Sega

Sega.
Sega is a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It was founded by Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart on June 3, 1960; shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan. Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope, Following a downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System, but struggled against competitors such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega released its next console, the Sega Genesis, in 1988; it found success outside Japan after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991. In 2001, Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. Sega produces multi-million-selling game franchises, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, and Yakuza, and is the world's most prolific arcade game producer.

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Adore (The Smashing Pumpkins album)

Adore (The Smashing Pumpkins album).
Adore is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins (vocalist Billy Corgan pictured), released on June 2, 1998, by Virgin Records. After the multi-platinum success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and subsequent tour, the Pumpkins' follow-up album was highly anticipated, but drummer Jimmy Chamberlin had left the band, and the recording of Adore was challenging. The album featured a more subdued and electronica-tinged sound than the band's previous work; Greg Kot of Rolling Stone magazine called it "a complete break with the past". Sales for the album were far less than for the band's previous two albums, but it became the third straight Pumpkins album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. It was well received by critics, and has gained a cult following. A remastered and expanded version of the album was released on CD, vinyl and other formats in September 2014.

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SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.
SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class, built as part of a program of naval expansion under Kaiser Wilhelm II. She was laid down in January 1898, launched in June 1899, and completed in May 1901, and was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns in two twin gun turrets. The vessel served in the Home Fleet and later the High Seas Fleet for the first seven years of her career, participating in training cruises and maneuvers. Placed in reserve in 1910, the battleship was returned to active service in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I, tasked with coastal defense in the North Sea. The ship was deployed briefly to the Baltic but saw no action. In 1915, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was again withdrawn from service and relegated to secondary duties as a depot ship in Kiel and then a torpedo target ship. The vessel was sold for scrapping and broken up in 1920. (This article is part of a featured topic: Battleships of Germany.)

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British hydrogen bomb programme

British hydrogen bomb programme.
The British hydrogen bomb programme was the ultimately successful British effort to develop thermonuclear weapons. The successful test of an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane in 1952 made Britain a nuclear power, but hopes that the United States would be sufficiently impressed to restore the Special Relationship were soon disappointed. In 1954, Cabinet agreed to proceed with the development of the hydrogen bomb. The scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment did not know how to build one, but produced three designs: Orange Herald, a large boosted fission weapon; Green Bamboo, an interim design; and Green Granite, a true thermonuclear design. The first series of Operation Grapple tests (newsreel featured) were hailed as a success, but Green Granite was a failure. In November 1957, they successfully tested a thermonuclear design. Subsequent tests demonstrated a mastery of the technology. Together with the Sputnik crisis, this resulted in the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement, and the Special Relationship was restored.