The Ashes (rugby league)

The Ashes series, like the cricket series of the same name, was a best-of-three series of test matches between the British and Australian national rugby league football teams. It was contested 39 times from 1908 until 2003 largely with hosting rights alternating between the two countries. From 1973 Australia won thirteen consecutive Ashes series.

History

Several sports and events adopted cricket's Ashes "concept" and by the beginning of the 20th century it was an "accepted principle" that a series had to have at least three matches to be a true test of which side was the best.

On 27 September 1908, the first touring Australian rugby league side arrived in England, and played their first ever Test against the England side in December in London. Two further Tests were played. The Australians suggested that the series should be called "The Ashes" and the name stuck.

The format used is that three matches are played, with the winning team being decided on the basis of most matches won. If one team has already won two matches the series is already won, however the final game is usually still played. In the 1929–30 Ashes series both the teams won one game and one game was drawn; it was therefore decided to hold a further match to determine the outcome.

Ashes (Kyla La Grange album)

Ashes is Kyla La Grange's debut album. It was produced by Brett Shaw at 123 Studios in East London, with two tracks produced by Marky Bates and was released on 30 July 2012. All songs were written by La Grange, except "Love You Better" which is a cover of The Maccabbes song from the album Wall of Arms.

"Been Better" was released as the album's lead single on 10 July 2011 with "Courage" as its B-Side. "Heavy Stone" was released as the second single on 16 October 2011 with "Lambs" as its B-Side. "Vampire Smile" was released as the third single on 12 February 2012 with the non-album track "Cold Favours" as its B-Side. "Walk through Walls" was released as the fourth single on 20 July 2012 with her cover of "Love You Better" as its B-Side. "Been Better" was re-released on 11 November 2012 with "To Be Torn" and the non-album track "Erased" as its B-Sides. In addition to these singles, "I Could Be" was released as an iTunes Free Single of the Week in August 2012.

"Catalyst" was featured in the season 1 episode "Tough Love" of The CW network television series Beauty & the Beast.

Ashes (Embrace song)

"Ashes" is the second single from English rock band Embrace's fourth studio album, Out of Nothing. This release was publicised by a fan campaign called G.A.T.N.O (Get Ashes to Number One). The song reached number 11.

The B-side, "Flaming Red Hair", started life as a cover version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Another B-side, "How Come", was originally performed on Jo Whiley's BBC Radio 1 show.

The songs "Maybe I Wish", "Flaming Red Hair", and a live version of "How Come" are featured on the B-sides compilation Dry Kids: B-Sides 1997-2005.

The song featured on the soundtrack of FIFA 06.

In the late summer of 2010, the track gained American notoriety through use in a commercial promoting the video game Madden NFL 11 that primarily aired on ESPN.

On 14 August 2014, Reading FC fans chose "Ashes" as their official club anthem.

The song was featured in the Veronica Mars episode "Normal Is the Watchword".

Track listings

Valeria (gens)

The Gens Valeria was a patrician family at Rome, which later included a number of plebeian branches. The Valeria gens was one of the most ancient and most celebrated at Rome; and no other Roman gens was distinguished for so long a period, although a few others, such as the Cornelia gens, produced a greater number of illustrious men. Publius Valerius, afterwards surnamed Poplicola or Publicola, played a distinguished part in the story of the expulsion of the Kings, and was elected consul in the first year of the Republic, BC 509. From this time forward, down to the latest period of the Empire, for nearly a thousand years, the name Valerius occurs more or less frequently in the Fasti, and it was borne by the emperors Maximinus, Maximianus, Maxentius, Diocletian, Constantius, Constantine the Great, and others.

The Valeria gens enjoyed extraordinary honours and privileges at Rome. Their house at the bottom of the Velia was the only one in Rome of which the doors were allowed to open back into the street. In the Circus Maximus a conspicuous place was set apart for them, where a small throne was erected, an honour of which there was no other example among the Romans. They were also allowed to bury their dead within the walls, a privilege which was also granted to some other gentes; and when they had exchanged the older custom of interment for that of burning the corpse, although they did not light the funeral pile on their burying-ground, the bier was set down there, as a symbolical way of preserving their right.

Soulcalibur III

Soulcalibur III (ソウルキャリバーIII, SōruKyaribā Surī) is a fighting game produced by Namco as a sequel to Soulcalibur II and the fourth installment in the Soul series. It was originally released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. An improved arcade version, Soulcalibur III: Arcade Edition, was released in 2006.

Gameplay

The game includes new modes such as Tales of Souls, an interactive story-driven mode comparable to Edge Master Mode from Soul Edge; Character Creation, in which players can create custom characters from 13 total occupations, with multiple weapons and fighting styles; and Chronicles of the Sword, a real-time-play mode that allows players to take their created souls through adventures of their own. The game also has the largest character roster — 24 characters playable in Tales of Souls mode and an additional 18 playable in all other modes — and largest battle stage selection in Soul series history.

The Character Creation Mode allows the player to choose from several classes, clothing and armor, and physical features. Most of the classes can use up to five disciplines, three of which are unique, and two of which are "Soul of ..." disciplines: an exact replica of a main story character's moves. The created fighter's personality can be altered, which influences their quotes and their actions during battle. However, the personality is chosen by the equipment the character wears, and not directly by the player.

Valeria (Conan the Barbarian)

Valeria is a pirate and adventuress (a member of The Red Brotherhood of pirates) in the fictional universe of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories. She appears in Robert E. Howard's Conan novella Red Nails, serialized in Weird Tales 28 1-3 (July, August/September & October 1936). This was the last Conan story written by Howard, and published posthumously. The name was also used for Conan's love interest in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian.

Events of the short story

In Red Nails, she was wandering through the jungles of Kush after running from a mercenary camp. She had signed up with the mercenaries to guard the Stygian border from raids by Darfar. However, she killed a Stygian officer for making unwanted sexual advances and was forced to escape quickly. Conan, who was also serving as a mercenary on the border, follows her due to his own lust, killing the Stygian officer's brother (who was seeking revenge on Valeria) en route. Both end up in the lost city of Xuchotl. It ends with Conan and Valeria as lovers set to return to piracy.