954 deaths |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GI%20Rights%20Network | The GI Rights Network is coalition of nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations that provide free and confidential information to United States military servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Most of the counseling provided by the Network is done via phone through the GI Rights Hotline 877-447-4487. The Network also provides email counseling and some live in-person counseling in places where offices exist. The Network also maintains a website with easy access to information about discharges, military regulations, GI rights, and other organizations; most information is available in both English and Spanish.
GI Rights Hotline
The Network provides free, confidential, non-directive counseling to callers, with a particular focus on discharges and grievances. Hotline counselors come from a variety of backgrounds and include veterans, mental health workers and attorneys. Counselors provide information and options as opposed to "legal advice" or "medical advice". Sometimes counselors assist callers in finding civilian medical providers or civilian attorneys.
History
The Network began in 1994 as a coalition of several organizations which were already providing military counseling independently. The founding members saw benefit in combining resources and services to advertise one nationwide toll free number for counseling which was collectively staffed by the member organizations.
In the fall of 2006, the Network member groups incorporated the GI Rights Network as an educational non-profit organization. The Network member organizations adopted bylaws and elected a board of directors in 2009.
In the news
In Harper's Magazine March 2005 Kathy Dobie's cover story "AWOL in America" cites the GI Rights Network as "a national referral and counseling service for military personnel," and uses its counselors as sources for the story. "On August 23, 2004, I interviewed Robert Dove, a burly, bearded Quaker, in the Boston offices of the American Friends Service Committee, one of the groups involved with the hot line. Dove told me of getting frantic calls from the parents of recruits, and of recruits who are so appalled by basic training that they "can't eat, they literally vomit every time they put a spoon to their mouths, they're having nightmares and wetting their beds."
In a Chicago Public Radio Interview "Going AWOL – A Hotline that Helps GIs Consider Their Options," (12-12-06) GI Rights counselor, Steve Woolford, explains the reasons why many servicemen and women go AWOL from military service.
In her second place Hearst Journalism Award Winning features piece "Sincere Disapproval" author Leah Lohse references the GI Rights Network for its expertise in dealing with conscientious objection. The story gives a view into the beliefs and struggles of one particular conscientious objector.
A USA Today story on 4/1/2009, "Army investigating unfit soldiers sent to war," cited The GI Rights Hotline for assisting servicemembers who were being deployed |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%20War | Ant War is computer game for Windows published by American studio Anarchy Enterprises in 2003.
In Ant War, the player must make strategic decisions to grow a colony of ants in order to conquer the world, by battling against enemies such as crickets or spiders. The goal is to accumulate 1 billion ants.
History
The original Ant War was a web game published in 2000, and its popularity encouraged Anarchy Enterprises to develop a full PC version. Ant War was influenced by the quick pick-up time of casual strategy game, Lemonade Tycoon. A demo version of the game was made available to play in web browsers.
Ant War has since been released as a free to play game with in app purchases on IOS and Android devices. It was released on the Steam Store as Ant War: Domination on October 2, 2015.
Gameplay
At the outset of each game the player is required to pick one of five ant types which affects how their colony performs. Leaf cutter ants: who find more food bonuses. Harvester Ants: who find more food items each day. Weaver Ants: who make new ants faster and find gems easier, they also do not like to fight. Carpenter ants who make the nest grow larger. Fire ants: who are good at fighting and find more enemies to fight.
Game play consists of building an ant colony by assigning percentages of your ants each day to one of four different roles: Farmers/Scouts: who farm and forage for food; Nurses: who breed new ants for your colony; Workers: who expand your ant colony; and Soldiers: who are dedicated fighters for your colony. The ant colony has three main resources that are used food, nest size, and ants. Your ants need food to survive, the size of the nest dictates how many ants can live in the colony as well as how much food can be stored, and the number of ants in the colony shows your overall success. As your colony grows large you can move it to increasingly difficult zones.
Your colony can also fight different enemies throughout the game in turn based combat. The colonies fighting power is displayed by an attack and defense value based on the number of ants in the colony as well as the percentage of ants assigned to be soldiers. The health of the colony is the total number of ants in the colony. The enemies faced also have their own health total (the number of ants if you are fighting a rival ant colony) and attack and defense values. Combat has three options: Retreat, Auto Battle, and Attack. Retreating runs from the enemies with the chance to lose ants in the retreat, Auto Battle decides whether to attack or retreat, and Attack takes a turn in the combat. Defeating enemies will yield food for the colony.
External links
Official website
References
2003 video games
Anarchy Enterprises games
Android (operating system) games
IOS games
Strategy video games
Video games about ants
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine%20Buci-Glucksmann | Christine Buci-Glucksmann is a French philosopher and Professor Emeritus from University of Paris VIII specializing in the aesthetics of the Baroque and Japan, and computer art. Her best-known work in English is Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity.
Background
Christine Buci-Glucksmann began her career as a philosopher in the 1970s with studies of Friedrich Engels and Antonio Gramsci. She followed this research into aesthetics, based primarily around the works of Walter Benjamin. From this foundation she researched the aesthetics of the perception of the Baroque, which was published as "La Raison baroque" in 1984 and with La folie du voir in 1986. She cited Gilles Deleuze and Jean-François Lyotard as being most influential in guiding her research into Baroque aesthetics.
Later she investigated the aesthetics of the virtual with two books: La folie du voir: Une esthétique du virtuel and Esthetique De L'ephemere. She has written numerous books and articles about digital art (for example L'art à l'époque virtuel (Art in the Age of Virtuality)) and new media art. She has also written extensively on artists from China, for in example in Les modernités chinoises.
Bibliography
Books
In translation:
Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of Modernity (translated by Patrick Camiller). London / Thousand Oaks, Calif., Sage, 1994.
Gramsci and the State (translated by David Fernbach). London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1980.
In French:
L'art à l'époque virtuel, Arts 8, L'Harmattan, 2004
Esthetique de l'éphemère, Galilée, 2003,
La folie du voir: Une esthétique du virtuel, Galilée, 2002
Histoire Florale De La Peinture: Hommage à Steve Dawson, Galilée, 2002,
L'esthétique du Temps au Japon: Du Zen au Rituel, Galilée, 2000,
Peinture, Trois Regards (Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Eric De Chassey, Catherine Perret), Ėditions du Regard, 2000,
Les Frontières Esthétiques de l'Art, L'Harmattan, 1999,
L'Oeil Cartographique de L'art, Galilée, 1996,
L'enjeu du Beau: Musique et Passion, Galilée, 1992,
Tragique de l'Ombre: Shakespeare et le Maniérisme, Galilée, 1990,
(with Fabrice Revault d'Allonnes) Raoul Ruiz, Dis Voir, 1987,
Imaginaires de L'autre: Khatibi et la Mémoire Littéraire, L'Harmattan, 1987,
La Folie du Voir: De L'esthétique Baroque, Galilée, 1986,
La Raison Baroque: De Baudelaire à Benjamin, Galilée, 1984,
Ouverture d'une Discussion: Dix Interventions à La Rencontre des 400 Intellectuels à Vitry, F. Maspero, 1978,
Gramsci et l'Ėtat: Pour Une Théorie Materialiste de la Philosophie, Fayard, 1975,
Essays
"Eurydice et les scènes de la peinture." Verso No. 8 (1997).
"The Eurydices." Parallax Parallax No.10 (1999).
"Images d'absence." Les Cahiers des Regards (1993).
"Images of Absence in the Inner Space of Painting," in Inside the Visible. Ed. C. De Zegher. (MIT Press, 1996).
"Inner Space of Painting," in Bracha L. Ettinger: Halala—Autistwork. (The Israel Museum, 1995).
"L'oeil nomade et critique," in L'oeil cartographique de l'art. (Galilée |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong%20Kong%20Virtual%20University | Hong Kong Virtual University (HKVU, 香港虛擬大學), formerly known Cyber University, started in 2001, is one of collaborative programs funded by Restructuring and Collaboration Fund of the University Grants Committee. It aims to provide a virtual campus for Hong Kong tertiary institutions and universities. The students who either study in or will enter these institutions are allowed to take the online courses offered by HKVU. The courses are jointly provided by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, City University of Hong Kong, Lingnan University, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, and The University of Hong Kong.
These courses cover four areas: general education, information technology, language, and science and education.
History
The project was initiated by Dr. Pong Ting Chuen (龐鼎全博士) in 2001; he is professor of computer science and associate vice-president for academic affairs of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The project allows gifted and talented students to take university-level courses over the internet, enriches the learning experience of participants and makes a smooth transition from secondary school to university.
Before the project launch, secondary schools were encouraged to apply information technology in education. However, there were many complaints on low performance and low use of facilities. Some schools asked universities for help. A pilot study was started in fall 2000 in which 28 students from three schools participated. Those students were required to attend one of six cyber classrooms in secondary schools. Those courses were delivered through an eLearning Open Platform (eLOP). Those students watched the video lectures, asked instructors questions and performed online tasks over eLOP. After the pilot study, the project gained funding from Quality Education Fund (優質教育基金) of Hong Kong.
Since 2001, there have been over 100 schools participated in the project such as the Canadian International School, Diocesan Girls' School, King's College, La Salle College, Marymount School, Pui Ching Middle School, St. Paul's Convent School, Wah Yan College, Hong Kong, Wah Yan College, Kowloon.
Programs
Credit Bearing Program
Credit Bearing Program is a series of courses for undergraduates from local tertiary institutes, secondary school students, and overseas students. Credit units will be earned after fulfilled the passing requirements including "attendance" of video lectures, some scores obtained from online tests, quizzes, assignment, group discussion, laboratories and examination.
Talented Youth Certificate Program
Talented Youth Certificate Program is a series of courses mainly for secondary school students, especially talented ones. These courses are developed from regular university courses with less demanding work schedule. These talented youths can explore and develop their own interests. It is also a platform to build up a community of talents in Hong Kong.
Chemists Online Program
Chemists Online |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DESCHALL%20Project | DESCHALL, short for DES Challenge, was the first group to publicly break a message which used the Data Encryption Standard (DES), becoming the $10,000 winner of the first of the set of DES Challenges proposed by RSA Security in 1997. It was established by a group of computer scientists led by Rocke Verser assisted by Justin Dolske and Matt Curtin and involved thousands of volunteers who ran software in the background on their own machines, connected by the Internet. They announced their success on June 18, only 96 days after the challenge was announced on January 28.
Background
To search the 72 quadrillion possible keys of a 56-bit DES key using conventional computers was considered impractical even in the 1990s. Rocke Verser already had an efficient algorithm that ran on a standard PC and had the idea of involving the spare time on hundreds of other such machines that were connected to the internet. So they set up a server on a 486-based PS/2 PC with 56MB of memory and announced the project via Usenet towards the end of March. Client software was rapidly written for a large variety of home machines and eventually some more powerful 64 bit systems.
There were two other main contenders: SoINET (a Swedish group), and a group at Silicon Graphics, a manufacturer of high-performance computers, which was in the lead until late in the day. Other groups using supercomputers withdrew after SYN flood attacks on their networks.
The Project
With the software that was used, a single 200 MHz Pentium system was able to test approximately 1 million keys/second if it was doing nothing else. At this rate it would take around 2,285 years to search the entire key-space. The number of computers being used rose rapidly and in the end, a total of 78,000 different IP addresses had been recorded, with a maximum of 14,000 unique hosts in a 24-hour period. By the time the key was found, they had searched about a quarter of the key-space and were searching about 7 billion keys per second, but the number of participants was still increasing rapidly.
The solution was:
Strong cryptography makes the world a safer place.
The owner of the computer that found the solution was awarded $4,000 of the prize, with the rest going to the originator of the project.
The conclusion of the paper describing the project was "We have demonstrated that a brute-force search of DES keyspace is not only possible, but is also becoming practical for even modestly funded groups. RSA's prize for the find was US$10,000; it is safe to say that DES is inadequate for protecting data of any greater value."
See also
Brute Force: Cracking the Data Encryption Standard
distributed.net
RSA Factoring Challenge
RSA Secret-Key Challenge
Footnotes
References
External links
Archive of project material
DESCHALL home page
Press Release announcing success
Cryptography contests
Data Encryption Standard |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British%20Cattle%20Movement%20Service | The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) is the organisation responsible for maintaining a database of all bovine animals in Great Britain; Northern Ireland has a separate database maintained by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. It was established in the wake of the mad cow disease crisis in the UK, and is part of the Rural Payments Agency. Other member states of the European Union have similar cattle tracing systems.
Every bovine animal in the United Kingdom (as elsewhere in the European Union) has a unique number, shown both on an ear tag in each ear and on a paper cattle passport which is held by the current keeper of the animal. The system covers cattle and also other bovine animals such as water buffalo, yak, bison and hybrids. The number and passport remain with the animal throughout its life, and are recorded by the slaughterhouse at its death, allowing traceability of the beef. The BCMS central database is called the Cattle Tracing System, and works alongside the physical passport to record the births, deaths and movements of all cattle.
Cattle Tracing System
The Cattle Tracing System (CTS) is the database for all cattle in Great Britain (Northern Ireland has a separate tracing system), to which farmers must notify births, movements and deaths of cattle on their holding. The system was introduced on 28 September 1998 in order to meet EU legislation requiring all member states to have a computerised tracing system by the end of 1999. There are currently four ways to notify CTS about births/movements/deaths including via the postal service using movement cards (cheque-book style passports only) and passport applications, over the telephone using the CTS Self-Service Line, over the internet using the CTS Online service or through third party software using CTS Web Services.
Cattle passport
The cattle passport has taken three forms.
From its introduction on 1 July 1996 the passport was a single green A4 paper sheet. This showed details of the animal including its birth holding, ear tag number, breed, date of birth, sex and its mother's ear tag number. Also included were a number of sections to be filled in when the animal moved to other holdings, showing the movement date and the new holding number (holdings include other farms, agricultural shows and abattoirs). At the time of its introduction there was no requirement for such movements to be registered centrally. When this requirement was introduced on 28 September 1998, a further A4 document was issued for all existing cattle, to be used in conjunction with the green A4 passport. This was the Certificate of CTS Registration, and it included pre-paid postage tear-off movement cards to be sent to BCMS to register each movement. Movements could be registered using these cards, or electronically by using the new online CTS. Because of the limited lifespan of cattle, few green A4 passports remain in use.
From 28 September 1998 to 2011 the passport was issued as a bookl |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushkin%20House | The Pushkin House (), formally the Institute of Russian Literature (), is a research institute in St. Petersburg. It is part of a network of institutions affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences.
History
Establishment
The Russian Literature Institute began its life in December 1905 as the main centre for Alexander Pushkin studies in Imperial Russia. A commission in charge of erecting a Pushkin monument in St. Petersburg, led by Sergei Oldenburg and Aleksey Shakhmatov, suggested a permanent institution be set up to preserve original Pushkin manuscripts:
The idea won support from all sides and was welcomed by Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich. It was understood that the Pushkin House would be housed in a purpose-built Neoclassical edifice, or Odeon, but the idea failed to materialize owing to lack of funds.
In 1907 Vladimir Kokovtsov, Minister of Finance, came up with the proposal to acquire a huge collection of Pushkin manuscripts and memorabilia amassed in Paris by Alexander Onegin from 1879 onwards. The negotiations dragged on until Onegin's death in 1925, but the bulk of his collection eventually ended up in Russia.
Soviet era
The Pushkin House was originally a non-governmental organization specializing in Pushkin studies, which have been recognized by Russian authorities as a separate branch of scholarly inquiry. The Russian Revolution led to the shutdown of all non-governmental institutions, but the Pushkin House was spared and put under the umbrella of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in 1918). Such "honorary" directors as Anatoly Lunacharsky, Lev Kamenev and Maksim Gorky ensured its safe passage through the hardships of the Revolution.
In 1927 Pushkin House moved from the crammed rooms in the Academy of Sciences building to the magnificent neo-Palladian Customs House, built after Giovanni Francesco Lucchini's designs in 1829–1832 and situated just around the Strelka. It was to the original Kunstkamera rooms that Alexander Blok referred in his last poem To Pushkin House, celebrating Pushkin's heritage as a gleam of hope during the chaos and confusion of the post-revolutionary years:
The Pushkin House remained open during the Siege of Leningrad, although most of the staff and manuscripts were evacuated to other cities. Following the war the institute continued, employing such scholars as Boris Eikhenbaum and Dmitry Likhachov.
Structure
The collections of the Pushkin House, partly housed in a modern block hidden behind the Neoclassical facade, include numerous manuscripts from the 13th century onward, portraits and personal documents of leading Russian authors, as well as a galaxy of rare music recordings. The institution has a complex structure and is subdivided into several departments:
Department of Old Russian Literature
Department of Russian Folklore and Records Archive
Department of New Russian Literature
Department of Pushkin Studies
Department of Recent Russian Literature
Correlation of Russian and Foreig |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB%20070125 | GRB 070125 is a gamma-ray burst (GRB) that was observed on January 25, 2007, by the InterPlanetary Network, which lasted for around 70 seconds. It is unique in that it did not occur in a galaxy, but in intergalactic space. This is unusual, since they are caused by the hypernovae of young massive stars, which usually means having to reside in a galaxy, as almost all stars are formed in galaxies, particularly high mass ones. It has a redshift of 1.55, which equals to a light travel distance of 9.5 billion years.
It is theorized that the star formed in the tidal tail resulting from the interaction of two nearby galaxies, deep in intergalactic space.
A month after it was detected, the Large Binocular Telescope observed a 26th magnitude optical afterglow from the gamma ray burst.
References
070125
20070125
January 2007 events
Gemini (constellation) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miggybyte | Miggybyte was a free disk-based magazine for the Amiga range of computers, published by Pickled Fish Software and edited by Ben Gaunt. From 1995 to 1997 twelve issues were published all being on a single floppy disk only.
The magazine was inspired by Grapevine, the scene-based disk magazine also for the Amiga range of computers, but Miggybyte was not a scene publication.
The publication focused on news about the Amiga, software, games and entertainment. The entertainment section proved to be a main stay of the publication and consisting of jokes and stories from readers. There was even a small classified section and BBS section where many Sysops from around the UK (thought there were a few from the US too) would publicise their boards.
The interface consisted of two sections, the top part containing the text and in latter version graphics, the bottom the control interface (GUI). The engine behind the publication was called MultiMedia Magazine Creator (MMMC) and was developed by Pickled Fish Software / Ben Gaunt during the time of the publication. A side note here is MMMC was originally a simple text reader designed for the game Maze Madness (F1 Licenceware). MMMC was programmed in the Amiga BASIC language AMOS and also used the Power Packer library to compress the publication onto a single disk.
Distribution
Miggybyte was distributed by post, BBS, FidoNet, PD Software Libraries and the Internet, its main distribution being on Aminet and its WHQ BBS Channel X. Two version were released digitally one in LHA (file format) that omitted any copyrighted Amiga, Inc. files and a DMS (Disk Masher System) version that was a full disk image.
See also
Disk magazine
List of disk magazines
References
Download page on Crash Tutorial, Ben Gaunt (Editor) talking about Miggybyte.
External links
Miggybyte on Aminet
Amiga magazines
Defunct computer magazines published in the United Kingdom
Disk magazine
Magazines established in 1995
Magazines disestablished in 1997 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector-field%20consistency | Vector-Field Consistency is a consistency model for replicated data (for example, objects), initially described in a paper which was awarded the best-paper prize in the ACM/IFIP/Usenix Middleware Conference 2007. It has since been enhanced for increased scalability and fault-tolerance in a recent paper.
Description
This consistency model was initially designed for replicated data management in ad hoc gaming in order to minimize bandwidth usage without sacrificing playability. Intuitively, it captures the notion that although players require, wish, and take advantage of information regarding the whole of the game world (as opposed to a restricted view to rooms, arenas, etc. of limited size employed in many multiplayer video games), they need to know information with greater freshness, frequency, and accuracy as other game entities are located closer and closer to the player's position.
It prescribes a multidimensional divergence bounding scheme, based on a vector field that employs consistency vectors k=(θ,σ,ν), standing for maximum allowed time - or replica staleness, sequence - or missing updates, and value - or user-defined measured replica divergence, applied to all space coordinates in game scenario or world.
The consistency vector-fields emanate from field-generators designated as pivots (for example, players) and field intensity attenuates as distance grows from these pivots in concentric or square-like regions. This consistency model unifies locality-awareness techniques employed in message routing and consistency enforcement for multiplayer games, with divergence bounding techniques traditionally employed in replicated database and web scenarios.
Notes
References
Data management |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutris | Lutris is a free and open source game manager for Linux-based operating systems developed and maintained by Mathieu Comandon and the community, released under the GNU General Public License.
For games that require using Wine, community installer scripts are available that automatically configure the Wine environment. Lutris also offers integration for software purchased from GOG, Humble Bundle, Steam, and Epic Games Store; those can be launched directly through the Lutris application. Additionally, Lutris supports over 20 emulators including DOSBox, ScummVM, MAME, Snes9x, Dolphin, PCSX2 and PPSSPP.
In 2013, when Steam support was first added to Lutris, OMG! Ubuntu! noted that the database of Lutris games had thus far been limited. They also noted that while it was possible to submit installers for the Lutris database, each addition needed to be manually approved by the Lutris development team.
History
Lutris began as a piece of software called Oblivion Launcher, which was created in 2009 by Mathieu Comandon. He wanted an easier way to manage his games running on Linux, especially the ones that ran using Wine. Lutris began development on Launchpad, with the repository being created on May 5, 2009. The first public release, 0.1, was on November 29, 2009. In 2010, development moved to GitHub.
References
See also
Wine
PlayOnLinux
2009 software
Free software programmed in Python
Linux emulation software
Multi-emulators
Software derived from or incorporating Wine |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allendale%20railway%20station | Allendale railway station was the terminus of the single track branch of the Hexham and Allendale Railway, in north east England. The line connected villages in the area to the railway network via a junction at Hexham.
History
Authorised in 1865 the Hexham to Allendale Railway was opened in stages, first to in 1867, then to (then known as Catton Road) a mile short of the town in 1868. Built to carry freight, primarily the product of local lead mines, the line eventually opened to passengers. The passenger service was run by the North Eastern Railway who took over the line in July 1876. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1930 but freight services continued until 20 November 1950 when the line was abandoned.
Legacy
The station site and the first part of the track to Hexham were sold to the former station master. Today it is the location of the Allendale Caravan Park.
References
Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Limited. .
Northumbrian Railways
Disused railway stations in Northumberland
Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1869
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1950
1869 establishments in England |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loadstar | Loadstar may refer to:
Loadstar (magazine), a disk magazine for the Commodore 64 computer
Loadstar (duo), a music production duo from Bristol, United Kingdom
Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine, a game from Rocket Science Games
International Loadstar, a series of medium and heavy-duty trucks
See also
Lodestar (disambiguation) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efr%C3%A9n%20Echeverr%C3%ADa | Efren Echeverria (4 March 1932 – 19 June 2018) was a Paraguayan musician guitarist, composer, and compiler.
Childhood and Youth
When Efren was nine years old, a neighbor, Eusebio Cantero, taught him the first chords on guitar. With him, he learned the authentic pieces of folk repertoire of anonymous authors. Thus, from an early age, Paraguayan music became familiar to him; therefore to own a guitar became a passionate desire of his childhood. And not a long time passed until the desired instrument came to his life. Already in his teens, Echeverria became part of the act placed in any "Musiqueada" (musical parties) that was done in his homeland.
Soon Efren takes over the serenades of the place, always pushing the guitar and sometimes up the violin or accordion with buttons. His repertoire covered everything that the public from the area knew could appreciate.
First Steps
As the young Efren Echeverria understood, he could not survive with music as a single work, he was an employee and was able get the best notes from the musical instruments; there was no tayï (a typical tree from Paraguay) that could resist to his blunt axe.
The musician worked as employee in the area of Curuguaty by the year 1950. In 1960 he settled in the city of Asuncion, capital of Paraguay.
In the 1970s, he came to participate in the emerging music festivals and television. In those days he began to arouse interest in the capital for his original compositions and his special way of tapping and ripping the guitar simultaneously.
A very personal style
Kamba'í Echeverria says that his unique style of simultaneous strumming and marking arose from the need to act alone, especially in the serenades, to accommodate the budgets of his hometown and as a product of admiration for the great guitar as concertmasters Cayo Sila Godoy and Felipe Sosa.
Meeting with professional musicians
Near the truck that Efren adopted as the first refuge in Asuncion, lived the musician Ramon Vargas Colman, who by then was temporarily separated from her musical partner Andres Saldivar Basin. It was then when Efren became part of the group of Vargas Colmán with harpist Edmundo "Nenito" Medina and others. In parallel, he presented a radio program on Radio Ñandutí. Some time later, he accompanied the musician Severo Nunez Benitez and his group “Los Jilgeros” who made radio programs for Radio Paraguay, Chaco Boreal Station and the National Radio. With them he toured to Argentina and Brazil.
It was at the Pettengil family home, in the city of Itaguá, where he met the musician and composer Eladio Martinez "El Grande", whom he would fill another rich stage of experience at festivals and on television.
Kamba'í has worked on other duties to support his family. For several years was a doorman of the Ministry of Health and for a long time he had the same job as a security guard during the night at a television company.
Distinctions
The Cultural Center of the Republic El Cabildo awarded Efren Echev |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preseed | Preseeding is a method for automating the installation of the Debian operating system and its derivatives. Answers to installation questions, which would normally be answered interactively by an operator, are predetermined and supplied via a configuration file (and sometimes boot parameters). This is similar to unattended installations of Windows operating systems using an answer file (see Installation (computer programs)).
Many Debian-based operating systems support preseed, because it is a feature of the Debian-Installer (also known as "d-i"). For instance, although Ubuntu is commonly installed via the user-friendly Ubiquity installer, preseeding the d-i is the recommended method for automating Ubuntu installations
and for customizing install CDs.
Note that preseeding automates the operating system installation, but it does not necessarily continue to detailed configuration or application installation in the same way as Fully Automatic Installation
See also
Redhat's/Fedora Anaconda configuration file kickstart
Sun's/ Oracle Solaris jumpstart
System Installer
References
External links
Preseeding the d-i
Fully Automatic Installation
Linux installation software
Debian |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20In%20Plain%20Sight%20episodes | In Plain Sight is a USA Network drama created by David Maples. Starring Mary McCormack, the series follows Mary Shannon, a Deputy United States Marshal who works at the Albuquerque, New Mexico office of the Federal Witness Security Program (WITSEC). The series premiered on Sunday, June 1, 2008, and aired its 61st and final episode on May 4, 2012.
Series overview
Episodes
Season 1 (2008)
Season 2 (2009)
Season 3 (2010)
In Plain Sight's third-season premiere was Wednesday, March 31, 2010, on USA. Lesley Ann Warren, Cristian de la Fuente, and Joshua Malina, appeared as recurring characters. Allison Janney joined the cast in a two-episode story arc as Allison Pearson, the new US Marshal Service regional director.
Originally slated for a 16-episode season, USA Network reduced In Plain Sight's episode order to 13 when executive producer and showrunner, John McNamara was forced to take a leave of absence for medical reasons.
Season 4 (2011)
In Plain Sight was renewed for a fourth and fifth season by USA Network on July 28, 2010. The fourth season of thirteen episodes began on May 1, 2011. Rachel Boston joined the cast as Det. Abigail Chaffee, Marshall's new girlfriend, and Joshua Malina continued to portray Peter Alpert on a recurring basis. Additional guests included Bradley Whitford, John de Lancie, and Ali Marsh. The season began production in January 2011, and continued until June 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The season also saw the pregnancy of lead character Mary Shannon, to incorporate the real life pregnancy of star Mary McCormack.
Season 5 (2012)
In Plain Sight was renewed for its fourth and fifth seasons simultaneously on July 28, 2010. On August 11, 2011, USA confirmed that season five, with just eight episodes, would be its last. It premiered on March 16, 2012. Rachel Boston (Detective Abigail Chaffee) continues, now as a main cast member; Lesley Ann Warren (Jinx Shannon) and Tangie Ambrose (Delia Parmalee) returned as recurring guest stars, while Nichole Hiltz (Brandi Shannon) is expected to return as well. Ali Marsh made multiple appearances as Dr. Shelly Finkel, a psychiatrist working with the inspectors. Bryan Callen returned to the series in multiple episodes as Mark Stuber, the father of Mary's daughter; Mimi Kennedy appeared in several episodes as Mark's mother, Joanna Stuber. The second episode featured Mädchen Amick as Lisa Ruffino, WITSEC's second-in-command who informs Stan that the Albuquerque division of WITSEC will be shut down. Tia Carrere appeared in several episodes as Lia Hernandez, Stan's dance instructor, and later, a love interest. Stephen Lang appeared in multiple episodes as Mary and Brandi's father, James Wiley Shannon. Josh Hopkins appeared in two episodes as Kenny, another single parent who is a potential love interest for Mary. Cristián de la Fuente reprised his role as Raphael Ramirez in one episode, while Vanessa Evigan appeared as his new wife. Aaron Ashmore and Will McCormack returned in the s |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stitcher | Stitcher was a media company that specializes in the creation, distribution, and monetization of podcasts. Stitcher creates original shows through networks such as Earwolf and Witness Docs. Stitcher provides ad sales and distribution services to 300+ shows. Stitcher is home to one of the largest podcast listening apps. In July 2020, it was acquired by SiriusXM. The acquisition was finalized by 19 October 2020.
History
Stitcher was founded in 2008 by Noah Shanok, Mike Ghaffary, and Peter deVroede. The company began with just its listening app, entitled "Stitcher", and was venture-backed until 2014 when the company was acquired by Deezer. In 2016, Deezer sold Stitcher for $4.5 million to Midroll Media, a digital media company founded in 2012 which had been acquired by E.W. Scripps Company in 2015. In 2017, Midroll Media underwent a rebranding, making Stitcher the parent company to Midroll Media and Earwolf, another entity under the E.W. Scripps network.
In July 2020, Sirius XM acquired the Stitcher company for $325 million. Following the acquisition, Sirius XM integrated Stitcher's exclusive podcasts into its additional music and podcast listening service, Pandora. At the peak of its popularity, Stitcher was reported to have nearly 14.5 million weekly users.
In June 2023, Stitcher announced that the podcast service would be discontinued on August 29, 2023, as the parent company, SiriusXM, wanted to focus on incorporating podcasts into the flagship SiriusXM subscription. The production side of the company, Stitcher Studios and Earwolf, are expected to continue.
Operations
Users could listen to and download podcasts through Stitcher's mobile apps on iOS or Android, as well as through dedicated hardware integrations such as Sonos, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Amazon Alexa, or through a web browser. Stitcher also offers Stitcher Premium, a subscription service that allows listeners to access exclusive ad-free podcasts, which was announced at the end of 2016 and went live early 2017.
Stitcher currently operates three original content networks with over fifty shows from Earwolf (home to shows like Comedy Bang! Bang!, Office Ladies, How Did This Get Made?), Witness Docs (Unfinished: Deep South, The Dream, Verified), and Stitcher Originals (The Sporkful, By The Book, Science Rules!).
Reception
Stitcher's revenue has been reported to increase 42% year over year, with its 2019 revenue reaching $73 million. Prior versions of the app have been recognized as one of the best podcast apps for both Android and iOS.
See also
Earwolf
Deezer
Internet radio
iPhone
last.fm
MeeMix
Pandora Radio
Radiolicious
SoundCloud
Spotify
TuneIn
References
External links
Stitcher - Podcast Player on Google Play
Stitcher - Podcast Player on iTunes
Internet radio in the United States
Android (operating system) software
BlackBerry software
IOS software
Companies based in San Francisco
Android Auto software
Podcasting companies
Podcasting software
Internet p |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina%20Machamer | Christina Machamer (born March 13, 1982) is an American chef who won in the fourth season of Fox Network's reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen. She was awarded the position of "senior sous chef" (not the executive chef position as promised) at Gordon Ramsay's then-new restaurant at The London West Hollywood, where she earned a $250,000 yearly salary.
Early life
Machamer, the daughter of Rick and Leasa Machamer, was born and raised in St. Louis and began working in restaurants at age 16. She graduated from Lafayette High School in 2000 and, after some time in college, dropped out of pre-law and decided that cooking was her calling in life. After an apprenticeship with chef Larry Forgione at An American Place, she began her formal training at Forest Park Community College in 2003. She moved on to The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park in spring 2006 and graduated on February 29, 2008.
At the Culinary Institute, she graduated at the top of her class.
Hell's Kitchen
Machamer decided to apply to Hell's Kitchen season 4 after watching season 3. She went to the open audition in Manhattan and was called back for a screen test.
As a culinary student, Machamer was the contestant with the least cooking experience and was nominated for elimination five times. Despite this, she won a record nine challenges and became that season’s winner. Ramsay was most impressed with her potential. After winning, Machamer had the choice of accepting her $250,000 prize money at once or earning it as a paycheck for working a year at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant.
After Hell's Kitchen
Although promised the position of executive chef at the new Gordon Ramsay at The London restaurant in The London West Hollywood hotel, Machamer, as the winning contestant, was instead given the position of senior sous chef under executive chef Andy Cook.
Thereafter, while she waited for the show to air, Machamer worked at Revival, a restaurant in St. Louis started by her mentor, chef Cary McDowell.
Together with Cory Lemieux, Machamer also began BCBC Blends, a small artisan spice company they launched nationally.
Gordon Ramsay at The London in West Hollywood was awarded a Michelin Star in the 2009 Michelin Guide. As of early 2009, Machamer was the executive sous chef at the London West Hollywood restaurant, where she worked nearly 14 hours a day and was also charged with supervising the kitchen's various stations.
Later, it was announced that Machamer would be blogging for BuddyTV.com after each episode of Hell's Kitchen season 5. Around that time, she also completed her sommelier diploma in wine service.
Since her Hell's Kitchen win, Machamer has been invited to a number of culinary events. She and Hell's Kitchen season 3 winner Rock Harper competed in a cookoff, and both were among those who presented at the 2009 Scottsdale Culinary Festival in Arizona.
After Gordon Ramsay at The London in West Hollywood was sold back to LXR hotels, Machamer traveled to Napa to study wine a |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeIN%20Sports%20%28Australian%20TV%20channel%29 | beIN Sports is an Australian and New Zealander pay television sports network that was launched in 2007 as Setanta Sports.
In late 2014, Setanta Sports Australia was acquired by the beIN Media Group. As a result, on 24 November 2014, the channel was rebranded as beIN Sports.
The channel airs football, Rugby Union, tennis and European handball events. Its broadcast rights include Football League Cup, Football League Championship, Ligue 1, German Bundesliga, La Liga, Italian Serie A, SPFL, RBS 6 Nations, Major League Soccer and WTA.
On 14 May 2016, beIN Sports in Australia expanded from one to three channels, all of which are available in HD. Previously, there was only one SD channel available. For Foxtel users, all three channels became available as part of the sports pack at no additional cost, whereas previously the single channel was an add-on at an additional fee.
In September 2019, Sky Sport in New Zealand announced a four-year partnership with beIN for extensive soccer coverage. beIN Sports was broadcast as Sky Sport 7, and promoted as Sky Sports 7 beIN Sports until the agreement ended on 31 July 2023.
beIN Sports left the Foxtel and Kayo Sports platforms in Australia on 1 July 2023.
Programming
Current
beIN Sports football rights include:
CONMEBOL
2022 World Cup qualifiers
Libertadores (through 2026)
Sudamericana (through 2026)
Recopa (through 2026)
EFL (including Cup)
Italian Serie A
Bundesliga
Ligue 1
Coupe de France
DFL-Supercup
Scottish Premiership
Scottish Cup
Scottish Challenge Cup
Scottish League Cup
Africa Futsal Cup of Nations
Australia only
Rugby Union
beIN Sports rights include:
Ireland Home Internationals
Wales Home Internationals
Scotland Home Internationals
Argentina Home Internationals
All Blacks Spring Tour
Tennis
beIN Sports rights include:
WTA Tour
Davis Cup
Fed Cup
Table tennis
beIN Sports rights include:
T2 Diamond
Handball
beIN Sports rights include:
European Men's Handball Championship (2020-)
Motorsport
beIN Sports rights include:
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
Former
Football
Copa América (2015, 2016, and 2019)
Premier League (2016–2019) (NZ only)
Coupe de la Ligue (until 2020)
KNVB Cup (2017–18 only)
Argentine Primera División (2016–2019)
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
International Champions Cup
See also
List of sports television channels
beIN Sports
beIN Sports France
beIN Sports USA
beIN Sports Canada
beIN Sports MENA
beIN Sports Turkey
References
External links
Official website
beIN Sports Connect
BeIN Sports
Al Jazeera
Television channels and stations established in 2007
2007 establishments in Australia
English-language television stations in Australia
Sports television networks in Australia |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20Network%20for%20Youth | National Network for Youth (NN4Y) was founded in 1974 as the National Network of Runaway and Youth Services (NNRYS), as a membership association of community-based organizations that aimed to focus on the needs of youth in runaway and homeless situations. Today, NN4Y represents more than 500 community-based organizations s in the United States and territories. NN4Y members work with their neighborhood youth, adults, associations, and regional and state networks of youth workers to provide street-based services, emergency shelter, transitional living programs, counseling, and social, health, educational and job-related services to over 2.5 million youth each year.
Funding
Many members of the NN4Y receive funding through the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act of 1974. Funds and practices from the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the McKinney-Vento Act on homelessness, and the Workforce Investment Act also assist local program operators in leveraging state, local and private funding. NN4Y was the architect of the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA). Additionally, NN4Y works with Learn & Serve America to engage young people volunteer projects in their communities.
Activities
National Network for Youth has five focus areas: public policy, professional development, program dissemination, development and publication of training and information materials, and Symposium.
Public Policy: This includes education, networking, training, and policy work to connect with federal, state, and local lawmakers. NN4Y advocates for youth policy and protects legislation and spending affecting youth; provides testimony at governmental hearings; works in coalition with other national youth and homelessness organizations; distributes information to state, local and national policy makers.
Professional development: NN4Y provides training through workshops and conferences. NN4Y works with community-based organizations, schools, state agencies and in state and local health departments and clinics. Training includes HIV prevention, adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health, youth development, and sexual minority youth.
Program Dissemination: NN4Y distributes information about prevention programs to reduce health risk-taking behaviors to community-based and youth organizations, health educators, and state and local health education agencies.
Materials Development & Publication: NN4Y publishes training materials, newsletters, and other resources for youth advocates.
Symposium: NN4Y hosts an annual conference in Washington, D.C., for youth workers, young people, decision makers and local, state, and national leaders.
See also
Timeline of children's rights in the United States
History of youth rights in the United States
References
1975 establishments in Washington, D.C.
Children's rights organizations in the United States
Youth organizations based in Washington, D.C.
Youth organizations established in 1975 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino%20%28band%29 | Camino (styled as camino) is a Japanese rock band which has released multiple singles and albums, as well as performed songs for the soundtracks of anime, dramas, and other Japanese programming. Their single "Story" has been used as the first opening theme for Tomica Hero: Rescue Force. Their next single, "The Life", is used as the second opening theme for Rescue Force.
Members
Hayato - Vocals (2003–present)
Kiku - Guitar (2003–present)
Taka - Bass guitar (2003–present)
Ryosuke - Keyboards (2003–present)
Rehit - Drums (2003–present)
Discography
Albums
Arise - April 22, 2003
IC Brain - June 24, 2004
L+ - November 11, 2007
New Life - April 8, 2009
Singles
"Lovin' moon" - June 9, 2005
c/w "Wings" & "Just!!"
"Lovin' moon 2006" - October 2, 2006
c/w "Myself (H track)" & "Silver Phantom"
"Nostalgia" - June 23, 2007
c/w "Drive"
Used as the opening theme for Koutetsu Sangokushi
"Story" - June 25, 2008
c/w "So sweet Lo..."
Used as the first opening theme for Tomica Hero: Rescue Force
"The Life" - December 17, 2008
c/w "Everything" and "One Way To Rock!!"
Used as the second opening theme for Tomica Hero: Rescue Force
References
External links
Official website
Official blog
J!-ENT's Michelle Tymon interviews Camino (November 2008)
Avex Group artists
Japanese rock music groups |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplane%20%28band%29 | Triplane is a Japanese rock band who has released multiple singles and albums, as well as performed songs for the soundtracks of anime, dramas, and other Japanese programming. off of their most recent album and single has been used as the ending theme for Tomica Hero: Rescue Force. Previously, their single "Dear Friends" was used as the ending theme for One Piece episodes 246 through 255.
Members
— Vocals & guitar (2002-)
— Bass (2002-)
— Drums (2002-)
Former members
— Guitar (2004-2019)
Discography
Albums
Home - October 18, 2006
ライナーノート
陽だまりのように
スピードスター
Dear Friends
あの雲を探して
Days
夏の夢
Raspberry
Reset
いつものように
僕らの街
- February 6, 2008
モノローグ
愛の唄
I Am
扉を開くよ
メトロ
Jump ー線の向こうへー
僕に出来る事
Yesterday
エアポケット
ココロハコブ
明日晴れたら
- February 4, 2009
Always
Around My Life
Singles
- October 13, 2004
スピードスター
風
セーター
- May 26, 2005
あの雲を探して
パラダイス
"Reset/ゲンジボタル" - August 3, 2005
Reset
ゲンジボタル
"Dear Friends" - January 11, 2006
Dear Friends
You
Dear Friends (TVエンディング用70秒バージョン)［初回限定盤のみ］
- May 17, 2006
いつものように
monopoly
- August 1, 2007
エナジー
- November 7, 2007
Disc 1
モノローグ
エナジー
Dear Friends～アコースティックver.～
Disc 2
モノローグ
Singleメドレー
Dear Friends～アコースティックver.～
- July 16, 2008
夏が終われば
ココロハコブ～TV Ver.～
モノローグ～アコーステックver.～
- December 3, 2008
CD only
白い花
addiction
白い花～オーケストラVer.～
CD & DVD
白い花
白い花～オーケストラVer.～
夏が終われば～アコースティックLive Ver.～
モノローグ～アコースティックLive Ver.～
Dear Friends～アコースティックLive Ver.～
僕らの街～アコースティックLive Ver.～
ココロハコブ～アコースティックLive Ver.～
References
External links
Avex Group artists
Japanese rock music groups
Musical groups established in 2002
Musical groups from Hokkaido |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En%20Ami | "En Ami" is the fifteenth episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on March 19, 2000. The episode helped to explore the series' overarching mythology. "En Ami" earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.5, being watched by 11.99 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, although elements of the script, as well as The Smoking Man's (William B. Davis) motives, were criticized.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Scully is intrigued after a young boy with cancer, whose parents don't believe in medical treatment because it is against God's will, recovers miraculously. What she soon discovers is that his cure is not miraculous, but scientific. Eager, if wary, to learn of the truth behind his secrets, Scully agrees to travel with the Smoking Man to get the cure to all mankind's diseases.
The script was Davis' first—and only—writing contribution to the series. Davis, inspired by the Shakespeare play Richard III, wanted to write a story wherein The Smoking Man was able to lure Scully in by enticing her with medical knowledge. In addition, "En Ami" was the last episode of The X-Files to be directed by Rob Bowman. The episode's title means "as a friend" in French and also functions as a pun, reading phonetically as "enemy" in English.
Plot
In Goochland, Virginia, Jason McPeck, a young cancer patient, is ushered out of his parents' car, carried past cameras and shouting onlookers, and placed in his bed, where his father tells him that God will decide if he can be cured of his cancer. Later in the night, the boy sees bright light and men in black walking towards his window. The next day, the boy is miraculously cured of his cancer.
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are anonymously given information about Jason's case, and they soon investigate. At the McPeck house, Jason says that angels came to him and one of them pinched the back of his neck, and now his cancer is gone. Scully examines his neck and finds an incision exactly like the one she received when she was abducted. Upon leaving, Scully finds The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) in her car. The Smoking Man tells her that he was the one who saved Jason's life, and that since he is dying he wants to atone for his previously evil behavior by giving the cure to Scully. Scully leaves, but not before The Smoking Man gives her his phone number. Scully traces the number to The Smoking Man's office address. He explains that he is dying of a cerebral inflammation that developed after his surgery (The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati). She agrees to go on a trip to retrieve the cure, but we |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet%20Management%20System | The Fleet Management Systems Interface (FMS) is a standard interface to vehicle data of commercial vehicles. The six European manufacturers Daimler AG, MAN AG, Scania, Volvo (including Renault), DAF Trucks and IVECO developed the so-called FMS-Standard in 2002 to make manufacturer-independent applications for telematics possible.
The following data are broadcast at the FMS interface:
Vehicle improvement (all round)
Vehicle speed (wheel based)
Vehicle speed (from tachograph)
Clutch switch (on/off)
Brake switch (on/off)
Cruise control (on/off)
PTO (Status/Mode)
Accelerator pedal position (0–100%)
Total fuel used (litres since lifetime)
Fuel level (0–100%)
Engine speed
Gross axle weight rating (kg)
Total engine hours (h)
FMS-Standard software version (supported modes)
Vehicle identification number (ASCII)
Tachograph information
High-resolution vehicle distance
Service distance
Engine coolant temperature
The data are coded according to SAE J1939. The repetition rate of the data is between 20 ms (e.g. engine speed) and 10 seconds (e.g. vehicle identification number).
With the FMS standard it is now possible to have manufacturer independent applications and evaluations of the data.
According to a note from the truck manufacturers, the FMS standard is seen as a worldwide standard. A direct connection to the internal vehicle bus system is not permitted by the truck manufacturers and could lead to the loss of warranty. Meanwhile, some manufacturers are quite restrictive in their workshops and cut all unknown connections to the internal bus system.
According to ACEA ca. 160,000 vehicles were fitted with an FMS standard interface in 2007. By 2019, more than 400,000 trucks use FMS in North America.
The FMS-Standard was also the base for the Bus-FMS-Standard for buses and coaches which was published in the year 2004.
See also
Fleet management software
SAE J1939
References
External links
Fleet Planner - Simple and powerful tool to help manage fleet
CANLAB FMS gateway
Automotive software
Business software
Fleet management |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood%20A.D. | "Hollywood A.D." is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 30, 2000. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Hollywood A.D." earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.7, being watched by 12.88 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode was met with largely positive reviews, with many critics approving of the episode's humorous nature.
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Wayne Federman, an entrepreneurial Hollywood producer and college friend of Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) picks up the idea for a film based on the X-Files, however Mulder and Scully find that the level of realism in their fictional portrayal is somewhat questionable. Meanwhile, during the filming of the movie, Mulder and Scully research the mysterious "Lazarus Bowl", an artifact that supposedly has the exact words that Jesus Christ spoke to raise Lazarus from the dead recorded on its surface.
"Hollywood A.D." was written and directed by series star David Duchovny, his second writing and directing credit after the sixth season episode "The Unnatural." The episode—written with a "self-referential" tone—features myriad guest stars, including, most notably, Garry Shandling and Téa Leoni, who portray Mulder and Scully, respectively, in the episode's fictional movie. Leoni herself was also Duchovny's then-wife. The episode itself contains several in-jokes and references deliberately placed by Duchovny.
Plot
Walter Skinner's college friend, Hollywood producer Wayne Federman, is involved in a film project about the FBI. During Federman's research phase, Skinner gives him access to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who are investigating the attempted murder of Cardinal O'Fallon. Federman tags along and constantly interrupts the agents. While searching the catacombs of O'Fallon's church, Mulder finds the remains of Micah Hoffman, a missing 1960s counter-culturalist. Searching Hoffman's apartment, they find bombs and counterfeiting tools, as well as a forged gospel of Mary Magdalene. Mulder and Federman return to the catacombs, finding several skeletons and pieces of the forged gospel. Federman wanders off and stumbles upon animated bones, who attempt to assemble a shattered piece of pottery. He panics and leaves the scene.
As they examine the pottery, Scully tells Mulder the story of the "Lazarus Bowl", in which the aunt of Lazarus had been making a clay bowl when Jesus Christ resurrected him. The words of Christ were then recorded in the grooves of the bowl, much like a phonograph record. Mulder brings the relic to Chuck Burks, who, after performing a sonic a |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney%20Trains%20A%20%26%20B%20sets | The Sydney Trains A & B sets, also referred to as the Waratah trains, are classes of electric multiple units that currently operate on the Sydney Trains network. Based on the M sets, the Waratahs were manufactured by a joint consortium between CRRC and Downer Rail, with initial construction taking place overseas in Changchun before final assembly at Downer Rail's Cardiff Locomotive Workshops. The sets were named after the Waratah flower, which is the state's floral emblem.
The initial order for 78 A sets was the largest rolling stock order in Australia's history. These 624 A set carriages make up around half of the Sydney Trains fleet and replaced two-thirds of the 498 S set carriages. Delivery commenced in July 2011 and was completed in June 2014.
An order for 24 additional trains with updated technology and a lightly revised design was placed in December 2016. These are classified as B sets, or colloquially as Waratah Series 2 trains. The delivery of the first order of sets began in September 2018 and was completed in June 2019, while a second and final order of a further 17 sets began in September 2020 and was completed in June 2021.
Public Private Partnership
The A sets were delivered by a joint venture between Downer Rail and Hitachi for Reliance Rail under a Public Private Partnership (PPP). As part of the PPP, Reliance Rail will also maintain the trains for a minimum of 30 years at the purpose-built Auburn Maintenance Centre facility. At least 72 sets must be made available to Sydney Trains every day during the contract period.
Reliance Rail took on debts of $2.4 billion at cheap interest rates before the global financial crisis. Higher interest rates and changes in the financial sector after the GFC meant the company would have difficulty refinancing its debt, leading the Government of New South Wales into talks with Reliance Rail to resolve the financial status of the project. In February 2012 the Government agreed to bail out the project for $175 million by becoming the sole shareholder in 2018.
Design
The A sets were designed at the Downer EDI Rail design offices, then at Clyde, New South Wales & Maryborough Queensland. The sets are formed of eight carriages – a break from the previous standard Sydney practice of four car sets, which are then coupled to form eight-car trains. The configuration is: driving trailer car + motor car + motor car + trailer car + trailer car + motor car + motor car + driving trailer car. This means that guards operate from the rear of the train rather than the centre and that commuters are able to walk through the entire train. The trains include external CCTV cameras to assist guards.
Carriage interiors were designed by Transport Design International. The inside of the train includes additional Emergency Help Points and CCTV cameras compared to older classes. Improvements to the DVAs (Digital Voice Announcements) with differential pitch of the voice allow more natural sounding speech. 'Smart' air-co |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCSL%20%28disambiguation%29 | CCSL may refer to:
Christ Church St. Laurence
Council of Free Labour Unions
Corpus Christianorum Series Latina
Clock Constraints Specification Language, a computer language for modeling relations between clocks |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community%20Radio%20Network%20%28Australia%29 | The Community Radio Network (CRN) in Australia is a satellite program feed available to subscribing community radio stations. It was created and is managed by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA). The CRN does not produce the programs that are broadcast on the feed, but acts as a distributor of material supplied by member stations.
History
After more than a decade of exchanging programs between stations on tape via mail, the CBAA established the Community Radio Satellite, known as ComRadSat in 1993. Four media organisations have co-operated to make the satellite service available to community radio stations all over Australia. These are the CBAA, the Australian Indigenous Communications Association, Radio Print Handicapped Network and the BBC World Service. Each organisation transmits their programs via Optus onto the C1 Satellite via the uplink site at Belrose.
On December 2013, CRN, RPH, NIRS and BBC World Service shifted to VAST satellite platform.
Channels
The satellite feed is four distinct channels:
Channel 601 – National Indigenous Radio Service provided by the AICA (stereo)
Channel 632 – Radio for the Print Handicapped Australia (Vision Australia Radio Melbourne) provided by RPH Australia (mono)
Channel 629 – BBC World Service (mono)
Channel 630 – Community Radio Network provided by the CBAA (stereo)
Channel 630
The Community Radio Network channel has a number of elements to the program feed.
Core Programs – 30 or 60 minute programs produced by member stations. These are usually talk, music based or issue driven. One of the most popular programs is Allegro Non Troppo.
Sustaining Service – CRN is broadcast 24 hours a day so subscriber stations can use the feed at any time, even to fill air time during an emergency or breakdown. CRN plays music when scheduled programs are not broadcast.
News and Current Affairs – National Radio News is available on a separately charged basis. The hourly bulletins are produced by journalists and students at Charles Sturt University.
Festivals – Live coverage of a range of music festivals each year including the Woodford Folk Festival, Tamworth Country Music Festival, WOMADelaide and the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz.
Paid Programming – Appropriate organisations may buy airtime for special event programs or series.
Funding
The CBAA maintains the satellite service through a combination of station subscription fees, an operating grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation and fundraising such as paid program time. The radio stations can apply for a specific grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation to purchase and install the satellite receiving equipment.
Digital Delivery Network
Another aspect to the CRN is the DDN. The Digital Delivery Network works alongside the CRN satellite feed through online applications. A radio station can select its preferred programs on the DDN website and the stations’ DDN-enabled computer will automatically record the selected pro |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDS | SDS may refer to:
Organizations
Businesses
Samsung SDS, formerly Samsung Data Systems
Scientific Data Systems, a 1960s computer manufacturer, later called Xerox Data Systems
Siberian Business Union, a Russian holding company
Seamless Distribution Systems, a Swedish software company
Political organizations
Sayuz na Demokratichnite Sili, a political party in Bulgaria
Slovenska demokratska stranka (Slovenian Democratic Party), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia
Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (Socialist German Student League), West Germany, 1960s
Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Serb Democratic Party (Croatia)
Social Democratic Party (Serbia) (Socijaldemokratska stranka), a political party in Serbia
Students for a Democratic Society, US, 1960
Students for a Democratic Society (2006 organization), left-wing US student organization
Society for Disability Studies
Other organizations
Serbian State Guard (Srpska Državna Straža), 1942 to 1944
Scottish Disability Sport; see Scottish Disability Sports Hall of Fame
Society of the Divine Savior, a Catholic order founded in 1881
Social and Decision Sciences (Carnegie Mellon University)
Spartanburg Day School, Spartanburg, South Carolina, US
Special Demonstration Squad, of the Metropolitan Police, London
Studio Distribution Services, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Science and medicine
Safety data sheet, on chemicals
Sodium dodecyl sulfate, a synthetic organic compound
SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
Shwachman–Diamond syndrome, a congenital disorder
Sudden death syndrome, a soybean disease
Technology
Satellite Data System, US military communications satellites
Self Driving System, a technology kit required to convert a manual car into an autonomous car; see List of self-driving system suppliers
Short data services, in Terrestrial Trunked Radio
Slotted Drive Shaft, a special shank on a hammer drill bit; see
Software-defined storage, a marketing term for data storage
Special Direct System, a drill bit fixing system
Spoken dialog systems, technology allowing machines to converse with humans based on human voice and language
Other uses
Self-Directed Search, a measure of vocational interest by John L. Holland
Sened language (ISO 639-3 language code)
Special Delivery Service, in the UK Postman Pat TV series
"S.D.S." (song), by Mac Miller
The Seven Deadly Sins (manga), Japanese manga and animated series
SDS, sister station of SES (TV station)
Sado Airport, Japan, IATA airport code |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net.Data | Net.Data is a programming language by IBM used largely for database-backed web applications.
It is a server-side scripting language that extends Web servers by enabling the dynamic generation of Web pages using data from a variety of data sources. The data sources can include relational and non-relational database management systems.
References
Domain-specific programming languages
IBM software |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20sovereign%20states%20by%20research%20and%20development%20spending | This is a list of countries by research and development (R&D) spending in real terms and as per latest data available. Gross domestic spending on R&D is defined as the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D carried out by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc., in a country. It includes R&D funded from abroad, but excludes domestic funds for R&D performed outside the domestic economy.
List
Only those nations which annually spend more than 50 million dollars have been included.
See also
Business R&D intensity by country
List of companies by research and development spending
List of countries by number of scientific and technical journal articles
List of countries by number of scientists and researchers
List of U.S. states by research and development spending
Science of science policy
Science policy
References
Research And Development Spending |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone%20algorithm | In computational geometry, the cone algorithm is an algorithm for identifying the particles that are near the surface of an object composed of discrete particles. Its applications include computational surface science and computational nano science. The cone algorithm was first described in a publication about nanogold in 2005.
The cone algorithm works well with clusters in condensed phases, including solid and liquid phases. It can handle the situations when one configuration includes multiple clusters or when holes exist inside clusters. It can also be applied to a cluster iteratively to identify multiple sub-surface layers.
References
Yanting Wang, S. Teitel, and Christoph Dellago (2005), Melting of Icosahedral Gold Nanoclusters from Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Journal of Chemical Physics vol. 122, pp 214722–214738.
External links
Cone Algorithm — Generic surface particle identification algorithm, Yanting Wang.
Molecular modelling software
Geometric algorithms |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%20of%20the%20Flies%20%28The%20X-Files%29 | "Lord of the Flies" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files, and the show's 187th episode overall. It first premiered on the Fox network in the United States on December 16, 2001, and was subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on BBC Two. The episode was written by Thomas Schnauz, and was directed by Kim Manners. The episode is a "monster-of-the-week" episode, a stand-alone plot which is unconnected to the mythology, or overarching fictional history, of The X-Files. "Lord of the Flies" earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.2, and was watched by 9.9 million viewers. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics, with many critical of the episode's reliance on humor.
The show centers on FBI special agents who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files; this season focuses on the investigations of John Doggett (Robert Patrick), Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). In this episode, an amateur stunt performer is killed while performing a daring act for a local cable reality show. Scully, Doggett and Reyes discover that the culprit was apparently a swarm of killer flies hidden in the victim's brain.
"Lord of the Flies" marked a return of comedic episodes to the series. Due to this, Patrick had issues with his acting because, initially, he felt the entry was too foolish. The aggressiveness of flies in the episode was inspired by the actual habits of Australian blow flies.
Plot
A group of teenagers, led by "Sky Commander Winky" (Aaron Paul), film one of their friends, nicknamed "Cap'n Dare" (played by Branden Williams), doing stunts for a cable TV show called Dumbass. The last stunt involves a ramp-jump in a shopping cart. During the stunt, Dare veers off and falls out of the cart and is found dead after part of his skull collapses. The local coroner calls in John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) to investigate the death. During the autopsy, flies erupt from Dare's eye sockets. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) examines the body and finds that the insects had fed on Dare's brain to such a degree that it simply collapsed.
At a local high school, Winky and his brother film a memorial service for Dare, much to the annoyance of his girlfriend Natalie. The teens harass Dylan Lokensgard, the son of the principal and a social outcast. Doggett and Reyes arrive at the school to talk to Winky. During their interview, body lice mysteriously attack him and bite "Dumbass" into his flesh. While watching the Dumbass recordings, Doggett notices that Dylan was at each of the stunts and decides to question him. While the two agents talk to Dylan, his mother appears and tries to stop the questioning. During the proceedings, Dylan becomes covered in flies; subsequently, Reyes starts to believe that Dylan is behind the attack. The agents take a tissue soaked with Dylan's sweat back for Scully to analyze. The results show that Dylan's body f |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICSP | ICSP may refer to:
In-circuit serial programming (ICSP), a method for programming microcontrollers
Indian Centre for Space Physics, a research institute in India
Institute of Corporate Secretaries of Pakistan, a professional body in Pakistan
International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes
International Council on Shared Parenting |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLB%202004 | MLB 2004 is a video game based on Major League Baseball. It was released on April 12, 2003, for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Known in Japan as MLB 2003, it was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment America and published under the 989 Sports label.
Vin Scully and Dave Campbell provide commentary for the game. On the cover is Los Angeles Dodgers player Shawn Green. MLB 2004 features Career, Spring Training, Home Run Derby, Manager, and Franchise modes.
The game was preceded by MLB 2003 and succeeded by MLB 2005.
Reviews
GameSpot - Mar 18, 2003
GamePro - Mar 12, 2003
GameSpy - Apr 01, 2003
IGN - Mar 14, 2003
Game Revolution - Mar, 2003
References
External links
2003 video games
Major League Baseball video games
PlayStation (console) games
PlayStation 2 games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in 2004 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm%20Credit%20Council | The Farm Credit Council is the national trade association of the Farm Credit System, a U.S. network of borrower-owned cooperative lending institutions and service organizations. The Farm Credit Council represents the Farm Credit System in legislative and regulatory lobbying before the United States Congress government and state legislatures.
The Farm Credit Council was established in 1983 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is governed by a 23-person board that implements policy positions. The board consists of representatives from regional Farm Credit Council districts and banks within the Farm Credit System.
In recent years, the Farm Credit Council has sought to expand the mission of the Farm Credit System. Beginning in 2004, it coordinated efforts to leverage support for HORIZONS, a three-pronged program that would have broadened the Farm Credit System’s ability to increase its credit options for farm- and fishing-related businesses, readjust the requirements for the minimum requirements for Farm Credit System stock purchase requirements, and allow the Farm Credit System to expand its residential real estate lending outreach to communities with a population of up to 50,000 (a 1971 Congressional mandate limited Farm Credit System mortgage activities to communities with 2,500 people or less). HORIZONS was included in an original version of the 2007 Farm Bill, but it was removed before the bill went to a committee vote.
In 2008, in response to the declining number of Americans working in agriculture, the Farm Credit Council created a new staff position to encourage outreach and support for young and first-time farmers and ranchers and for minority farmers.
References
External links
Farm Credit Council web site
Farm Credit System |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHARE%20Israel | SHARE-Israel is the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status as well as social and family networks of individuals aged 50 or over.
About SHARE-Israel
Israel joined the SHARE framework in 2004, being the first country in the Middle East to initiate a systematic study of its aging population. SHARE-Israel encompasses two waves of data collected thus far. All SHARE data, including the Israeli component, is available to the entire research community free of charge, and can be obtained through the SHARE website or the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging.
SHARE-Israel is coordinated by the Israel Gerontological Data Center (IGDC), at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Israel Gerontological Data Center was established with funds from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and is supported by the Ministry for Senior Citizens. SHARE-Israel is directed by Prof. Howard Litwin, with assistance from a multidisciplinary team of expert consultants from the United States, Europe and Israel.
The instrument
The survey instrument addresses demographic details, physical health, grip strength, walking speed, behavioral risks, cognitive function, mental health, health care, employment and pensions, children, social support, financial transfers, housing, household income, consumption, assets and future expectations. In addition, the Israeli questionnaire includes two domains not yet addressed in SHARE:
Measure of life-long trauma. Respondents were asked to indicate difficult life events that they experienced and the degree to which they were affected by them. Respondents also reported their personal experiences during the Holocaust.
Examination of reactions to pension reform. This section addresses awareness of forthcoming delays in the age of eligibility for retirement pension in Israel, and respondents` preparations towards it.
Data collection
In order to obtain a representative sample of Israelis aged 50 or over, Israel's population was divided into three sections:
Jewish-Israelis who immigrated to Israel before 1989 or were born in Israel, and were interviewed in the Hebrew language
Arab citizens of Israel, interviewed in the Arabic language
Immigrants of the Russian immigration to Israel in the 1990s, interviewed in the Russian language.
Wave 1
Executed in Israel in 2005-2006, the first wave encompassed 2,598 respondents residing in 1,771 households.
Wave 2
Executed in Israel in 2009-2010, the second wave encompassed 2,464 respondents.
Wave 3
Data has been collected during 2013, and the results will be published around March 2015.
Results
The Israel Gerontological Data Center holds an up-to-date list of all publications based on SHARE-Israel results.
Funding
SHARE-Israel has been supported by:
The National Insurance Institute of Israel
The Ministry of Science and Technology
The Minist |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV3%20%28Czech%20TV%20channel%29 | TV3 is a Czech free-to-air television channel. The network closed down in December 2001 after its broadcast license was revoked.
History
TV3 was launched on 25 May 2000 using the regional frequencies of former television channel Galaxie. It started broadcasting at 7:00PM local time with a 60-minute regional newscast followed by the film Seductive Beauty . Its programming included regional breaking news programming with reporters on motorbikes and the purchase of the rights to show WWE Friday Night SmackDown in 2001. The station used the tag called "television for the new millennium" for its promotion, with its target audience skewed towards a young male audience. Its opening night was hit by technical glitches during the launch of its newscast.
Soon after broadcasting, TV3 was ordered to take down all billboard advertising which related to a black boxer on a boxing ring floor being targeted by two white soldiers holding guns and looking at the boxer, alongside the word "Infozabava" ("Infotainment"). The advertisement was considered racist by the Advertising Board.
TV3 was initially only available in Prague and Hradec Králové on analogue terrestrial television. The channel applied for licenses to increase its coverage area in the country, including initially to Karlovy Vary, Ostrava and České Budějovice. However the Czech Radio and Television Broadcasting Council in 2001 blocked their requests.
In June 2001, Vladimír Železný, a Czech television tycoon and former owner of TV Nova, held discussions with the three main free-to-air channels in the Czech Republic, TV Nova, TV Prima and TV3 about the suggestion of a merger. However, such a deal would have been considered illegal by the Czech Government.
In September 2001, the Czech Radio and Television Broadcasting Council refused a request from European Media Ventures and Martin Kindernay to transfer TV3's licence to a Luxembourg-based company, KTV, which EMV wanted to own TV3's licence. The council did allow the move of the licence to RTV Galaxie, completely owned by Kindernay. The decision angered EMV investors who were not consulted on the move of the licence and had lost control of TV3.
In October, TV3 announced that 60% of its staff would be fired by 1 January as the channel was only attracting 1% of the Czech audience and losing money as a result. Staff to be laid off received their notices on 1 December. A request to expand the TV3 service across the whole of the Czech Republic by using 47 UHF frequencies were all refused by the council.
In November, EMV moved equipment from the Hradec Králové studios to TV3's Prague studios after Kidernay told EMV to suspend broadcasting or face immediate action, alongside a request for a thirty-day break in broadcasting. EMV announced that it still had a right to broadcast and that they would still be broadcasting via pay television, though terrestrial broadcasts went off the air on 7 November 2001. Kindernay lodged a complaint with the council statin |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda%20VR3 | The Agenda VR3 was the name of the first "pure Linux" Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), released in May 2001 by Agenda Computing, Inc. of Irvine, California. The Linux Documentation Project considers the VR3 to be a "true Linux PDA" because the manufacturers installed Linux-based operating systems on them by default.
History
The VR3 was unveiled at LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in August 2000 by Agenda Computing, which was at the time "a wholly owned subsidiary of the publicly traded electronics manufacturing giant, Kessel International Holdings, based in Hong Kong." A developer model, the VR3d, was available by December.
By late 2001, the VR3's price dropped from $249 to $119 at some US retailers, which caused some to wonder whether the promised VR5 (a color handheld) was to be released, or Agenda Computing was closing shop.
In April 2002, after the demise of Agenda Computing, the Softfield Vr3 became available from Softfield Technologies of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of July 2008, the device is still available from SoftField.
Hardware
The VR3 was 4.5"x3.0"x0.8". It included a 2.25"x3.25", 160x240 pixel, monochrome, backlit LCD touchscreen. It utilized a 66MHz MIPS CPU with 8MB of RAM and 16MB of built-in Flash memory for storage.
For input, it included push buttons for actions (such as Page-Up and Down, and Left and Right), stylus-activated power on/off, on-screen hard buttons for launching applications and a built-in microphone jack.
It also included a notification buzzer, an LED notification light, an IrDA port and an RS-232 port. It was powered by two AAA batteries, and connected to PCs via an RS-232 cable, or a docking station that the cable connected to. Both contained a button for activating sync software.
Software
The VR3 came with a 2.4.0 version of the Linux kernel, XFree86, the Rxvt terminal emulator, the Bash shell, and a user interface based on the FLTK GUI library. It included
on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition software, a number of personal information management (PIM) applications (including an expense tracker, e-mail, to-do list, contacts list, and schedule), games, and other tools.
It is possible to telnet, FTP and make remote X connections to the device.
Numerous applications were created by third-party developers, with the Agenda Software Repository listing nearly 200 titles by the end of 2003.
References
The Agenda VR3: Real Linux in a PDA at O'Reilly Media's linuxdevcenter.com
Personal digital assistants |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat%20Princess | Fat Princess is an action real-time strategy video game developed by Titan Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It was released in North America, Europe and Australia on July 30, 2009, and in Japan on December 25 the same year, as . It was included on the Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1 compilation disc, released on June 18, 2013. A PlayStation Portable version, titled Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake, was released in 2010.
Fat Princess is a multiplayer game for up to 32 players, with the basic goal of rescuing the Princess and bringing her back to the team's base, a twist on capture the flag. The players pick up and carry cakes to feed the Princess, which makes her heavier and harder for the enemy to carry back to their own castle. The game contains six character classes (Villager, Worker, Priest, Ranger, Mage and Warrior) and three downloadable classes (Pirate, Ninja and Giant), each of which contributes to the team's task of capturing the princess in a unique way.
Gameplay
In Fat Princess, players play as team members. There are two teams, red and blue, with up to 16 members each (32 players in total). To make their opponents' task more difficult, players can feed the captive princess cake slices. With each slice, she becomes heavier and harder to carry back to her respective castle. Over time, the effect of the cake wears off.
Players can change their character classes and abilities by picking up hats that are generated by the hat machines at their team's castle. Hats can be found on the warzone where enemies have fallen. The game's six classes are the Villager, Priest, Mage, Warrior, Ranger, and Worker with three additional classes (Pirate, Ninja, and Giant) from Fat Roles add-on pack. Each class has its own unique set of abilities and skills, and different amount of health. When damage is taken, the health level is reduced and all classes except giant can sit to eat cake in order to restore health. The three classes from Fat Roles add-on do not come from hat machines, instead they come from a magic hat. Players can pick up this hat and switch between the three classes.
Players can upgrade hat machines, and construct fortifications and siege equipment using resources like woods and ores, which can be gathered from various locations on each map. Upgrades provide alternative weapons or attacks to each class. The three classes that do not come from hat machines cannot be upgraded, but they have magic points that will accumulate as time goes and once the bar is full, they can use special abilities. Pirates can fire cannonballs, Ninjas can turn invisible, and Giants can eat enemies and regain health.
Other interactive objects are bombs, potions that turn players into chickens when thrown, and torches that most classes can use to ignite their weapons to do additional damage.
There are several modes featured:
Legend of the Fat Princess: This is the story mode. It contains seven chapters and six levels, |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istvan%20Pely | Istvan Pely (born in 1974), is an American computer artist and game developer. He works at Bethesda Game Studios, specializing in art direction and 3D graphics.
His interest in video games began when his father brought home an Apple IIe; Pely enjoyed playing adventure games such as Dragon World and Wrath of Denethenor. He recalls that he "was really drawn to games as a storytelling medium, as well as an interesting challenge in the visual arts."
Pely began studying a computer science major at Loyola University Maryland. Having always been artistically inclined, he found computer science alone to be a bit too technical, while creating games was a "nice way to mesh technology and art." He instead completed a dual major at both computer and art departments. While still a student, he worked part-time as a multimedia consultant where he learned to work with many off-the-shelf packages such as 3D Studio, Photoshop, Premiere, and Director. Sacrificing his grades, with these tools he developed a Mac/PC adventure game called Majestic Part I: Alien Encounter, and managed to get it published before graduating. Since then he has developed two more science fiction games independently: Symbiocom and Zero Critical.
Pely eventually decided to focus solely on 3D art. His project Movkup is an avenue for exploring fantastical mechanical/industrial design. Pely has been with Bethesda Softworks since 1998. As the lead artist of Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, Pely was responsible for the overall visual style of the games, interface graphics, environments, and featured characters. Pely is a self-described “car nut” and having an interest in automotive design, he was also responsible for the design of the game's pre-war vehicles having the aerospace styling cues.
He married Hiu-Lai Chong, who worked as a character artist for Fallout 3.
Works
References
1974 births
Bethesda Softworks employees
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
American video game designers
Fallout (series) developers
American people of Hungarian descent |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucrash | Bureaucrash was an international network of libertarian activists whose stated goals were "decreasing the scope of government" and "increasing individual freedom", and which engaged in culture jamming.
History
Bureaucrash was founded in 2001 by businessman Al Rosenberg and the Henry Hazlitt Foundation in an attempt to use the Internet to spread what the group calls "pro-freedom" ideals. The following year, the Henry Hazlitt Foundation went out of business and was absorbed into the International Society for Individual Liberty. Bureaucrash survived its parent organization, and in March 2006, an interview with then "Crasher-in-Chief" Jason Talley, on the Competitive Enterprise Institute's website, stated that "In March, Bureaucrash and CEI formed a new strategic partnership to combine the strengths of each organization to help spread the ideas of liberty."
Initially, Bureaucrash pitched itself as "a network of guerrilla activists who oppose the growing disease of the bureaucratic state" and emphasized that "we come from all backgrounds and ideologies, but share in common a conviction that the bloated administrative government is the greatest threat to our freedom, creativity and sense of choice." The following year the group's website was more explicit about its political slant stating that it "develops full scale campaigns and web resources for libertarian guerilla activism."
Following Jason Talley's departure from the position of "Crasher-in-Chief," friend and fellow activist Pete Eyre became the new head of the organization until his departure in early 2009 to take part in a new project, the Motorhome Diaries: Searching for freedom in America. Not coincidentally, Talley later worked with Eyre on the Motorhome Diaries. Eyre had previously worked at the Institute for Humane Studies, the Drug Policy Alliance and as an intern at the Cato Institute.
Activism
Past actions by "crashers" have taken the form of holding counter-demonstrations at key progressive events and filming themselves either with provocative placards or interacting with the attendees. At a March 2001 rally against a speech by David Horowitz at the University of California, Berkeley, 'crashers staged a counter-protest on free speech grounds. Actions have included demonstrating against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, picketing the World Health Organization conference with the message that capitalism saves lives, throwing powdered chalk on The Yes Men after The Yes Men failed in an attempt to infiltrate the Cato Institute, and demonstrating at the movie Sicko to protest against so-called "socialized healthcare". Bureaucrash took part in Tea Party protests on July 4 and the July 17th protest against health care reform. Bureaucrash is listed as a co-sponsor for Glenn Beck’s inaugural 9-12 Project march in Washington DC.
Perception
Libertarian historian Brian Doherty described Bureaucrash in Radicals for Capitalism as "a gang of libertarian college kids who prank leftists at major inter |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%20Geographic%20Channel%20%28disambiguation%29 | National Geographic is a subscription television network of National Geographic Partners, which is owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%).
National Geographic may also refer to:
National Geographic (Asian TV channel)
National Geographic (American TV channel)
National Geographic (Australian and New Zealand TV channel)
National Geographic (British and Irish TV channel)
National Geographic (Canadian TV channel)
National Geographic (Dutch TV channel)
National Geographic (French TV channel)
National Geographic (German TV channel)
National Geographic (Greek TV channel)
National Geographic (Indian TV channel)
National Geographic (Portuguese TV channel)
National Geographic (Scandinavian TV channel)
National Geographic (South Korean TV channel)
National Geographic Abu Dhabi
Nat Geo Wild
Nat Geo Wild (Canadian TV channel)
National Geographic Wild (European TV channel)
Nat Geo Music
Nat Geo People
Nat Geo Kids Abu Dhabi
Nat Geo Kids (Brazilian TV channel)
Nat Geo Kids (Latin American TV channel)
Nat Geo Tamil
Nat Geo Telugu
National Geographic Farsi
See also
National Geographic (disambiguation) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMKO-1 | The IMKO-1 ( (ИМКО-1), , Individual micro computer) was the first Bulgarian personal computer, built in 1979 in Pravetz, Bulgaria. It was the first in the Pravetz series 8 range of computers. As the other computers in the series, it is an Apple II clone.
History
The development of the first Bulgarian microcomputer started back in 1979 at the Institute for technical cybernetics and robotics ().
The prototype of the Pravetz computers that were developed by engineer Ivan Vassilev Marangozov,. IMKO-1 was a nearly identical clone of the original Apple 2 with a few minor exceptions - case, keyboard, character table (the lower case Latin alphabet was replaced with Cyrillic upper case), as well as the power supply (early models used bulky and heavy linear power supplies). A few early models were produced at the ITKR (pronounced ee-teh-kah-reh, Institute of Technical Cybernetics and Robotics), a section of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Industrial production in Pravetz started shortly after.
The first working samples were manufactured in 1980. The abbreviation IMKO stands for "Individual Micro Computer". This model is an analogue of the Apple II Plus and only about 50 units were manufactured for testing purposes.
Features
Start of production: 1980.
End of production: 1981.
Processor: 6502, 1 MHz.
Memory (RAM): 48KB (with the possibility to extend to 64KB).
Memory (ROM): 12KB.
Disk drives: No disk drives available, only a cassette player port.
Operating system: None.
Screen resolution: Text mode 40×24 (columns/rows), graphics mode 280×192 pixels - 6 colours,
280×160 pixels + 4 text rows, 40×40 pixels + 4 text rows, 40×48 pixels in 16 colours.
Variations: None.
Notes: Manufactured as an experimental model at the Institute for cybernetics and robotics
at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. It was well accepted due to its low price for its time as well
as due to its universal features and ease of use. It was first presented to the foreign audience in
1981 at the symposium on robotics in England as part of the demonstration of a robot arm (ROBKO-01).At that time the robots in Japan and the USA were controlled by minicomputers, not microcomputers like IMKO-1 and this demonstration was a real success as the whole system cost tens of times less than the Japanese or American analogues. As all computers of the Pravetz series this model has hardware Cyrillic support, but because the keyboard was using 7 bits for transmitting the character codes the Cyrillic letters were overlapping the lower case Latin letters and it was only possible to type with upper case Latin or Cyrillic letters.
Ports/slots: Cassette player port, 8 expansion slots. The zero slot was used for attaching extra
memory up to the 64KB limit.
Manufacturer: ITCR - Sofia.
Price: N/A (never sold).
External links
http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/easteurope_bu.html
http://www.pravetz.info/imko-1.html
https://www.amuseum.bg/publikacii/istoriya-na-kompyutri-pravec
References
Personal compute |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.