A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term most commonly refers to a large, crewed, autonomous vessel. It is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine and the wet sub. Used as an adjective in phrases such as submarine cable, "submarine" means "under the sea". The noun submarine evolved as a shortened form of submarine boat (and is often further shortened to sub). For reasons of naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as "boats" rather than as "ships", regardless of their size.
Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, and they were adopted by several navies. Submarines were first widely used during World War I (1914–1918), and now figure in many navies large and small. Military usage includes attacking enemy surface ships (merchant and military), submarines, aircraft carrier protection, blockade running, ballistic missile submarines as part of a nuclear strike force, reconnaissance, conventional land attack (for example using a cruise missile), and covert insertion of special forces. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection/maintenance. Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology.
Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal zone. Marine geology has strong ties to physical oceanography.
Marine geological studies were of extreme importance in providing the critical evidence for sea floor spreading and plate tectonics in the years following World War II. The deep ocean floor is the last essentially unexplored frontier and detailed mapping in support of both military (submarine) objectives and economic (petroleum and metal mining) objectives drives the research.
The Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean with its attendant intense volcanism and seismic activity poses a major threat for disastrous earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. Any early warning systems for these disastrous events will require a more detailed understanding of marine geology of coastal and island arc environments.
The early-mid-1990s English band Submarine followed in the footsteps of many of its contemporaries, including The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Boo Radleys and My Bloody Valentine with its own vision of noise pop, before morphing into Jetboy DC, which continues sporadically to this day.
Submarine alternated introspective indie-rock with noisy psychedelic jams; to the former quality was oft associated the term shoegazing. They released their self-titled debut album in 1994; Keith Cleversley (of Flaming Lips fame) produced it for Ultimate. A second album, also recorded with Cleversley, was turned down by the label & later released on Taky Recordings, nearly 10 years later. Kiss Me Till Your Ears Burn Off, a compilation of singles and B-sides, was released on the Fantastick Records label.
Submarine recorded two separate Peel Sessions for legendary English radio personality John Peel, a feat not duplicated by many bands invited to record for the BBC.
During their career, Submarine toured extensively with such bands as the Flaming Lips, Moose, Radiohead, Peach and Tool. Beginning in 1993, Submarine participated in the Ultimate Records Tour with the werefrogs & Sidi Bou Said.
Spyro is a series of platform games which primarily features the protagonist Spyro the Dragon and his friend, Sparx the Dragonfly. Since its introduction in 1998, there has been a complete reboot to the series called The Legend of Spyro trilogy, making it a total of ten Spyro games and three Legend of Spyro games. The Spyro series has sold more than 20 million units worldwide. After The Legend of Spyro series concluded, a spin-off franchise under the name of Skylanders was made where Spyro and other related characters were included in.
Spyro the Dragon was first released in North America on 11 September 1998, for the PlayStation. It was released in Europe on 23 October 1998, In Australia on 15 November 1998 and in Japan on 1 April 1999. It is a platform game that placed the player as Spyro, a small, purple dragon set with the task of freeing his fellow dragons from crystal prisons, which are scattered around their world. Each level is accessed through 'portals' from a main world. The game concludes with a fight between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Gnasty Gnorc. The game sold well, most critics giving it favorable reviews. It also received acclaim for its musical score by Stewart Copeland.
Hunter is a 2015 film directed by Gregory Hatanaka and starring Ron Becks with Magda Marcella, Kristine DeBell, George Lazenby and Laurene Landon. It follows the exploits of a veteran cop who must hunt down a cop killer as well as a female teenage serial killer.
Watchers is a secret organization that watches the Immortals in Highlander: The Series and all subsequent related series and movies.
They were introduced in the season 1 finale as a cliffhanger for the subsequent season. Since then, they became an integral part of the series and Duncan MacLeod's adventures.
In "The Watchers", Joe Dawson explains the purpose of the Watchers to Duncan MacLeod: "For as long as your kind's been around, we've been watching ... We observe, we record, but we never interfere... Too much of man's history has been lost. When you get through all of life's crap, the only thing that matters is the truth. We want the truth about Immortals to survive, not a bunch of old wives' tales... If we had revealed your secret in more superstitious times, you can imagine the witch hunts... And today... You'd probably end up on page three in one of those supermarket rags next to the two-headed monkey and I'd've been in a straight jacket."
The Watchers is a secret society of mortal humans that observes the lives of the Immortals without revealing themselves. While the Watchers seem to have the resources to function independently, there are Watchers like Joe Dawson who run their own businesses to provide a cover as well as income. Each Immortal is assigned a Watcher whose sole job is to monitor and record daily activities. The network of Watchers generally keeps careful tabs on subjects and tracks even the casual movements of the Immortals. Most Immortals are unaware of the Watchers. The organization was created by Ammaletu, the Akkadian, after he saw Gilgamesh coming back to life. In early episodes all Watchers wore a medallion of the symbol of their organization. In later episodes, each Watcher has the symbol tattooed on the inner wrist.
Wreck may refer to: