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[Creeperopolis]

Doom is a first-person shooter game developed and published by id Software. Released on December 10, 1993, for DOS, it is the first installment in the Doom franchise. The player assumes the role of a space marine, later unofficially referred to as Doomguy, fighting through hordes of undead humans and invading demons. The game begins on the moons of Mars and finishes in hell, with the player traversing each level to find its exit or defeat its final boss. It is an early example of 3D graphics in video games, and has enemies and objects as 2D images, a technique sometimes referred to as 2.5D graphics.

Doom was the third major independent release by id Software, after Commander Keen (1990–1991) and Wolfenstein 3D (1992). In May 1992, id started developing a darker game focused on fighting demons with technology, using a new 3D game engine from the lead programmer, John Carmack. The designer Tom Hall initially wrote a science fiction plot, but he and most of the story were removed from the project, with the final game featuring an action-heavy design by John Romero and Sandy Petersen. id published Doom as a set of three episodes under the shareware model, marketing the full game by releasing the first episode free. A retail version with an additional episode was published in 1995 by GT Interactive as The Ultimate Doom.

Doom was a critical and commercial success, earning a reputation as one of the best and most influential games of all time. It sold an estimated 3.5 million copies by 1999, and up to 20 million people were estimated to have played it within two years of its release. It has been termed the "father" of first-person shooters and is regarded as one of the most important games in the genre. It has been cited by video game historians as shifting the direction and public perception of the medium as a whole, as well as sparking the rise of online games and communities. It led to an array of imitators and clones, as well as a robust modding scene and the birth of speedrunning as a community. Its high level of graphic violence led to controversy from a range of groups. Doom has been ported to a variety of platforms both officially and unofficially and has been followed by several games in the series, including Doom II (1994), Doom 3 (2004), Doom (2016), and Doom Eternal (2020), as well as the films Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019).

[Creeperopolis]

Louis-Hector Berlioz[n 1] (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces including the Requiem and L'Enfance du Christ, his three operas Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens and Béatrice et Bénédict, and works of hybrid genres such as the "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette and the "dramatic legend" La Damnation de Faust.

The elder son of a provincial doctor, Berlioz was expected to follow his father into medicine, and he attended a Parisian medical college before defying his family by taking up music as a profession. His independence of mind and refusal to follow traditional rules and formulas put him at odds with the conservative musical establishment of Paris. He briefly moderated his style sufficiently to win France's premier music prize – the Prix de Rome – in 1830, but he learned little from the academics of the Paris Conservatoire. Opinion was divided for many years between those who thought him an original genius and those who viewed his music as lacking in form and coherence.

At the age of twenty-four Berlioz fell in love with the Irish Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson, and he pursued her obsessively until she finally accepted him seven years later. Their marriage was happy at first but eventually foundered. Harriet inspired his first major success, the Symphonie fantastique, in which an idealised depiction of her occurs throughout.

Berlioz completed three operas, the first of which, Benvenuto Cellini, was an outright failure. The second, the huge epic Les Troyens (The Trojans), was so large in scale that it was never staged in its entirety during his lifetime. His last opera, Béatrice et Bénédict – based on Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing – was a success at its premiere but did not enter the regular operatic repertoire. Meeting only occasional success in France as a composer, Berlioz increasingly turned to conducting, in which he gained an international reputation. He was highly regarded in Germany, Britain and Russia both as a composer and as a conductor. To supplement his earnings he wrote musical journalism throughout much of his career; some of it has been preserved in book form, including his Treatise on Instrumentation (1844), which was influential in the 19th and 20th centuries. Berlioz died in Paris at the age of 65.

[Creeperopolis]

City Hall MRT station is an underground Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North–South line (NSL) and East–West line (EWL). Situated in the Downtown Core district, it is underneath Stamford Road near the road junctions with North Bridge Road and St Andrew's Road. The station is near landmarks such as the former City Hall, Raffles City, the Padang, St Andrew's Cathedral and the Cenotaph.

Initially named St Andrew's MRT station, the station was included in the early plans for the original MRT network in 1982. Construction of the tunnels between the City Hall and Raffles Place stations required the draining of the Singapore River. The station opened on 12 December 1987 as part of the MRT extension to Outram Park station. Cross-platform transfers between the NSL and EWL began on 28 October 1989, ahead of the opening of the MRT eastern line extension to Tanah Merah station on 4 November which split the MRT network into two lines. A designated Civil Defence shelter, the three-level station features a mural by Simon Wong which depicts government buildings in the area.

[Creeperopolis]

Raffles Place MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South Line (NSL) and East West Line (EWL) in Singapore. Located in the Downtown Core, the station is underneath Raffles Place south of the Singapore River. The station serves various landmarks including The Fullerton Hotel, Merlion Park and the Asian Civilisations Museum and various commercial buildings such as One Raffles Place and OCBC Centre.

Initially named Central MRT station, the station was included in the early plans for the original MRT network in 1982. Construction of the tunnels between the City Hall and Raffles Place stations required the draining of the Singapore River. The station opened on 12 December 1987 with the MRT extension to Outram Park station. Like the adjacent City Hall station, cross-platform transfers between the NSL and EWL began on 28 October 1989, ahead of the split of the MRT network into two lines on 4 November.

The station has ten entrances, three of which adopt colonial-style facades. Three artworks are displayed at the station: two murals by Lim Sew Yong and Thang Kiang How depict scenes of Singapore's history, while Aw Tee Hong's sculpture draws inspiration from Chinese junks.

[Creeperopolis]

The half sovereign is a British gold coin denominated at one-half of a pound sterling. First issued in its present form in 1817, it has been struck by the Royal Mint in most years since 1980 as a collector's and bullion piece.

The half sovereign was originally introduced in 1544 (in the reign of Henry VIII) but the issue was discontinued after 1604. In 1817, as part of the Great Recoinage, half sovereigns and sovereigns were reintroduced. Until it was discontinued as a currency coin in 1926, the half sovereign was struck in most years and circulated widely. In addition to being coined in London, it was struck at the colonial mints in Australia and South Africa. Exacting standards made it difficult to strike, and it was considered for elimination in the 1880s despite its popularity.

Production of half sovereigns continued until 1926 and, apart from special issues for coronation years, was suspended until 1980. Since then it has been struck for sale by the Royal Mint, although it does not circulate. In addition to the portrait of the reigning monarch, the coin features in most years an image of Saint George and the dragon, designed by Benedetto Pistrucci, first used on the sovereign in 1817 and the half sovereign in 1893.

[JackEmpire]

jackson

[Kivu]

The Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina.

Founded in 1993, the team plays in the United Soccer League (USL) Championship and is the oldest continuously-operating professional soccer club in the United States.

The club’s primary colors are black and yellow, and a secondary color of red. When the team first began, the kit colors were black, red and white in a striped pattern, but later evolved into the iconic black and yellow stripes they are known for today, with the original red remaining involved in the accents.

1996 team photo at Stoney Field, the club’s first grounds.
Team captain AJ Paterson in 2022.
In 1999, Charleston Battery moved into Blackbaud Stadium/MUSC Health Stadium, where they would play their home matches through the 2019 season. The stadium was ahead of its time, becoming the first non-Major League Soccer professional club in the United States to build their own stadium.

The Battery are one of the most successful lower-division soccer teams in the nation, having previously won the USISL Pro League in 1996, the USL A-League in 2003, and the final season of the USL Second Division in 2010. In 2012, the team won the USL Pro Championship. The Battery were also finalists in the 2008 U.S. Open Cup.

In October 2019, Charleston Battery was sold to HCFC, LLC, led by owner Rob Salvatore. Shortly following the change in ownership, the Battery announced plans to play their 2020 USL Championship matches at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In December 2019, Charleston unveiled a new crest and uniforms to reflect a new era of professional soccer in the Lowcountry.

The Battery have played at Ralph Lundy Field at Patriots Point Soccer Stadium in Mount Pleasant since the 2020 campaign.

[Creeperopolis]

The Temple of Apollo Palatinus ('Palatine Apollo'), sometimes called the Temple of Actian Apollo, was a temple to the god Apollo in Rome, constructed on the Palatine Hill on the initiative of Augustus (known as "Octavian" until 27 BCE) between 36 and 28 BCE. It was the first temple to Apollo within the city's ceremonial boundaries and the second of four temples constructed by Augustus. According to tradition, the site for the temple was chosen when it was struck by lightning, which was interpreted as a divine portent. Augustan writers situated the temple next to Augustus's personal residence, which has been controversially identified as the structure known as the domus Augusti.

The temple was closely associated with the victories of Augustus's forces at the battles of Naulochus and Actium, the latter of which was extensively memorialised through its decoration. The temple played an important role in Augustan propaganda and political ideology, in which it represented the restoration of Rome's 'golden age' and served as a signifier of Augustus's pietas (devotion to religious and political duty). It was used for the worship of Apollo and his sister Diana, as well as to store the prophetic Sibylline Books. Its precinct was used for diplomatic functions as well as for meetings of the Roman Senate, and contained the Portico of the Danaids, which included libraries of Greek and Latin literature considered among the most important in Rome.

Augustan poets frequently mentioned and praised the temple in their works, often commenting on its lavish artistic decoration and statuary, which included three cult statues and other works by noted Greek artists of the archaic period and the fourth century BCE. These poets included Tibullus, Virgil and Horace, whose Carmen Saeculare was first performed at the temple on 3 June 17 BCE during the Secular Games.

The Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE damaged the temple, but it was restored under the emperor Domitian (r. 81 – 96 CE). It was finally destroyed by another fire in 363 CE, which was rumoured to be an act of arson committed by Christians. The temple has been excavated and partially restored in various phases since the 1860s, though only partial remains survive and their documentation is incomplete. Modern assessments of the temple have variously treated it as an extravagant, Hellenising break with Roman tradition and as a conservative attempt to reassert the architectural and political values of the Roman Republic. It has been described by the archaeologist John Ward-Perkins as "one of the earliest and finest of the Augustan temples".[1]

[Creeperopolis]

T1 was a seagoing torpedo boat that was operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1941. Originally 76 T, a 250t-class torpedo boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in 1914, she was armed with two 66 mm (2.6 in) guns and four 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, and could carry 10–12 naval mines. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. In 1917 the suffixes of all Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats were removed, and thereafter she was referred to as 76. She was part of the escort force for the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought Szent István during the action that resulted in the sinking of that ship by Italian torpedo boats in June 1918.

Following Austria-Hungary's defeat later that year, she was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which became the Royal Yugoslav Navy, and was renamed T1. At the time, she and seven other 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels of the fledgling maritime force. During the interwar period, T1 and the rest of the navy were involved in training exercises, but activity was limited by reduced naval budgets. The boat was captured by the Italians during the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. After her main armament was modernised, she served with the Royal Italian Navy under her Yugoslav designation. Having escaped capture by German forces following the Italian capitulation in September 1943, she was returned to the Royal Yugoslav Navy-in-exile. She was commissioned by the Yugoslav Navy after World War II, and after a refit which included replacement of her armament, she served as Golešnica until 1955. She was sunk as a target in Žanjica Bay near the western entrance to the Bay of Kotor, and is now a recreational dive site.