Caller (dancing)

A caller is a person who prompts dance figures in such dances as line dance, square dance, and contra dance. The caller might be one of the participating dancers, though in modern country dance this is rare.

In round dance a person who performs this function is called a cuer. Their role is fundamentally the same as a caller, in that they tell dancers what to do in a given dance, though they differ on several smaller points. In northern New England contra dancing, the caller is also known as the prompter.

Comparing callers and cuers

Callers and cuers serve slightly different functions in different types of dance. Improvisation in modern Western square dance calling distinguishes it from the calling in many other types of dance.

Callers in many dance types are expected to sing and to be entertaining, but round dance cuers do not sing and are expected to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Standardized dances such as round dance, modern Western square dance, and Salsa Rueda consist of a number of defined difficulty levels. Callers and cuers are responsible for knowing all of the calls or cues (respectively), also known as figures, for the defined difficulty level at which their dancers are dancing, as well as all figures belonging to lower or easier levels.

Betting in poker

In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing. Different games are played using different types of bets, and small variations in etiquette exist between cardrooms, but for the most part the following rules and protocol are observed by the majority of poker players.

Procedure

Players in a poker game act in turn, in clockwise rotation (acting out of turn can negatively affect other players). When it is a player's turn to act, the first verbal declaration or action she takes binds her to her choice of action; this rule prevents a player from changing her action after seeing how other players react to her initial, verbal action.

Until the first bet is made each player in turn may "check," which is to not place a bet, or "open," which is to make the first bet. After the first bet each player may "fold," which is to drop out of the hand losing any bets they have already made; "call," which is to match the highest bet so far made; or "raise," which is to increase the previous high bet.

Magpie

Magpies are birds of the Corvidae (crow) family, including the black and white Eurasian magpie, which is considered one of the most intelligent animals in the world, and the only non-mammal species able to recognize itself in a mirror test. In addition to other members of the genus Pica, corvids considered as magpies are in the genera Cissa, Cyanopica and Urocissa.

Systematics and species

According to some studies, magpies do not form the monophyletic group they are traditionally believed to be—a long tail has certainly elongated (or shortened) independently in multiple lineages of corvid birds. Among the traditional magpies, there appear to be two distinct lineages. One consists of Holarctic species with black/white colouration and is probably closely related to crows and Eurasian jays. The other contains several species from South to East Asia with vivid colouration which is predominantly green or blue. The azure-winged magpie and the Iberian magpie, formerly thought to constitute a single species with a most peculiar distribution, have been shown be two distinct species and classified as the genus Cyanopica.

Magpie (disambiguation)

Magpie may refer to:

Animals

Birds

"True" magpies, four genera in the bird family Corvidae:

Other Corvidae:

Bellmagpies, songbirds related to Corvidae in family Artamidae or Cracticidae, namely:

Songbirds unrelated to Corvidae:

List of minor DC Comics characters

Throughout its history, DC Comics has introduced many characters, including numerous minor characters. These characters range from supporting characters, heroes and villains that appear infrequently, to characters that only take part in a single story.

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Airstryke

Airstryke is a villain in the DC Universe.

Within the context of the stories, William Kavanagh was given the ability to transform into a pterodactyl/man hybrid by a weapons company Meta/Tech and took the name Airstryke. Count Viper took advantage of these new abilities and used Airstryke to distract Hawkman while Viper tried to take command of the Justice League and thus the world. Airstryke and Viper were soon defeated and Airstryke was sent to Belle Reve Prison. He remained here until he was freed by Neron and was given the chance to sell his soul along with numerous other villains. Airstryke chose not to sell his soul and continued his life of crime. Eventually, Airstryke was returned to prison where he became a victim of Joker's Joker gas. Again, he was defeated and returned to prison. This time he was sent to the Slab. During his stay, Brother Blood attempted to break all the villains out of the prison so they could assist him on his mission. Airstryke was the first to question Blood on his plan. Brother Blood then shot and killed Airstryke for his hubris.