Plural form of words ending in -us

In the English language, the plural form of words ending in -us, especially those derived from Latin, replaces -us with -i. Many exceptions exist, some because the word does not derive from Latin, and others due to habit (for example, campus, plural campuses). Conversely, some non-Latin words ending in -us and Latin words that did not have their Latin plurals with -i form their English plurals with -i. Between these extremes are words that do not justify a Latin plural on etymological grounds, but that native English speakers commonly pluralize with -i (for example, octopi as a plural for octopus). Whether to regard these alternative plural forms as incorrect depends on one's position in the ongoing debate over prescriptivism versus descriptivism in linguistics and language education.

History

Virus (LaFee song)

"Virus" is a song written by Bob Arnz and Gerd Zimmermann and recorded by German singer LaFee. It was released as the first single from LaFee's debut album LaFee. The single reached fourteen in both the German and Austrian Singles Charts when released in March 2006. An English version of the song, entitled "Scabies", later appeared on LaFee's third studio album Shut Up.

Track listing

Charts

References

Virus (1999 film)

Virus is a 1999 science fiction action thriller film directed by visual effects artist John Bruno. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland, the film is based on a Dark Horse comic book of the same name by Chuck Pfarrer.

Plot

The Russian space station Mir contacts a research ship in the South Pacific, Akademik Vladislav Volkov. While the crews of both ships converse, a large energy source traveling through space strikes the Mir. The electrical surge hijacks the Mir and beams itself down to the oceangoing ship, disabling it. The crew of Mir are killed, while the large research vessel's crew suffer an unknown fate.

Seven days later, during a typhoon, the tugboat Sea Star, captained by alcoholic Robert Everton (Donald Sutherland), loses its uninsured cargo, which was the captain's last chance to get out of debt. Sea Star's crew, led by navigator and ex-Navy officer Kelly Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis) and engineer Steve Baker (William Baldwin) discover the engine room taking on water; Foster suggests that they take refuge in the eye of the storm to make repairs. Everton agrees, but while Sea Star rests in calm waters, he contemplates committing suicide. At the same time, the Akademik Vladislav Volkov appears on Sea Star's radar, and realizing that it could be worth millions in salvage, Everton orders his crew aboard.

Sabre

The sabre or saber (see spelling differences) is a type of backsword, usually with a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger.

Ultimately based on a medieval type of single-edged weapon, the sabre was adopted as the weapon of heavy cavalry in Early Modern warfare. Although sabres are typically thought of as curved-bladed slashing weapons, those used by the heavy cavalry of the 17th to 19th centuries often had straight and even double-edged blades more suitable for thrusting. The length of sabres varied, and most were carried in a scabbard hanging from a shoulder belt known as a baldric or from a waist-mounted sword belt, usually with slings of differing lengths to permit the scabbard to hang below the rider's waist level.

History

Origins

Sabre-like curved backswords have been in use in Europe since the early medieval period (some early examples include the falchion and the Byzantine paramērion). The oldest well-documented "sabres" are those found in 9th and 10th century graves of Magyars (Hungarians) who entered the Carpathian Basin at this time. These oldest sabres had a slight curve, short, down-turned quillons, the grip facing the opposite direction to the blade and a sharp point with the top third of the reverse edge sharpened.

Saber (artist)

Saber (born 1976, Glendale, California) is an American graffiti artist, and painter working in Los Angeles. The Washington Post described him as one of "the best and most respected artists" in his field.

Los Angeles River

Saber is most famous for an exceptionally large piece he did on the concrete bank of the Los Angeles River in 1997. The full color piece took 97 gallons of paint and 35 nights spread out over the course of a year to complete. The final work, measuring 250 x 55 feet has been called "the largest graffiti painting ever." The work was viewable from satellite. Highly visible from the East LA interchange near downtown Los Angeles, it was seen by millions of drivers. A photo taken upon completion of the work shows the full scale; Saber can be seen sitting in the upper portion of the letter B, and above the concrete bank several trains show the relative length. The global reputation of the work within the graffiti world was further spread when that same photo was used as the splash screen for artcrimes.org, the first graffiti art website. In 2004, Saber recreated the piece in a diorama of the river for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County exhibit, L.A.: light / motion / dreams. In 2007, the piece was included in the KCET project Departures: LA River. Remarkable not only for sheer size, Saber's LA River piece remained for 12 years. On September 1, 2009, a sub-contractor of the Army Corps of Engineers, BJD Resourcing, removed the work by painting over it.

Dao (sword)

Dao are single-edged Chinese swords, primarily used for slashing and chopping. The most common form is also known as the Chinese sabre, although those with wider blades are sometimes referred to as Chinese broadswords. In China, the dao is considered one of the four traditional weapons, along with the gun (stick or staff), qiang (spear), and the jian (sword). It is considered "The General of All Weapons".

Name

In Chinese, the word 刀 can be applied to any weapon with a single-edged blade and usually refers to knives. Because of this, the term is sometimes translated as knife or sword-knife. Nonetheless, within Chinese martial arts and in military contexts, the larger "sword" versions of the dao are usually intended.

General characteristics

While dao have varied greatly over the centuries, most single-handed dao of the Ming period and later, and the modern swords that are based (sometimes loosely) on them share a number of characteristics. Dao blades are moderately curved and single-edged, though often with a few inches of the back edge sharpened as well; the moderate curve allows them to be reasonably effective in the thrust. Hilts are sometimes canted, curving in the opposite direction as the blade which improves handling in some forms of cuts and thrusts. Cord is usually wrapped over the wood of the handle. Hilts may also be pierced like those of jian (straight-bladed Chinese sword) for the addition of lanyards, though modern swords for performances will often have tassels or scarves instead. Guards are typically disc-shaped often with a cupped shape to prevent rainwater from getting into the sheath, and to prevent blood from dripping down to the handle, making it more difficult to grip. Sometimes guards are thinner pieces of metal with an s-curve, the lower limb of the curve protecting the user's knuckles; very rarely they may have guards like those of the jian.

List of Guilty Gear characters

This is an index of characters from the Guilty Gear fighting game series.

Creation and influences

Daisuke Ishiwatari has cited Kazushi Hagiwara's manga Bastard‼, and the fighting game Street Fighter II as influence to the Guilty Gear series. However, he noted that the majority of other fighting games were just recycling the character's same skins or style, and so he wanted every character "to be unique in their own way."Kazuhiko Shimamoto's characters was also noted as an inspiration for the men characters, with Ishiwatari saying they needed to be "chivalrous person-like characters", and citing Anji Mito "the most closest to this type". The female ones, on the other hand, have not followed a standard, with he only saying that they needed look like real women.

There are many musical references in the Guilty Gear series, including various characters' names and moves, which were inspired by rock and heavy metal bands like Queen, Guns N' Roses, and Metallica. For instance, the main character, Sol Badguy, was named after Queen's lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury. Both his real name, Frederick, and his last name were influenced by the singer, whose nickname was "Mr. Badguy".