Sputnik (comics)

Sputnik is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.

Publication history

Sputnik first appeared in Captain America #352-353 (April-May 1989), and was created by Mark Gruenwald and Kieron Dwyer.

The character subsequently appears as Vostok in Avengers #319-324 (July-October 1990), Incredible Hulk #393 (May 1992), Soviet Super-Soldiers #1 (November 1992), Quasar #54 (January 1994), Iron Man #9-10 (October-November 1998), Maximum Security 33 (January 2001), and Thunderbolts #57 (December 2001).

Sputnik appeared as part of the "Supreme Soviets" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #7.

Fictional character biography

The synthezoid originally known as Sputnik was a member of the Supreme Soviets. The team had been sent by the Soviet government to capture the Soviet Super-Soldiers, who were attempting to defect to the United States. Sputnik had been disguised by an illusion to appear as the Vision. Eventually, Captain America defeated the Supreme Soviets and freed the badly wounded Soviet Super-Soldiers.

Sputnik (JavaScript conformance test)

Sputnik was a JavaScript conformance test suite. The purpose of the test suite was to determine how well a JavaScript implementation adheres to the ECMA-262 specification, 5th edition, looking only at those features that were also present in the 3rd edition. It contained over 5000 tests that touched all aspects of the JavaScript language.

The test was created in Russia for testing the conformance of the V8 JavaScript engine used in Google Chrome.

As part of phasing out Google Labs, Google has shut down Sputnik. All current Sputnik tests have been incorporated into ECMA's Test262 test suite.

Browsers that do not pass

As example, Konqueror 4.10.1 still only passes 91.8% of the 11573 tests.

Desktop browsers

Scores represent the number of failed tests – a perfect score is 0 (100%).

ECMAScript testsuite

Google has handed the tests from Sputnik test suite to Ecma International for inclusion in its ECMAScript 262 test suite. Some Sputnik tests however have been found to have issues and do not conform to ECMAScript 5th edition specification.

Star (heraldry)

In heraldry, the term star may refer to any star-shaped charge with any number of rays, which may appear straight or wavy, and may or may not be pierced. While there has been much confusion between the two due to their similar shape, a star with straight-sided rays is usually called a mullet while one with wavy rays is usually called an estoile.

While a mullet may have any number of points, it is presumed to have five unless otherwise specified in the blazon, and pierced mullets are common; estoiles, however, are presumed to have six rays and (as of 1909) had not been found pierced. In Scottish heraldry, an estoile is the same as in English heraldry, but it has been said that mullet refers only to a mullet pierced (also called a spur revel), while one that is not pierced is called a star.

Terminology

The use of the word star in blazons, and how that charge appears in coat armory, varies from one jurisdiction to another. In Scots heraldry, both star and mullet interchangeably mean a star with five straight rays; the official record from 1673 gives Murray of Ochtertyre azur three Starrs argent ... (Public Register, vol 1 p 188), while the Ordinary of Arms produced by a late 19th century Lyon King of Arms 'modernizes' the original as Az. three mullets arg. .... In Canadian heraldry the usual term is mullet, but there is also the occasional six-pointed star (e.g. in Vol. IV, at p. 274 and in online version of the Canadian Public Register), which is what others would blazon as a six-pointed mullet. The United States Army Institute of Heraldry, the official heraldic authority in the United States, uses the term mullet in its blazons, but elsewhere, as in US government documents describing the flag of the United States and the Great Seal of the United States, the term star is constantly used, and these nearly always appear with five straight-sided points.

Celebrity

Celebrity is fame and public attention in the media, usually applied to a person, or group of people (celebrity couple, family etc.), or occasionally, to animals or fictional entities. Celebrity status is often associated with wealth (commonly referred to as fame and fortune) and fame can often provide opportunities to make money.

Successful careers in sports and entertainment are commonly associated with celebrity status; political leaders often become celebrities. People may also become celebrities due to media attention for their lifestyle, wealth, or controversial actions, or for their connection to a famous person.

History

Throughout recorded history there are accounts of people who attracted the trappings of celebrity which would be recognized today.

Athletes in Ancient Greece were welcomed home as heroes, had songs and poems written in their honour and received free food and gifts from those seeking celebrity endorsement.Ancient Rome similarly lauded actors and notorious gladiators and Julius Caesar appeared on a coin in his own lifetime (a departure from the usual depiction of battles and divine lineage).

Asterisk

An asterisk (*; from Late Latin asteriscus, from Ancient Greek ἀστερίσκος, asteriskos, "little star") is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as star (as, for example, in the A* search algorithm or C*-algebra). In English, an asterisk is usually five-pointed in sans-serif typefaces, six-pointed in serif typefaces, and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten. It can be used as censorship. It is also used on the internet to correct one's spelling, in which case it appears after or before the corrected word.

The asterisk is derived from the need of the printers of family trees in feudal times for a symbol to indicate date of birth. The original shape was seven-armed, each arm like a teardrop shooting from the center.

In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a wildcard character, or to denote pointers, repetition, or multiplication.

Usage

Censorship

When toning down expletives, asterisks are often used to replace letters. For example, the word 'fuck' might become 'f*ck' or even '****'.