Phasmatodea

The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida or Phasmatoptera) are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects (in Europe and Australasia), stick-bugs or walking sticks (in the United States and Canada), phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects (generally the family Phylliidae). The group's name is derived from the Ancient Greek φάσμα phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom, referring to the resemblance of many species to sticks or leaves. Their natural camouflage makes them difficult for predators to detect, but many species have a secondary line of defence in the form of startle displays, spines or toxic secretions. The genus Phobaeticus includes the world's longest insects.

Members of the order are found all over the world except for the Antarctic and Patagonia, but they are most abundant in the tropics and subtropics. They are herbivorous with many species living unobtrusively in the tree canopy. They have a hemimetabolous life cycle with three stages: eggs, nymphs and adults. Many phasmids are parthenogenic, and do not require fertilised eggs for female offspring to be produced. In hotter climates, they may breed all year round; in more temperate regions, the females lay eggs in the autumn before dying, and the new generation hatches out in the spring. Some species have wings and can disperse by flying, while others are more restricted.

Egg Banking

Egg is a former British internet bank headquartered in Derby, that is now a trading name of Yorkshire Building Society. Egg was born out of the UK banking arm of Prudential plc, Prudential Banking plc, which was established in 1996, and the Egg brand was launched in 1998.

It was only possible to operate an Egg account over the internet, or via their call centre. Egg specialised in savings and general insurance but no longer offers loans, credit cards or mortgage products. The credit card business was sold to Barclaycard, followed by the remaining savings and mortgage business to Yorkshire Building Society, which subsequently transferred all remaining customer accounts over from Egg.

Following the sale of its assets, Egg Banking plc, which remained under the ownership of Citigroup, was renamed Canada Square Operations Limited and continues to handle matters relating to certain Egg products from before the sale of assets and any assets that were not transferred to the new owners.

Egg (car)

Egg or Egg & Egli was a Swiss car made in business from 1896 to 1919. It was one of the more long-lived early Swiss car makes. It appeared at numerous auto shows and competed in France's annual smash-up derby.

History

Rudolf Egg, an automotive engineer, built a car for his own use in 1893. He later founded the namesake company in 1896 in Zürich with funds from a Swiss banker called Egli. In 1904, the company moved to Wollishofen, operating under the name Motorwagenfabrik Excelsior. Egg's company later produced some of the first Swiss aircraft engines. Financial difficulties after the war forced the closure of the business in 1919. Egg himself later became a Renault dealer.

Models

At the outset, all models were three-wheelers. Called Egg & Egli Tricycle before 1900, later three-wheelers were marketed as Egg & Egli Rapid. The first four-wheeled cars were produced in 1899, with a heavy resemblance to the Oldsmobile Curved Dash. Egg models were regarded as high-quality in Switzerland, and many Swiss companies produced them under license.

Red (T'Pau album)

Red is the fourth studio album by British pop/rock group T'Pau. It was released in 1998, and was the first album since The Promise from 1991.

The group originally gained success in the late 1980s and split in the early 1990s. In 1997 original lead singer Carol Decker reformed the band with a completely new line-up and released a brand new version of their original hit "Heart and Soul". The new line-up started playing gigs and recorded this album in 1998. The album was released on Decker's own Gnatfish label, and would be released in America during late 1999 with a bonus CD featuring three extra tracks (including the 1997 version of "Heart and Soul"). In 2007, the album was officially released for download. It would be Decker's last album/single release until the 2007 solo single "Just Dream".

Background

After the original split of T'Pau, Decker attempted a solo career. In 1993, she contributed a track to the soundtrack of the film Dirty Weekend, and the following year a small number of live performances followed. In 1995 she released the single "One Heart" - as the official anthem for the Halifax World Cup Rugby League Centenary '95. It peaked at #130 in the UK. She performed the song at Wembley Stadium during the opening and closing ceremonies. By 1997 though, Decker had taken the decision to build a 'new' T'Pau around her, and get back on the road after assembling a massive amount of new material. Although she considered continuing as a solo artist, it was advised that it would be easier if the band name was rekindled. The newly reformed band featured none of the original members aside from Decker. A brand new version of the band's original hit "Heart and Soul" was released as "Heart and Soul '97" (featuring the future Red album track "Make Love to Me"), and the band went onto Cilla Black's Surprise Surprise TV show to perform the song. However it was not a commercial success.

Smallville (season 2)

Season two of Smallville, an American television series developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, began airing on September 24, 2002, on The WB television network. The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to life in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman. The second season comprises 23 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 20, 2003. Regular cast members during season two include Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider. John Glover who was a recurring guest in season one was promoted to regular for season two. At the end of season one, Eric Johnson, who portrayed Whitney Fordman, had left the show.

Season two picks up directly where season one ended, with Clark (Welling) dealing with the aftermath of the tornadoes that hit Smallville. This season, Clark finally learns who he is and where he comes from, but must also acknowledge a potential destiny set into motion by his biological father that could change his life and the lives of those around him forever. Clark's relationship with Lana Lang (Kreuk) becomes increasingly closer, straining his friendship with Chloe Sullivan (Mack). Clark's best friend, Pete Ross (Jones III), learns Clark's secret this season.

Red (cipher machine)

In the history of cryptography, 91-shiki ohbun-injiki (九一式欧文印字機) ("System 91 Printing Machine") or Angōki Taipu-A (暗号機 タイプA) ("Type A Cipher Machine"), codenamed Red by the United States, was a diplomatic cryptographic machine used by the Japanese Foreign Office before and during World War II. A relatively simple device, it was quickly broken by western cryptographers. The Red cipher was succeeded by the "Purple" machine ("97-shiki ōbun inji-ki") which used some of the same principles. Parallel usage of the two systems assisted in the breaking of the Purple system.

The Red cypher should not be confused with the Red naval code, which was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy between the wars. The latter was a codebook system, not a cipher.

Operation

The Red machine encrypted and decrypted texts written in Latin characters (alphabetic only) for transmission through the cable services. These services charged a lower rate for texts that could be pronounced than for random strings of characters; therefore the machine produced telegraph code by enciphering the vowels separately from the consonants, so that the text remained a series of syllables. (The letter "Y" was treated as a vowel.) The "sixes and twenties" effect (as American analysts referred to it) was a major weakness which the Japanese continued in the Purple system.