Ligne

The ligne or line or Paris line, is a historic unit of length used in France and elsewhere prior to the adoption of the metric system in the late 18th century, and used in various sciences after that time. It is vestigially retained today by French and Swiss watchmakers to measure the size of watch movements, in button making, and ribbon manufacture.

Use

Watchmaking

There are 12 lignes to one French inch (pouce). The standardized conversion for a ligne is 2.2558291 mm (1 mm = 0.443296 ligne), and it is abbreviated with the letter L or represented by the triple prime, ‴. One ligne is the equivalent of 0.0888 international inch.

This is comparable in size to the British measurement called "line" (one-twelfth of an English inch), used prior to 1824.

Buttonmaking

In the 9th century German button makers began to use the term ligne to measure the diameter of buttons. The consensus definition was that a ligne was the measurement of a round wick, folded flat. In this sense it measures ¹⁄₄₀ of an inch, but not exactly, for there were several inches in the kingdoms and petty states of Germany at that time.

Compagnie Générale Transatlantique

The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (shortened to "CIE. GLE. TRANSATLANTIQUE", or CGT, and commonly named "Transat"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a shipping company established in 1861 as an attempt to revive the French merchant marine, the poor state of which was self-evident during the Crimean War of 1856. The company's first vessel, the SS Washington, had its maiden voyage on 15 June 1864. Other than operating ocean liners, the company also had a significant fleet of freighters. The company survived both World Wars, but the development of jet travel doomed its mainstay passenger liner business. In 1977, the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime. Then, in 1996, the company Compagnie Générale Maritime merged to form the CMA CGM.

History

In 1855, the Péreire brothers, Emile and Isaac, created the Compagnie Générale Maritime, which later became the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. They were already the owners of the Société Générale de Crédit Mobilier, which became the main shareholder. Five years later they signed an agreement with the French government. The company contracted to create a fleet and to provide liner service and carry mail for 20 years on the following routes: Le Havre - New York with calls at Brest, Saint-Nazaire, and the Isthmus of Panama, with 3 additional services for Guadeloupe, Cayenne, and Mexico and. In return, the government would provide the company with an annual subsidy.

World of Tanks

World of Tanks is a massively multiplayer online game developed by Belarusian-Cypriot company Wargaming, featuring early to mid-20th century era fighting vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to-play, but participants also have the option of paying a fee for use of "premium" features. The focus is on player vs. player gameplay with each player controlling an armored vehicle, which may be a light, medium or heavy tank, tank destroyer, or self-propelled gun. World of Tanks debuted as an eSports game at the World Cyber Games 2012.

On 10 June 2013 it was announced that World of Tanks was coming to Xbox Live Arcade on 12 February 2014 as World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition. Xbox 360 players use separate servers to those playing the Windows version, and players of each version have separate accounts. The Xbox 360 version was developed by Wargaming West studio. An Xbox One version has been announced, and was released on 28 July 2015. A PlayStation 4 version is scheduled to release in 2016.World of Tanks has also recently expanded to mobile platforms under the name World of Tanks Blitz, in addition to a board game titled World of Tanks Rush and a collectable card game titled World of Tanks: Generals.

French

French may refer to:

See also

The French Line

The French Line is a 1954 musical film starring Jane Russell made by RKO Pictures, directed by Lloyd Bacon and produced by Edmund Grainger, with Howard Hughes as executive producer. The screenplay was by Mary Loos and Richard Sale, based on a story by Matty Kemp and Isabel Dawn. It was filmed in three strip technicolor and Dual strip polarized 3D during what many consider 3-D film's "golden era" of 1952-1954.

Gilbert Roland co-stars and Kim Novak makes her first film appearance.

Plot

Millionairess Mame Carson's (Jane Russell) oil empire spells trouble for her love life. Men are either after her fortune or afraid of it. Her money-shy fiancé Phil Barton (Craig Stevens) has just given her the brush off.

A disappointed Mame heads for Paris on the French Line's Liberté with friend and fashion designer Annie Farrell (Mary McCarty). She swaps identities with Myrtle Brown (Joyce Mackenzie), one of Annie's models, hoping to find true love incognito.

Aboard ship, she falls in love with French playboy Pierre DuQuesne (Gilbert Roland) who, unbeknownst to Mame, has been hired by her zealous guardian Waco Mosby (Arthur Hunnicutt) to keep the fortune hunters at bay. Pierre professes his love for Mame. Is he sincere or is this just a ploy to gain access to her millions? Silliness ensues interspersed with several musical numbers until Pierre's real intentions are revealed.