Azrael (comics)

Azrael is the name of two fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. Azrael is from a group of assassins who were created by The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas to "enforce God's Will". The name is taken from the name for the traditional Angel of Death.

Publication history

The character first appeared in the series Batman: Sword of Azrael, as Jean-Paul Valley, in 1992.

He then became a supporting character in the monthly Batman titles, eventually taking over the role of Batman through the "Knightfall", "Knightquest", and "KnightsEnd" story arcs. Writer/co-creator Denny O'Neil admitted to difficulty with Azrael's transition from villain to hero: "If I'd known he was to become a monthly character, I might have set him up differently ... The problem is that I had to turn a bad guy into a real hero, not just an anti-hero or lead. It's possible to do that, but it's difficult to retain the original characterization. You almost have to change his personality."

The subsequent Azrael series, chronicling Valley's battles against the Order of St. Dumas, ran for 100 issues between 1995 and 2003. Starting with issue #47, it was retitled Azrael: Agent of the Bat in an attempt to boost sales by tying the series in with the rest of the Batman mythos, including Azrael as part of the team of Batman, Robin, and the new Batgirl (Cassandra Cain).

Discworld gods

The Discworld gods are the fictional deities from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels. The Discworld, being a flat disc supported on the backs of four elephants on top of a giant flying turtle, exists in a region of the universe where reality is somewhat less consistent than it appears in our own, more mundane corner of existence. Because reality on the Disc is so fragile and malleable, belief has a tendency to take on a life of its own, and gods are far more obvious to the people of the Disc than they appear to us.

Gods are everywhere on the Discworld, a crucial element of the world's peculiar ecology that gives power to belief and demands resolution to any and all narratives. Gods exist in potentia in numbers uncountable, but the moment an event of any note occurs — say, two snails happening to cross at a single point — a god becomes tied to it and begins to manifest in the physical world. Most gods remain small and unknown, but a very few come to the notice of humanity, whose belief then shapes and strengthens them until they gather enough power to join the Disc's vast, unwieldy pantheon.

Wind (band)

Wind is the name of a German musical group that mostly plays "schlager" music. The band is still active, more than 20 years after its foundation.

History

The group was started in 1985 by the composer Hanne Haller. The members of the band at that time were Alexander "Ala" Heiler, Christiane von Kutschenbach, Rainer Höglmeier, Willie Jakob, Sami Kalifa and Petra Scheeser.

The group has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany three times. The first time was shortly after the formation of the band, in Eurovision 1985. With the song "Für alle" ("For All") they finished second, just behind the winning duo Bobbysocks from Norway. In 1987 Wind returned to the contest, performing "Laß die Sonne in dein Herz" ("Let the Sun in Your Heart") in Brussels, Belgium. Once again they achieved a second place, this time behind Johnny Logan who represented Ireland. "Laß die Sonne in dein Herz" has since become the band's trademark tune, including welcoming visitors to their official website. Wind entered Eurovision for a third time in 1992 in Malmö, Sweden, with the song "Träume sind für alle da" ("Dreams Are For Everyone"). This time they were not as successful, finishing 16th of 23 participants. According to John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, Wind are the only act to ever finish second in the contest on two occasions.

Wind Mobile

Wind Mobile is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider operated by Globalive. It was one of several new mobile carriers launched in Canada after a government initiative to encourage competition in the wireless sector, alongside Mobilicity (later acquired by Rogers Communications) and Public Mobile (later acquired by Telus). With 940,000 active subscribers, Wind is Canada's fourth-largest mobile operator.

Wind initially launched mobile data and voice services in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ontario on December 16, 2009 and two days later in Calgary, Alberta. Since then, Southern Ontario has been the main target of network expansion: first with Ottawa in Q1 2011, and then with about half a dozen additional regions, the most recent being Brantford on July 3, 2014. In Western Canada, coverage was added to Edmonton, Alberta and has expanded around Edmonton to include Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, St. Albert and Edmonton International Airport; additionally, British Columbia was also added for most of Greater Vancouver area plus Abbotsford and Whistler.

Air (classical element)

Air (also sometimes called Wind) is often seen as a universal power or pure substance. Its fundamental importance to life can be seen in words such as aspire, inspire, perspire and spirit, all derived from the Latin spirare.

Greek and Roman tradition

Air is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. According to Plato, it is associated with the octahedron; air is considered to be both hot and wet. The ancient Greeks used two words for air: aer meant the dim lower atmosphere, and aether meant the bright upper atmosphere above the clouds.Plato, for instance writes that "So it is with air: there is the brightest variety which we call aether, the muddiest which we call mist and darkness, and other kinds for which we have no name...." Among the early Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers, Anaximenes (mid-6th century BCE) named air as the arche. A similar belief was attributed by some ancient sources to Diogenes Apolloniates (late 5th century BCE), who also linked air with intelligence and soul (psyche), but other sources claim that his arche was a substance between air and fire.Aristophanes parodied such teachings in his play The Clouds by putting a prayer to air in the mouth of Socrates.