Pinball

Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, in which points are scored by a player manipulating one or more steel balls on a play field inside a glass-covered cabinet called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible. Points are earned when the ball strikes different targets on the play field. A drain is situated at the bottom of the play field, partially protected by player-controlled plastic bats called flippers. A game ends after all the balls fall into the drain. Secondary objectives are to maximize the time spent playing (by earning "extra balls" and keeping the ball in play as long as possible) and to earn bonus games (known as "replays").

History

Pre-modern: Development of outdoor and tabletop ball games

The origins of pinball are intertwined with the history of many other games. Games played outdoors by rolling balls or stones on a grass course, such as bocce or bowls, eventually evolved into various local ground billiards games played by hitting the balls with sticks and propelling them at targets, often around obstacles. Croquet, golf and paille-maille eventually derived from ground billiards variants.

Desperate Living

Desperate Living is a 1977 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters. The film stars Liz Renay, Jean Hill, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and Mary Vivian Pearce.

Plot

Peggy Gravel, a neurotic, delusional, suburban housewife, and her overweight maid, Grizelda Brown, go on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband, Bosley, to death. The two are arrested by a cross-dressing policeman who gives them an ultimatum: go to jail or be exiled to Mortville, a filthy shantytown ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta and her treasonous daughter, Princess Coo-Coo.

Peggy and Grizelda choose Mortville, but still engage in lesbian prison sex. They become associates of self-hating lesbian wrestler Mole McHenry, who wants a sex change to please her lover, Muffy St. Jacques. Most of Mortville's social outcasts—criminals, nudists, and sexual deviants—conspire to overthrow Queen Carlotta, who banishes her daughter, Coo-Coo, after she elopes with a garbage collector, who is later shot to death by the guards. Coo-Coo hides in Peggy and Grizelda's house with her dead lover. When Peggy betrays Coo-Coo to the Queen's guards, Grizelda fights them, and dies when the house collapses on her. Peggy, however, joins the queen in terrorizing her subjects, even infecting them (and Princess Coo-Coo) with rabies.

Flipper (band)

Flipper is an American punk and noise rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1979, continuing in often erratic fashion until the mid-1990s, then reuniting in 2005. The band influenced a number of grunge, punk rock and noise rock bands. Their slowed-down, bass-driven, and heavily distorted style of punk is also considered a key forerunner to sludge, and influenced bands such as The Melvins and Nirvana, whose bass player Krist Novoselic played with the band in the 2000s.

History

Early years (1979-1989)

Flipper was founded by former The Sleepers member Ricky Williams, former Rad Command member Ted Falconi, and former Negative Trend members Will Shatter and Steve DePace. Founding member and original vocalist Ricky Williams was credited for naming the band and fired before it made any recordings. Bruce Loose and Will Shatter then went on to trade vocal and bass duties, with both bringing a bass onstage. Vietnam war veteran Ted Falconi played a uniquely distorted style of guitar, and Steve DePace played drums.

Miller station

Miller is a train station in Gary, Indiana, serving the South Shore Line commuter rail system. It serves the community of Miller Beach and is one of three South Shore Line stations within the municipal boundaries of Gary.

The Miller community, now more commonly known as Miller Beach, is physically separated from the city of Gary and from other municipalities in Northwest Indiana by parcels of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The national park's Douglas Center for Environmental Education and its Miller Woods hiking trails are a mere 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of the Miller NICTD train station.

On October 30, 2007, the executive director of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission announced that the current plan calls for the Miller station to be closed at an undisclosed date. This plan was met with fierce opposition from Miller residents as well as commuters from other neighboring communities who use Miller Station. Miller Station commuters objected to being forced to use the new Gary central station. On August 12, 2008, Gateway Partners, the developers behind the new project, announced their intention to revamp their proposal in response to controversy.

Miller, Edmonton

Miller is a residential neighbourhood located in northeast Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is bounded by 153 Avenue to the north, 50 Street to the west, and Manning Drive to the southeast.

Demographics

In the City of Edmonton's 2012 municipal census, Miller had a population of 7003312200000000000♠3,122 living in 7003114800000000000♠1,148 dwellings, a 9.9% change from its 2009 population of 7003284100000000000♠2,841. With a land area of 0.83 km² (0.32 sq mi), it had a population density of 7003376140000000000♠3,761.4 people/km² in 2012.

Residential development

According to the 2001 federal census, substantially all residential development in Miller occurred after 1996.

Almost two out of every three residences (64%) are single-family dwellings according to the 2005 municipal census. One in five (19%) are duplexes. One in seven (14%) are rented apartments in low-rise buildings with fewer than five stories. The remaining four percent are row houses. Seventeen out of every twenty residences (86%) are owner-occupied.

Miller Beach

Miller Beach (also commonly known as Miller) is a community on the southernmost shore of Lake Michigan. First settled in 1851, Miller Beach was originally an independent town. However, the "Town of Miller" was eventually annexed by the then flourishing city of Gary, Indiana, in 1918. Located in the northeastern corner of Lake County, Indiana, the former town is now known as "The Miller Beach Community." Miller Beach borders Lake Michigan to the north, Porter County to the east, and is largely surrounded by protected lands, including the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Miller Beach is also the closest beach/resort community to Chicago, and has been a popular vacation spot since the early 20th century. As of the 2000 US census, it had a population of 9,900.