117

Year 117 (CXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Niger and Apronianus (or, less frequently, year 870 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 117 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Roman Empire

Major

Major is a military rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, the rank is just senior to that of an army captain and right below the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks.

Majors are typically assigned as specialized executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers. In some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the New York State Police, New Jersey State Police and several others. As a police rank, Major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of Superintendent.

When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including general-major or major general, denoting a mid-level general officer, and sergeant major, denoting the most senior NCO of a military unit. The term Major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major.

Halo 4

Halo 4 is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. The seventh video game installment in the Halo franchise, the game was released worldwide in November 2012. Halo 4's story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence construct Cortana, as they encounter unknown threats while exploring an ancient civilization's planet. The player assumes the role of Master Chief, who battles against rogue remnants of the military alliance of alien races known as the Covenant and warriors of the Forerunner empire known as the Prometheans. The game features a selection of weapons, enemies, and game modes not present in previous titles of the series.

Development of Halo 4 began in 2009 and continued until September 2012. Halo 4 is 343 Industries' first original title within the Halo series—previously, development of the main series was undertaken by Bungie, the creator of the franchise. In the developmental process, 343 Industries decided to explore the Forerunner fiction within the Halo universe, leading the team to design a new setting, enemies, and main antagonist. Existing characters and assets received visual overhauls and motion capture was used for animation within cutscenes. A goal for Halo 4's story was to incorporate more human elements; to achieve this, the developers chose to delve more deeply into the relationship between the two protagonists, Master Chief and Cortana. Several external studios assisted 343 Industries with developing Halo 4, and over 350 people worked on the game in total.

Lee Camp (comedian)

Lee Camp (born July 21, 1980) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and activist. He is the host of the weekly comedy news show Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp on RT America.

Early life and beginnings of career

Camp was born July 21, 1980 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, until 1989. His father is a psychoanalyst who served 20 years in the military as a doctor. His mother is a social worker. In 1989 the family moved to Richmond, Virginia, where Camp stayed until he went to college at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. He started writing comedy when he was 14, then got his humor columns printed in the high school literary magazine. Upon arriving at the University of VA, he won a competition to become the humor columnist for the school newspaper "The Cavalier Daily". Camp then wrote a weekly humor column for all four years he attended the university. He began performing stand-up comedy on his 19th birthday at an open-mic night at Matt's Pub in Richmond. The Richmond Comedy Club was downstairs, which was where Camp got his first paying gigs. He also performed regularly throughout the rest of his time at UVA, opening for Jimmy Fallon, Darrell Hammond, Lewis Black, and Tracy Morgan when they came to do shows at the university. In his final year of college, Camp self-published a book of his humor columns entitled "Neither Sophisticated Nor Intelligent". Upon graduation he moved to New York City.

Mega Brands

Mega Brands, Inc., formerly Mega Bloks, Inc., is a Canadian children's toy company currently owned by Mattel. Mega Bloks is the name of their most popular product, a line of construction set toys, with other brands including Mega Puzzles, Board Dudes and Rose Art. Mega Brands, Inc. distributes a range of toys, puzzles, and craft-based products.

History

In 1967, Victor Bertrand and his wife Rita founded the company as Ritvik Toys, Inc. (a portmanteau word based on a combination of Rita and Victor). Ritvik was amalgamated with Ritvik Holdings Inc. on June 30, 1998. On March 19, 2002, the name was changed from Ritvik Holdings Inc. to Mega Bloks, Inc. Currently, the founders' sons Vic Bertrand Jr. and Marc Bertrand are CIO and CEO, respectively.

In 1991, the company decided to start producing LEGO compatible bricks under the brand Mega Bloks.

On June 15, 2006, following the acquisition of several brand names not associated with construction brick toys, the company again changed its name, this time from Mega Bloks, Inc. to Mega Brands, Inc.