Series (baseball)

A series in baseball terminology refers to two or more consecutive games played between the same two teams.

Historically and currently, professional baseball season revolves around a schedule of series, each typically lasting three or four games. In college baseball, there are typically midweek single games and weekend series, with all conference games in series of three games, with the second and fourth rounds of the NCAA Division I playoffs being best two out of three game series. These series are often geographically grouped, allowing teams to visit adjacent cities conveniently. This is known in baseball as a road trip, and a team can be on the road for up to 20 games, or 4-5 series. When a team hosts series at home, it is called a homestand. During the Major League Baseball Postseason, there is only one wild card game (one in each League). The remainder of the Postseason consists of the League Division Series, which is a best-of-5 series, and the League Championship Series, which is a best-of-7 series, followed by the World Series, a best-of-7 series to determine the Major League Baseball Champion.

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, class, kingdom, etc.

A given rank subsumes under it less general categories, that is, more specific descriptions of life forms. Above it, each rank is classified within more general categories of organisms and groups of organisms related to each other through inheritance of traits or features from common ancestors. The rank of any species and the description of its genus is basic; which means that to identify a particular organism, it is usually not necessary to specify ranks other than these first two.

Consider a particular species, the red fox Vulpes vulpes: its next rank, the genus Vulpes, comprises all the 'true foxes'. Their closest relatives are in the immediately higher rank, the family Canidae, which includes dogs, wolves, jackals, all foxes, and other caniforms; the next higher rank, the order Carnivora, includes feliforms and caniforms (lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, wolverines, and all those mentioned above), plus other carnivorous mammals. As one group of the class Mammalia, all of the above are classified among those with backbones in the Chordata phylum rank, and with them among all the animals in the Animalia kingdom rank. Finally, all of the above will find their earliest relatives somewhere in their domain rank Eukarya.

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.

203 series

The 203 series (203系) is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated in Japan between 1982 and 2011 by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and later by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), and currently operated by KRL Jabodetabek in Indonesia and Philippine National Railways (PNR) in the Philippines.

Operations

The 203 series sets were on through services between the Joban Line and Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line until they were replaced by E233-2000 series EMUs, and finally withdrawn from services in Japan in September 2011.

Formation

The sets were formed as follows.

Cars 3, 6, and 9 were each fitted with one PS21 pantograph.

Interior

Interior view, September 2007

Interior view, September 2007

Priority seating, November 2010

Priority seating, November 2010

History

Withdrawal

The trains were gradually replaced by new E233-2000 series EMUs, and the last set ran in revenue service on 26 September 2011.

Overseas operations

Indonesia

Five former 203 series sets have been sent to KRL Jabodetabek (KCJ) in Jakarta, Indonesia. All trains are in operation in the Jabodetabek area with 8 cars per set, due to the short platforms at most stations in Indonesia.

Baseball: An Album by Sayanything

Baseball: An Album By Say Anything is the debut album from the American band Say Anything.

History

At the time of the album's release, the band was known as Sayanything, which is the name that appears on the album. During the time of recording in 2001, the band consisted of Max Bemis on vocals, guitar, and keyboard, Coby Linder on drums, and Michael Levin on bass. Although the album was recorded in 2001, most copies were not sold until May 2003 when 200 copies were pressed and sold on Say Anything's website. Thus, some sources cite the album's release year as 2003.

The album has never attained any commercial success, though it has remained a consistent cult favorite. However, in a move reminiscent of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's rejection of his band's Pinkerton album, Say Anything frontman Max Bemis has all but disowned the recording, until 2009 refusing to play any of its songs live. At an acoustic show on May 11, 2008 at the Chain Reaction, after a fan requested he play "Into the Night," Max stated "I promise we will start playing Baseball songs again. Some day. However, today is not that day."

Bouncing bomb

A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined, in a similar fashion to a regular naval depth charge. The inventor of the first such bomb was the British engineer Barnes Wallis, whose "Upkeep" bouncing bomb was used in the RAF's Operation Chastise of May 1943 to bounce into German dams and explode underwater, with effect similar to the underground detonation of the Grand Slam and Tallboy earthquake bombs, both of which he also invented.

British bouncing bombs

Barnes Wallis' April 1942 paper "Spherical Bomb — Surface Torpedo" described a method of attack in which a weapon would be bounced across water until it struck its target, then sinking to explode underwater, much like a depth charge. Bouncing it across the surface would allow it to be aimed directly at its target, while avoiding underwater defences, as well as some above the surface, and such a weapon would take advantage of the "bubble pulse" effect typical of underwater explosions, greatly increasing its effectiveness: Wallis's paper identified suitable targets as hydro-electric dams "and floating vessels moored in calm waters such as the Norwegian fjords".

Baseball (Intellivision video game)

Baseball (released as Major League Baseball) is a multiplayer sports video game produced by Mattel and released for its Intellivision video game system in 1980. The best-selling title in the console's history, with over 1 million copies sold,Baseball put players in control of a nine-man baseball team competing in a standard nine-inning game. When first released, Mattel obtained a license from Major League Baseball, although the only trademarked item used was the MLB logo on the game's box art. No official team names or player names were used in the game.

Gameplay

In Baseball, the player's team must score more runs than the opponent's team by the end of the game. The game consists of nine innings and takes place on a simplified baseball diamond.

Player 1 always plays as the visiting team and bats at the top of the innings, with Player 2 playing the home team and batting at the bottom of the innings. The pitching player selects a pitch to throw by pushing the controller in one of eight cardinal directions, each representing a different speed and direction for the pitch. The batting player then attempts to hit the ball into play and reach base safely, so that subsequent batters can also hit the ball into play and move the base-runners around to home plate and thus score a run. If the ball is hit into play, the pitching player uses the keypad on their controller to select the fielder to control and attempt to catch the ball, then selects the player to receive the throw, with the intent of putting the runner "out."