1944 World Series

The 1944 World Series was an all-St. Louis World Series, matching up the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park. It marked only the third time in World Series history in which both teams had the same home field (the other two being the 1921 and 1922 World Series in the Polo Grounds in New York City).

1944 saw perhaps the nadir of 20th-century baseball, as the long-moribund St. Louis Browns won their only American League pennant. The pool of talent was depleted by the draft to the point that in 1945 (but not 1944), as the military scraped deeper and deeper into the ranks of the possibly eligible, the Browns actually used a one-armed player, Pete Gray. Some of the players were 4-Fs, rejected by the military due to physical defects or limitations which precluded duty in the trenches. Others divided their time between factory work in defense industries and baseball, some being able to play ball only on weekends. Some players avoided the draft by chance, despite being physically able to serve. Stan Musial of the Cardinals was one. Musial, enlisting in early 1945, missed one season. He rejoined the Cardinals in 1946.

1889 World Series

The 1889 World Series was an end-of-the-year baseball playoff series between the National League champion New York Giants and the American Association champion Brooklyn Bridegrooms (later known as the Dodgers).

This Series was part of the pre-modern-era World Series, an annual competition between the champions of the National League and the American Association. The Giants won this best-of-11-games series, 6 games to 3. The 1889 Series was the first involving solely New York City area clubs, and was part of the continuum of a long-standing rivalry that developed between the clubs in New York, particularly the Giants and the Dodgers. Brooklyn was then a separate city from New York; Brooklyn (and the other three boroughs) would merge with New York City in 1898.

Despite this Series setback, the Brooklyn team would come back strong in 1890. The club transferred to the National League, and with the Giants suffering raids by the Players' League, would win the league championship, the first major league club to win consecutive pennants in two different leagues.

2009 World Series

The 2009 World Series was the 105th edition of Major League Baseball's (MLB) championship series. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National League (NL) and defending World Series champions, and the New York Yankees, champions of the American League (AL). The Yankees defeated the Phillies with a score of 4 games to 2, to win their 27th World Series championship. The series was played between October 28 and November 4, broadcast on Fox, and watched by an average of roughly 19 million viewers. Due to the start of the season being pushed back by the 2009 World Baseball Classic in March, this was the first World Series scheduled to be played into the month of November. (The 2001 World Series was pushed back into November due to the September 11 attacks.)

Home field advantage for the Series went to the AL for the eighth straight year as a result of its 4–3 win in the All-Star Game. The Phillies earned their berth into the playoffs by winning the National League East. The Yankees won the American League East to earn their berth, posting the best record in the Major Leagues. The Phillies reached the World Series by defeating the Colorado Rockies in the best-of-five National League Division Series, and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series (NLCS). The Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the AL Championship Series (ALCS) to advance to their first World Series since 2003. As a result of their loss, the Phillies became the first team since the 2001 Yankees to lose the World Series after winning it the previous year.

Séries+

Séries+ is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel devoted to scripted comedy and dramatic programming. The channel is owned by Corus Entertainment.

History

On May 21, 1999, Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) and Premier Choix Networks (a division of Astral Media) were granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a national French-language specialty television service called Canal Fiction, described as a "service devoted to drama."

The channel was launched on January 31, 2000 as Séries+ at 6pm EST.

On January 18, 2008, a joint venture between Canwest and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners known as CW Media purchased AAC and gained AAC's interest in Séries+.

On October 27, 2010, Shaw Communications completed its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media, giving it control of CW Media's 50% interest in Séries+.

On March 4, 2013, Corus Entertainment announced that it would acquire Astral Media's stakes in Séries+ and Historia, as well as several other properties, under separate transactions with the two companies. The purchase was tied to Bell Media's pending takeover of Astral Media; an earlier proposal had been rejected by the CRTC in October 2012 due to concerns surrounding its total market share following the merger, but was restructured under the condition that the companies divest certain media properties. In a separate deal, Corus also acquired Shaw's interests in Séries+ and Historia, giving it full ownership. The deals were approved by the CRTC on December 20, 2013 and Corus officially become the full owner of the channel on January 1, 2014.

JR Shikoku 7000 series

The 7000 series (7000系) is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku) in Shikoku, Japan, since November 1990.

Operations

The sets are based at Takamatsu and Matsuyama depots, and operate on the Yosan Line and Dosan Line. The 7000 series can operate as single-car sets, but the 7100 subseries is single-ended, and must be operated coupled with another 7000 series unit. The sets are designed for use on wanman driver only operation services.

Formations

As of 1 April 2012, the fleet consists of 25 7000 series motored cars and 11 7100 series trailer cars.

The "cMc" (7000 series) cars are fitted with one S-PS58 lozenge-type pantograph. The "Tc" (7100 series) trailer cars have no pantographs and can not operate alone.

Double-ended car 7017 at Iyoshi Station, January 2008

Double-ended car 7017 at Iyoshi Station, January 2008

Single-ended car 7111 at Kotohira Station, January 2008

Single-ended car 7111 at Kotohira Station, January 2008

8250 UART

The 8250 UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) is an integrated circuit designed for implementing the interface for serial communications. The part was originally manufactured by the National Semiconductor Corporation. It was commonly used in PCs and related equipment such as printers or modems. The 8250 included an on-chip programmable bit rate generator, allowing use for both common and special-purpose bit rates which could be accurately derived from an arbitrary crystal oscillator reference frequency.

The chip designations carry suffix letters for later versions of the same chip series. For example, the original 8250 was soon followed by the 8250A and 8250B versions that corrected some bugs. In particular, the original 8250 could repeat transmission of a character if the CTS line was asserted asynchronously during the first transmission attempt.

Due to the high demand, other manufacturers soon began offering compatible chips. Western Digital offered WD8250 chip under Async Communications Interface Adapter (ACIA) and Async Communications Element (ACE) names.

World (Bee Gees song)

"World" is a song from the Bee Gees' fourth album Horizontal, released in 1967 in the United Kingdom. Though it was a big hit in Europe, Atco Records did not issue it as a single in the United States, having just issued a third single from Bee Gees' 1st, "Holiday".

Composition

The song's lyrics question the singer's purpose in life.

Recording

The song's first recording session was on 3 October 1967 along with "With the Sun in My Eyes" and "Words". The song's last recording session was on 28 October 1967. "World" was originally planned as having no orchestra, so all four tracks were filled with the band, including some mellotron or organ played by Robin. When it was decided to add an orchestra, the four tracks containing the band were mixed to one track and the orchestra was added to the other track. The stereo mix suffered since the second tape had to play as mono until the end when the orchestra comes in on one side. Barry adds: "'World' is one of those things we came up with in the studio, Everyone just having fun and saying, 'Let's just do something!' you know". Vince Melouney recalls: "I had this idea to play the melody right up in the top register of the guitar behind the chorus".