Rampart (fortification)

A rampart in fortification architecture is a length of bank or wall forming part of the defensive boundary of a castle, hillfort, settlement or other fortified site. It is usually broad-topped and made of excavated earth or masonry or a combination of the two.

Early fortifications

Many types of early fortification, from prehistory through to the Early Middle Ages, employed earth ramparts usually in combination with external ditches to defend the outer perimeter of a fortified site or settlement.Hillforts, ringforts or "raths" and ringworks all made use of ditch and rampart defences, and of course they are the characteristic feature of circular ramparts. The ramparts could be reinforced and raised in height by the use of palisades. This type of arrangement was a feature of the motte and bailey castle of northern Europe in the early medieval period.

Types of rampart

The composition and design of ramparts varied from the simple mounds of earth and stone, known as dump ramparts, to more complex earth and timber defences (box ramparts and timberlaced ramparts), as well as ramparts with stone revetments. One particular type, common in Central Europe, used earth, stone and timber posts to form a Pfostenschlitzmauer or "post-slot wall". Vitrified ramparts were composed of stone that was subsequently fired, possibly to increase its strength.

Bank (card game)

Bank, also known also as "Polish Bank" or "Russian Bank," is the name of a comparing card game. The game requires a standard 52-card deck and five or six players.

Rules

At the start of the game, each player contributes an arranged stake to the pool. The dealer gives three cards to each player and turns up another; if this is not lower than an eight (ace is lowest), the dealer continues turning up cards until such a card is exposed. The player on the dealer's left, without touching or looking at the three cards received, can bet the amount of the pool, or any part of it, that among those cards is one that is higher (of the same suit) than the turn-up. If the player wins, the player takes the amount from the pool; if the player loses, the player pays that amount to the pool. Each player does the same in turn, the dealer last. Whenever the pool is exhausted, a fresh stake is put into the pool. After a round is over the deal passes. No player may touch any cards received until making a bet; the penalty is a fine to the pool of twice the stake, and the loss of the right to bet during that round.

Bank (surname)

Bank is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

See also

Private (rocket)

Private was an experimental rocket developed by the California Institute of Technology on behalf of the United States Army. Tested in two different configurations, it provided the proof of concept that a fin-stabilised ballistic missile was technologically feasible, and led to the development of the Corporal ballistic missile.

History

The Private program was begun in 1944 as an outgrowth of work by the California Institute of Technology's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory that had produced the first practical jet-assisted take-off (JATO) rockets. A proposal to adapt the JATO rockets for research into the development of ballistic missiles was accepted, and the first flight of the Private A rocket, developed under the direction of Tsien Hsue-shen, took place in December 1944, conducted at Camp Irwin in California.

Private A was an unguided, fin-stabilised ballistic rocket; it consisted of a JATO unit equipped with cruciform tail fins, and a set of four T22 booster rockets that were jettisoned after launch. This made Private A the first multistage rocket to be flown in the United States.

Information hiding

In computer science, information hiding is the principle of segregation of the design decisions in a computer program that are most likely to change, thus protecting other parts of the program from extensive modification if the design decision is changed. The protection involves providing a stable interface which protects the remainder of the program from the implementation (the details that are most likely to change).

Written another way, information hiding is the ability to prevent certain aspects of a class or software component from being accessible to its clients, using either programming language features (like private variables) or an explicit exporting policy.

Overview

The term encapsulation is often used interchangeably with information hiding. Not all agree on the distinctions between the two though; one may think of information hiding as being the principle and encapsulation being the technique. A software module hides information by encapsulating the information into a module or other construct which presents an interface.

Private (web series)

Private is an American Web series produced by Alloy Entertainment based on the novels of the same name by Kate Brian.

The series was announced in May 2009, beginning with a contest allowing female readers the chance to audition for the role of Kiran Hayes. It was also announced that the series would adapt the first four books via 20 episodes, each with a standard length of four to six minutes.

A DVD with episodes of the series was released by Newvideo.

Contest

Private: The Casting Call was the contest in which three contestants competed for the role of Kiran Hayes in the Web adaptation of Private.

Episode list

References