Gloria (heating system)

Gloria (meaning glory in Spanish) was a central heating system used in Castile beginning in the Middle Ages. It was a direct descendant of the Roman hypocaust, and due to its slow rate of combustion, it allowed people to use smaller fuels such as hay instead of wood.

Description

The Gloria consisted of a firebox, generally located outside (in a courtyard, for example), which burned hay, and one or more ducts that ran under the floors of the rooms to be heated. The warm exhaust gases from the combustion would pass through these ducts and then be released outside through a vertical flue.

The system is more efficient than a fireplace, because the rate of combustion (and therefore the heat output) can be regulated by restricting the airflow into the firebox. Moreover, the air required for combustion does not have to pass through the interior of the building, which reduces cold drafts. Finally, because the firebox is not open to the interior, there is no risk of filling the interior with smoke.

Gloria (1980 film)

Gloria is a 1980 American crime thriller film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a gangster's girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. It stars Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, and John Adames.

Plot

In the South Bronx, Jeri Dawn is heading home on the bus with bags of groceries. She gets off at her stop and accidentally drops all her bags. After picking them up, she heads to an apartment building. Once inside the lobby, she passes a man whose dress and appearance are out of place. The woman quickly boards the elevator and anxiously waits for it to reach her floor, where she then gets off and heads to a room far from the elevator.

She is met by her husband Jack Dawn, an accountant for a New York City mob family. There is a contract on Jack and his family, as he has been acting as an informant for the FBI. Suddenly, the family's neighbor, Gloria Swenson, rings their doorbell, asking to borrow some coffee. Jeri tells Gloria of the impending hit and implores Gloria to protect the children. Gloria, a former mobster's girlfriend, tells Jeri that she doesn't like kids but begrudgingly agrees. The Dawns' daughter Carmen refuses to leave and locks herself in the bathroom, so Gloria takes only their young son Phil to her apartment – just narrowly missing the hit squad.

Gloria (Them song)

"Gloria" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and originally recorded by Morrison's band Them in 1964 and released as the B-side of "Baby, Please Don't Go". The song became a garage rock staple and a part of many rock bands' repertoires. It is particularly memorable for its "G–L–O–R–I–A" chorus. It is easy to play, as a simple three-chord song, and thus is popular with those learning to play guitar.

History

Morrison said that he wrote "Gloria" while he performed with the Monarchs in Germany in the summer of 1963, at just about the time he turned eighteen years old. He started to perform it at the Maritime Hotel when he returned to Belfast and joined up with the Gamblers to form the band Them. He would ad-lib lyrics as he performed, sometimes stretching the song to fifteen or twenty minutes. After signing a contract with Dick Rowe and Decca, Them went to London for a recording session at Decca Three Studios in West Hampstead on 5 July 1964; "Gloria" was one of the seven songs recorded that day. Besides Morrison, present were Billy Harrison on guitar, Alan Henderson on bass, Ronnie Millings on drums and Patrick John McCauley on keyboards. Rowe brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ and Bobby Graham on drums, since he considered the Them members too inexperienced. There remains some dispute about whether Millings and McCauley were miked up, but Alan Henderson contends that Them constituted the first rock group to use two drummers on a recording. Although some sources claim that Jimmy Page played second guitar, other sources deny this.

Stargate SG-1 (season 1)

The first season of the military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 commenced airing on the Showtime channel in the United States on July 27, 1997, concluded on the same channel on March 6, 1998, and contained 22 episodes. The show itself is a spin off from the 1994 hit movie, Stargate written by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. Stargate SG-1 re-introduced supporting characters from the film universe, such as Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill and Daniel Jackson and included new characters such as Teal'c, George Hammond and Samantha "Sam" Carter. The first season was about a military-science expedition team discovering how to use the ancient device, named the Stargate, to explore the galaxy. However, they encountered a powerful enemy in the film named the Goa'uld, which is bent on destroying Earth and all that oppose them.

Ratings Success

The 100-minute premiere "Children of the Gods", which aired on July 27, 1997 at 8 p.m, received Showtime's highest-ever ratings for a series premiere and ranked as the highest-rated original movie to premiere on Showtime in 3-1/2 years at the time. The show got a 10.5 rating in Showtime's approximately 12 million U.S. households, which equaled approximately 1.5 million homes in total. Season one regular cast members included Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis.

Argos (retailer)

Argos is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a subsidiary of Home Retail Group. The company trades both through physical stores and online, with over 750 stores and 800 million website visits a year, making it one of the largest high street retailers online in the United Kingdom.

Argos was established in 1973 by Richard Tompkins, the founder of the Green Shield Stamps scheme, who rebranded the existing Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops as Argos, before opening new Argos branded stores later in the year. BAT Industries purchased the company in 1979, and in 1990 it was listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. GUS plc bought the company in 1998, and it became part of the Home Retail Group when GUS split in 2006.

In August 2013, it was estimated that 96% of the population of the United Kingdom was within 10 miles of an Argos branch.

History

The company was founded by Richard Tompkins who had previously established Green Shield Stamps in the United Kingdom. Whilst on holiday in the Greek city of Argos, he came up with the idea that people could purchase goods from his "Green Shield Gift House" with cash rather than savings stamps. He rebranded the original Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops as Argos beginning in July 1973, the first purpose-built store opening on the A28 Sturry Road, Canterbury in late 1973. Green Shield House was in Station Road, Edgware.

Argos (river)

The Argos is a river in the region of Murcia, Spain. It is a tributary of the river Segura. It starts in Caravaca de la Cruz, runs though Cehegín, Valentin and joins the Segura in Calasparra.

Coordinates: 38°15′N 1°41′W / 38.250°N 1.683°W / 38.250; -1.683