Contra

Contra is a Latin preposition (also used in English as a prefix) meaning "against". It may also refer to:

Finance

Media

Music

Video games

Contras

The contras (some references use the capitalized form, "Contras") is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded rebel groups that were active from 1979 through to the early 1990s in opposition to the left-wing, socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua. Among the separate contra groups, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as the largest by far. In 1987, virtually all contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance.

From an early stage, the rebels received financial and military support from the United States government, and their military significance decisively depended on it. After US support was banned by Congress, the Reagan administration covertly continued it. These covert activities culminated in the Iran–Contra affair.

The term "contra" comes from the Spanish contra, which means against but in this case is short for la contrarrevolución, in English "the counter-revolution". Some rebels disliked being called contras, feeling that it defined their cause only in negative terms, or implied a desire to restore the old order. Rebel fighters usually referred to themselves as comandos ("commandos"); peasant sympathizers also called the rebels los primos ("the cousins"). From the mid-1980s, as the Reagan administration and the rebels sought to portray the movement as the "democratic resistance," members started describing themselves as la resistencia.

Contra (video game series)

Contra (Japanese: 魂斗羅, Hepburn: Kontora) is a video game series produced by Konami composed primarily of run and gun-style shoot-'em-ups. The series debuted in 1987 as a coin-operated arcade game simply titled Contra, which was followed by the release of Super Contra in 1988 and several sequels produced for various home platforms.

The in-universe use of the term "Contra" is first explained within the Japanese instruction card of the arcade version of Contra, and reiterated in most games (including Contra: Shattered Soldier), as "a title awarded to a superior soldier possessing almost super human drive and ability, while excelling in guerrilla tactics".

In Japanese, the title is spelled with the kanji characters 魂斗羅 or Kontora. This is a form of ateji, in which the characters are used for their phonetic pronunciations rather than any inherent meaning they may have.

The arcade version of Contra was released on February 1987, a few months after the Iran–Contra affair was made public. While it is unclear whether the game was deliberately named after the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, the ending theme of the original game was titled "Sandinista" (サンディニスタ, Sandinisuta), after the adversaries of the real-life Contras.

Mille

The word Mille can refer to:

People

There are several people with the surname DeMille or de Mille

People with surname Mille only.

Geography

Transportation

Other

Mille (woreda)

Mille is one of the woredas in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the Mille River, a tributary of the Awash River, which flows through this woreda. Part of the Administrative Zone 1, Mille is bordered on the south by the Administrative Zone 3, on the southwest by Administrative Zone 5, on the west by the Amhara Region, on the northwest by Chifra, on the northeast by Dubti, and on the southeast by the Somali Region. Towns in Mille include Mille and Eli Wuha. The highest point in this woreda is Mount Gabillema (1459 meters), a dormant volcano in the southeastern part. Roads in this woreda include the feeder road between Chifra and Mille, which is 105 kilometers in length; it was constructed in two segments between February 1999 and February 2001 by SUR Construction. Important local landmarks include the Yangudi Rassa National Park, which covers the southeast corner of Mille, but not Mount Gabillema; and the archeological sites at Hadar and Dikika where specimens of Australopithecus afarensis have been recovered.

Mille (card game)

Mille is a two-player card game requiring two standard 52-card decks. Mille is a rummy game similar to canasta in the respects that if a player picks up cards from the discard pile, the player picks up the entire pile, and the only legal melds are three or more cards of a same rank.

Origins

The two-player rummy game Mille is said to have been devised in Montreal,Québec and from there brought to Toronto in the 1990s. It has since become increasingly popular.

Basic rules

The dealer deals 15 cards to his opponent and himself, then turns over a card from the deck.

On a player's turn, he has two options: pick up the "pack", or draw a card from the deck. If the player has a pair in his hand of the last card discarded, he has the option of picking the pack up. The only exception to this rule is if the up card opened immediately after the deal is a 2. The player can pick it up; he doesn't have to use it immediately or have a pair of 2's. When picking up the pack, the player must immediately lay the pair in his hand and the last card discarded. For example: The pack is 3-4-5-K-3-7. One player discards a 9. The other player has a pair of 9's in his hand. He can take the 9 from the pack, lay the pair of 9's on the table with the discarded 9, then pick up the 3-4-5-K-3-7 and place in his hand.