Star (heraldry)

In heraldry, the term star may refer to any star-shaped charge with any number of rays, which may appear straight or wavy, and may or may not be pierced. While there has been much confusion between the two due to their similar shape, a star with straight-sided rays is usually called a mullet while one with wavy rays is usually called an estoile.

While a mullet may have any number of points, it is presumed to have five unless otherwise specified in the blazon, and pierced mullets are common; estoiles, however, are presumed to have six rays and (as of 1909) had not been found pierced. In Scottish heraldry, an estoile is the same as in English heraldry, but it has been said that mullet refers only to a mullet pierced (also called a spur revel), while one that is not pierced is called a star.

Terminology

The use of the word star in blazons, and how that charge appears in coat armory, varies from one jurisdiction to another. In Scots heraldry, both star and mullet interchangeably mean a star with five straight rays; the official record from 1673 gives Murray of Ochtertyre azur three Starrs argent ... (Public Register, vol 1 p 188), while the Ordinary of Arms produced by a late 19th century Lyon King of Arms 'modernizes' the original as Az. three mullets arg. .... In Canadian heraldry the usual term is mullet, but there is also the occasional six-pointed star (e.g. in Vol. IV, at p. 274 and in online version of the Canadian Public Register), which is what others would blazon as a six-pointed mullet. The United States Army Institute of Heraldry, the official heraldic authority in the United States, uses the term mullet in its blazons, but elsewhere, as in US government documents describing the flag of the United States and the Great Seal of the United States, the term star is constantly used, and these nearly always appear with five straight-sided points.

Star (Belly album)

Star is the debut album by the American band Belly. It was released in 1993 and was an unexpected success, going Gold in the USA. The single "Feed the Tree" became a #1 Modern Rock hit, and the album was nominated for two Grammy Awards. "Slow Dog" peaked at #17 on the Modern Rock chart in the summer of 1993, while "Gepetto" peaked at #8 in the late fall/winter of 1993.

The album and group received two Grammy nominations in 1994 for Best Alternative Album and Best New Artist. The music video for "Feed The Tree" was a smash buzz bin MTV hit, and was nominated for Best Alternative Video VMA and Best New Artist VMA in 1993. Follow up videos for "Slow Dog" and "Gepetto" didn't have the same cross-over success, but were popular on Alternative and Rock segments and outlets of MTV and VH1.

"Feed the Tree" also became a surprise pop hit peaking at #95 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the late spring of 1993. Before breaking into the Hot 100 it was a chart topper on the Billboard Bubbling Under The Hot 100 singles for 6 weeks. While "Gepetto" did not match the success of "Feed The Tree" it charted on the Billboard Bubbling Under The Hot 100 Singles for 5 weeks in the late fall/winter of 1993 becoming a modest Pop hit and a signature song.

Celebrity

Celebrity is fame and public attention in the media, usually applied to a person, or group of people (celebrity couple, family etc.), or occasionally, to animals or fictional entities. Celebrity status is often associated with wealth (commonly referred to as fame and fortune) and fame can often provide opportunities to make money.

Successful careers in sports and entertainment are commonly associated with celebrity status; political leaders often become celebrities. People may also become celebrities due to media attention for their lifestyle, wealth, or controversial actions, or for their connection to a famous person.

History

Throughout recorded history there are accounts of people who attracted the trappings of celebrity which would be recognized today.

Athletes in Ancient Greece were welcomed home as heroes, had songs and poems written in their honour and received free food and gifts from those seeking celebrity endorsement.Ancient Rome similarly lauded actors and notorious gladiators and Julius Caesar appeared on a coin in his own lifetime (a departure from the usual depiction of battles and divine lineage).

Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012

The 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the 70th Governor of Massachusetts, was formally announced on June 2, 2011 at an event in Stratham, New Hampshire. Having previously run in the 2008 Republican primaries, Mitt Romney's campaign in the 2012 election was his second bid for the Presidency of the United States.

He filed his organization with the Federal Elections Commission as an exploratory committee and announced the organization in a video message on April 11, 2011. He became the party's presumptive nominee with his victory in the Texas primary on May 29, 2012.

On August 11, 2012, in Norfolk, Virginia, Romney announced that his running mate for vice president was Paul Ryan, the U.S. Congressman for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district.

On August 30, 2012, in Tampa, Florida, Romney formally accepted the Republican Party's nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Romney's campaign came to an end on November 6, 2012, upon defeat by incumbent President Barack Obama.

Video 2000

Video 2000 (or V2000; also known as Video Compact Cassette, or VCC) is a consumer videocassette system and analog recording standard developed by Philips and Grundig to compete with JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax video technologies. Distribution of Video 2000 products began in 1979 and ended in 1988; they were marketed exclusively in Europe, Brazil, and Argentina.

Philips named the videotape standard Video Compact Cassette (VCC) to complement their landmark Audio Compact Cassette format introduced in 1963, but the format itself was marketed under the trademark Video 2000.

Video 2000 succeeded Philips's earlier "VCR" format and its derivatives (VCR-LP and Grundig's SVR). Although some early models and advertising featured a "VCR" badge based on the older systems' logo, Video 2000 was an entirely new (and incompatible) format that incorporated many technical innovations. Despite this, the format was not a major success and was eventually discontinued, having lost out to the rival VHS system in the videotape format war.

Microsoft Video 1

Microsoft Video 1 or MS-CRAM is an early lossy video compression and decompression algorithm (codec) that was released with version 1.0 of Microsoft's Video for Windows in November 1992. It is based on MotiVE, a vector quantization codec which Microsoft licensed from Media Vision. In 1993, Media Vision marketed the Pro Movie Spectrum, an ISA board that captured video in both raw and MSV1 formats (the MSV1 processing was done in hardware on the board).

Compression algorithm

Microsoft Video 1 operates either in a 8-bit palettized color space or in a 15-bit RGB color space. Each frame is split into 4×4 pixel blocks. Each 4×4 pixel block can be coded in one of three modes: skip, 2-color or 8-color. In skip mode, the content from the previous frame is copied to the current frame in a conditional replenishment fashion. In 2-color mode, two colors per 4×4 block are transmitted, and 1 bit per pixel is used to select between the two colors. In 8-color mode, the same scheme applies with 2 colors per 2×2 block. This can be interpreted as a 2-color palette which is locally adapted on either a 4×4 block basis or a 2×2 block basis. Interpreted as vector quantization, vectors with components red, green, and blue are quantized using a forward adaptive codebook with two entries.

Falcons (film)

Falcons (Icelandic: Fálkar ( pronunciation )), is the seventh film directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. This film, released in 2002, is mostly in English language and therefore this drama is considered to be a film of both domestic and international appeal.

Plot

It is the story of an ex con, Simon (Carradine) who after returning to Iceland, where his mother was born visit relatives, looks for the loneliest place in the world to commit suicide. In a small village he met Dúa (Vilhjálmsdóttir), an Icelandic young lady, who is found to be an interesting, rather strange woman by Simon. Dúa has a caged falcon that she hopes to tame, but they get into trouble as it is illegal to possess this kind of animal in captivity.
In the story Simon is the embodiment of a jailed bird, one of the falcons and as she is an air sign, they join in a relationship ruled by Simon’s belief that she is his illegitimate daughter. Surrounded by tension between them, Simon serves as a protective figure to Dúa, who keeps him from committing suicide.
The couple escape to Hamburg, Germany to start all over again. The protagonists’ behaviours are opposite to each other: Simon is down to earth and find himself awkward by Dúa’s eccentric beliefs in astrology, who considers Simon as a typical Scorpio and thus avoid deepening into a more serious relationship, partly because of the feeling of his paternity.