Firepower

Firepower is the military capability to direct force at an enemy. (It is not to be confused with the concept of rate of fire, which describes cycling of the firing mechanism in a weapon system.) Firepower involves the whole range of potential weapons. The concept is generally taught as one of the three key principles of modern warfare wherein the enemy forces are destroyed or have their will to fight negated by sufficient and preferably overwhelming use of force as a result of combat operations.

Through the ages firepower has come to mean offensive power applied from a distance, thus involving ranged weapons as opposed to one-on-one close-quarters combat. Firepower is thus something employed to keep enemy forces at a range where they can be defeated in detail or sapped of the will to continue. In the field of naval artillery, the weight of a broadside was long used as a figure of merit of a warship's firepower.

History

The earliest forms of warfare that might be called firepower were the slingers of ancient armies (a notable example being the biblical story of David), and archers. Eventually, the feared Huns employed the composite bow and light cavalry tactics to shower arrows on the enemy forces, a tactic that also appeared in a less mobile form in Britain, with its famed longbowmen, used during the various Anglo-French conflicts collectively known as the Hundred Years' War during the Middle Ages. The Battle of Crécy is often thought of as the beginning of the "age of firepower" in the west, where missile weapons enabled a small force to defeat a numerically superior enemy without the need for single combat. Firepower was later used to dramatic effect in a similar fashion during the Battle of Agincourt.

Justice League

The Justice League, also known as the Justice League of America, is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The Justice League was conceived by writer Gardner Fox, and first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28 (Feb.-March 1960).

The team is an assemblage of superheroes who join together as the Justice League. The seven original members were Aquaman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, Superman, and Wonder Woman and the team roster has rotated throughout the years, consisting of many superheroes from the DC Universe.

The Justice League received its own comic book title called Justice League of America in October 1960. With the 2011 relaunch of its titles, DC Comics released a second volume of Justice League and in 2015 released a fourth volume of Justice League of America, both of which are currently in print. Since its inception, the team has been featured in various television programs and video games.

Background

Justice

Justice, is a concept whose content several times has been subject to a philosophical as well as legal treatment. There is no universal definition of the term. In its most basic form, "justice" is the systematized administration of punishment and reward. Further to this, one can say that justice excludes randomness. The concept of justice is based on numerous fields, and many differing viewpoints and perspectives including the concepts of moral correctness based on law, equity, ethics, rationality, religion, and fairness. Often, the general discussion of justice is divided into the realm of societal justice as found in philosophy, theology and religion, and procedural justice as found in the study and application of the law.

Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition.

Fire is hot because conversion of the weak double bond in molecular oxygen, O₂, to the stronger bonds in the combustion products carbon dioxide and water releases energy (418 kJ per 32 g of O₂); the bond energies of the fuel play only a minor role here. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. The flame is the visible portion of the fire. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's intensity will be different.

Fire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. Fire has been used by humans for cooking, generating heat, light, signaling, and propulsion purposes. The negative effects of fire include hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination. If fire removes protective vegetation, heavy rainfall may lead to an increase in soil erosion by water. Also, when vegetation is burned, the nitrogen it contains is released into the atmosphere, unlike elements such as potassium and phosphorus which remain in the ash and are quickly recycled into the soil. This loss of nitrogen caused by a fire produces a long-term reduction in the fertility of the soil, which only slowly recovers as nitrogen is "fixed" from the atmosphere by lightning and by leguminous plants such as clover.

Alan Tecchio

Alan Tecchio is an American singer, who sang for Seven Witches, Watchtower, and Hades. He is also expected to sing at Symphony X bassist Mike Lepond's first solo album, Mike LePond's Silent Assassins.

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