STAR (interbank network)

STAR is an interbank network and EFTPOS network in the United States. It is the largest American interbank network, with 2 millionATMs, 134 million cardholders and over 5,700 participating financial institutions. The STAR Network began in 1984 and was acquired by First Data Corporation in 2003. The network is owned and operated by STAR Networks, a subsidiary company of First Data.

Mergers

The network has existed since the 1980s, and has since included several other networks, mostly in the 2000s:

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Cactus (record label)

Cactus was a UK record label that found most of its success with music from the reggae genre in the mid 1970s.

A subsidiary of Creole Records, Cactus released predominantly reggae songs from artists such Rupie Edwards, I-Roy, Pluto, John Holt and Judge Dread. The label had acquired the rights to music from Pyramid Records and had UK chart success with re-releases of Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" and with Dekker's, "Sing a Little Song".

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Cactus (TV series)

Cactus (Persian :کاکتوس) is a 1998Iranian satirical TV series directed by Mohammad Reza Honarmand. Various actors played in the series including Fathali Oveisi, Khosrow Shakibai, Reza Fieze Norouzi, Rasool Najafian, Soroosh Sehhat and Zohreh Mojabi. Cactus was aired in three parts between 1998 to 2002.

IRIB's Channel 1 broadcast the TV series.

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Water (Elitsa & Stoyan song)

"Water" (Bulgarian script: Вода) was the Bulgarian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in Bulgarian by Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov. This was the first occasion on which the Bulgarian language was used on the Eurovision stage, previous Bulgarian entries being performed in English. Originally titled "Voda", the song had its title translated to English for the Contest.

The song is an up-tempo number with techno influences, as well as a jaw harp and traditional percussion. Todorova sings folk-inspired lyrics dealing with a young girl meeting a young boy riding a horse.

The performance in the semi-final featured the duo wearing what looked like armour, while they were wearing more mainstream clothes in the final. The performances were also notable for the high-energy percussion performances of both musicians.

As Bulgaria had not finished the previous Contest in the top ten, the song was performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed first (preceding Israel's Teapacks with "Push The Button"). At the close of voting, it had received 146 points, placing 6th in a field of 28 and qualifying Bulgaria for its first final.

Water (2005 film)

Water (Hindi: वाटर), is a 2005 Indo-Canadian film written and directed by Deepa Mehta, with screenplay by Anurag Kashyap. It is set in 1938 and explores the lives of widows at an ashram in Varanasi, India. The film is also the third and final instalment of Mehta's Elements trilogy. It was preceded by Fire (1996) and Earth (1998). Author Bapsi Sidhwa wrote the 2006 novel based upon the film, Water: A Novel, published by Milkweed Press. Sidhwa's earlier novel, Cracking India was the basis for Earth, the second film in the trilogy. Water is a dark introspect into the tales of rural Indian widows in the 1940s and covers controversial subjects such as misogyny and ostracism. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was honoured with the Opening Night Gala, and was released across Canada in November of that year. It was first released in India on 9 March 2007.

The film stars Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, John Abraham, and Sarala Kariyawasam in pivotal roles and Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, and Vinay Pathak in supporting roles. Featured songs for the film were composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Sukhwinder Singh and Raqeeb Alam while the background score was composed by Mychael Danna. Cinematography is by Giles Nuttgens, who has worked with Deepa Mehta on several of her films.

Ice

Ice is water frozen into a solid state. Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color.

In the Solar System, ice is abundant and occurs naturally from as close to the Sun as Mercury to as far as the Oort cloud. Beyond the Solar System, it occurs as interstellar ice. It is abundant on Earth's surface – particularly in the polar regions and above the snow line – and, as a common form of precipitation and deposition, plays a key role in Earth's water cycle and climate. It falls as snowflakes and hail or occurs as frost, icicles or ice spikes.

Ice molecules can exhibit up to sixteen different phases (packing geometries) that depend on temperature and pressure. When water is cooled rapidly (quenching), up to three different types of amorphous ice can form depending on the history of its pressure and temperature. When cooled slowly correlated proton tunneling occurs below 20 K giving rise to macroscopic quantum phenomena. Virtually all the ice on Earth's surface and in its atmosphere is of a hexagonal crystalline structure denoted as ice Ih (spoken as "ice one h") with minute traces of cubic ice denoted as ice Ic. The most common phase transition to ice Ih occurs when liquid water is cooled below 0°C (273.15K, 32°F) at standard atmospheric pressure. It may also be deposited directly by water vapor, as happens in the formation of frost. The transition from ice to water is melting and from ice directly to water vapor is sublimation.