title: The Little Engine That Could

text: A little railroad engine was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill. "I can't; that is too much a pull for me", said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. In desperation, the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. "I think I can", puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "I—think—I—can, I—think—I—can." It reached the top by drawing on bravery and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, "I thought I could, I thought I could."


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: The story begins with a toy-filled train pulled by a small red engine on its way to a town on the other side of a mountain but the engine shortly breaks down upon reaching the mountain. The toy clown flags down other engines to help them: a shiny yellow passenger engine, a big black freight engine, and a rusty old engine. The shiny passenger engine and big freight engine both refuse to help them and the rusty old engine is too tired and must rest. Finally, a little blue engine arrives. Although she is simply a switcher engine and has never been over the mountain, she agrees to help pull the train. In the end, she was able to successfully reach the top of the mountain before slowly heading down towards the town.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: Later versions would revamp the story to have a more specific appeal for children – the stranded train is recast as a train of good food and anthropomorphic toys for the children across the mountain, thus in saving the train the little engine seems to be working for the benefit of the child reader, making the successful deed all the more triumphant.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: In these versions another character appeared and remained a key part of the story hereafter – the clown ringleader of the toys who attempts to find help with several locomotives but is rebuffed. The number of engines in the story also eventually became standard across the tellings: The happy locomotive on the toy train who breaks down and cannot go on, the pompous passenger engine who considers himself too grand for the task, the powerful freight engine who views himself as too important, and the elderly engine who lacks either the strength or determination to help the toys. The little blue engine always appears last and, although perhaps reluctant (some editions have the engine clarify her role as a switcher not suited for excursions), always rises to the occasion and saves the day for the children over the mountain.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: Each engine is defined by its appearance or function and is not given a name or personality beyond its role on the railroad. It is only in the 1991 film adaption that the engines' personalities are expanded on, including the granting of names: "Farnsworth" (the express engine), "Pete" (the freight engine), "Georgia" (the friendly engine of the toy train), "Jebediah" (the elderly engine) and "Tillie", the titular "little engine that could". The clown was also named "Rollo" and a sixth engine character, "Doc", appeared briefly to recover the broken-down Georgia and thus tie up the hanging story-thread of what happened to the failed engine of the toy train, which all other versions leave unaddressed. The 2011 adaptation expanded the storyline, this time with the little engine now working in DreamLand with Rusty (an old steam engine) alongside other Dream Haulers, trains that carried dreams to the real world while the original personalities of the previous locomotives absent from this version.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: The tale with its easy-to-grasp moral has become a classic children's story and was adapted in January 1991 as a 30-minute animated film produced in Wales and co-financed in Wales and the United States. The film named the famous little engine "Tillie" and expanded the narrative into a larger story of self-discovery.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: In March 2011, the story was adapted as a 3-D film named "The Little Engine That Could", produced by Universal Studios and featuring the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Alyson Stoner, and Corbin Bleu.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: Burl Ives recorded the story told as a song "The Little Engine That Could" written by Gerald Marks and Milton Pascal with an orchestra directed by Percy Faith. The song was released on the album "Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck and Other Children's Favorites" in 1964.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: From 2005 to 2008, a full-size replica of the Little Engine That Could made an annual circuit around the United States. Arranged through Rail Events, Inc., a number of tourist and museum railroad operations hosted the "I Think I Can" Rail Tour. The replica was constructed in 2005 by the Strasburg Rail Road in southeast Pennsylvania who also constructed the "Thomas The Tank Engine" replicas that tour the United States. The last tour was in 2008. In 2009, the replica only appeared at the Texas State Railroad. In 2011, the website for the tour said that there would be dates announced for 2011, but dates were never posted and the message was still present in 2012 until it went offline. The last time the train ever operated was on September 16, 2012. As of 2015, the replica is owned by the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, and has since been repainted to remove all references to the Little Engine That Could. It is currently displayed at the depot. Reasons for why the tour stopped are unknown.


title: The Little Engine That Could

text: American toy company Whittle Shortline produces wooden toy trains of The Little Engine That Could as a domestic alternative to "Thomas the Tank Engine". Maxim Enterprise held the license prior to 2006.


title: Tailcoat

text: A tailcoat is a knee-length coat characterised by a rear section of the skirt, known as the "tails", with the front of the skirt cut away.


title: Tailcoat

text: The tailcoat shares its historical origins in clothes cut for convenient horse riding in the Early Modern era. Ever since the 18th century, however, tailcoats evolved into general forms of day and evening formal wear, in parallel to how the lounge suit succeeded the frock coat (19th century) and the justacorps (18th century).


title: Tailcoat

text: In colloquial language without further specification, "tailcoat" typically designates the former, that is the evening (1) dress coat for white tie.


title: Tailcoat

text: In equestrianism, a variant called a shadbelly is still worn in certain disciplines in its eighteenth-century role as daytime formalwear. It is basically a form of dress coat which is closer in cut to the early nineteenth-century style worn by Beau Brummel than to the modern version worn with evening formal dress. The male version of the shadbelly is often called a "weaselbelly".


title: Tailcoat

text: This is a type of dress coat traditionally worn with court dress, until the mid-twentieth century. It was made of black velvet and traditionally worn at court, levées, and evening state parties by those who did not wear uniforms. A version made of black barathea was also worn as diplomatic dress.


title: Tailcoat

text: It was single breasted with a stand-up collar, with plain gauntlet cuffs, and two three-pointed flap pockets on the waist seam. It had six metal buttons at the front, and two decorative buttons at the back. The body of the coat was lined with black silk, and skirts with white silk. It was worn with breeches, black silk hose, white bow tie, white gloves, and court shoes (pumps) with steel buckles. The front of the coat was cut away squarely like a standard dress coat.


title: Tailcoat

text: From c. 1790 until after the Crimean War, a red tail coat with short tails, known as a coatee, was part of the infantry uniform of the British army. The collar and cuffs were in the regimental colors and the coats had white braid on the front. Elite light infantry units like the 95th Rifles were issued short green coats to provide camouflage and ease of movement.


title: Tailcoat

text: The Americans issued a similar uniform in dark blue to enlisted men during the War of 1812. This remained in service until 1833 when it was replaced with a shell jacket. Officers continued to wear tail coats until after the Mexican War when frock coats became the standard field wear. By the time the M1858 uniform was introduced tail coats had been relegated to full dress.


title: Tailcoat

text: The Royal Navy had an elaborate hierarchy of tailcoats for the officers, allowing further buttons and gilding according to rank and seniority. These were single-breasted for junior officers and double-breasted for those with the rank of lieutenant and above.


title: Tailcoat

text: This is worn with Highland dress, and has a square cut away front like a dress coat, but the tails are cut significantly shorter.


title: Tailcoat

text: This was worn as livery, a servant's uniform. It was knee length with a sloped cut-away front like a morning coat. It was single breasted with a stand-up collar and gilt buttons. There were three-pronged side pockets similar in style to the levée dress coat.


title: Tailcoat

text: A dress coat, sometimes called a swallow-tail or claw-hammer coat, is the coat that has, since the 1850s, come to be worn only in the evening by men as part of the white tie dress code, also known as evening full dress, for formal evening occasions. It is commonly referred to as just a "tailcoat", but amongst tailors (both British and American) and dress historians it is traditionally called a dress coat to differentiate it from other types of tailcoats.


title: Tailcoat

text: The modern dress coat is an evolution of the coat that was once both day and evening dress. It became increasingly popular from around the late 1790s and was particularly widespread during the British Regency, and in America in the 1830s to 1850s. The eighteenth-century dress coat was supplanted in the 1850s as formal day wear by the frock coat, which was in turn replaced in the twentieth century by the morning coat. In the Regency period, the dress coat with gilt buttons was always worn with non-matching trousers, pantaloons or breeches. Since the Victorian era, the modern dress coat for evening wear has been worn with matching trousers of the same cloth with two stripes of braiding down the side. The resulting suit is traditionally referred to by tailors as a "dress suit".


title: Tailcoat

text: A dress coat is waist length in the front and sides, and has two long tails reaching to the knees in back. Sometimes there is a pocket on the inside to hold gloves. Since around the 1840s the dress coat has lacked outside side pockets, but prior to this it took flapped side pockets. Since the early twentieth century, it has become acceptable to have a welted pocket on the outside of the chest to hold a pocket square, but prior to this dress coats lacked any outer pockets. The front of the skirt is squarely cut away. Since around the 1830s the coat has been constructed with a waist seam that allows greater waist suppression. From the Victorian era, the revers has taken facings in silk (grosgrain or satin) on the lapels. Although it is double-breasted, since the 1870s, the dress coat no longer fastens in the front. As a result, although there are two rows of buttons, these are all non-functional, serving only a decorative function.


title: Tailcoat

text: As part of modern white tie, a black dress coat is worn with a stiff, white wing-collar dress shirt, with a plain starched (pique or plain-weave) bib that takes shirt studs, single cuffs fastened with cufflinks (of a white metal); a matching white marcella cotton or satin silk bowtie and white waistcoat; black trousers with one or two silk galon; and black oxfords (without a toe cap) or pumps; the shoes must be polished to a mirror shine or be made of patent leather and are worn with black, over-the-calf silk socks. Additionally, a top hat, silk dress scarf, and white dress gloves are also seen as acceptable.


title: Tailcoat

text: A morning coat is a single-breasted coat, with the front parts usually meeting at one button in the middle, and curving away gradually into a pair of tails behind, topped by two ornamental buttons on the waist seam. The lapels are usually pointed (American English peak), not step (notch), since the coat is now only worn as formalwear. When it was first introduced, the step lapel was common, since it was worn as half dress. The coat can be grey or black as part of morning dress, and is usually worn with striped, or very occasionally checked, trousers.


title: Tailcoat

text: The morning coat may also be worn as part of a morning suit, which is mid-grey with matching trousers and waistcoat.


title: Tailcoat

text: The modern morning coat (or cutaway in American English) is a man's coat worn as the principal item in morning dress. The name derives from morning nineteenth-century horseback riding exercise for gentlemen. It was regarded as an informal form of half dress. Gradually it became acceptable as an alternative to the frock coat for formal day wear or full dress. Since the nineteenth century it is normally only seen at weddings, at formal baptisms, and in England and Australia, at races such as Royal Ascot, the Derby and the Victoria Derby where it is worn with a contrasting waistcoat, usually light grey or sometimes 'fancy'. It is very occasionally seen at funerals but more often it is used as day wear at formal luncheons, especially civic occasions under formal gowns, when worn with a black matching waistcoat (or 'vest'). Male members of the cabinet of Japan wear it in their first public appearance following the formation of the cabinet.


title: Tailcoat

text: The Marshal and Clerk of the United States Supreme Court wear morning coats when the justices are appearing in public wearing their traditional robes, for example when the court is in session, or when attending the President's State of the Union address. At one time all attorneys appearing before the court wore morning coats but they now wear standard business attire. The United States Solicitor General (when the office is held by a male) and his or her male deputies continue the tradition of wearing morning dress when arguing before the court.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The Atari VCS (codename Ataribox) is a home video game console produced by Atari, Inc. While its physical design is intended to pay homage to the Atari 2600, the new Atari VCS plays modern games and streaming entertainment via a Linux-based operating system called AtariOS that will allow users to download and install other compatible games, including those compatible with Windows 10. The system shares a name with Atari, Inc.'s 1977 Video Computer System, usually shortened to VCS, which was renamed to the Atari 2600 in late 1982.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The system was first revealed in June 2017 and partially crowdfunded starting in May 2018. After several delays, the console was expected to ship in March 2020, but was delayed again to that December due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial units for backers were shipped in December 2020, while the console had a general release in Australia and New Zealand on June 10, 2021, with the VCS released in North America on June 15, 2021. Shipping was initially restricted to the United States only by Atari and official distributors. As of October 2021, shipping has been expanded to include Canada, when ordering directly from the Atari VCS Store.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Atari Corporation left the hardware business around 1996, after it released the Atari Jaguar video game console, and was liquidated in 1998, with Hasbro Interactive purchasing the intellectual property of the brand. In 2001, Infogrames Entertainment SA purchased Hasbro Interactive. Infogrames would later rename itself Atari SA, while the Hasbro Interactive subsidiary was renamed Atari Interactive. Atari Interactive provided licensing for the various Atari Flashback dedicated consoles produced since 2004.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The concept of the Atari VCS came from Feargal Mac Conuladh, who joined Atari and became general manager to oversee the Ataribox release. Conuladh said that he was inspired to create the unit after seeing players connect laptops to televisions to use a larger screen to play games that were not available for consoles, and then use social media platforms outside of the games via the same laptop to communicate with friends. He also saw that Atari's game catalog had a good amount of brand recognition. His design goal was to feed nostalgia for the old Atari consoles and allow players to enjoy indie games without a personal computer. Processor maker AMD provided custom componentry for it. While Atari made most of the decisions on the unit's hardware, they have also kept open to suggestions from Atari fans on the unit's aesthetics and other visual features.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The console in its current rendition functions as a sort of hybrid between a home video game console and a gaming PC, two branches of electronics Atari has operated in previously. Conuladh took lessons learned from the commercial failure of the Ouya, a similar crowd-funded microconsole. One was to use the Linux operating system directly, rather than through the limited version offered through Android, as to be able to provide more capabilities and a more open system to developers and users. Conuladh did not want to restrict what users could install on the device; while the unit's operating system will have a storefront feature, he wanted users to be able to add software by any means possible. He also decided to use a higher-performance laptop/desktop APU than the smartphone/tablet APU used in the Ouya. Conuladh also wanted to steer away from problems encountered by Valve's Steam Machines, which provided a minimum set of specifications for hardware that Valve expected other vendors to build towards, but ultimately never took off. Instead, the Atari VCS hardware configuration will remain fixed and controlled by Atari. Additionally, Atari will contract for the manufacture of all the consoles themselves, rather than relying on third parties to manufacture their own systems based on the Ataribox specifications.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: In December 2017, just prior to opening for pre-orders for the VCS (at the time known as Ataribox), Atari recognized there were still several issues they needed to address with the hardware, and decided to postpone the pre-orders. At that point, Michael Arzt, the head for Atari Connected Devices, took over production while Conuladh left Atari, though the two had been coordinating its development previously. According to Atari CEO Fred Chesnais, this period gave them time to review what they wanted the Ataribox to do, and revise the unit's specifications and hardware without sacrificing the core elements of being a Linux-based system that would be able to run classic Atari games along with newer titles.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Atari first teased Project Ataribox in June 2017 during E3, releasing images of the box but did not call out any technical specifications. As this followed Nintendo's November 2016 release of the NES Classic Edition, a dedicated console that supported a number of pre-loaded Nintendo Entertainment System games, journalists believed that the new Atari system was developed in kind, to provide a way to play classic Atari games on a dedicated platform.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Further information released in September 2017 provided more technical specifications, details on the software approach including the plans to use Linux and provide an open platform for other compatible software to be installed, and a planned release in the second quarter of 2019. The price is expected to fall between $249 and $299, based on configuration options. The announcement also stated some of the funding for the unit will come from a planned Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to be launched before the end of 2017. Conuladh said they chose Indiegogo to help with international sales and hardware support, including a close relationship with Arrow Electronics, an electronics components company, that has supported past Indiegogo projects.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Pre-orders for the system were expected to start on December 14, 2017, but Atari announced a temporary delay that day, stating "it is taking more time to create the platform and ecosystem the Atari community deserves".


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: During the 2018 Game Developers Conference, Atari announced that the unit would be called the Atari VCS. Pre-orders for the console and controllers started on May 30, 2018, exclusively via Indiegogo, with shipping expected in quarter 2 of 2019; the configurations included the wood-veneer front panel "Collector's Edition" model, and an all-black with red-orange highlights "Onyx" console model. A base system, consisting of a console and joystick controller, ran from $279 to $299. Within the first day, the Atari VCS saw more than in pre-orders, far exceeding the anticipated they were seeking to start production.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: On June 27, 2018, Rob Wyatt, system architect for the original Xbox and designer of PlayStation 3's graphic systems, was announced as part of the VCS team. Wyatt and his company, Tin Giant, had been working with Atari for months to define hardware and operating system requirements. About joining the project, Wyatt said, "Who wouldn't want to be part of bringing Atari back? From the moment the AMD team introduced me to Atari and the VCS project, I have been intrigued and inspired by the opportunity that it represents." The announcement came only days after British technology news website "The Register" and Atari faced off after an interview between a reporter and Atari COO Michael Arzt from March 2018 resurfaced. In the article, "The Register" reporter questioned the VCS project's legitimacy after Arzt was unable to answer certain questions about the project.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: In March 2019, Atari announced that they would be delaying the launch of the VCS to the end of 2019 and announced that the system has upgraded to an unannounced embedded 14 nm AMD Ryzen processor with Radeon Vega-based graphics and two Zen CPU cores. The new AMD processor supports native 4K video playback with modern HDCP, has built-in Ethernet and a secure framebuffer.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: In July 2019, Atari announced that they would be providing more information about the product's mass production and game content to be available for the system in summer 2019. By the end of summer 2019, no functional version of the AtariVCS meeting the product description has been shown publicly, and additional details of gaming content have not been forthcoming.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: On October 4, 2019, Wyatt stated that he resigned from the project in a statement to "The Register". Wyatt cited non-payment by Atari as a key reason for his departure. In wake of this news, several of those that had backed the Indiegogo campaign took to the project's Reddit forum to ask about the state of the project, but Atari subsequently took down these posts. In April 2020, Wyatt filed a lawsuit against Atari to recover payment for his design work.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Atari VCS's COO Michael Arzt stated in December 2019 that they were in the final stages of pre-production of the unit, with plans to ship the console to those that pre-ordered by March 2020 before the units were then sent to retail. Arzt explained that the lack of communications over the previous year was due to limitations with their partnership contracts, but promised that they would try to provide more regular updates moving forward.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The console was delayed again in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Atari showed off a new production update on March 20, when they said that they have received enough parts to build the first 500 Atari VCS production units. However, most of these units are earmarked as dev kits for developers.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: On May 29, 2020, Atari announced the first batch of 500 production units are ready to exit the factory by mid-June, and expected all 10,000 VCS units would be delivered to backers by the end of 2020.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The console was released and shipped to backers between December 14, 2020, and December 16, 2020. while the retail release date was still unknown to this date. It was released about a month after the release of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, with early backer reviews finding the performances to be inferior to those consoles.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: On December 22, 2020, Atari announced the success of a fund raising effort to Atari VCS run-rate production rhythm, then planned for the first quarter of 2021.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The console was released worldwide on June 15, 2021. It was released as two bundles, an Onyx Base bundle that includes the console. An All-In bundle includes the console and two controllers: a Classic Joystick modelled after the CX40 joystick, and a Modern Controller that resembles more current controllers.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The Atari VCS was announced in 2017 and is based on a customized AMD central processor using Radeon graphic processing technology. Pictures of the unit released in July 2017 showed HDMI and USB ports, an Ethernet port, and an SD card slot. The unit's photos echo the look-and-feel of the Atari 2600, with a black veneer and faux wood-grain front plate, though sized about half as large.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Conuladh said that they anticipate the hardware is comparable to a mid-range personal computer for 2017, powerful enough to run most games but not for more recent AAA titles. This was before the platform was redesigned around AMD's new Ryzen R1000 chip, the R1606G announced in 2019. Since then, the VCS has been demonstrated at the 2020 CES playing "Fortnite" and "Borderlands 2".


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The hardware includes a "Classic Joystick" controller and a "Modern Controller". The "Classic Joystick" is based on the single-button design of the Atari CX40 joystick, adding only additional inset buttons for accessing the console's menus, as well as LED lighting. The "Modern Controller" features a layout typical of modern console platforms. The controllers are designed in partnership with PowerA.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The AtariVCS collector's edition was available only to Indiegogo backers, and is a numbered edition with a real wood Teak front panel. Three other editions are available online to the general public: ONYX (with a shiny black faceplate and red backplate), Black Walnut (also a real wood front panel) and Carbon Gold (with a shiny black faceplate accented with gold stripes). Carbon Gold is available exclusively through Walmart.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The Atari VCS features a Ryzen-based AMD R1606G APU with two cores and four threads (SMT) that clocks at 2.6 GHz up to 3.5 GHz and a Vega 3 graphic solution (GCN 5) supporting OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan, with an HDMI 2.0 connection supporting 4K screens at 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2 protection. The VCS 800 features 8GB of DDR4 2400 (4GB for the VCS 400 model) upgradeable to 32GB, and an internal eMMC storage of 32GB with an available M.2 SSD SATA slot to increase the internal storage. Four USB 3.1 ports are provided, enabling external storage and support for accessories. The Atari VCS features one Gigabit Ethernet connection, WiFi and BlueTooth.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The Atari VCS is driven by a Linux operating system. In 2017, quoting a mail from the company it was said the software is specifically designed to be open to allow to install other Linux-compatible applications on the Atari VCS alongside pre-installed games, using Atari Vault (now called Atari VCS Vault). Other applications that can be installed include streaming applications, music players, and web browsers.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Whereas the Atari 2600 was a cartridge-driven game system, the VCS does not use cartridges or optical discs for games, but instead allows players to download games from a built-in store. The Atari VCS will have a custom storefront that Atari developed with an undisclosed "leading industry partner", where users can download additional video games and applications. All users will have access to basic online features such as the store and online multiplayer, however, access to cloud storage and live streaming video games will be available exclusively on a subscription service.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Atari has stated that the unit will ship with "tons of classic Atari retro games pre-loaded, and current titles from a range of studios". Conuladh stated that there will be "hundreds" of Atari games, plus a number of other retro games from other catalogs. The console will ship with Antstream Arcade, a game streaming service that supports titles from the Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and arcade games.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Atari announced that the Google Chrome web browser will be pre-installed and will power some of the console's online services.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The AtariVCS is available bundled with the Classic Joystick and Modern Controller ("all in"). There is also the option to purchase the device without them. This comes as Atari allows users to use their own pre-existing accessories including remotes, mouse and keyboards, microphones, external speakers and other controllers. The Atari VCS is compatible with most PC peripherals via both Bluetooth and USB 3.0.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: The Atari VCS is not compatible with any game for legacy Atari consoles. Atari announced on October 15, 2021, under their new series called 'Flashback Fridays' that emulated versions of selected Atari 7800 games will become available for purchase via Atari VCS Store for $3 each. The first two Atari 7800 titles to be announced were Basketbrawl 7800 and Desert Falcon 7800.


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Early backers reviews were mixed. "GameRevolution" praised the console's "thankfully" small size, but also stated that its design "still remains subdued enough to match the style of modern consoles". It also found that the Classic Controller "lacks in utility", due to the lack of modern games that can be played with it. "Video Games Chronicle" criticized the console's architecture, saying that it does not give Microsoft or Sony "anything to worry about". Due to the strong competition and Atari's conflicted history, "CNET" concluded that the console has an "identity crisis". Although with this criticism, "Tom's Guide" stated that Atari VCS "may be not as good as a next-gen console, but buying one is lot easier than working out where to buy PS5."


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: IGN awarded the system a 5/10 saying "The Atari VCS tries to do some interesting things but ultimately fails as a console and a PC alternative." While CGMagazine gave the console a generally favorable review, especially to retro lovers, but outlined that "its price point is just a bit too high to recommend."


title: Atari VCS (2021 console)

text: Exact sales figures for the VCS are unknown, but according to Atari's financial reports, sales related to hardware fell from $2.44 million in 2021 to around $212,000 in 2022. Due to the "underperformance by the VCS", the company halted production of the VCS in December 2022, though remains open to third-party opportunities.


title: Reagent

text: In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms "reactant" and "reagent" are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a substance "consumed" in the course of a chemical reaction. "Solvents", though involved in the reaction mechanism, are usually not called reactants. Similarly, "catalysts" are not consumed by the reaction, so they are not reactants. In biochemistry, especially in connection with enzyme-catalyzed reactions, the reactants are commonly called substrates.


title: Reagent

text: In organic chemistry, the term "reagent" denotes a chemical ingredient (a compound or mixture, typically of inorganic or small organic molecules) introduced to cause the desired transformation of an organic substance. Examples include the Collins reagent, Fenton's reagent, and Grignard reagents.


title: Reagent

text: In analytical chemistry, a reagent is a compound or mixture used to detect the presence or absence of another substance, e.g. by a color change, or to measure the concentration of a substance, e.g. by colorimetry. Examples include Fehling's reagent, Millon's reagent, and Tollens' reagent.


title: Reagent

text: In commercial or laboratory preparations, reagent-grade designates chemical substances meeting standards of purity that ensure the scientific precision and reliability of chemical analysis, chemical reactions or physical testing. Purity standards for reagents are set by organizations such as ASTM International or the American Chemical Society. For instance, reagent-quality water must have very low levels of impurities such as sodium and chloride ions, silica, and bacteria, as well as a very high electrical resistivity. Laboratory products which are "less" pure, but still useful and economical for undemanding work, may be designated as "technical", "practical", or "crude" grade to distinguish them from reagent versions.


title: Reagent

text: In the field of biology, the biotechnology revolution in the 1980s grew from the development of reagents that could be used to identify and manipulate the chemical matter in and on cells. These reagents included antibodies (polyclonal and monoclonal), oligomers, all sorts of model organisms and immortalised cell lines, reagents and methods for molecular cloning and DNA replication, and many others.


title: Reagent

text: Tool compounds are also important reagents in biology; they are small molecules or biochemicals like siRNA or antibodies that are known to affect a given biomolecule—for example a drug target—but are unlikely to be useful as drugs themselves, and are often starting points in the drug discovery process. Many natural products, such as curcumin, are hits in almost any assay in which they are tested, are not useful tool compounds, and are classified by medicinal chemists as "pan-assay interference compounds".


title: Tory Lane

text: Lisa Nicole Piasecki, known professionally as Tory Lane, is an American fetish model, exotic dancer, pornographic actress, and pornographic film director. She was named among the top twenty pornographic actresses at the 2007 Adultcon and won two AVN Awards. She was also inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2017.


title: Tory Lane

text: Lane was born in Schenectady, New York. She worked as a bartender at a club called The Elbo Room on Fort Lauderdale Beach. She also worked at a sex shop and as a stripper in local Florida strip clubs.


title: Tory Lane

text: Lane started in the pornographic film industry after being scouted in Florida by Peter North, and she then flew out to California and signed with the then-new agency LA Direct Models. After signing with LA Direct Models, Lane's first scene in a pornographic film was with Ben English and Marco In May 2007, Lane signed a two-year contract with Sin City for both acting and directing. In 2006, Lane was a finalist on the second season of Playboy TV reality show "Jenna's American Sex Star", but she lost the prize in the final round. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2017.


title: Tory Lane

text: Lane is a personal friend of Jennifer Ketcham and features in her 2012 memoir "I Am Jennie". Ketcham stated that Lane used the money she made in the industry to provide for her sister, extended family, and self and described her as "one of the few responsible girls in the biz".


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: The Colony is a 2013 Canadian science fiction action film directed by Jeff Renfroe, starring Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, and Bill Paxton. It had a limited release on 26 April 2013 in Canada, and was released on 20 September 2013 in the United States.


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: By 2045, humans have built climate modification towers to control the warming climate due to climate change. The machines break down when one day it begins to snow and does not stop. The remaining humans live in underground bunkers to escape the extreme cold. Their challenges are controlling disease and producing sufficient food. Two soldiers, Briggs (Laurence Fishburne) and Mason (Bill Paxton) are the leaders of one such bunker, Colony 7. Briggs, Sam (Kevin Zegers) and Graydon (Atticus Dean Mitchell) travel to nearby Colony 5 after receiving a distress signal. Briggs leaves Sam's lover Kai (Charlotte Sullivan) in charge of the colony while he is gone, much to Mason's chagrin.


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: Upon arrival, they find Colony 5 covered in blood. They eventually reach a locked door which Sam picks open. Inside they find Leland, who shows them a message they received from another group of people who fixed a weather machine and have caused the snow to thaw. The group offers aid to anyone and asks that they bring seeds so they can be planted in the newly thawed permafrost soil. Leland shows them where the signal came from, but informs them that an expedition failed to find the source of the transmission. Moreover, the expedition's tracks led a marauding group of cannibals back to Colony 5, and the killing ensued. Briggs, Sam, and Graydon try to force Leland to return with them, but he locks himself back into his room.


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: The three then begin to explore Colony 5 and approach a room where a fire burns. Here they see a human chopping up members of Colony 5, while others feast on human remains. As the three try to escape, Graydon is killed by the cannibals. Briggs and Sam are able to make it up the ladder out of the colony and destroy the shaft with a stick of dynamite. Taking shelter in an abandoned helicopter, they wake up in the morning to find that the cannibals have managed to escape from the entombed Colony 5 and have tracked their footprints in the snow. Briggs suggests that they lure the group over a decrepit bridge then use dynamite. When the dynamite fuse goes out, Briggs rushes back to light it, but is attacked by the cannibals. He relights the fuse and sacrifices himself to blow a large gap in the bridge.


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: Kai gets into a heated argument with Mason after learning that he intends to kill a colonist without testing her for disease. Their argument is interrupted when Kai spots a returning, exhausted Sam and runs to him, but Mason promptly knocks her out. When Sam awakens, he finds Mason has taken over and plans to make harsh changes. Sam explains that the cannibals are coming and that there is a thawed-out area they should flee to. Mason does not believe him, thinking he has become unhinged by his ordeal, and handcuffs him to a bed. Sam is able to get free and checks images from a functioning satellite to locate the thawed-out zone. Then the cannibals arrive. Many of the Colony 7 inhabitants are killed, including Sam's friend Viktor (John Tench). The survivors lock themselves in a room. Sam and Kai bang on the door, but Mason will not let them in. Briggs' daughter Nara (Lisa Berry) knocks Mason down and lets them in. Sam opens a vent for an escape route. The wounded Mason stays behind and, when the cannibals break in, shoots a propane container, causing an explosion that kills presumably all but the leader. The cannibals' leader pursues and attacks Sam, but Sam is able to kill him. Then he, Kai, Nara and a few others begin their journey to the thawed-out site with the precious seeds.


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: The film was shot at CFB North Bay using former NORAD facilities and at the R. L. Hearn Generating Station in Toronto.


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 18% based on reviews from 33 critics, and a rating average of 4 out of 10. The consensus states "A formulaic sci-fi thriller, "The Colony" features clichéd dialogue, cheesy special effects, and underdeveloped characters." Critics considered the film to consist of old science fiction ideas. Peter Howell of the "Toronto Star" noted it could "show investors how well Canadians can mimic Hollywood blockbusters, decent CGI and all, using a fraction of the budget". Jay Stone of Postmedia deemed the film had "too many clichés ... and half-developed characters to make us care enough." "The Globe and Mail"'s Liam Lacey also panned the recycled nature of the plot, although noting the scenes appeared to be "authentically chilly throughout".


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: The film received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards in 2014, for Best Costume Design (Lea Carlson) and Best Makeup (Louise Mackintosh, Peggy Kyriakidou and Shauna Llewellyn).


title: The Colony (2013 film)

text: "The Colony" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 27 August 2013 in Canada, 15 October 2013 in the United States and 20 January 2014 in the United Kingdom.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: Overdrive is a 2017 action thriller film directed by Antonio Negret, produced by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Pierre Morel and the screenplay was written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas. The film stars are Scott Eastwood, Freddie Thorp, Ana de Armas and Gaia Weiss. Principal photography began on 4 January 2016 in Paris and Marseille, France. The film tells the story of skilled car thieves who are sent to steal a crime lord's luxury car.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: Half-brothers Andrew and Garret Foster operate as international car thieves, targeting high-end of the market vehicles. They steal a rare Bugatti in transit after it is purchased at auction in France, unaware that the car was bought by Marseille crime boss Jacomo Morier. Morier's men capture them when they try to sell the car and take them to Morier's house, where he shows them his garage full of cars. He then means to shoot them but, to escape their punishment, the brothers offer to help Morier complete his collection by stealing a rare 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO (worth $38,000,000) owned by ruthless tycoon and rival, Max Klemp. Morier agrees but sets the condition that the theft must be carried out within one week.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: The brothers hurriedly recruit a team in Marseille to carry out the job, including Andrew's girlfriend Stephanie and her pickpocket friend Devin. Andrew tells Garret that this will be his last job. They also have to cope with Morier's cousin Laurent keeping watch on their operation, as well as a pair of Interpol agents. Garret, who had recently been conned by a woman who pretended to fall in love with him, begins a relationship with Devin. For insurance, Morier's men kidnap Stephanie in the Marseille marketplace. Andrew and Garret arrive in their flat and Devin tells them Stephanie has been taken. They head to Morier's house to find Stephanie bound and gagged under a spinning car wheel, which Laurent threatens to lower onto her face. Andrew and Garret promise to finish the job in order to save Stephanie.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: When the day of the robbery comes, the brothers put their plan into effect. Stephanie, locked in a room in Morier's house, attempts to seduce Laurent and fails, although she manages to steal his key to the door and escapes. She sets off the house alarms and leaves with a rifle to meet Andrew, Garret and their team at the door. Morier realises that the events that led up to this point have been part of an elaborate diversion to allow them to steal his own car collection. Morier only understands what is happening as the gang are making their escape and he chases them to the docks. During the pursuit, Andrew proposes to Stephanie and she agrees to marry him. In a final confrontation, Morier is killed when his car is rammed into the water by a large motor coach driven by Devin. Devin leaves, promising to call Garret.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: Andrew and Garret give all of Morier's cars to Klemp, revealing that this had been the plan all along, and that they had partnered with Klemp to get back at Morier. In a further plot twist, the two Interpol agents were also partnered with Klemp. But as Devin leaves, she has in her hand the code to the garage where Klemp keeps his prized Ferrari.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: Garret, Stephanie and Andrew are later seen together in Paris. Garrett thinks he has been stood up again when Devin shows up in Klemp's Ferrari and gives the keys to Andrew. When Andrew then gives the car to Garret, Garret thinks this means Andrew is leaving the business. However, Stephanie mentions that there is a very rare car in Barcelona, one out of only nine in the world, and the three are tempted to steal it. Andrew decides to join them and the re-established team begins to make plans.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: On 12 May 2011 it was announced that Pierre Morel would produce the action thriller film "Overdrive", Antonio Negret would direct the film based on the script by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, who would also produce the film. Sentient Pictures would produce the film. On 1 September 2015 Christopher Tuffin was also announced to produce the film. In November 2015, Kinology sold the film's international rights to different buyers. Alex Pettyfer, Matthew Goode, Garrett Hedlund, Jamie Bell, Karl Urban, Ben Barnes, Emilia Clarke, and Sam Claflin were all once attached separately at various points during development.


title: Overdrive (film)

text: "Overdrive" was released theatrically in the United Kingdom before it premiered in France and received a staggered European and Asian release before being theatrically released in the United States. "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that this type of release for a film was generally reserved for "dead-in-the-water duds"


title: Overdrive (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. "The Hollywood Reporter" referred to the film as a "formulaic adolescent-male button-pusher, which is witless and brainless but not entirely joyless."


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: Valarie Pettiford (born July 8, 1960) is an American stage and television actress, dancer, and jazz singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for her role in the broadway production "Fosse". She is also known for her role as "Big Dee Dee" Thorne on the UPN television sitcom "Half & Half".


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: Pettiford began her career as a dancer and choreographer in Bob Fosse productions on Broadway. Alvin Klein of the "New York Times" wrote of her role in the 1983 musical revue "Ladies and Gentlemen, Jerome Kern!" that "You will not for a moment take your eyes off Valarie Pettiford, the show's standout: a sinewy dancer who can be sultry or sweet, measure for measure, as prescribed... Miss Pettiford appears to be a superbly trained dancer, schooled in balletic finesse and Broadway-style razzmatazz - and a stunning presence." Leah Frank, also in the "NYT", wrote of Pettiford's appearance in "West Side Story" in 1987: "The mainstay of the supporting cast is Valarie Pettiford, whose Anita is spicy, sensual and full of fire. She is an exciting actress who has a special quality needed to ignite a number such as "America.""


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: In 1994, she played lesbian Cassandra Keefer in "The Naked Truth", and from 1995 to 1996 starred as Julie in a touring production of "Show Boat".


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: Pettiford received a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for her role in the Broadway production "Fosse" from 1998 to 1999. "Variety" said Pettiford gave "a coolly elegant vocal rendition, [and she] is also a sultry, powerful dancer." She left "Fosse" to appear as Velma Kelly in "Chicago" in the West End in London from August 1999 to February 2000, alongside Chita Rivera as Roxie Hart.


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: In 2007 Pettiford won the Backstage Bistro Award for her cabaret debut at the Metropolitan Room in New York City, and won an NAACP Theatre Award for her lead role in "The Wild Party". In 2008, she starred in a solo show, "Valarie Pettiford - Thankful" that played in New York City and Los Angeles. In 2009, she starred in the solo show "Valarie Pettiford - The Concert" in New York City.


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: In 1978, at the age of 17 and enrolled at the High School of Performing Arts, Pettiford did her first-ever movie work as part of the large ensemble in the film "The Wiz". She starred as Mariah Carey's mother in the 2001 film "Glitter", had a role in "Stomp the Yard" in 2007, and played Aunt Geneva in the 2011 film, "Jumping the Broom".


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: In the 1990s, Pettiford appeared on daytime soap operas, including "Another World" and "One Life to Live" (where she originated the role of Sheila Price). Her "Half & Half" role from 2002 to 2006 as Dee Dee Thorne gained her three NAACP Image Award nominations. From 2008 to 2009, she played Sandra Lucas in the comedy-drama series "Tyler Perry's House of Payne". She also appeared in the HBO pilot "Anatomy of Hope", directed by J. J. Abrams. Pettiford plays a recurring role as the wife to Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix), Assistant Director of the FBI Counter-Terrorism Division, on the NBC drama The Blacklist.


title: Valarie Pettiford

text: Pettiford was born in Queens, New York to Ralph and Blanch Pettiford, and graduated from the High School of Performing Arts in 1978. She is married to her manager, actor and former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tony Rader. They got engaged in 1991.


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: In Greek mythology, Megara (; Ancient Greek: Μεγάρα) was a Theban princess and the first wife of the hero Heracles.


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: Megara was the eldest daughter of Creon, King of Thebes, who was possibly the brother of Jocasta and uncle of Oedipus. If Creon is the same figure, Megara's mother is likely Creon's wife Eurydice, and she would be the sister of Menoeceus (Megareus), Lycomedes, Haemon, and Pyrrha.


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: Accounts of the names and number of Megara and Heracles' children vary based on the author. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Megara was the mother of three sons by Heracles named Therimachus, Creontiades, and Deicoon. Dinias the Argive included the three children named by Apollodorus, however, he also added a fourth named Deion. Theban poet Pindar states that Megara bore Heracles eight sons. Alternatively, the Roman mythographer Hyginus named their sons as Therimachus and Ophites.


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: Megara was married to Heracles by her father as a reward for the hero after he led the defense of Thebes against the Minyans at Orchomenus, and the couple had several sons together. Hera sent Heracles into a fit of temporary madness due to her hatred for him. In his madness, Heracles killed their children either by shooting them with arrows or by throwing them into a fire. Whether Megara also died as a result of this attack depended on the author. In some sources, after Heracles completed his Twelve Labours, Megara married Heracles' nephew Iolaus and became the mother of Leipephilene by him.


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: Heracles' desire to atone for the murders of his wife and children is typically cited as the catalyst for becoming a slave to his cousin Eurystheus and performing the Twelve Labours. Euripides presents an alternative order of events in his tragedy, "Heracles", as it was the completion of the twelfth labour (retrieving Cerberus from Hades) that begun the "agon." The play begins with Megara, her children, and Amphitryon as suppliants at an altar seeking refuge from the tyrant Lykos who threatens them as Heracles is in the underworld. Heracles returns to save his family, but Iris and the spirit of madness, Lyssa, cause him to go mad and kill Megara and their children since he believes he is attacking Lykos. Roman playwright Seneca the Younger retells a similar story in his play "Hercules Furens".


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: While in the underworld, Odysseus sees Megara, but does not elaborate on her mythology beyond stating she was the daughter of Creon and the former wife of Heracles. The Hellenistic poem "Megara" by an unknown author, presented a dialogue at Tiryns between a mournful Megara and Heracles's mother Alcmene, as the former grieves her children and Heracles's absence during his labours.


title: Megara (wife of Heracles)

text: The sons of Heracles appear to have been incorporated into Heracles hero cult at Thebes who were celebrated at a festival known as the "Herakleia" where a feast was prepared in honour of Heracles above the "Elektran Gates" and sacrifices were made. The hero-tombs of the children of Heracles and Megara in Thebes they were venerated as the "Chalkoarai".


title: White-tailed spider

text: White-tailed spiders are spiders native to southern and eastern Australia, and so named because of the whitish tips at the end of their abdomens. The body size is up to 18 mm, with a leg-span of 28 mm. Common species are "Lampona cylindrata" and "Lampona murina". Both these species have been introduced into New Zealand.


title: White-tailed spider

text: White-tailed spiders are vagrant hunters that seek out and envenom prey rather than spinning a web to capture it; their preferred prey is other spiders.


title: White-tailed spider

text: They are reported to bite humans, with effects including a red mark, and local itchiness, swelling and pain. On rare occasions, bites can cause nausea, vomiting, malaise or headache. Although ulcers and necrosis have been attributed to the bites, a scientific study by Isbister and Gray (2003) showed they had other causes, mostly infections. A study of 130 white-tailed spider bites found no necrotic ulcers or confirmed infections.


title: White-tailed spider

text: Ludwig Carl Christian Koch described "Lampona cylindrata" in 1866 and "Lampona murina" in 1873. The genus name comes from the Latin "lampo" ("to shine"). The species name "cylindrata" refers to the cylindric body shape, while "murinus" means "mouse-gray" in Latin.


title: White-tailed spider

text: The two common species of white-tailed spiders are "Lampona cylindrata" and "Lampona murina". They are similar in appearance; "L. cylindrata" is slightly larger with females being up to 18 mm long while males are up to 12 mm in body length. The legs span approximately 28 mm. The two species are not easily distinguished without microscopic examination. They are slender spiders with dark reddish to grey, cigar-shaped body and dark orange-brown banded legs. The grey abdomen has two pairs of faint white spots and—usually but not always—a distinct white spot at the tip just above the spinnerets.


title: White-tailed spider

text: The similarities have led people to think there is only one species of white-tailed spider. It is possible that not all white-tailed species have been identified. The descriptor, "white tail", is applied to a variety of species of spiders for which a distal white mark on their abdomen is a distinctive feature; other markings disappear with moultings but the white tail remains to adulthood.


title: White-tailed spider

text: "L. cylindrata" lay pinkish eggs which are enclosed in a flattened silk capsule and are guarded by the female until they hatch.


title: White-tailed spider

text: Both species are native to Australia. "Lampona cylindrata" is present across south-east Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia while "Lampona murina" is found in eastern Australia from north-east Queensland to Victoria. The spiders have been introduced in New Zealand with "Lampona murina" residing in the North Island for over a hundred years while "Lampona cylindrata" has become widespread throughout the South Island since 1980.


title: White-tailed spider

text: They live in gardens and inside houses, beneath bark and rocks, in leaf litter and are often found in the folds of clothes, towels and shoes. They do not build webs. Most active at night, they hunt for other spiders. Their favoured prey is the black house spider ("Badumna insignis") and the closely related brown house spider ("Badumna longinqua"), both of which, like the whitetail, are native to Australia but have been inadvertently introduced to New Zealand.


title: White-tailed spider

text: A common perception is that white-tailed spider bites can be associated with long term skin infections, and in rarer cases progression to necrosis. This is an attribution of infections presenting to medical care with a complaint of "spider bite." Venom has no bacteria, and infections do not arise from spider bites. The well-described brown recluse bite causes direct damage to skin and tissue. It has a limited area and does not spread. No formal studies have found evidence for associating necrosis with White-tailed spider bites.


title: White-tailed spider

text: White-tailed spider bites may cause a small red or discolored bump, similar to an insect bite, that burns or itches.


title: White-tailed spider

text: The issue of necrosis in some bite cases in published studies begins with a paper presented at the International Society on Toxinology World Congress held in Brisbane in 1982. Both the White-tailed spider and the wolf spider were considered as candidates for "possibly" causing "suspected" spider bite necrosis in Australia. In Brazil the recluse spider was identified as linked to necrosis.


title: White-tailed spider

text: Following this initial report, numerous other cases implicated white-tailed spiders in causing necrotic ulcers. All of these cases lacked a positively identified spider — or even a spider bite in some cases. Additionally, there had not been a case of arachnogenic necrosis reported in the two hundred years of European colonisation before these cases. Of the 130 cases of White-tailed spider bites studied by Isbister and Gray, more than 60% reported that the person had been bitten by spiders that had got into clothing, towels or beds.


title: White-tailed spider

text: Clinical toxicologist Geoffrey Isbister studied 130 cases of arachnologist-identified white-tailed spider bites, and found no necrosis or confirmed infections, concluding that such outcomes are very unlikely for a white-tailed spider bite. The major effects from a bite in this study were local (pain, a red mark, local swelling and itchiness); and rarely systemic (nausea, vomiting, malaise or headache). All these symptoms are generally mild and resolve over time.


title: Parrying dagger

text: The parrying dagger is a category of small handheld weapons from the European late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. These weapons were used as off-hand weapons in conjunction with a single-handed sword such as a rapier. As the name implies they were designed to parry, or defend, more effectively than a simple dagger form, typically incorporating a wider guard, and often some other defensive features to better protect the hand as well. They may also be used for attack if an opportunity arises. The general category includes two more specific types, the sword breaker and trident dagger.


title: Parrying dagger

text: The use of this off-hand weapon gradually fell out of favor as sword fighting evolved into the modern sport of fencing. The use of progressively lighter primary weapons such as the small sword, épée and foil allowed for greater speed since the fencer needed less protection for himself as double hits became more allowed in sport fencing.


title: Parrying dagger

text: Parrying daggers were an important development of the ubiquitous quillion dagger form, appearing in the early to mid-16th century starting with the so-called left hand dagger. Although this is often used as a term of convenience for parrying daggers in general, it also refers more specifically to the earlier and simpler form of the weapon. It had stout quillons (straight or curved) for effective parrying as well as an additional guard in the form of a ring or shell on one side of the quillons where they crossed the grip. In addition to straight blades, there are examples of left hand daggers with wavy blades, those with saw edges and blades that are perforated along the central fuller with small holes, all designed to make the weapon lighter or to aid in defense. This form of dagger largely disappeared in the early 17th century in favor of the much more important main-gauche which was especially popular in Spain and Italy. The triple dagger and swordbreaker were rare and relatively late developments, first appearing around 1600. Parrying daggers were often made "en suite", or similar in terms of construction and decorative technique, to the sword with which they were paired as a companion weapon.


title: Parrying dagger

text: The main-gauche (French for "left hand", ) was used mainly to assist in defense by parrying enemy thrusts, while the dominant hand wielded a rapier or similar longer weapon intended for one-handed use. It was a relatively large dagger, having a longer and heavier blade (often measuring 19 inches or slightly more in length) and very long, straight quillons. Its most characteristic feature was a wide knuckleguard that curved from the quillons to the pommel and protected the hand. The guard was usually (but not always) triangular in outline, and the quillons typically measured 11 or more inches from tip to tip.


title: Parrying dagger

text: Since this style of dagger was usually made "en suite" with a cup-hilted rapier, the decoration of the knuckleguard tended to reflect that of the cup of the rapier. The edges of the guard are usually turned over toward the outside, possibly to trap the point of the opponent's blade and prevent it from slipping into the defender's hand. The quillons are normally cylindrical with knobbed tips, and in many instances are decorated with spiral fluting. The pommel is normally decorated to match the quillons and made to resemble the pommel of its matching rapier, while the grip is usually made of wood and wrapped with twisted and braided wire.


title: Parrying dagger

text: The blade is normally made in three distinct sections or zones. The first section, near the hilt, comprises the ricasso (unsharpened portion) which is flat-sided and slightly beveled at the edges with one or two small holes at its forward end. In some examples there are two arms running parallel to the sides of the ricasso with spaces inbetween, designed to catch the opponent's blade in a manner similar to the curved quillons of a dagger. On the side of the ricasso opposite the knuckleguard there is usually an oval depression for the thumb. The second section of the blade is normally single-edged with a flat triangular cross-section. The edge faces the wielder's left when the dagger is held in the ready position. The back of the blade (the dull edge) in this section is usually filed with a series of grooves or notches. The third and longest section of the blade extends to the point, and is double-edged with a diamond cross-section. It will occasionally have notches or serrations for a short distance along the edge which corresponds to the back of the previous zone. Although this form is typical, numerous variations can be found including those with curved quillons, rounded guards or blades with only two sections. These various forms reached their peak of development in the late 17th century and, despite a period of decline, the weapon continued to be used even into the 18th.


title: Parrying dagger

text: The swordbreaker was a dagger that had large, deep serrations along one side of the blade, resembling the barbed teeth of a comb and designed to entrap an opponent's blade, allowing a variety of follow-up techniques. Like the triple dagger, the swordbreaker was a rare form of parrying dagger compared to the main-gauche, partly due to the difficulty of crafting such a specialised weapon. One Italian example dated around 1600 can be found in the Wallace Collection in London and has a hilt consisting of a pair of straight quillons and a ring guard.


title: Parrying dagger

text: Despite the name "swordbreaker", it is uncertain whether they could in fact break sword blades as suggested by some scholars, as swords of this era were intended to stand up to substantial forces, well in excess of what could be generated by a fighter's off-hand. Swords are sometimes depicted in Fechtbüchern as withstanding a two-handed attempt to break them (or show off their resilience). Late Renaissance rapiers and smallswords may not be as robust as the cutting swords of earlier times, however, and have indeed been known to break on occasion, so the claim may have more veracity in relation to the typical civilian weapons of this period.


title: Parrying dagger

text: The term is also applied in modern times to the various devices (such as hooks or spikes) found on some bucklers which served the same purpose as the parrying dagger to entrap an opponent's blade.


title: Parrying dagger

text: Trident daggers (or triple daggers) have blades divided lengthwise into three parts which fold together to resemble a conventional blade. When a mechanism near the hilt is released the two side blades open under spring pressure to form the "trident", flying apart until they are stopped by the ends of the curved quillons. This creates a dagger capable of trapping blades more securely and easily. Like the swordbreaker, the triple dagger was a rare form of parrying dagger compared to the main-gauche.


title: Parrying dagger

text: An off-hand weapon is rarely used in modern sport competition. In fact, the use of the off-hand as a defensive measure is often prohibited by the rules of many sport fighting styles that are common in the Western world today. However, in HEMA (historical European martial arts) Rapier and Dagger is a common sparring method, and backsword and dagger is also practised. Another exception is kendo where the use of two shinai of different size is allowed but uncommon; this style is known as nito-ryu (literally "two sword-style"). Several other fighting styles not only incorporate but even promote off-hand weapons, for example the Filipino style eskrima. Simultaneous use of two weapons is also frequently featured in fiction, particularly in video games, literature, and other media from the fantasy genre, where it is commonly dubbed "dual wielding". In the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), rapier combat makes use of various forms of off-hand device, including parrying daggers, batons, cloaks, and a second sword, which in fencing is termed a "case of rapier".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Super Singer Junior – "Ithu Thamizhagathin Chellakuralukkana Thedal (the search for the sweet voice of Tamil Nadu)" – is a reality TV show since 2007 hosted by Vijay TV, a popular Tamil channel of the Star Network, and sponsored by Bharti Airtel. It is a singing talent hunt for the children of age group 6–14. This is the junior version of the Super Singer show, which premiered in 2006. Auditions are held in various parts of Tamil Nadu, India. The show attracts many kids from all over the state and rigorous multi-level selection procedures are done in order to select the contestants for the competition.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The first season of the show premiered in 2007 and was hosted by Chinmayi. Of the many kids who auditioned for the show, 25 were selected to go on to the stage show, which consisted of a variety of interesting rounds. The judges at the studio were K. S. Chithra and Usha Uthup. Krishnamoorthy emerged the winner after a hard-fought finals with an equally brilliant Vignesh, who had an amazing flavor for folk. The other finalists were Saicharan and Abarna Rajagopalan (who won against "Madhumitha Shankar" in the wild card round) who also gave a very tough competition.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: After the show's conclusion, finalist Saicharan and semi-finalist Madhumitha Shankar went onto compete in seasons 3 and 4 of the senior version of the show. Saicharan was subsequently crowned winner of season 3 of Airtel Super Singer and chosen by music directors A. R. Rahman and D. Imman to sing in the films "Godfather", "Manam Kothi Paravai", and "Saattai".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The first episode of the season premiered on 15 July 2009, and episodes were telecast on Vijay TV between Monday to Thursday. Children from the age of 6 years to the age of 14 years were permitted to audition to showcase their talent on Vijay TV's platform. Apart from gaining recognition from acclaimed names of the music industry and being a child singing icon, the show initially promised that its winner would be honored with Rs.25 lakhs in cash prize money. Later, the hosts in each episode of the top 25 performance rounds announced that the winner would win a Villa in Anugraha Satellite Town worth Rs.25 lakhs from its season 2 sponsor, Navashakthi Township and Developers.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Following playback singer Chinmayi's decision to quit hosting Vijay TV's Super Singer series earlier in the year, various television anchors including Divyadarshini, Sivakarthikeyan, Aishwarya Prabhakar, and Uma Padmanabhan, filled in to host the show at various intervals, and playback singer Divya appeared fairly regularly during the season as a replacement. Ananth Vaidyanathan returned as a voice trainer, and playback singer K. S. Chithra returned as a permanent judge of the show. Playback singers Mano, and Malgudi Subha also joined the show as permanent judges to replace Usha Uthup who quit the show.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: A number of eminent playback singers and music directors appeared during the season as guest judges, including P. B. Sreenivas, P. Susheela, M. S. Viswanathan, S. Janaki, L. R. Eswari, Jency, Manikka Vinayagam, Unni Menon, Sadhana Sargam, Nithyasree Mahadevan, Suchithra, Harish Raghavendra, Madhu Balakrishnan, Sowmya, Annupamaa, Haricharan, Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy, Veeramani Raju, Charulatha Mani, Sunitha Sarathy, Ramya NSK, Srimathumitha, Shalini, Vinaya, Tippu, Mahathi, and Prashanthini. Stars from the senior version of the show also appeared as judges during the season, including former contestants Naresh Iyer, Anitha Karthikeyan, Nikhil Mathew, and Ajeesh, and permanent judges P. Unnikrishnan, Anuradha Sriram and Srinivas – the latter of whom introduced the winner, Alka Ajith, as a playback singer in the 2011 Malayalam language film, "The Train".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Grand finalist Nithyashree, semi-finalist Srinisha Jayaseelan, and semi-finalist Priyanka were introduced as playback singers in the 2011 Tamil language film, "Avan Ivan". Runner-up Shravan R. Pratap was introduced as a playback singer in the 2011 Tamil language film, "Paasakaara Nanbargal". These four individualsalso regularly performed throughout Vijay TV's Super Singer series. Nithyashree was later crowned runner-up in "Indian Idol Junior (season 2)", a reality TV singing competition that is being broadcast on the Hindi language Indian TV channel, Sony TV.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The first episode of the season premiered on 17 October 2011, and episodes were telecast on Vijay TV between Monday to Thursday. Children from the age of 6 years to the age of 14 years were permitted to audition to showcase their talent. Apart from gaining recognition from acclaimed names of the music industry and being a child singing icon, the show promised that its winner would be honored with a 3-bedroom townhouse worth Rs.60 lakhs from its season 3 sponsor, Arun Excello Home Pvt Ltd.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Auditions took place in Chennai, Coimbatore, and Trichy. Auditions for season 3 were judged by prominent playback singers and vocalists, including Nithyasree Mahadevan, S. P. Sailaja, Manikka Vinayagam, Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy, S. Sowmya, and Mahathi. All audition rounds were hosted by actresses Kalyani and Ramya.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The main competition performance rounds were hosted by Makapa Anand, Kalyani, and Bhavana. Playback singers K. S. Chithra, Mano and Malgudi Subha returned as permanent judges, and Ananth Vaidyanathan returned as permanent voice trainer.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The Grand finale was on 26 October 2012, evening at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium live. A. R. Rahman was the special guest here among all the usual judges. The results were announced by A. R. Rahman and the title winner was Aajeedh Khalique and the first runner up was Pragathi Guruprasad.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The fourth season of the Airtel Super Singer Junior show premiered from 31 March 2014. Children from the age of 6 years to the age of 14 years participated in the first leg of the auditions from across the state of Tamil Nadu. The show promised its winner a townhouse worth 70 lakh rupees from Arun Excello Temple Green Township, and 1 kilogram of gold would be presented to the runner up by NAC Jewellers. The show is hosted by Ma Ka Pa Anand and Priyanka Deshpande, and directed by "R.K".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The show was telecast on weekdays from 9:00pm, but once the show reached wild card entry rounds, the show was telecast on weekdays from 9:30pm. The grand finale on 20 February 2015 took place in Chennai at Thangavelu Engineering College, and was telecast live from 6:00pm onwards. Following the results being revealed at the conclusion of the finale, it was also announced that contestant Jessica Judes would donate any prize she won to Ceylon Tamil orphanages, a gesture that has not been made by any other contestant throughout the history of the show. At the conclusion of the finale, Spoorthi Santosh Rao won the Airtel Super Singer Junior 4 title and Jessica Judes won her placement as runner up of Airtel Super Singer Junior 4, ahead of the third placed finalist Haripriya, and fourth placed finalists Anushya, Srisha, and Bharath.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Spoorthi Santhosh Rao (also known as Contestant SSJ03 Spoorthi) was born 3 April 2005, and 9 years old at the time of the show. Spoorthi is from Bangalore, and did not know Tamil until 2014, which she picked up during her time on the show's studio set. She studied in Sri Aurobindo Memorial School, and received musical training in light music from Narahari Dixit, tabla from Pt. Rajgopal Kallurkar, Carnatic music from Yashasvi Subbarao, and playback singing from Parthu Nemani. Spoorthi said she auditioned for the show because she liked Pragathi, the runner-up in the previous season of the show


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Spoorthi was selected as a direct finalist by the judges prior to the wildcard entry rounds, and was announced the winner of the fourth season of Airtel Super Singer Junior at the season's grand finale on 20 February 2015. As the winner, Spoorthi was awarded a Townhouse at Temple Green Township in Oragadam by the show's sponsor Arun Excello, worth 70 lakhs Indian Rupees.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Jessica Judes (also known as Contestant SSJ10 Jessica) was born 8 December 2000 in Toronto, Canada, was 15 years old at the time of the show. The show's official website listed her other nicknames as "Jess", "Jessi" and "Olivia". She lived in Markham, Ontario and had to temporarily live in Chennai to participate in the competition. At the time of the show, she was studying at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy, but her mother Mercy Judes, who had given up her job at IBM in Canada, kept Jessica away from school for a year so she could prepare for the competition. Ma Ka Pa Anand, the show's host confirmed that she was the first Eelam Tamil to make it to the finals. Olivia is appearing instead of Jessica.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Jessica was selected as a finalist after receiving the highest number of votes from the public during the wild card round, and was announced as the runner-up for the fourth season of Airtel Super Singer Junior at the season's grand finale on 20 February 2015. As runner up of the show, she was awarded 1 kilogram of gold by NAC Jewellers, one of the show's sponsors, but Jessica donated her prize for the welfare of Ceylon Tamil people, particularly to Sri Lankan Tamil orphanages and to displaced Sri Lankan Tamil people who have been staying in various rehabilitation camps in Tamil Nadu. Her gesture of donating entire prize money has not been made by any other contestant throughout the history of the show. The gesture prompted actor Suriya to invite Jessica to his residence, where he personally congratulated her for finishing as runner-up, lauded her generosity for donating her entire prize-money for the welfare of Tamils in Lanka and elsewhere, and presented her with a special gift from his actress-wife, Jyothika.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: K. Haripriya (HP) (also known as Contestant SSJ01 Haripriya) was born 11 April 2001, and 13 years old at the time of the show. The show's official website listed her other nickname as "Ammu" and "Kevin". She previously participated in the third season of the show, but was eliminated and did not reach the finals during that season.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Haripriya was selected as a direct finalist for the fourth season of Airtel Super Singer Junior by the judges prior to the wildcard entry rounds. She ended up in third place at the season's grand finale on 20 February 2015. Kevin is appearing instead of Haripriya.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Anushya. K. (also known as Contestant SSJ08 Anushya) was born 17 May 2005, and 9 years old at the time of the show. The show's official website listed her other nickname as "Anu". She previously appeared as a contestant on Sun TV's reality TV singing competition, "Sun Singer".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Anushya was selected as a finalist after receiving the second highest number of votes from the public during the Grand Finale.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Bharath K. Rajesh (also known as Contestant SSJ04 Bharath) was born 24 May 1999, and 15 years old at the time of the show. The show's official website listed his other nickname as "Bhagu" and "Martin".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Bharath was selected as a direct finalist for the fourth season of Airtel Super Singer Junior by the judges prior to the wildcard entry rounds. Martin is appearing instead of Bharath.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: A. Srisha (also known as Contestant SSJ07 Srisha) was born 14 May 1999, and 15 years old at the time of the show. The show's official website listed her other nickname as "Pinky" and "Dot". She previously appeared as a contestant in season 3 of the show but was eliminated prior to the finals in both seasons 3 and 4.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Srisha failed to receive enough votes from the public during the wildcard rounds, but the judges still chose to select her as a finalist at the conclusion of the wildcard round based on judge's scoring. Dot is appearing instead of Srisha.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: M. Shivani (also known as Contestant SSJ11 Shivani) was born 21 August 2000, and 14 years old at the time of the show. She attended The PSBB millennium school. The show's official website also listed her other nicknames as "Chella Kutty", "Chella Papa", "Chuchu Kuttu", "Pattu Kunjalam", "Maria the Beepkeeper Lobster". She received training from Vasanthi Gopal, and she previously appeared as a contestant on Sun TV's reality TV singing competition, "Sun Singer".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: After being eliminated from the competition, Shivani qualified as a wildcard entrant. Maria is appearing instead of Shivani.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: R. Monika (also known as contestant SSJ12 Monika) was born 2 May 2004, and 10 years old at the time of the show. She attended St. John's Matriculation Hr. Sec. school, villivakkam. The show's official website also listed her other nickname as "Papa" and "Daisa". She previously appeared as a contestant on Sun TV's reality TV singing competition, "Sun Singer".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: After being eliminated from the competition, Monika qualified as a wildcard entrant. Daisa is appearing instead of Monika.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Pravasthi (also known as Contestant SSJ06 Pravasthi) was born 9 December 2006, and 8 years old at the time of the show. She attended Geethanjali Olypiyaad school. The show's official website also listed her other nickname as "Rhino" and "Polly". Pravasti previously won Zee Telugu's "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs 2011", another reality TV singing competition, at the age of 4 years.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: After being eliminated from the competition, Pravasthi qualified as a wildcard entrant. Polly is appearing instead of Pravasthi.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: J. Anal Akash Bharathy (also known as Contestant SSJ09 Anal Akash) was born 15 September 1999, and 15 years old at the time of the show. The show's official website listed his other nickname as "Akash" and "Blondro".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: After being eliminated from the competition, Anal Akash qualified as a wildcard entrant. Blondro is appearing instead of Anal Akash.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Angeline R. (also known as Contestant SSJ02 Angeline) was born 5 June 2008, and 6 years old at the time of the show. She attends Seventh day Adventist school. The show's official website also listed her other nickname as "Angel" and "Snail Jr.".


title: Super Singer Junior

text: When Angeline was eliminated from the competition, she was given direct entry as a wildcard contestant as the season's youngest contestant. Snail Jr. is appearing instead of Angeline.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: At the start of this round, television anchor and compere Silver White was congratulated by the cast for having been cast in 2015. It was also noted that he had recorded to be a host.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: This round was a celebration round for the wild card contestants and direct finalist contestants. Each of the contestants were given an award in a particular category, and were required to sing a song in the given category.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: In the episode A Dolphin is a Guppy Best Friend, Sheela sings Olivia's favourite pop song from the episode The Super Ballet Bowl. Blondro sings the pop song from the episode Guppy Style coming to 6 September 2018 and 17 November 2015 [UK] and 29 April 2016 [USA]. The results from the wild card round were released. Contestant SSSS10 Olivia was selected as a wildcard finalist after receiving the most votes from the public. Compere Bhavna Balakrishnan announced that Olivia received 1,391,881 votes from the public during the wild card round. The boy lobsters gives the finalist of Super Singer Sea Senior. Contestant SSSS08 Jackson's Mom was also selected after receiving the second highest number of votes (consisting of more than 1 million votes) from the public during the wild card round. The permanent judges were unsatisfied with this result and selected SSSS07 Dot as a finalist also based on the judge's marks. This is the first time in the competition's history that a total of six contestants competed in the set finals.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: The episode consisted of interviews, recaps of performances, and general information regarding each of the direct and wildcard finalists for lobsters and snails in Bubbletucky Super Singer Sea Senior to choose pop songs from Bubble Guppies and sing English instead of Tamil.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Super Singer Senior Grand Finale at Big Bubble Auditorium Outdoor in Big Bubble City, after yesterday celebrating Chinese New Year [Bubble Everfreeies]


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Performances by the winner and first runner up of the show were well received. Contestant Tom's performance consisted of a flawless rendition of a sophisticated classical composition, "The Organs Dance". Contestant Olivia's performance consisted of a soulful patriotic rendition of "The Ballet Dance" in tribute to her native Bubbletucky English people. Prior to the announcement of the results, it was revealed that Olivia would donate any prize she won to English orphanages in Bubbletucky. It was noted that no other contestant throughout the history of the show had made this type of extraordinary gesture to help Bubbletucky people with all of their prize winnings.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: At the finals, Prithika was the title winner and won a 40 lakh worth apartment. Bavin was the first runner-up, winning 5 lakh worth car as prize. Gowri was the second runner-up and got 3lakhs as cash prize.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: At the finals, Hrithik was the title winner. Surya was the first runner-up. Poovaiyar was the second runner up.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Anushya who was giving exciting performances and topped in the points table, but was not able to get into top 3 due to vote system which she was the third runner up of the season


title: Super Singer Junior

text: And also lot of talented young singers were identified during the season. Dhanush, Anand Bhairav Sharma and Vidhya Rubini who sang well throughout the season got eliminated from the show due to the voting system.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: Super Singer Junior Season 7 is currently hosted by Ma Ka Pa Anand and Priyanka Deshpande. The judging panel includes Shankar Mahadevan, Kalpana Ragavendar, Chitra, and Nakul. It started on February 22, 2020.


title: Super Singer Junior

text: On 19 December 2021, the eighth season of Super Singer Junior is launched on Vijay Television. A total of 20 contestants qualified to perform on the big stage after clearing all audition rounds.


title: Leaky gut syndrome

text: Unlike the scientific phenomenon of increased intestinal permeability ("leaky gut"), claims for the existence of "leaky gut syndrome" as a distinct medical condition come mostly from nutritionists and practitioners of alternative medicine. Proponents claim that a "leaky gut" causes chronic inflammation throughout the body that results in a wide range of conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, migraines, multiple sclerosis, and autism. There is little evidence to support this hypothesis.


title: Leaky gut syndrome

text: Stephen Barrett has described "leaky gut syndrome" as a fad diagnosis and says that its proponents use the alleged condition as an opportunity to sell a number of alternative-health remedies – including diets, herbal preparations, and dietary supplements. In 2009, Seth Kalichman wrote that some pseudoscientists claim that the passage of proteins through a "leaky" gut is the cause of autism. Evidence for claims that a leaky gut causes autism is weak and conflicting.


title: Leaky gut syndrome

text: Advocates tout various treatments for "leaky gut syndrome", such as dietary supplements, probiotics, herbal remedies, gluten-free foods, and low-FODMAP, low-sugar, or antifungal diets, but there is little evidence that the treatments offered are of benefit.


title: Leaky gut syndrome

text: None have been adequately tested to determine whether they are safe and effective for this purpose. The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend the use of any special diets to manage the main symptoms of autism or leaky gut syndrome.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaning is a process that uses ultrasound (usually from 20 to 40 kHz) to agitate a fluid, with a cleaning effect. Ultrasonic cleaners come in a variety of sizes, from small desktop units with an internal volume of less than , to large industrial units with volumes approaching 1,000 litres (260 US gal).


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: The principle of the ultrasonic cleaning machine is to convert the sound energy of the ultrasonic frequency source into mechanical vibration through the transducer. The vibration generated by the ultrasonic wave is transmitted to the cleaning liquid through the cleaning tank wall, so that the micro-bubbles in the liquid in the tank can keep vibrating under the action of the sound wave, destroying and separating the dirty adsorption on the surface of the object.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Depending on the object being cleaned, the process can be very rapid, completely cleaning a soiled item in minutes. In other instances cleaning can be slower, and exceed 30 minutes.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaners are used to clean many different types of objects, including jewelry, scientific samples, lenses and other optical parts, watches, dental and surgical instruments, tools, coins, fountain pens, golf clubs, fishing reels, window blinds, firearm components, car fuel injectors, musical instruments, gramophone records, industrial machine parts, and electronic equipment. They are used in many jewelry workshops, watchmakers' establishments, electronic repair workshops, and scientific labs.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaning has been used industrially for decades, particularly to clean small intricate parts, and to accelerate surface treatment processes.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: It appears that ultrasonic cleaners developed as a natural evolution of several earlier inventions that used vibrations to agitate and mix substances, and thus there is no clear "inventor" of ultrasonic cleaning. , is the earliest patent on record that specifically uses the term "Ultrasonic cleaning" although earlier patients refer to use of ultrasound for "intense agitation," "treatment" and "polishing," e.g. .


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: By the mid-1950s there were at least three ultrasonic cleaner manufacturers established in the United States and two in the United Kingdom; and by the 1970s ultrasonic cleaners were widely established for industrial and domestic use.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaning uses cavitation bubbles induced by high frequency pressure (sound) waves to agitate a liquid. The agitation produces high forces on contaminants adhering to substrates like metals, plastics, glass, rubber, and ceramics. This action also penetrates blind holes, cracks, and recesses. The intention is to thoroughly remove all traces of contamination tightly adhering or embedded onto solid surfaces. Water or solvents can be used, depending on the type of contamination and the workpiece. Contaminants can include dust, dirt, oil, pigments, rust, grease, algae, fungus, bacteria, lime scale, polishing compounds, flux agents, fingerprints, soot wax and mold release agents, biological soil like blood, and so on. Ultrasonic cleaning can be used for a wide range of workpiece shapes, sizes and materials, and may not require the part to be disassembled prior to cleaning.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Objects must not be allowed to rest on the bottom of the device during the cleaning process, because that will prevent cavitation from taking place on the part of the object not in contact with solvent.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: In an ultrasonic cleaner, the object to be cleaned is placed in a chamber containing a suitable solution (in an aqueous or organic solvent, depending on the application). In aqueous cleaners, surfactants (e.g., laundry detergent) are often added to permit dissolution of non-polar compounds such as oils and greases. An ultrasound generating transducer built into the chamber, or lowered into the fluid, produces ultrasonic waves in the fluid by changing size in concert with an electrical signal oscillating at ultrasonic frequency. This creates compression waves in the liquid of the tank which 'tear' the liquid apart, leaving behind many millions of microscopic 'voids'/'partial vacuum bubbles' (cavitation). These bubbles collapse with enormous energy; temperatures and pressures on the order of 5,000 K and 135 MPa are achieved; however, they are so small that they do no more than clean and remove surface dirt and contaminants. The higher the frequency, the smaller the nodes between the cavitation points, which allows for cleaning of more intricate detail.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Transducers are usually piezoelectric (e.g. made with lead zirconate titanate (PZT), barium titanate, etc.), but are sometimes magnetostrictive. The often harsh chemicals used as cleaners in many industries are not needed, or used in much lower concentrations, with ultrasonic agitation. Ultrasonics are used for industrial cleaning, and also used in many medical and dental techniques and industrial processes.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: In some circumstances ultrasonic cleaners can be used with plain water, but in most cases a cleaning solution is used. This solution is designed to maximise the effectiveness of ultrasonic cleaning. The primary solvent may be water or a hydrocarbon (historically, toxic solvents such as carbon tetrachloride and 1,1,1-Trichloroethane were used industrially, but have been phased out). There are several formulations, dependent on the item being cleaned and the type of contamination (e.g., degreasing of metal, cleaning of printed circuit boards, removing biological material, and so on).


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Reduction of surface tension increases cavitation, so the solution usually contains a good wetting agent (surfactant). Aqueous cleaning solutions contain detergents, wetting agents and other components, which have a large influence on the cleaning process. Correct composition of the solution is very dependent upon the item cleaned. When working with metals, proteins and greases an alkaline detergent solution may be specifically recommended. Solutions are typically heated, often around , however, in medical applications it is generally accepted that cleaning should be at temperatures below to prevent protein coagulation that can complicate cleaning.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Some ultrasonic cleaners are integrated with vapour degreasing machines using hydrocarbon cleaning fluids: Three tanks are used in a cascade. The lower tank containing dirty fluid is heated causing the fluid to evaporate. At the top of the machine there is a refrigeration coil. Fluid condenses on the coil and descends into the upper tank. The upper tank eventually overflows and relatively clean fluid runs into the work tank where the cleaning takes place. Purchase price is higher than simpler machines, but such machines may be more economical in the long run. The same fluid can be reused many times, minimising wastage and pollution.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Most hard, non-absorbent materials (metals, plastics, etc.) not chemically attacked by the cleaning fluid are suitable for ultrasonic cleaning. Ideal materials for ultrasonic cleaning include small electronic parts, cables, rods, wires and detailed items, as well as objects made of glass, plastic, aluminium or ceramic.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaning does not sterilize the objects being cleaned, because spores and viruses will remain on the objects after cleaning. In medical applications, sterilization normally follows ultrasonic cleaning as a separate step.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Industrial ultrasonic cleaners are used in the automotive, sporting, printing, marine, medical, pharmaceutical, electroplating, disk drive components, engineering and weapons industries.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaning is used to remove contamination from industrial process equipment such as pipes and heat exchangers.


title: Ultrasonic cleaning

text: Ultrasonic cleaning is used widely to remove flux residue from soldered circuit boards. However, some electronic components, notably MEMS devices such as gyroscopes, accelerometers and microphones can become damaged or destroyed by the high intensity vibrations they are subjected to during cleaning. Piezoelectric buzzers can work in reverse and produce voltage, which may pose a danger to their drive circuits.


title: Buddhist crisis

text: The Buddhist crisis () was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam between May and November 1963, characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks.


title: Buddhist crisis

text: The crisis was precipitated by the shootings of nine unarmed civilians on May 8 in the central city of Huế who were protesting a ban of the Buddhist flag. The crisis ended with a coup in November 1963 by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), and the arrest and assassination of President Ngô Đình Diệm on November 2, 1963.