title: Eternity

text: Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempiternity corresponds to infinite duration.


title: Eternity

text: Classical philosophy defines eternity as what exists outside time, as in describing timeless supernatural beings and forces, distinguished from sempiternity which corresponds to infinite time, as described in requiem prayers for the dead. Some thinkers, such as Aristotle, suggest the eternity of the natural cosmos in regard to both past and future eternal duration. Boethius defined eternity as "simultaneously full and perfect possession of interminable life". Thomas Aquinas believed that God's eternity does not cease, as it is without either a beginning or an end; the concept of eternity is of divine simplicity, thus incapable of being defined or fully understood by humankind.


title: Eternity

text: Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and many others in the Age of Enlightenment drew on the classical distinction to put forward metaphysical hypotheses such as "eternity is a permanent now".


title: Eternity

text: Today cosmologists, philosophers, and others look towards analyses of the concept from across cultures and history. They debate, among other things, whether an absolute concept of eternity has real application for fundamental laws of physics; compare the issue of the entropy as an arrow of time.


title: Eternity

text: Eternity as infinite duration is an important concept in many lives and religions. God or gods are often said to endure eternally, or exist for all time, forever, without beginning or end. Religious views of an afterlife may speak of it in terms of eternity or eternal life. Christian theologians may regard immutability, like the eternal Platonic forms, as essential to eternity.


title: Eternity

text: Eternity is often symbolized by the endless snake, swallowing its own tail, the ouroboros. The circle, band, or ring is also commonly used as a symbol for eternity, as is the mathematical symbol of infinity, . Symbolically these are reminders that eternity has no beginning or end.


title: Third Heaven

text: In several Abrahamic religions, the Third Heaven is a division of Heaven in religious cosmology. In some traditions it is considered the abode of God, and in others a lower level of Paradise, commonly one of seven.


title: Third Heaven

text: The early books of the Tanakh reference Heaven (Heb. "Shamayim"), but not a Third Heaven or a specific number of heavens. Heaven is mentioned several times in the first chapter of Genesis. It appears in the first verse as a creation of God. His dividing the light from the darkness in verses 4 and 5 has been interpreted as the separation of heaven into two sections: day (God's throne) and night (where our universe is contained). In verse 8 heaven refers to the atmosphere over the earth in which birds fly, and in verse 14 it's the setting for the celestial lights, later identified (verse 16) as the sun, moon and stars.


title: Third Heaven

text: A third concept of Heaven, also called "shamayi h'shamayim" (שׁמי השׁמים or "Heaven of Heavens"), is mentioned in such passages as Genesis 28:12, Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27 as a distinctly spiritual realm containing (or being traveled by) angels and God.


title: Third Heaven

text: The ambiguity of the term "shamayim" in the Hebrew Bible, and the fact that it's a plural word, give "heavens" various interpretations regarding its nature, notably the ascension of the prophet Elijah.


title: Third Heaven

text: In the non-canonical Second Book of Enoch, Third Heaven is described as a location "between corruptibility and incorruptibility" containing the Tree of Life, "whereon the Lord rests, when he goes up into paradise." (chapter 8) Two springs in the Third Heaven, one of milk and the other of honey, along with two others of wine and oil, flow down into the Garden of Eden. (verse 6) In contrast with the common concept of Paradise, the Second Book of Enoch also describes it as "a very terrible place" for those who do wrong, with "all manner of tortures" inflicted by merciless angels on "those who dishonour God, who on earth practice sin against nature," including sodomites, sorcerers, enchanters, witches, the proud, thieves, liars and those guilty of various other transgressions. (chapter 10)


title: Third Heaven

text: In the Slavonic version of the "Greek Apocalypse of Baruch", also known as 3 Baruch, the author is shown a phoenix, and a dragon residing there is said to eat the bodies of "those that have spent their lives in evil."


title: Third Heaven

text: In "The Legends of the Jews" by Louis Ginzberg, this third division of Paradise is said to be, like the other six, "twelve myriads of miles in width and twelve myriads of miles in length," built of silver and gold, and containing "the best of everything there is in heaven."


title: Third Heaven

text: Aside from the redeemed, the transgressors and various angels mentioned in the Bible and other Hebrew literature, a number of specific figures and spirits are mentioned as residing in the Third Heaven. According to "The Legends of the Jews" by Louis Ginzberg these include:


title: Third Heaven

text: In 2 Corinthians Paul the Apostle writes, "I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat." According to E. W. Bullinger, the Greek says "caught away", not "caught up" possibly reflecting Jewish beliefs that Paradise was somewhere other than the uppermost heaven.


title: Third Heaven

text: Ideas about the system of "heavens" held by Jews and Christians in first-century communities are also evident in the non-canonical Second Book of Enoch (see previous section).


title: Third Heaven

text: Latter-day Saint theology interprets the Third Heaven to be the Celestial Kingdom, the highest of three degrees of glory rewarded by God following the resurrection and final judgment.


title: Third Heaven

text: According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad's Mi'raj (ascension through the heavens) included an admission to the Third Heaven by the angel Gabriel, in which he met Joseph, who received him warmly. Islamic tradition also places Azrael, the angel of death, in the Third Heaven. The third heaven is depicted as being constructed of pearl and/or luminous metals.


title: Third Heaven

text: According to Shi'ite sources, the Third Heaven is named Marum (). Sunni sources call the third layer Qaydum and consists of ruby.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Wing Commander is a media franchise consisting of space combat simulation video games from Origin Systems, Inc., an animated television series, a feature film, a , a series of novels, and action figures. The franchise originated in 1990 with the release of video game "Wing Commander".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Set in the 27th century, the games tell the story of humanity's war against the Kilrathi, an alien species of large feline bipeds. The Kilrathi are native to the planet Kilrah with their society depicted as an empire. Physically they are bipeds who strongly resemble big cats: they have leonine manes, but also have markings which distinguish their clan of origin. The species is featured in every game, with later games revealing more complex characters than just a faceless enemy. Later games would move on from the Kilrathi war setting, with "" being about a conspiracy within the ranks and "" and "Secret Ops" telling the battles against a new enemy known as the Nephilim.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The player represents the Terran Confederation, the primary human government in the "Wing Commander" series. The Terran Confederation is an alliance of systems and regional governments which provide unified protection and economic growth. Launching from carrier ships, the player fulfills various missions in space fighter aircraft. The games were all notable for their storytelling through extensive cutscenes. Starting with "Wing Commander III", every game (excluding "Secret Ops") contained cutscenes that incorporated live action filming, starring several major Hollywood actors, including John Rhys-Davies, Mark Hamill, Thomas F. Wilson and Malcolm McDowell, as well as Christopher Walken, John Hurt, and Clive Owen in "".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The "Wing Commander" game series began in 1990 with "Wing Commander". The newest addition to the series, "Wing Commander Arena", was released for the Xbox Live Arcade service on July 25, 2007.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The player begins his tour of duty as a young space fighter pilot on the carrier the TCS "Tiger's Claw". The player can set this character's name and callsign in the first games in the franchise. As of "Wing Commander 3", the protagonist is given the canonical name Christopher "Maverick" Blair. Through the player's heroic efforts, the Confederation is able to destroy the Kilrathi's sector headquarters and drive them from the Vega sector. Through the course of the Vega campaign, the player can gain numerous promotions and medals and fly in various squadrons, each featuring a different fighter. The game was notable for its innovative and seldom-repeated "campaign tree" structure, whereby the "path" the player took on the way to the end would be determined by the player's performance on preceding missions. In-game cinematics in "newsreel" format reflected the success or failure of the player and the "Claw".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Originally announced as "Squadron", the name was changed to "Wingleader" shortly into development; however, trademark issues forced a name change to "Wing Commander" at the last moment. The development team's nickname for the otherwise-unnamed protagonist was "Bluehair", due to his unusual shade of hair. Perhaps in a nod to this in-joke, when the character was given an actual name in later installments, Origin chose "Blair", a shortened version of the old nickname. "Wing Commander" was ported to the Amiga, FM Towns, SNES, Mega-CD, Amiga CD32, 3DO, Mac OS, and PlayStation Portable systems, the most ports of any "Wing Commander" game. In the Sega CD port which added voice acting, the player character was given the callsign of "HotShot" to allow him to be addressed by voice.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: In 1991, "Wing Commander" won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1990.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: A new Kilrathi secret weapon destroys the Terran colony of Goddard. In retribution, the Confederation plans a daring raid, Operation Thor's Hammer. "Tiger's Claw" must follow the Kilrathi deep into their own territory and destroy their new super weapon, the dreadnaught "Sivar".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "The Secret Missions" was ported to the FM Towns, SNES, Sony PSP (as part of the EA Replay bundle), and was included with "Wing Commander" on the 3DO and Macintosh as part of "Super Wing Commander".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: When the Confederation is just celebrating a new alliance with the bird-like native species of the planet Firekka, they learn that entire fleets of Kilrathi ships are leaving from other sectors and heading towards the Firekka system. Concerned, but massively outnumbered, the Confederation ships must retreat, but they soon learn from a Kilrathi defector that Firekka has been chosen as the place for a holy Kilrathi ceremony. The Confederation soon develops a plan to disrupt that ceremony in an act of terrorism meant to deliver a blow to enemy morale, and it is up to the pilots of "Tiger's Claw" to ensure the success of the mission.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: In 1994, a revamped version of the original "Wing Commander", entitled "Super Wing Commander" (SWC), was released for the 3DO. It featured new graphics, full speech and included a "Secret Missions 1.5" campaign (between the original campaigns 1 and 2) with a follow up to Thor's Hammer in which the "Claw" destroys the Kilrathi shipyards that constructed the "Sivar".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Shortly after the Firekka campaign, the "Tiger's Claw" attempts to attack the Kilrathi headquarters in the Enigma sector, but is ambushed by new Kilrathi "Strakha" stealth fighters and is lost. No one but Blair sees these fighters, so they are dismissed as an excuse to cover his cowardice. He is scapegoated for the loss of the "Claw", is demoted to captain and transferred to a backwater space station. Ten years later, he is called back into action when he is able to save the Confederation's flagship, the TCS "Concordia". Meeting many old friends there, he continues the fight against the Kilrathi, finally culminating in the destruction of their sector HQ, thus clearing his name and uncovering a traitor on the Concordia's flight decks, who was the mastermind behind the ambush and destruction of the "Tiger's Claw".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Wing Commander II" was ported to the FM Towns. In 1992, it won the Origins Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1991".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Blair is transferred to the undercover Special Operations division, supporting Kilrathi colonies that are defecting from the Empire. But first he must solve the problem of a mutiny on a Confed cruiser.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Jazz, the traitor from "Wing Commander II", has fled imprisonment and the Mandarin (the society of traitors) are also able to steal some of the Confederation's newest top-secret fighters. Blair must hunt them down and face Jazz in one final showdown.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The war is going very badly for the Confederation, far worse than what the public (or the player) generally knows. Battles are lost on all fronts, casualties are mounting, and the Concordia is destroyed. Colonel Christopher Blair (the player from the first games, now with a set name), is transferred to the TCS "Victory", an old ship from the first days of the war. In a last-ditch attempt to win the war, Confed has designed the TCS "Behemoth", a doomsday weapon able to destroy an entire planet. It is Blair's mission to help end this war for good, by destroying the Kilrathi homeworld of Kilrah. Unfortunately the Behemoth is destroyed by Kilrathi forces. The enemy fighters seemed to know exactly about the weakpoints of the weapon. Later on Blair finds out that his old friend Hobbes, a Kilrathi defector, is a sleeper agent and the traitor responsible for the Confed's losses. The last hope of winning the war for the Confederation is a secret weapon, the "Temblor Bomb", using the tectonic instability of Kilrah to destroy the planet. Blair is finally able to attack Kilrah, firing the bomb and destroying the Kilrathi homeworld. With the royal family of Kilrah killed and their homeworld lost, Melek, once attaché to the Kilrathi prince, surrenders before Blair.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Wing Commander III" was the first game in the series to use full motion video as opposed to animated cutscenes, and texture-mapped 3D instead of sprite-based graphics. The game features well-known actors such as Mark Hamill as Christopher Blair, John Rhys-Davies as James "Paladin" Taggart, Thomas F. Wilson as Todd "Maniac" Marshall, Malcolm McDowell as Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, Josh Lucas as "Flash", and Ginger Lynn as Chief Technician Rachel Coriolis.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The war with the Kilrathi is over, but not all is well within the Confederation. Skirmishes in the Border Worlds destroy ships regularly. Both Confed and the Union of Border Worlds assign blame to each other and the skirmishes threaten to lead to all-out war. Blair is soon recalled to active duty and sent to the Border Worlds to confirm Confed's determination. But he finds out that a conspiracy of war-mongers with members in the highest Confed circles are responsible for the attacks. Defecting to the Border Worlds, Blair must expose the conspiracy to help restore the peace in a galaxy still torn over the events of the Kilrathi-Terran War.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "The Price of Freedom" retained the storytelling-style of its predecessor, using live-action cutscenes with an ensemble cast of actors. Many of the actors from "Wing Commander III" returned to reprise their roles. The story's final sequence was innovative in that dialogue choices made by the player affected the outcome of the hearing. However, only three endings were possible, and two of the outcomes depended on the earlier choices made by the player.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Wing Commander IV" was ported to the PlayStation and Mac OS. To owners of the original MS-DOS version, Origin made available a Windows 95 DirectX port, free of charge.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Peace has finally come to the Confederation, or so it seems. Still remaining vigilant, they commission the new megacarrier TCS "Midway", which is soon needed when Kilrathi worlds are attacked by an enemy whose coming was foretold in ancient Kilrathi prophecies. The insectoid enemy, codenamed the Nephilim, soon begin attacking Confed space and the Midway is called in to stop their advance. As young hotshot pilot Lance Casey, the player must fight their organic ships to help destroy the wormhole they used to enter Kilrathi space, thereby halting the invasion, at least for a while.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: As did "Wing Commander IV", "Prophecy" incorporated live-action cutscenes with actors. "Prophecy" was ported to the Game Boy Advance.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The Nephilim return, this time much closer to Earth. Transferred to the cruiser TCS "Cerberus", Casey and his wingmates must repel the invasion once again.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Secret Ops" was an experiment in game distribution. It was at first only available as a free download. In regular intervals, new episodes were released, each featuring several new missions with the storyline told through in-game cutscenes. The game was later available in a collection together with "Prophecy", and sold as "Prophecy Gold".


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Set in the border regions of Confederation space, the player takes control of a privateer (in "Wing Commander", a "privateer" is a mercenary spacer) who may profit by trading, performing various missions, or pirating. Meanwhile, an ancient alien spaceship has been awakened and is on the loose, attacking ships at random, and the player-controlled privateer may be the Confederation's only hope in defeating it.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: This game featured completely open-ended gameplay, with the player able to completely ignore the main storyline if they so desired.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: When the player's priceless Steltek Gun is stolen, he embarks on a quest that will bring him into conflict with the Luddite-like Church of Man and their shady leader, Mordecai Jones.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Armada" featured both an action and a strategy game mode and several multiplayer options. The game was ported to the NEC PC9821 and FM Towns.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: This add-on for "Armada" added numerous new features such as a new "arcade"-mode with powerups, radar-obscuring asteroids, and several new multiplayer options, including IPX.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Kilrathi Saga" was a limited-edition reissue of the first three "Wing Commander" games ("Wing Commander", "Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi", and "Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger"). Origin repaired some of the game's known bugs and adjusted the speed to run on the early Pentium processors of the time. At the time of its release only 20,000 copies were published.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Kilrathi Saga" also featured complete digital re-orchestrations of the original two soundtracks by George Oldziey, but the "Saga" did not include the Secret Missions and Special Operations packs of the first two games. The packs were instead made available for download on the Origin website. Due to the add-on packs not being on the CDs there is a bug that causes some music to not be played during animated sequences in the add-ons.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The game features live-action video scenes, directed by Steve Hilliker. The cast included Clive Owen, Mathilda May, Jürgen Prochnow, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Brian Blessed and Amanda Pays. Dani Behr voiced the onboard computer, also named Dani. The game also featured David Warner, and Jürgen Prochnow, who later played Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn and Commander Paul Gerald, respectively, in the "Wing Commander" feature film. The filming was done at Pinewood Studios in England.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Set in a remote region of the Wing Commander universe in the Tri-System Confederation (a three system government that has almost three thousand-year history of its own parallel to the Terran Confederation history), a cargo ship "Canera" is attacked during landing and crashes into Mendra City on planet Crius in the year 2790 of the Tri-System calendar (the calendar appears to be longer than a Terran year with months that are about 40 days each). One survivor, As Lev Arris, a man with no memory of who he is and no record of his existence prior to two weeks before the crash, awakens from his cryo-sleep and must take on the life of a privateer in the Tri-System, re-discovering his past along the way.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Gaia Industries revived the "Wing Commander" franchise with a downloadable release on Xbox Live Arcade called "Wing Commander Arena". Dogfights take place in one of nine environments, and pilots are able to choose from 18 ships. There can be up to 16 players in a single match. The title was released on July 25, 2007. It is set chronologically after Wing Commander Prophecy Gold, and background information is included in the digital Star*Soldier manual.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Origin aborted several attempts to continue the "Privateer" franchise between 1995 and 2003, by either developing a sequel ("Privateer 3") or an online game ("Privateer" or "Wing Commander Online"). Only one of these was formally announced. The March 1998 issue of "Computer Games Strategy Plus" featured a cover story on "Privateer 3". Origin confirmed that development of the game had been canceled shortly after the magazine was published.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Wing Commander: Strike Team" was a planned sequel to "Wing Commander: Secret Ops" which focused on multiplayer gameplay. The title was officially announced in an EAUK promotional publication but was canceled early in development.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Several novels based on the games have been released by Baen Books. They include novelisations of "WCIII" and "WCIV" as well as offering further depth into known Wing Commander events such as the defection of Ralgha nar Hhallas.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: "Wing Commander Academy" is a 13-episode animated series that originally aired on the USA Network between September 21 and December 21, 1996. The series is set before and during the events of the first game and features many familiar ships and characters. The cast featured Mark Hamill, Tom Wilson, and Malcolm McDowell reprising their "Wing Commander" game roles.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: In 1999, "Wing Commander" hit the big screen with the film of the same name. It was directed by Chris Roberts, the creator of the game series, and stars Freddie Prinze, Jr., Saffron Burrows, Matthew Lillard, Tchéky Karyo, Jürgen Prochnow, and David Warner. The film diverged significantly from the established "Wing Commander" universe, and was a critical and commercial failure.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The "Wing Commander: Collectible card game" was an effort to combine the franchise's rising fortunes with the rising interest in card games, as "" was revolutionizing gaming centers the world over. The collectible card game (CCG) was based exclusively on the "WC3" intellectual license and contains no characters found elsewhere.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: The game supports two players, one as the Kilrathi Empire and one as the Terran Confederation (rules modifications may be made to allow teams of players instead). In the pre-game phase, players set out five "Nav Point" cards in an X pattern, with a Terran and Kilrathi carrier at either end (to form a hexagon). During gameplay, players may deploy fighters, and then deploy pilots and equipment upon those fighters. Every card has its own "Power Point" cost; players start with 30 Power Points and gain two each turn. The designers recommend pencil and paper for the keeping-track of Power Points. Finally, certain cards feature "Medals", which also feature as a resource, as some elite cards require the "tapping" of Medal-bearing cards to deploy.


title: Wing Commander (franchise)

text: Fighters, with pilots and secondary armaments potentially attached, move among the nav points, fighting with each other and attacking the enemy carrier. During combat, either player may play "Maneuver" cards to fortify their fighters (assuming the targeted craft has a high enough Maneuver statistic) or "Battle Damage" cards to cripple their enemies; both have Power Point costs. Attacks are then resolved by comparison of the aggressor's Attack value with the defender's Defense value (with Support values from allied ships augmenting as appropriate). Each card lost results in the loss of one Power Point as well. There are two ways to win: to destroy the enemy carrier (with the successful use of Torpedo cards) or to reduce the opponent's Power Point pool to zero.


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: Noddy, also known as Noddy in Toyland, and The Noddy Shop colloquially, is a live-action/animated children's television series based on Enid Blyton's children's book series of the same name featuring the animated episodes from "Noddy's Toyland Adventures" that aired from September 7, 1998 to October 8, 1999 on TVOntario and CBC Television in Canada and PBS in the United States. Following its cancellation, reruns were aired until September 13, 2002. The series was produced by BBC Worldwide, Catalyst Entertainment and Enid Blyton Ltd. It was shown in many countries around the world, including the United Kingdom (the BBC), United Arab Emirates (Dubai 33), Guam (KGTF), Malaysia (TV3), France (Europe 2 TV), Poland (TVP 1) and Australia (ABC).


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: The show starred Sean McCann as Noah Tomten, a former old salt, who now runs an antique shop in Littleton Falls, the NODDY Shop (this stood for "Notions, Oddities, Doodads & Delights of Yesterday"). His catchphrases included "What in tarnation?!" and "Great Neptune's Ghost!", usually whenever he was excited about something. It also starred Jayne Eastwood as his scatterbrained sister, Agatha Flugelschmidt, who runs a hat shop next door to the Noddy Shop. Her catchphrases include "Oh, pish posh!", usually after she disagrees with something that someone else said.


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: The stories in "The Noddy Shop" mainly centered on three children, Noah's grandchildren, Kate and Truman, and a friend of Kate's named Daniel Johnson, shortened to D.J., who came to play at the shop, and were collected by their (unseen) parents at the end of the day, implying the episodes were set after school, during school holidays or weekends.


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: In the second season, Truman gained the ability to talk to the toys in the shop, and Noddy gained a more prominent role in the live action segments, often interacting with the toys and Truman. Most of the stories were repeated from the first season with some minor additions, as well as also introducing new stories coming from the fourth and final season of Noddy's Toyland Adventures.


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: Most episodes had a moral message, which was conveyed with a Noddy story, usually told by Kate using the Noddy dolls in the shop, which the viewer saw as re-dubbed and re-scored Noddy animations. The moral message was also a theme in a song sung by the shop's population of anthropomorphic toys. There was sometimes a second song, usually a re enactment of a popular folk tale. These songs were written by Nashville-based composer Dennis Scott.


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: In its first season on PBS, the show was seen by an average of 2.5 million viewers per episode, higher than "Sesame Street"'s average during the same year.


title: Noddy (TV series)

text: Due to almost instantaneous success in the US and Canada, BBC Worldwide decided to distribute the series overseas. "Anything Can Happen at Christmas" was shown on CBBC in the UK in 1998. The first season of the show later aired there from 1999 to 2000 and was also shown in Australia, Malaysia and several countries in English. This version utilized the original sound-track for the Noddy animations. The live action segments were unaltered. The second season was never reversioned for the UK or Australia but was dubbed for other countries. The series was also dubbed for Poland, Spain, France, Israel, Mexico, and Portugal. A music video involving the character Johnny Crawfish, "Special", was made to promote the overseas airings.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: The northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) is one of two species of elephant seal (the other is the southern elephant seal). It is a member of the family Phocidae (true seals). Elephant seals derive their name from their great size and from the male's large proboscis, which is used in making extraordinarily loud roaring noises, especially during the mating competition. Sexual dimorphism in size is great. Correspondingly, the mating system is highly polygynous; a successful male is able to impregnate up to 50 females in one season.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: The huge male northern elephant seal typically weighs and measures , although some males can weigh up to . Females are much smaller and can range from in weight, or roughly a third of the male's bulk, and measure from . The bull southern elephant seals are, on average, larger than those in the northern species, but the females in both are around the same size, indicating the even higher level of sexual dimorphism in the southern species. Northern elephant seals typically live for around 9 years.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Both adult and juvenile elephant seals are bar-skinned and black before molting. After molting, they generally have a silver to dark gray coat that fades to brownish-yellow and tan. Adult males have hairless necks and chests speckled with pink, white, and light brown. Pups are mostly black at birth and molt to a silver gray after weaning.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: The eyes are large, round, and black. The width of the eyes and a high concentration of low-light pigments suggest sight plays an important role in the capture of prey. Like all seals, elephant seals have atrophied hind limbs whose underdeveloped ends form the tail and tail fin. Each of the "feet" can deploy five long, webbed fingers. This agile, dual palm is used to propel water. The pectoral fins are used little while swimming.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: While their hind limbs are unfit for locomotion on land, elephant seals use their fins as support to propel their bodies. They are able to propel themselves quickly (as fast as 8 km/h) in this way for short-distance travel, to return to water, catch up with a female or chase an intruder.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Like other seals, elephant seals' bloodstreams are adapted to the cold in which a mixture of small veins surrounds arteries capturing heat from them. This structure is present in extremities such as the hindlimbs.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: A unique characteristic of the northern elephant seal is that it has developed the ability to store oxygenated red blood cells within its spleen. In a 2004 study researchers used MRI to observe physiological changes of the spleens of 5 seal pups during simulated dives. By 3 minutes, the spleens on average contracted to a fifth of their original size, indicating a dive-related sympathetic contraction of the spleen. Also, a delay was observed between contraction of the spleen and increased hematocrit within the circulating blood, and attributed to the hepatic sinus. This fluid-filled structure is initially expanded due to the rush of RBC from the spleen and slowly releases the red blood cells into the circulatory system via a muscular vena caval sphincter found on the cranial aspect of the diaphragm. This ability to slowly introduce RBC into the blood stream is likely to prevent any harmful effects caused by a rapid increase in hematocrit.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: The northern elephant seal lives in the eastern Pacific Ocean. They spend most of their time at sea, and usually only come to land to give birth, breed, and molt. These activities occur at rookeries that are located on offshore islands or remote mainland beaches. The majority of these rookeries are in California and northern Baja California, ranging from Point Reyes National Seashore, California to Isla Natividad, Mexico. Significant breeding colonies exist at Channel Islands, Año Nuevo State Reserve, Piedras Blancas Light, Morro Bay State Park and the Farallon Islands in the US, and Isla Guadalupe, Isla Benito del Este and Isla Cedros in Mexico. In recent decades the breeding range has extended northwards. In 1976 the first pup was found on Point Reyes and a breeding colony established there in 1981. Since the mid-1990s some breeding has been observed at Castle Rock in Northern California and Shell Island off Oregon, and in January 2009 the first elephant seal births were recorded in British Columbia at Race Rocks. The California breeding population is now demographically isolated from the population in Baja California.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Northern elephant seals exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism in their feeding behaviours. When the males leave their rookeries, they migrate northwards to their feeding grounds along the continental shelf from Washington to the western Aleutians in Alaska. The males mostly feed on benthic organisms on the ocean floor. When the females leave their rookeries, they head north or west into open ocean, and forage across a large area in the northeastern Pacific. They have been recorded as far west as Hawaii. Female elephant seals feed mainly on pelagic organisms in the water column.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Vagrant elephant seals possibly appear on tropical regions such as at Mariana Islands. Historical occurrences of elephant seal presence, residential or occasional, in western North Pacific are fairly unknown. There have been two records of vagrants visiting to Japanese coasts; a male on Niijima in 1989 and a young seal on beaches in Hasama, Tateyama in 2001. A 2.5 meter female was found on Sanze beach, Tsuruoka, Yamagata in October 2017, making it the first record from Sea of Japan. This individual was severely weakened but showing signs of recovery after receiving medications at Kamo Aquarium, and the aquarium is discussing whether or not to release her.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Some individuals have been observed on the coast of northeast Asia. Certain individuals established haul-out sites at the Commander Islands in the early 2000s; however, due to aggressive interactions with local Steller sea lions, long-term colonization is not expected.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Female elephant seals forage in the open ocean, while male elephant seals forage along the continental shelf. Males usually dive straight down to the ocean floor and stay at the bottom foraging for benthic prey. The females hunt for pelagic prey in the open ocean, and dive deeper (up to 1735 m, though on average about 500 m) and stay down longer than the males. Female elephant seals have been tagged and found to dive almost continuously for 20 hours or more a day, mostly in 400 to 600 meter deep water, where small fish are abundant.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Northern elephant seals eat a variety of prey, including mesopelagic fish such as myctophids, deep-water squid, Pacific hake, pelagic crustaceans, relatively small sharks, rays, and ratfish. "Octopoteuthis deletron" squid are a common prey item, one study found this species in the stomachs of 58% of individuals sampled off the coast of California. A female northern elephant seal was documented in 2013 by a deep sea camera at a depth of , where it consumed a Pacific hagfish, slurping it up from the ocean floor. The event was reported by a Ukrainian boy named Kirill Dudko, who further reported the find to scientists in Canada. Elephant seals do not need to drink, as they get their water from food and metabolism of fats.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: While hunting in the dark depths, elephant seals seem to locate their prey at least partly by vision; the bioluminescence of some prey animals can facilitate their capture. Elephant seals do not have a developed a system of echolocation in the manner of cetaceans, but their vibrissae, which are sensitive to vibrations, are assumed to play a role in search of food. Males and females differ in diving behavior. Males tend to hug the continental shelf while making deep dives and forage along the bottom, while females have more jagged routes and forage in the open ocean. Elephant seals are prey for orcas and great white sharks. Both are most likely to hunt pups, and seldom hunt large bull elephant seals, but have taken seals of all ages. The shark, when hunting adults, is most likely to ambush a seal with a damaging bite and wait until it is weakened by blood loss to finish the kill.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Northern elephant seals return to their terrestrial breeding ground in December and January, with the bulls arriving first. The bulls haul out on isolated or otherwise protected beaches, typically on islands or very remote mainland locations. It is important that these beach areas offer protection from the winter storms and high surf wave action. The bulls engage in fights of supremacy to determine which few bulls will achieve a harem.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: After the males have arrived to the beach, the females arrive to give birth. Females fast for five weeks and nurse their single pup for four weeks; in the last few days of lactation, females come into estrus and mate. Mating behavior relates to a social hierarchy, and stronger males are considered 'higher rank' than those smaller and weaker. In this polygynous society, a high-ranking bull can have a harem of 30–100 cows, depending on his size and strength. Males unable to establish harems will wait on the periphery, and will try to mount nearby females. Dominant bulls will disrupt copulations of lower-ranking bulls. They can mount females without interference, but commonly break off to chase off rivals. While fights are not usually to the death, they are brutal and often with significant bloodshed and injury; however, in many cases of mismatched opponents, the younger, less capable males are simply chased away, often to upland dunes. In a lifetime, a successful bull could easily sire over 500 pups. Most copulations in a breeding colony are done by only a small number of males and the rest may never be able to mate with a female. Copulation is most often on land, and takes roughly five minutes. Pups are sometimes crushed during battles between bulls.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: After arrival on shore, males fast for three months, and females fast for five weeks during mating and when nursing their pups. The gestation period is about 11 months. One study observed the vast majority of births to take place at night, and in the aforementioned harems. Immediately after birth, a female will turn to her pup and emit a warbling vocalization to attract them, and will continue to throughout the nursing period. Sometimes, a female can become very aggressive after giving birth and will defend her pup from other females. Such aggression is more common in crowded beaches. While most females nurse their own pups and reject nursings from alien pups, some do accept alien pups with their own. An orphaned pup may try to find another female to suckle and some are adopted, at least on Año Nuevo Island. Some pups, known as super weaners, may grow to exceptionally large sizes by nursing from other females in addition to their mothers. Pups nurse about four weeks and are weaned abruptly before being abandoned by their mother, who heads out to sea within a few days. Pups gain weight rapidly during the nursing period, and weigh 300-400 pounds on average upon being weaned. Left alone, weaned pups will gather into groups and stay on shore for 12 more weeks. The pups learn how to swim in the surf and eventually swim farther to forage. Thus, their first long journey at sea begins.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Elephant seals communicate though various means. Males will threaten each other with the snort, a sound caused by expelling air though their probosces, and the clap-trap, a loud, clapping sound comparable to the sound of a diesel engine. Pups will vocalize when stressed or when prodding their mothers to allow them to suckle. Females make an unpulsed attraction call when responding to their young, and a harsh, pulsed call when threatened by other females, males or alien pups. Elephant seals produce low-frequency sounds, both substrate-borne and air-borne. These sounds help maintain social hierarchy in crowded or noisy environments and reduce energy consumption when fasting.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Beginning in the 18th century, northern elephant seals were hunted extensively, almost to extinction by the end of the 19th century, being prized for oil made from their blubber, and the population may have fallen as low as only 20-40 individuals. In 1874, Charles Melville Scammon recorded in "Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast of America", that an 18-ft-long bull caught on Santa Barbara Island yielded 210 gallons of oil. They were thought to be extinct in 1884 until a remnant population of eight individuals was discovered on Guadalupe Island in 1892 by a Smithsonian expedition, who promptly killed several for their collections. The elephant seals managed to survive, and were finally protected by the Mexican government in 1922. Since the early 20th century, they have been protected by law in both Mexico and in the United States. Subsequently, the U.S. protection was strengthened after passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and numbers have now recovered to over 100,000.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Nevertheless, a genetic bottleneck experienced by Northern elephant seals during the nineteenth century made them more susceptible to disease, environmental changes and pollution.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: This bottleneck caused a sharp loss of genetic diversity and increased homozygosity in the surviving population, and also a decreased number of haplogroups.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: In California, the population is continuing to grow at around 6% per year, and new colonies are being established; they are now probably limited mostly by the availability of haul-out space. Their breeding was probably restricted to islands, before large carnivores were exterminated or prevented from reaching the side of the ocean. Numbers can be adversely affected by El Niño events and the resultant weather conditions, and the 1997–98 El Niño may have caused the loss of about 80% of that year's pups. Presently, the northern elephant seal is protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and has a fully protected status under California law (California Fish and Game Code [FGC] § 4700).


title: Northern elephant seal

text: While the population is rising in the state of California, some colonies farther south are experiencing declining populations, likely due to rising sea and air temperatures. In Baja California, the two largest colonies, in Guadalupe and San Benito, have seen consistently declining numbers for the past two decades. Seeing as populations farther north are consistently increasing, it has been hypothesized that this discrepancy is due to a change in migration patterns. As sea and air temperatures rise, Northern elephant seals may not be migrating as far south as they have previously. The climate is expected to continue warming, and southern populations are expected to continue falling.


title: Northern elephant seal

text: Populations of rookery sites in California have increased during the past century. At Año Nuevo State Park, for example, no individuals were observed whatsoever until 1955; the first pup born there was observed in the early 1960s. Currently, thousands of pups are born every year at Año Nuevo, on both the island and mainland. The growth of the site near San Simeon has proved even more spectacular; no animals were there prior to 1990. Currently, the San Simeon site hosts more breeding animals than Año Nuevo State Park during winter season.


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: Jennifer "Jennie" Ketcham is an American writer, reality television personality, blogger, and artist. Before 2009, she worked as a pornographic film actress and director under the name Penny Flame. She later appeared on a number of television talk shows to discuss sex addiction, including "The Oprah Winfrey Show", "The Tyra Banks Show", "The View", "Entertainment Tonight", "Extra" and "Lifechangers".


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: Ketcham entered the pornography business at age 18, after answering an ad in the San Diego State University newspaper.


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: In 2005, Ketcham directed an instructional video for Shane's World Studios. In 2008, she signed a deal with Vivid Entertainment and Tristan Taormino to direct her own line of movies under the studio's sex education imprint, Vivid-Ed; the first film was "Penny Flame's Expert Guide to Handjobs", and the second was "Penny Flame's Expert Guide to Rough Sex". She retired from the industry in 2009.


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: In 2009, Ketcham appeared in the VH1 series "Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew", a spin-off of "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew"; her co-stars included Amber Smith, Nicole Narain, Kari Ann Peniche and Duncan Roy. Ketcham has said that she originally intended to disrupt the process in order to gain publicity and increase marketability as a porn star, but that after the first five days of treatment, she began to have a change of heart. Afterward, she entered a sober living facility, as depicted in the second season of "Sober House", which premiered in March 2010.


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: The last adult film that Ketcham performed in, titled "Celebrity Pornhab with Dr. Screw" (a parody of the "Celebrity Rehab" series that had recently featured porn star Mary Carey), was shot just before her participation in "Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew".


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: Ketcham discussed her path into pornography and her recovery from addiction with Pinsky and others in a March 17, 2010, appearance on "The View". Ketcham stated on "The View" that she remained in the industry because it allowed her to work only three days a week while earning a substantial income; that it gave her the instant attention and acceptance of adoring fans, and it was the most convenient way to feed the sexual addiction associated with an inability to trust or form deep emotional connections with others; and that sex addiction preceded the substance addiction, but the two became intertwined and difficult to untangle. She explained that she had taken a year-long vow of abstinence when she completed treatment. Nine months into this period of abstinence, a friendship with a man who supported her recovery and attended "12-step" meetings with her became a committed, monogamous relationship.


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: In 2009, Ketcham started a blog titled "Becoming Jennie". In her first entry, dated April 29, 2009, she wrote, "My name is Jennie Ketcham, and I am a recovering pornstar, and addict. This day, as every day, is the first day of the rest of my life, and I intend to live it to the fullest." The blog has been featured on "Last Call with Carson Daly".


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: In December 2009, Ketcham began contributing to "The Huffington Post". She published a memoir in July 2012 titled "I Am Jennie".


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: Ketcham states she became sexually active at age 12, and that she practiced safe sex as a youth. She has explained that her sexual activity was a way for her to achieve the emotional validation missing from her relationships with family and friends. Her parents divorced when she was 13; Ketcham has said she ceased speaking to her father and did not do so again until she was 26.


title: Jennifer Ketcham

text: Ketcham is an avid painter and sees it as a healthy activity for sex addiction, as well as a new source of income. When she was enrolling in college, she forfeited all porn-related sources of income to make a clean break.


title: Marten de Roon

text: Marten Elco de Roon (born 29 March 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Atalanta and the Netherlands national team. He formerly played for Sparta Rotterdam, SC Heerenveen and Middlesbrough.


title: Marten de Roon

text: De Roon was born in Zwijndrecht and raised in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, where he played in youth teams of ASWH. From ASWH, he continued to youth teams of Feyenoord and Sparta Rotterdam.


title: Marten de Roon

text: De Roon made his Eredivisie debut for Sparta Rotterdam on 27 March 2010, starting in the match against Twente at De Grolsch Veste. He made a total of three appearances in the Eredivisie for the 2009–10 season.


title: Marten de Roon

text: In April 2012, Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen announced the signing of De Roon on a three-year contract.


title: Marten de Roon

text: On 4 July 2016, De Roon signed for newly-promoted Premier League side Middlesbrough for a reported £12 million transfer fee. He scored his first goal for his new club – a 91st-minute equaliser – on 5 November 2016 in a 1–1 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. He went on to score a further 3 league goals for the club over the remainder of the season, including the only goal in a victory over Sunderland in the Tees–Wear derby, however Middlesbrough were relegated on 8 May 2017. On 18 July 2017, Middlesbrough confirmed that they paid £8.8 million for De Roon, with Atalanta earning another £900,000 after the midfielder played 30 games for the club.


title: Marten de Roon

text: On 10 August 2017, De Roon re-signed for Atalanta for an undisclosed fee. He once again cemented himself as a starter under Gian Piero Gasperini, and helped Atalanta finish in a historic 3rd place in the 2018–19 season, earning them a spot in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage. He also scored a volley against Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia semi-finals in the 58th minute. Atalanta would win the tie 5–4, though lost in the final against Lazio. He made his Champions League debut on 18 September 2019 against Dinamo Zagreb.


title: Marten de Roon

text: De Roon has represented the Netherlands under-19 national team in the qualification rounds for the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. On 12 November 2009, he made his debut and scored his first goal for the U-19 "Oranje" in a qualification match against Malta. On 13 November 2016, he made his debut for the senior team.


title: Marten de Roon

text: He was later named in the first Dutch squad chosen by new national team manager Ronald Koeman. This was in March 2018 for the friendlies against England and Portugal.


title: Infinite loop

text: In [[computer programming]], an infinite loop (or endless loop) is a sequence of instructions that, as written, will continue endlessly, unless an external intervention occurs ("pull the plug"). It may be intentional.


title: Infinite loop

text: "The same instructions" were run "continuously until it was stopped or interrupted" . . . by the "FALSE" returned at some point by the function "is_there_more_data".


title: Infinite loop

text: "birds" will alternate being 1 or 2, while "fish" will alternate being 2 or 1. The loop will not stop unless an external intervention occurs ("pull the plug").


title: Infinite loop

text: An "infinite loop" is a sequence of instructions in a [[computer program]] which loops endlessly, either due to the [[control flow#Loops|loop]] having no terminating condition, having one that can never be met, or one that causes the loop to start over. In older [[operating system]]s with [[cooperative multitasking]], infinite loops normally caused the entire system to become unresponsive. With the now-prevalent preemptive multitasking model, infinite loops usually cause the program to consume all available processor time, but can usually be terminated by the user. [[Busy waiting|Busy wait]] loops are also sometimes called "infinite loops". Infinite loops are one possible cause for a computer "[[hang (computing)|freezing]]"; others include [[thrashing (computer science)|thrashing]], [[deadlock]], and [[segmentation fault|access violation]]s.


title: Infinite loop

text: Looping is repeating a set of instructions until a specific condition is met. An infinite loop occurs when the condition will never be met, due to some inherent characteristic of the loop.


title: Infinite loop

text: There are a few situations when this is desired behavior. For example, the games on cartridge-based game consoles typically have no exit condition in their main loop, as there is no operating system for the program to exit to; the loop runs until the console is powered off.


title: Infinite loop

text: Modern interactive computers require that the computer constantly be monitoring for user input or device activity, so at some fundamental level there is an infinite processing [[idle loop]] that must continue until the device is turned off or reset. In the [[Apollo Guidance Computer]], for example, this outer loop was contained in the Exec program, and if the computer had absolutely no other work to do it would loop run a dummy job that would simply turn off the "computer activity" indicator light.


title: Infinite loop

text: Modern computers also typically do not halt the processor or motherboard circuit-driving clocks when they crash. Instead they fall back to an error condition displaying messages to the operator, and enter an infinite loop waiting for the user to either respond to a prompt to continue, or to reset the device.


title: Infinite loop

text: In multi-threaded programs some threads can be executing inside infinite loops without causing the entire program to be stuck in an infinite loop. If the main thread exits all threads of the process are forcefully stopped thus all execution ends and the process/program terminates. The threads inside the infinite loops can perform "housekeeping" tasks or they can be in a blocked state waiting for input (from socket/queue) and resume execution every time input is received.


title: Infinite loop

text: Most often, the term is used for those situations when this is not the intended result; that is, when this is a [[software bug|bug]]. Such errors are most common among novice programmers, but can be made by experienced programmers as well, because their causes can be quite subtle.


title: Infinite loop

text: One common cause, for example, is that the programmer intends to iterate over sequence of nodes in a [[data structure]] such as a [[linked list]] or [[tree (data structure)|tree]], executing the loop code once for each node. Improperly formed links can create a "reference loop" in the data structure, where one node links to another that occurs earlier in the sequence. This makes part of the data structure into a [[ring (data structure)|ring]], causing naive code to loop forever.


title: Infinite loop

text: While most infinite loops can be found by close inspection of the code, there is no "general" method to determine whether a given program will ever halt or will run forever; this is the [[undecidable problem|undecidability]] of the [[halting problem]].


title: Infinite loop

text: As long as the system is responsive, infinite loops can often be interrupted by sending a signal to the process (such as [[SIGINT (POSIX)|SIGINT]] in Unix), or an [[interrupt]] to the processor, causing the current process to be aborted. This can be done in a [[task manager]], in a terminal with the [[Control-C]] command, or by using the [[kill (command)|kill]] command or [[system call]]. However, this does not always work, as the process may not be responding to signals or the processor may be in an uninterruptible state, such as in the [[Cyrix coma bug]] (caused by overlapping uninterruptible instructions in an [[instruction pipeline]]). In some cases other signals such as [[SIGKILL]] can work, as they do not require the process to be responsive, while in other cases the loop cannot be terminated short of system shutdown.


title: Infinite loop

text: Infinite loops can be implemented using various [[control flow]] constructs. Most commonly, in unstructured programming this is jump back up ([[goto]]), while in structured programming this is an indefinite loop (while loop) set to never end, either by omitting the condition or explicitly setting it to true, as codice_1.


title: Infinite loop

text: Some languages have special constructs for infinite loops, typically by omitting the condition from an indefinite loop. Examples include Ada (codice_2), Fortran (codice_3), Go (codice_4), Ruby (codice_5), and Rust (codice_6).


title: Infinite loop

text: The form codice_7 for an infinite loop is traditional, appearing in the standard reference "[[The C Programming Language]]", and is often punningly pronounced "forever".


title: Infinite loop

text: This creates a situation where codice_8 will never be greater than 5, since at the start of the loop code codice_8 is given the value of 1, thus, the loop will always end in 2 and the loop will never break. This could be fixed by moving the codice_10 instruction outside the loop. Essentially what this infinite loop does is to instruct a computer to keep on adding 1 to 1 until 5 is reached. Since 1+1 always equals 2, this will never happen.


title: Infinite loop

text: In some languages, programmer confusion about the mathematical symbols may lead to an unintentional infinite loop. For example, here is a snippet in [[C (programming language)|C]]:


title: Infinite loop

text: The expected output is the numbers 0 through 9, with an interjected "a equals 5!" between 5 and 6. However, in the line "codice_11" above, the programmer has confused the = (assignment) operator with the == (equality test) operator. Instead, this will assign the value of 5 to codice_12 at this point in the program. Thus, codice_12 will never be able to advance to 10, and this loop cannot terminate.


title: Infinite loop

text: Unexpected behavior in evaluating the terminating condition can also cause this problem. Here is an example in [[C (programming language)|C]]:


title: Infinite loop

text: On some systems, this loop will execute ten times as expected, but on other systems it will never terminate. The problem is that the loop terminating condition codice_14 tests for exact equality of two [[floating point]] values, and the way floating point values are represented in many computers will make this test fail, because they cannot represent the value 0.1 exactly, thus introducing rounding errors on each increment (cf. box).


title: Infinite loop

text: Because of the likelihood of tests for equality or not-equality failing unexpectedly, it is safer to use greater-than or less-than tests when dealing with floating-point values. For example, instead of testing whether codice_8 equals 1.1, one might test whether codice_16, or codice_17, either of which would be certain to exit after a finite number of iterations. Another way to fix this particular example would be to use an [[integer (computer science)|integer]] as a [[control flow|loop index]], counting the number of iterations that have been performed.


title: Infinite loop

text: A similar problem occurs frequently in [[numerical analysis]]: in order to compute a certain result, an iteration is intended to be carried out until the error is smaller than a chosen tolerance. However, because of rounding errors during the iteration, the specified tolerance can never be reached, resulting in an infinite loop.


title: Infinite loop

text: An infinite loop may be caused by several entities interacting. Consider a server that always replies with an error message if it does not understand the request. Even if there is no possibility for an infinite loop within the server itself, a system comprising two of them ("A" and "B") may loop endlessly: if "A" receives a message of unknown type from "B", then "A" replies with an error message to "B"; if "B" does not understand the error message, it replies to "A" with its own error message; if "A" does not understand the error message from "B", it sends yet another error message, and so on.


title: Infinite loop

text: One common example of such situation is an [[email loop]]. An example of an email loop is if someone receives mail from a no reply inbox, but their auto-response is on. They will reply to the no reply inbox, triggering the "this is a no reply inbox" response. This will be sent to the user, who then sends an auto reply to the no-reply inbox, and so on and so forth.


title: Infinite loop

text: It appears that this will go on indefinitely, but in fact the value of codice_18 will eventually reach the maximum value storable in an codice_19 and adding 1 to that number will wrap-around to 0, breaking the loop. The actual limit of codice_18 depends on the details of the system and [[compiler]] used. With [[arbitrary-precision arithmetic]], this loop would continue until the computer's [[memory (computers)|memory]] could no longer hold codice_18. If codice_18 was a signed integer, rather than an unsigned integer, overflow would be undefined. In this case, the compiler could optimize the code into an infinite loop.


title: Infinite loop

text: A "codice_23" loop looks infinite at first glance, but there may be a way to escape the loop through a [[break statement]] or [[return statement]].


title: Infinite loop

text: "Alderson loop" is a rare slang or [[The Jargon File|jargon]] term for an infinite loop where there is an exit condition available, but inaccessible in the current implementation of the code, typically due to a programmer's error. These are most common and visible while [[debugging]] [[user interface]] code.


title: Infinite loop

text: A C-like pseudocode example of an Alderson loop, where the program is supposed to sum numbers given by the user until zero is given, but where the programmer has used the wrong operator:


title: Infinite loop

text: The term allegedly received its name from a programmer (last name Alderson) who in 1996 had coded a [[modal window|modal]] [[dialog box]] in [[Microsoft Access]] without either an OK or Cancel button, thereby disabling the entire program whenever the box came up.


title: Academy Award for Best Sound

text: The Academy Award for Best Sound is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing, recording, sound design, and sound editing. The award used to go to the studio sound departments until a rule change in 1969 said it should be awarded to the specific technicians. The first were Murray Spivack and Jack Solomon for "Hello, Dolly!". It is generally awarded to the production sound mixers, re-recording mixers, and supervising sound editors of the winning film. In the lists below, the winner of the award for each year is shown first, followed by the other nominees. Before the 93rd Academy Awards, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing were separate categories.


title: Academy Award for Best Sound

text: For the second and third years of this category (i.e., the 4th Academy Awards and the 5th Academy Awards) only the names of the film companies were listed. Paramount Publix Studio Sound Department won in both years.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise two semi-finals, where the team finishing third plays the team finishing sixth, and the team finishing fourth plays the team finishing fifth, each conducted as a two-legged tie. The winners of the semi-finals progress to the final which is contested at Wembley Stadium. The Championship play-off final is considered the most valuable single football match in the world as a result of the increase in revenue to the winning club from sponsorship and media agreements.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: For the first three years, the play-off final took place over two legs, played at both side's grounds. Charlton Athletic won the first Championship play-off final in 1987, requiring a replay to defeat Leeds United. From 1990, the play-off final was a one-off match, hosted at the original Wembley Stadium, while from 2001 to 2006, the final was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Wembley was being rebuilt. Since 2007, the match has been hosted at Wembley Stadium.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: When the second tier play-offs were first contested in 1987, they were known as the Football League Second Division play-offs. From 1993 to 2004, following the creation of the FA Premier League as a breakaway from the Football League, the competition became known as the First Division play-offs, and since 2005 has taken its current name as the Championship play-offs following a rebranding of the remaining three divisions of the Football League.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: , the Championship play-offs involve the four teams that finish directly below the automatic promotion places in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. These teams meet in a series of play-off matches to determine the final team that will be promoted to the Premier League. The team finishing in third place plays the sixth-placed team in a two-legged tie, while the team in fourth plays the fifth-placed team, also over two legs; these are referred to as the "play-off semi-finals". The first match of the semi-finals is played at the side with the lower league position's home ground while the second match takes place at the higher-ranking side's ground. According to the EFL, "this is designed to give the highest finishing team an advantage".


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: The winner of each semi-final is determined by the aggregate score across the two legs, with the number of goals scored in each match of the tie being added together. The team with the higher aggregate score qualifies for the final. If, at the end of regular 90 minutes of the second leg, the aggregate score is level then the match goes into extra time where two 15-minute halves are played. If the score remains level at the end of extra time, the tie is decided by a penalty shootout. The away goals rule does not apply in the play-off semi-finals.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: The clubs that win the semi-finals then meet at Wembley Stadium, a neutral venue, for a one-off match referred to as the "play-off final". If required, extra time and a penalty shootout can be employed in the same manner as for the semi-finals to determine the winner. The runner-up and losing semi-finalists remain in the Championship while the winning side is promoted. The match, along with the finals of the League One and League Two play-offs, usually takes place over the long weekend of the second bank holiday in May.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: The mid-1980s saw a decline in attendances at football matches and public disenchantment with English football. A number of instances of violence and tragedy struck the game. In March 1985 at the semi-final of the 1984–85 Football League Cup between Chelsea and Sunderland where more than 100 people were arrested after various invasions of the Stamford Bridge pitch and more than 40 people, including 20 policemen, were injured. Nine days later, violence flared at the FA Cup match between Millwall and Luton Town: seats were used as missiles against the police and resulted in Luton Town banning away supporters. On 11 May, 56 people were killed and 265 injured in the Bradford City stadium fire and less than three weeks later, 39 supporters died and more than 600 were injured in the Heysel Stadium disaster where Liverpool were playing Juventus in the European Cup final.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: In an attempt to persuade fans to return to the stadia, the Football League had rejected a £19million television deal to broadcast matches live on the BBC and ITV before the 1985–86 Football League season with League president Jack Dunnett suggesting that "football is prepared to have a year or two with no television". In December 1985, the "Heathrow Agreement" was agreed which aimed to revitalise the financial affairs of the league. It was a ten-point plan which included a structural reorganisation of the league, reducing the top tier from 22 clubs to 20, and the introduction of play-offs to facilitate the change. The play-offs were introduced to the end of the 1986–87 Football League season. They were initially introduced for two years but with the proviso that if they were successful with the general public, they would be retained permanently.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: In the first two seasons, the team one place above the relegation zone in the First Division, along with the three clubs below the automatic promotion positions in the Second Division, took part in the play-offs. In the inaugural play-off final, First Division Charlton Athletic faced Second Division Leeds United but they could not be separated over the two home-and-away legs, so the tie was settled in a replay. Played at a neutral ground, St Andrew's in Birmingham, Charlton won the game 2–1 after extra time to retain their First Division status, while Leeds remained in the Second Division. The following season, Middlesbrough beat Chelsea 2–1 on aggregate, and replaced them in the First Division. The primary objective of the play-offs was achieved within the first two seasons, namely the reorganisation of the four leagues with 20 clubs in the first tier and 24 in the second to fourth tiers. However, the popularity of the play-offs was such that the post-season games were retained and the 1989 play-offs were first to feature four teams from the Second Division: Crystal Palace beat Blackburn Rovers 4–3 over two legs after extra time in the final.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: From 1990, the format of the final changed to a single match played at a neutral venue, initially the original Wembley Stadium. The first winners of the inaugural one-off final were Swindon Town who defeated Sunderland 1–0 in the final in front of 72,873 spectators. Ten days after the final, Swindon were found guilty on 35 counts of illegal player payments and were given a two-division relegation. This meant that Sunderland were promoted to the First Division in Swindon's place. Wembley underwent renovations early in the 21st century and the 2000 final was the last to be hosted at the original stadium. Subsequently the finals were hosted at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, where Bolton Wanderers beat Preston North End 3–0 in the final. The Millennium Stadium held the finals until 2007 when the match was moved to the renovated Wembley Stadium, the first such final seeing Derby County defeat West Bromwich Albion 1–0. The final in 2020 was held behind closed doors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: Fulham defeated Brentford 2–1 after extra time in front of an official attendance of 0.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: Since the first play-off final, the second tier of English football's league itself has undergone a number of re-brands. In 1993, the Premier League was formed, a move which caused the second-tier league to be renamed as the First Division. In 2004, the First Division was re-branded as the Football League Championship, before the League's adoption of English Football League (EFL) led to a 2016 renaming as the EFL Championship.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: While there is no financial prize for the winners, the match is still referred to as the most valuable single football match in the world as a result of ensuing commercial and media benefits. Accountants Deloitte described the 2020 final as the "contest for biggest financial prize in world football" with promotion worth at least £85million in the first season after promotion and an additional £80million the following season should an immediate relegation be avoided. However, by convention the two finalists agree that the loser will keep all the gate receipts from the game, so as to slightly soften the financial blow of missing out. The winning team is also presented with a trophy.


title: EFL Championship play-offs

text: Crystal Palace have secured promotion to the top tier of English football through the play-offs more times than any other club, having won four finals. West Ham United, Watford, Bolton Wanderers, Hull City and Swindon Town have also won the second-tier play-offs on two occasions (although Swindon have only won promotion through the play-offs once, as promotion was withdrawn following their first play-off victory due to financial irregularities). Derby County, Reading and Sheffield United have each lost three times in the Championship play-off finals. Ipswich Town have participated in the Championship play-offs a joint-record eight times: 1987, 1997–2000 inclusive, 2004, 2005 and 2015, making the final only once in 2000 when they won promotion with a 4–2 victory over Barnsley. Derby County have also qualified for the play-offs eight times, with their only promotion coming following a win over West Bromwich Albion in the 2007 final. Leicester City have reached the Championship play-off final four times (in the space of five seasons), losing two in 1992 and 1993 and winning two in 1994 and 1996.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: She's Dating the Gangster is a 2014 Philippine coming-of-age romantic comedy drama film based on the Pop Fiction book of the same name originally published on CandyMag.com's "Teen Talk" section and it was popularized on Wattpad by Bianca Bernardino (pen name: SGwannaB). The film is directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina, topbilled by Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, together with Dawn Zulueta and Richard Gomez. It was distributed by Star Cinema with co-production of Summit Media and was released on July 16, 2014 in theatres nationwide as part of its 20th anniversary presentation.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: In 2014, Kenji Delos Reyes delivers a speech during the wedding of Kirby and Grace. However, Kenneth, Kenji’s son, makes out with a girl in a bathroom stall. The stall opens as the girl’s grandfather enters and chaos then ensues as he chases Kenneth to the reception hall. This causes a scene and a confrontation between Kenji and Kenneth. Kenji then asks Kenneth to be mature and asks him what the problem is, to which the latter says that he doesn’t want to be with him but has no choice. Kenji asks his son what caused him to feel this way, and he answers that he knows about the other Athena. Disappointed, Kenji says that Kenneth has no idea how much he loves him and his mother. The morning after a drinking spree, a hungover Kenneth finds out the plane that would take his father to Bicol has crashed. He rushes to the airport to see the list of survivors. There, he meets Kelay who also wants to see the list. Since the place is crowded, Kelay could not pass through. She then causes a scene so that they would let her see it. She fakes crying and begins shouting that she does not want her father dead. Members of the media approach her and ask what her father’s name is, to which she answers Kenji delos Reyes. Hearing this, Kenneth confronts her and says that he is the only offspring of Kenji. Kenneth then tells the media that he’s the legal son and he can show his birth certificate to prove this. Kelay, on the other hand, has Kenji’s picture. Confirming that the girl on the picture is not his mother, Kenneth is asked by the airline officer for his contact details while Kelay is shunned. Kenneth confronts her to ask who the girl on the picture is, and Kelay bargains that she would tell Kenneth once he agrees to tell her at once when the airline contacts him for information regarding Kenji. However, all the flights to Legazpi are booked. He has no choice but to take the bus but since it's Holy Week, all tickets have been sold. Kenneth sleeps at the bus station, hoping to get a ticket as a chance passenger, yet he oversleeps. Fortunately, Kelay went to the same bus station and bought tickets for the two of them.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: On the way to Legazpi, Kelay, Athena’s niece, tells the tale of young Athena and Kenji which dates back to 1990s, a "gangster" whom everyone was afraid of. He is broken hearted over Athena Abigail Tizon. Wanting to get back together with her, he mistakenly sends his messages of despair to Athena Dizon’s pager. Athena, not knowing who the messages are from, agrees to meet up with the sender. On a pool hall, Athena and her friend Sarah are keen on playing pool. Kenji arrives and demands that they transfer to another pool table. Athena fights back but Kenji wins and claims his spot. An angry Athena then watches Kenji being bullied by, yet refusing to fight back to, a rival group of gangsters. They tease him that "Bee" would not show up. Hearing this, Athena realizes that the messages were sent by Kenji. She watches with pity as Kenji gets mugged. He finds out about his messages for Abi and confronts Athena. To her surprise, he kisses her forcefully and tells her that from then on, she will be his girlfriend as she owes Kenji for causing him to get mugged. Athena has to pretend to be his girlfriend in order to get Abi jealous. At first, Athena refuses and Kenji bullies her. Athena eventually gives in when Kenji attempts to commit suicide by jumping from the school's rooftop if she does not accept. The next day at school, Athena is treated like a princess with Kenji providing her bodyguards. Jealous, some girls at the school start bullying her. Kenji confronts them and says that no one hurts his girlfriend. Their pretend relationship eventually becomes real and the two confess their love for each other. Kenji takes Athena Dizon to Legazpi to see the Mayon Volcano and promises that someday they will get married in that place with the volcano as their witness. When they come back to Manila, however, Kenji begins to absent himself from class. Athena then gets an invite from young Lucas to go see Kenji who is in the hospital. Worried, Athena hurries and finds Abi lying in the hospital bed. Abi has stage three gastric cancer and was the reason why she broke up with Kenji. Wanting Abi to be happy and live longer, Athena breaks up with him. Kenji and Abi get married and Abi gives birth to Kenneth.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: Back then 20 years later while searching for Kenji in Legazpi, Kenneth receives a call from present day Lucas and he helps in looking for Kenji. On their way, Kelay receives a call from her family informing her of Athena’s health condition and that she is dying. Kelay and Kenneth part ways with Kenneth promising that Athena and Kenji would meet once he finds him. Kenneth finds the hospital where Kenji is confined and reads his letter to him. In the letter, Kenji tells him that he was on his way to Legazpi to say goodbye to his memories with Athena and apologizes for making Kenneth feel that way. When Kenji wakes up, the two hug and reconcile. When Kenji is well, Kenneth takes him to Athena’s house. Athena tells Kenji about her disease for the first time and tells him that his love kept her alive through those years. She says she is happy for Kenji and dies in his arms. Kelay wakes up to a phone call telling her that a flight has gone missing again and Kenneth was on that flight. When she goes to look for him she makes a scene again, telling the media her 'boyfriend' is missing. Kenneth witnesses Kelay and it's revealed that it was actually Kenji who called her. Kenneth asks Kelay if they can have a great love story like his dad and Kelay's aunt had and almost kiss as the screen cuts to black.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: Several actors and actresses also made their cameo appearance in the film–including Karen Reyes as Bridesmaid, Matutina as Nana Buding, Hyubs Azarcon as Truck Driver, Pooh as News Reporter, Jojit Lorenzo and JM De Guzman as Airline Officers, Rayver Cruz, Patrick Sugui, Carl Ravanes, and Rasheed Rivero as the basketball players, Joross Gamboa and Ketchup Eusebio as the Coach, Janus del Prado as the Bus Ticket Vendor, Joem Bascon as hair stylist, Gerry Bricenio as Bus Conductor, and Olivia Cruz as the Doctor.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: Due to the film's huge success, it was screened internationally in selected countries like United States, Canada, Australia, and United Arab Emirates. The film grossed $222,000 after 3 days of showing in North America and after 10 days, the cumulative total was $570,000. The total gross, from the 2-week US and 3-week Canada screenings as well as the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore screenings, is yet to be determined.


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: Philbert Ortiz-Dy of Click the City gave a positive review in the film, stating that "She's Dating the Gangster" is at its best when it allows kids to be kids. Its portrayal of young, intensely romantic love is really charming, especially placed as it is in this wacky conception of its period setting. He also stated that "The narrative just can't support this pathos. The film begins to apply fantasy logic to really serious topics. [...] This kind of magical thinking just doesn’t mesh well with the real medical terms that the film just trots out."


title: She's Dating the Gangster

text: According to Star Cinema's advertising manager Mico del Rosario, the film gathered (US$340,000) on its first day of showing. The film grossed in the Philippines per the Annual Report filed by ABS-CBN to the SEC. The worldwide box office of the film is at . With total gross $5,837,612 the movie hit No. 8 on the 2014 Philippinese Yearly Box Office.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice of Orange (; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was "stadtholder" of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince of Orange upon the death of his eldest half-brother Philip William in 1618, he was known as Maurice of Nassau.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice spent his youth in Dillenburg in Nassau, and studied in Heidelberg and Leiden. He succeeded his father William the Silent as stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland in 1585, and became stadtholder of Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel in 1590, and of Groningen in 1620. As Captain-General and Admiral of the Union, Maurice organized the Dutch rebellion against Spain into a coherent, successful revolt and won fame as a military strategist. Under his leadership and in cooperation with the Land's Advocate of Holland Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the Dutch States Army achieved many victories and drove the Spaniards out of the north and east of the Republic. Maurice set out to revive and revise the classical doctrines of Vegetius and pioneered the new European forms of armament and drill. During the Twelve Years' Truce, a religious dispute broke out in the Republic, and a conflict erupted between Maurice and Van Oldenbarnevelt, which ended with the latter's decapitation. After the Truce, Maurice failed to achieve more military victories. He died without legitimate children in The Hague in 1625 and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Frederick Henry.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice was the son of William the Silent and Anna of Saxony and was born at the castle of Dillenburg. He was named after his maternal grandfather, the Elector Maurice of Saxony, who was also a noted general.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice never married but was the father of illegitimate children by Margaretha van Mechelen (including Willem of Nassau, Lord of the Lek, and Louis of Nassau, Lord of De Lek and Beverweerd) and Anna van de Kelder. He was raised in Dillenburg by his uncle Johan of Nassau (Jan the Old).


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Together with his cousin Willem Lodewijk he studied in Heidelberg and later in Leiden where he met Simon Stevin. The States of Holland and Zeeland paid for his studies, as their father had run into financial problems after spending his entire fortune in the early stages of the Dutch revolt.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Only 16 when his father was murdered in Delft in 1584, he soon was appointed to his father's office of stadtholder ("Stadhouder"). The monarchs of England and France had been requested to accept sovereignty but had refused. This had left Maurice as the only acceptable candidate for the position of Stadtholder. He became stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland in 1585, of Guelders, Overijssel and Utrecht in 1590 and of Groningen and Drenthe in 1620 (following the death of Willem Lodewijk, who had been stadtholder there and in Friesland).


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Protestant Maurice was preceded as Prince of Orange (not a Dutch title) by his Roman Catholic eldest half-brother Philip William, Prince of Orange, deceased 1618. However, Philip William was in the custody of Spain, remaining so until 1596, and was thus unable to lead the Dutch independence cause.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maria of Nassau (1556–1616) was a full sister of Philip William from the first marriage of William I, Prince of Orange, (assassinated 1584), to wealthy and powerful aristocrat Anna van Egmont (1533–1558), and a contender to Maurice over the estate of their father.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: He was appointed captain-general of the army in 1587, bypassing the Earl of Leicester, who returned to England on hearing this news.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice organized the rebellion against Spain into a coherent, successful revolt. He reorganized the Dutch States Army together with Willem Lodewijk, studied military history, strategy and tactics, mathematics and astronomy, and proved himself to be among the best strategists of his age. The Eighty Years' War was a challenge to his style, so he could prove himself a good leader by taking several Spanish outposts. Paying special attention to the siege theories of Simon Stevin, he took valuable key fortresses and towns during a period known as the "Ten Glory Years": Breda in 1590, Zutphen, Knodsenburg in 1591, Steenwijk and Coevorden in 1592, Geertruidenberg in 1593, and Groningen in 1594. In 1597 he went on a further offensive and took Rheinberg, Meurs, Groenlo, Bredevoort, Enschede, Ootmarsum, and Oldenzaal and closed off the year with the capture of Lingen. These victories rounded out the borders to the Dutch Republic, solidifying the revolt and allowing a national state to develop behind secure borders. They also established Maurice as the foremost general of his time. Many of the great generals of the succeeding generation, including his brother Frederick Henry and many of the commanders of the English Civil War, learned their trade under his command.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: For a series of maps showing Maurice's campaigns to extend and consolidate the borders of the Republic, see .


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: His victories in the pitched battles at Turnhout (1597) and at Nieuwpoort (1600) were dependent on his innovation of cooperation between arms, with his cavalry playing a major role. The victories earned him military fame and acknowledgement throughout Europe. Despite these successes, the House of Orange did not attain great respect among European royalty, as the Stadtholdership was not inheritable.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: The training of his army was especially important to early modern warfare and the Military Revolution of 1560–1650. Previous generals had made use of drill and exercise in order to instill discipline or to keep the men physically fit, but for Maurice, they "were the fundamental postulates of tactics." This change affected the entire conduct of warfare, since it required the officers to train men in addition to leading them, decreased the size of the basic infantry unit for functional purposes since more specific orders had to be given in battle, and the decrease in herd behavior required more initiative and intelligence from the average soldier. One major contribution was the introduction of volley fire, which enabled soldiers to compensate for the inaccuracy of their weapons by firing in a large group. It was first used in European combat at the battle of Nieuwpoort in 1600.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: As part of his efforts to find allies against Spain, Maurice received Moroccan envoys such as Al-Hajari. They discussed the possibility of an alliance between Holland, the Ottoman Empire, Morocco and the Moriscos, against the common enemy Spain. Al-Hajari's journey chronicles, authored in 1637, mentions in detail the discussion for a combined offensive against Spain.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice was known in his time and by historians as the first general of his age. His reputation rests not as much on his ability to win and exploit field battles as it does on his expertise as a siege commander, military organizer, and innovator. Of his two great adversaries, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, and Ambrogio Spinola, he cautiously never allowed himself to be brought to battle with Parma and did not follow up chances to offer Spinola battle with forces in his favour on the Yssel in 1606. He was, however, dealt a defeat by the Spanish general at the battle of Mülheim in October 1605. Based on his preference for sieges and small-scale actions, historian David Trim states that it is difficult to reach a verdict on his ability as a tactician. Jonathan Israel notes that on one of the rare occasions when he did have to fight a major battle in the open – the 1600 Battle of Nieuwpoort – it did end with a Dutch victory, but this outcome was highly risky, and Maurice took care to extricate his army and avoid a second such battle.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice founded a whole new school of military professional practice. These pointed the way to the professional armies of the future by reapplying Roman tactics and innovating in the fields of logistics, training, and economics (e.g. paying troops regularly and on time). Many graduates of service under Maurice, such as his nephew, the Marshal Turenne, or his disciples such as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, applied the Mauritian reforms to great effect in the remainder of the 17th century.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice started out as the protégé of Landsadvocaat (Land's Advocate, i.e. secretary to the nobility of Holland and legal counsel to the States of Holland, but functioning as de facto chief minister of Holland and the States-General) Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, but gradually tensions rose between these two men. Against Maurice's advice, and despite his protests, Van Oldenbarnevelt decided to sign the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain, which lasted from 1609 to 1621. The required funds to maintain the army and navy and the general course of the war were other topics of constant struggle.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: With the religious troubles between Gomarists (strict Calvinists) and the Remonstrants (Arminians), the struggle between Van Oldenbarnevelt and Maurice reached a climax. Van Oldenbarnevelt was arrested, tried and decapitated despite numerous requests for mercy. From 1618 till his death Maurice now enjoyed uncontested power over the Republic. He expanded the Stadtholder's palace at the Binnenhof in the Hague. The Maurice Tower is now part of the building complex of the Senate of the Netherlands. In 1618, he also succeeded his elder half-brother Philip William as Prince of Orange, a title he seems rarely to have used.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Historian Jonathan Israel places upon Maurice part of the responsibility for the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in which Germany was devastated and a large part of its population killed. As noted by Israel, German Protestants were not eager for an all-out confrontation with the Catholics. Maurice significantly helped precipitate such a confrontation by persuading his nephew Frederick V, Elector Palatine, to accept the Bohemian Crown, as well as actively encouraging the Bohemians to confront Habsburg rule, providing them 50,000 guilders as well as sending Dutch troops to fight in the doomed Battle of the White Mountain. This ill-considered decision proved disastrous to the Bohemians, who were thereby plunged into prolonged oppression, and to Frederick who lost his ancestral lands. It also worsened the Dutch Republic's own strategic position.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: In 1621 the war with Spain resumed after a 12-year period of truces. The Spanish, led by Ambrogio Spinola, had notable successes, including the Siege of Breda, the old Nassau family residence, in 1625.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice died on 23 April 1625, with the siege still underway. Justin of Nassau surrendered Breda in June 1625 after a costly eleven-month siege.


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: Maurice, besides being stadtholder of several provinces and Captain-General, both non-hereditary and appointive titles, was the hereditary sovereign of the principality of Orange in what is today Provence in France. He also was the lord of many other estates, which formed his wealth:


title: Maurice, Prince of Orange

text: During his lifetime he kept using the arms as during his father's life-time shown here, and never changed to the simpler arms used by his father and half brothers.


title: Ramon Llull

text: Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca.


title: Ramon Llull

text: He invented a philosophical system known as the "Art", conceived as a type of universal logic to prove the truth of Christian doctrine to interlocutors of all faiths and nationalities. The "Art" consists of a set of general principles and combinatorial operations. It is illustrated with diagrams.


title: Ramon Llull

text: A prolific writer, he is also known for his literary works written in Catalan, which he composed to make his "Art" accessible to a wider audience. In addition to Catalan and Latin he also probably wrote in Arabic (although no texts in Arabic survive). His books were translated into Occitan, French, and Castilian during his lifetime.


title: Ramon Llull

text: Although his work did not enjoy huge success during his lifetime, he has had a rich and continuing reception. In the early modern period his name became associated with alchemical works. More recently he has been recognized as a precursor of the modern liberal voting franchise 450 years before Borda and Condorcet had proposed the idea and also the computer and a pioneer of computation theory.


title: Ramon Llull

text: Llull was born in Palma into a wealthy family of Barcelona patricians who had come to the Kingdom of Majorca in 1229 with the conquering armies of James I of Aragon. James I had conquered the formerly Almohad-ruled Majorca as part of a larger move to integrate the territories of the Balearic Islands (now part of Spain) into the Crown of Aragon. Llull was born there a few years later, in 1232 or 1233. Muslims still constituted a large part of the population of Majorca and Jews were present in cultural and economic affairs.


title: Ramon Llull

text: In 1257 Llull married Blanca Picany, with whom he had two children, Domènec and Magdalena. Although he formed a family, he lived what he would later call the licentious and wordly life of a troubadour.


title: Ramon Llull

text: In 1263 Llull experienced a series of visions. He narrates the event in his autobiography "Vita coaetanea" ("A Contemporary Life"):


title: Ramon Llull

text: The vision came to Llull five times in all and inspired in him three intentions: to give up his soul for the sake of God’s love and honor, to convert the ‘Saracens’ to Christianity, and write the best book in the world against the errors of the unbelievers.


title: Ramon Llull

text: Following his visions he sold his possessions on the model of Saint Francis of Assisi and set out on pilgrimages to the shrines of Saint Mary of Rocamadour, Saint James, and other places, never to come back to his family and profession. When he returned to Majorca he purchased a Muslim slave in order to learn Arabic from him. For the next nine years, until 1274, he engaged in study and contemplation in relative solitude. He read extensively in both Latin and Arabic, learning both Christian and Muslim theological and philosophical thought.


title: Ramon Llull

text: Between 1271 and 1274 Llull wrote his first works, a compendium of the Muslim thinker Al-Ghazali's logic and the "Llibre de contemplació en Déu" ("Book on the Contemplation of God"), a lengthy guide to finding truth through contemplation.