Mini-Con

Mini-Cons are a human-sized race and faction of power-enhancing transforming robots first introduced in various Transformers series. Pioneered for the Transformers: Armada toy line, Mini-Cons have since been sold under the Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Universe, Transformers: Cybertron and Transformers: Classic lines. In some cases, the word may also be spelled "Minicon" and they are known as "Microns" in Japan.

Unicron Trilogy

Mini-Cons are a race of small, roughly human-sized Transformers capable of powerlinxing with a larger Transformer to impart extra abilities or greatly increase their strength. Their origins vary depending on the continuity in which they appear. Sometimes, they are creations of Unicron and other times they are creations of the Last Autobot or the descendants of Micronus Prime. However, there are times where their origins are not explained and are portrayed in different characterizations.

Throughout the different incarnations of the Transformers franchise, the Mini-Cons origins, characteristics and personalities vary, depending on continuity. For example, in the original Armada cartoon, Unicron created the Mini-Cons to be mindless tools, sent to Cybertron as an agitating element to the Transformers' civil war. The power-enhancing "smart tools" would be unleashed upon the populace, who would snap them up and bond with them, and the war would only get more destructive, as Unicron drank in the negative psychic energies from the death and destruction. As the Mini-Cons had been designed to form mental bonds with other life forms, when the human Rad touched the Mini-Con who he knew from the future as High Wire, High Wire apparently formed his bond then, with Rad and through the Mini-Cons' shared "soul dimension", the Linkage, sentience and free will spread throughout the Mini-Cons, forming "souls", and crippling Unicron's plans drastically. Most Mini-Cons had limited verbal capabilities, causing much controversy among fandom.

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.

Comet Arend–Roland

Comet Arend–Roland was discovered on November 8, 1956, by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland on photographic plates. As the eighth comet found in 1956, it was named Arend–Roland 1956h after its discoverers. Because it was the third comet to pass through perihelion during 1957, it was then renamed 1957 III. Finally, it received the standard IAU designation C/1956 R1 (Arend–Roland), with the 'C/' indicating it was a non-periodic comet and the R1 showing it was the first comet reported as discovered in the half-month designated by R. The last is equivalent to the period September 1–15.

Observations

In November 1956, a double astrograph at the Uccle Observatory in Brussels was being used for routine investigation of minor planets. On November 8, 1956, the Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland discovered a comet on their photographic plates. At that time the comet was at visual magnitude 10, with a strong central condensation and a short tail. The early discovery of this comet allowed observing programs and equipment to be prepared well in advance.

New START

New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) (Russian: СНВ-III, SNV-III) is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. It is expected to last at least until 2021.

New START replaced the Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012. In terms of name, it is a follow-up to the START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, the proposed START II treaty, which never entered into force, and the START III treaty, for which negotiations were never concluded.

Under terms of the treaty, the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. A new inspection and verification regime will be established, replacing the SORT mechanism. It does not limit the number of operationally inactive stockpiled nuclear warheads that remain in the high thousands in both the Russian and American inventories.