Raising Steam

Raising Steam is the 40th Discworld novel, written by Terry Pratchett. It was also the last one published before his death in 2015. Originally due to be published on 24 October 2013, it was pushed back to 7 November 2013 (and March 18, 2014 in the U.S.). It features the introduction of locomotives to the Discworld (a concept mentioned already in Death's Domain), and an entirely new character but it also stars Moist von Lipwig.

The cover of the novel was exclusively revealed on Pratchett's Facebook page on 6 August 2013.

An update to Mr Pratchett's website late October 2013 revealed that characters include Harry King, Moist von Lipwig, Adora Belle Dearheart and Sgt Fred Colon amongst others.

Plot synopsis

Dick Simnel, a young self-taught engineer from Sto Lat, (and whose father, Ned Simnel, appeared in Reaper Man), has invented a steam locomotive named Iron Girder. He brings his invention to Ankh-Morpork where it catches the interest of Sir Harry King, a millionaire businessman who has made his fortune in the waste and sanitation industry. Harry promises Dick sufficient investment to make the railway a success.

Montreal hot dog

The Montreal hot dog is one of several variations of hot dogs served as a fast food staple at restaurants and diners in Montreal and other parts of Quebec.

In Montreal (and elsewhere in the province of Quebec), the hot dog buns generally used in restaurants are top loading (New England style) hot dog buns, rather than the side loading hot dog buns generally used in other parts of Canada. Montreal hot dogs are considered to be rather small and are generally sold for between $0.50 and $1.00 depending on the area of purchase and dressing. Popular brands include Lesters, Lafleur's, and Glatt's kosher.

The city of Montreal did not permit street food carts from 1947 until 2011, leading to a proliferation of small "greasy spoon" restaurants which are variations on the classic Québécois casse-croute (snack-type) restaurants. These restaurants serve hot dogs with fresh-cut fries (patates frites, often served “very brown and greasy”), poutine, hamburgers, pogos (corn dogs), hamburger steaks, in addition to Greek dishes (typically souvlaki and gyro), pizza, and smoked meat. Restaurant chains known for their hot dogs include La Belle Province, Valentine, and Lafleur Restaurants. One longstanding Montreal independent restaurant that offers hot dogs is the Montreal Pool Room.

Glossary of poker terms

The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

See also

Notes

References

Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Scherzinger (/niˈkoʊl ˈʃɜːrzɪŋər/; born Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente; June 29, 1978) is an American recording artist, actress and television personality. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, she performed in various singing competitions and musicals before joining American rock band Days of the New as a backing vocalist and later becoming one of the members of the ill-fated girl group Eden's Crush in 2001. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the burlesque troupe turned-recording act, the Pussycat Dolls becoming one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During their hiatus Scherzinger planned to embark on her solo career with Her Name is Nicole but was later shelved after four singles failed to impact the charts. Following the disbandment of the Pussycat Dolls, Scherzinger became a judge for two seasons of The Sing-Off and in 2010 won the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars.

In 2011 she released her debut studio album, Killer Love to moderate success. It featured the top-ten hits "Don't Hold Your Breath" and "Right There". Later that year she served as a judge during the first season of the American version of The X Factor before heading to the UK version for two years in 2012. Her second studio album, Big Fat Lie (2014) had a minor impact on the charts. Its release was preceded by three singles including, "Your Love". For starring in the 2014 West End revival of the musical Cats Scherzinger garnered a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical.

Raising (phonetics)

In phonology and phonetics, raising is a sound change in which a vowel or consonant becomes higher or raised, meaning that the tongue becomes more elevated or positioned closer to the roof of the mouth than before. The opposite effect is known as lowering. Raising or lowering may be triggered by a nearby sound, in which case they are a form of assimilation, or they may occur on their own.

In i-mutation, a front vowel is raised before /i/ or /j/. This is assimilation.

In the Attic dialect of Ancient Greek and in Koine Greek, close-mid /eː oː/ were raised to /iː uː/. This change occurred in all cases and was not triggered by a nearby front consonant or vowel. Later, Ancient Greek /ɛː/ was raised to become Koine Greek [eː] and then [iː]. For more information, see Ancient Greek phonology § Vowel raising and fronting

In Czech, the alveolar trill /r/ was raised before /i/ to become the raised alveolar trill /r̝/, spelled ⟨ř⟩ as in ⟨Dvořák⟩. This is a form of palatalization. In Polish, /r/ was also palatalized, but instead became the voiced retroflex sibilant /ʐ/, spelled ⟨rz⟩.

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.