Shuffle!

Shuffle! (シャッフル!, Shaffuru!) is a Japanese visual novel developed by Navel. It was originally released as an adult game for Microsoft Windows on January 30, 2004. It was subsequently followed by an all-ages release for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and an expanded adult release for Windows. The Windows version was localized in English by MangaGamer in 2009. The gameplay in Shuffle! follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters. Shuffle! has been re-made into an expanded version called Shuffle! Essence+. It has expanded routes for the original five main heroines as well as new routes for six other characters. Shuffle! also has three spin-off sequels: Tick! Tack! , Really? Really! and Shuffle! Love Rainbow.

Shuffle! has made several transitions to other media. There have been two manga series based on the visual novel. The first was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's magazine Comptiq between December 2003 and 2006. The second was a comic anthology published by Kadokawa Shoten between July 2004 and December 2005. Two anime adaptations were produced by the animation studio Asread. The first anime was twenty-four episodes in length and was broadcast in Japan between July 2005 and January 2006. The second series was a twelve-episode readaptation and was broadcast between January and March 2007. Seven light novels, two fanbooks, nine drama CDs, and seven radio drama CDs adaptations have also been produced.

Shuffling

Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome.

Shuffling techniques

Overhand shuffle

One of the easiest shuffles to accomplish, the overhand or stripping shuffle is essentially a series of cuts. A group of cards on the bottom (or top) of the deck grasped between the thumb on one side and fingers on the other, lifted sideways out of the deck, and then placed on the top (or bottom). This process is repeated multiple times with random selections of cards in order to randomize them.

The overhand shuffle offers sufficient opportunity for sleight of hand techniques to be used to affect the ordering of cards, creating a stacked deck. The most common way that players cheat with the overhand shuffle is by having a card at the top or bottom of the pack that they require, and then slipping it to the bottom at the start of a shuffle (if it was on top to start), or leaving it as the last card in a shuffle and just dropping it on top (if it was originally on the bottom of the deck).

Shuffle (song)

"Shuffle" is the first single by British alternative rock band Bombay Bicycle Club from their third studio album, A Different Kind of Fix. Through Island Records, the single was released on 23 June 2011 as a digital download in the United Kingdom. The song was chosen as "Record of The Week" by UK radio DJ Zane Lowe. "Shuffle" would become one of the band's most commercially successful singles.

Commercial performance

"Shuffle" peaked at number 64 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's second-most successful single. The single also debuted at number 40 and peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in the United States, the band's first chart appearance in that country. The song also charted at number 60 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 Singles chart.

Music video

The music video was uploaded to VEVO and YouTube on July 22, 2011. It features Lucy Rose, a fellow artist who is friends with the band. With over three million views, it is the band's most viewed video on YouTube and VEVO to date.

Ranga (film)

Ranga is a 1982 Tamil film starring Rajinikanth, Radhika and K. R. Vijaya in prominent roles. Produced by Devar Films, the film was directed by R. Thyagarajan. The film received positive reviews and became a hit at the box office and become a cult film.

Cast

Plot

Nile

The Nile (Arabic: النيل‎, Eg. en-Nīl, Std. an-Nīl; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲱ, P(h)iaro; Ancient Egyptian: Ḥ'pī and Iteru) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is 6,853 km (4,258 miles) long. The Nile is an "international" river as its water resources are shared by eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt. In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.

The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself. The Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile (Amharic: ዓባይ^?, ʿĀbay) begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

Scorpia (novel)

Scorpia is the fifth book in the Alex Rider series (stories about the adventures of Alex Rider a 14–15-year-old spy), written by British author Anthony Horowitz. It begins several weeks after the events of fourth book, Eagle Strike, and up to nine days before the sixth, Ark Angel.

The book concerns the plans of a criminal organisation attempting to disrupt UK/US relations by murdering schoolchildren. Alex thwarts them by infiltrating the organisation but is apparently killed by a sniper.

It was released in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2004 and in the United States on March 17, 2005.

Abbreviation

The letters SCORPIA stand for "Sabotage, Corruption, Intelligence and Assassination".

Plot

The novel begins with the prologue-like introduction of a terrorist organization called SCORPIA, its leader as Julia Rothman. She walks into a secret room to discuss with the terrorist about her final stage of plan, when one of them, Max Grendel, tells her his retiring and his quitting from the organization. Julia goes out with him and sends Max to his waiting boat. Before he goes, she gives him a silver box and tells him to open it once he gets to the boat. He does, but the box is revealed to be filled with scorpions. As a result, the neurotoxin kills Max.

Nile (TV series)

Nile is a 2004 BBC Television documentary that tells the history and natural history of the Nile.

Production

The series was produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in co-production with the Discovery Channel.

Episode three includes footage from the 1971 BBC Television mini-series The Search for the Nile.

Reception

Reviews

The Times calls it an, enlightening BBC series, that, uses stunning photography and restrained dramatisations to pay homage to the longest river on Earth.

The reviewer concludes, never mind the cardboard dramatisations — this is an heroic story.

Ratings

Awards

Episodes

Episode one: Crocodiles and Kings

Since the dawn of history the miraculous annual floodwaters have risen to transform the desert into a fertile paradise where the great civilisation of Ancient Egypt grew, but their existence was on a knife-edge held hostage by the river and the Pharaoh maintained the balance by appeasing the gods to ensure the gifts of the river.