Hearse

A hearse is a funeral vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.

History

Originally considered public transportation, an elaborate framework would be erected over a coffin or tomb to which memorial verses or epitaphs were attached. It was then put on the top of horse-drawn carriages, looking much like a luggage rack. Today, the original hearse remains acknowledged by the bit of scroll work or stretched-out "S" on the side of a funeral coach, called Landau bars.

Hearses were originally horse-drawn, but silent electric motorised carts were introduced as horses began to be phased out as transportation. Examples that were used in Paris were reported in the pages of Scientific American May 1907 and petrol-driven hearses began to be produced from 1909 in the United States. Motorised hearses became more widely accepted in the 1920s. The vast majority of hearses since then have been based on larger, more powerful car chassis, generally retaining the front end up to and possibly including the front doors but with custom bodywork to the rear to contain the coffin. Some early hearses also served as ambulances, owing to the large cargo capacity in the rear of the vehicle. A few cities experimented with funeral trolley cars and/or subway cars to carry both the casket and mourners to cemeteries, but these were not popular. The only exception was Chicago, IL which operated 3 different funeral trolley cars over the elevated tracks in downtown Chicago to outlying cemeteries in the western suburbs. A special funeral bureau handled the funeral trains which sometimes operated 3-4 funeral trains a week over the 'L'.

Hearse (band)

Hearse is a Swedish melodic death metal band, founded by vocalist Johan Liiva (ex-Arch Enemy) and drummer Max Thornell in 2001. The band have released five albums to date.

History

Following Johan Liiva's departure from NonExist, he decided to team up with one time Furbowl bandmate Max Thornell to form a new project. The duo soon recruited guitarist Mattias Ljung, who had not actually played any metal for several years, and recorded a demo in 2001. The band's first recording was sent to select metal press and labels, and attracted interest from Hammerheart Records. After signing a contract, the first single Torch was released in 2002, and the debut album Dominion Reptilian followed in March 2003. In the summer of 2003 Hearse started recording their second album titled Armageddon, Mon Amour. It was finally released in April 2004 on Karmageddon Media (formerly Hammerheart Records). Their third album, The Last Ordeal, was released in 2005, and their fourth release, In These Veins, was released in 2006 on Cold Records. In 2009, Hearse released their fifth album, Single Ticket To Paradise. A music video for the song "Sundown" was produced.

Vagueness

In analytic philosophy and linguistics, a concept may be considered vague if its extension is deemed lacking in clarity, if there is uncertainty about which objects belong to the concept or which exhibit characteristics that have this predicate (so-called "border-line cases"), or if the Sorites paradox applies to the concept or predicate.

In everyday speech, vagueness is an inevitable, often even desired effect of language usage. However, in most specialized texts (e.g., legal documents), vagueness is often regarded as problematic and undesirable.

Importance

Vagueness is philosophically important. Suppose one wants to come up with a definition of "right" in the moral sense. One wants a definition to cover actions that are clearly right and exclude actions that are clearly wrong, but what does one do with the borderline cases? Surely, there are such cases. Some philosophers say that one should try to come up with a definition that is itself unclear on just those cases. Others say that one has an interest in making his or her definitions more precise than ordinary language, or his or her ordinary concepts, themselves allow; they recommend one advances precising definitions.

List of Marvel Comics characters: V

Vagabond (Scourge of the Underworld V)

Priscilla Lyons (Vagabond) is a superhero in the Marvel Universe. Created by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary, the character first appeared in Captain America #325 in January 1987. Within the context of the stories, Priscilla is an ally of Jack Monroe.

Vague

Vague is a mutant in the Marvel Universe. Created by Peter David and Larry Stroman, the character first appeared in X-Factor #80. Within the context of the stories, Vague could become transparent or invisible. She lost her abilities due to events of M-Day.

Vakume

Vakume is a magical supervillain in the Marvel Universe. Created by Len Wein and George Pérez, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #186 in September 1977. Within the context of the stories, he is a member of Salem's Seven and is able to control air.

Valinor

Valinor is the Black Knight's steed in the Marvel Universe. Created by Steven Parkhouse and John Stokes, the character first appeared in Hulk Comic #1 in March 1979. Within the context of the stories, Valinor is a magically enhanced horse from the extra-dimensional realm of Avalon. He serves as a steed of the Black Knight after he had given his previous steed Aragorn to the Valkyrie, and the Blood Wraith in battle against the Black Knight and the Avengers.

List of Extinctioners characters

The Extinctioners is a science fiction, action and adventure comic book that uses anthropomorphic animals as its main characters. After the first six issues of Extinctioners, two groups were formed; The Extinctioners and the Solar Foxes. Following is a list of the main characters in the series.

The Extinctioners

Alleycat

Katherine Fela (also known as Alleycat) is an anthropomorphic feline and a character in the Extinctioners comic book series.

Little did Katherine Fela know that on her 16th cycle (which is equivalent to 18 human years) her life would be forever changed. While returning home from a date with her pre-mate (boyfriend) Maxwell Manx, Katherine was attacked by a monstrous robot, called an Omega Hunter, bent on either capturing her or killing her. Upon instructions from Maxwell, Katherine fled in hopes of escape, but ended up trapping herself in a dead end alley. Cornered, Katherine was confronted by another Hunter unit and was ordered to surrender. When she failed to comply fast enough, the Hunter fired on her, but to her surprise she was untouched. Fortunately, she was saved by a band of vulpins called the Solar Foxes, who promised to return her home safely. However, she soon discovered that the Hunters had also paid her home a visit.