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The Research to Aid Persons with Disabilities (RAPD)

2009-07-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Research to Aid Persons with Disabilities (RAPD) program supports research that will lead to the development of new technologies, devices, or software for persons with disabilities. Research may be supported that is directed to the characterization, restoration, and/or substitution of human functional ability or cognition, or to the interaction of persons with disabilities and their environment.

Areas of particular recent interest are disability-related research in neuroscience/neuroengineering and rehabilitation robotics. Emphasis is placed on significant advancement of fundamental engineering and scientific knowledge and not on incremental improvements. Proposals should advance discovery or innovation beyond the frontiers of current knowledge in disability-related research. Applicants are encouraged to contact a program director prior to submitting a proposal.

Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects are also supported, especially those that provide prototype "custom-designed" devices or software for persons with disabilities. The education of undergraduate engineering students is enhanced through Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects' awards supported by the RAPD program.

Characteristics of undergraduate engineering design projects to aid persons with disabilities include:

* The primary goal of this activity is to provide a meaningful design experience for the engineering student that will directly aid a specific individual with a disability. Undergraduate student engineers or engineering technology students develop prototype "custom-designed" devices and software in this regard.

* The PI and the students work with institutions providing care or education for individuals with disabilities.

* The proposal must include a short description of ten possible design projects. These projects should be suitable for an undergraduate student, or a small team of students, to complete in about one year. The proposal should include a letter of support from an appropriate administrator of an institution providing care or education to individuals with disabilities. The letter should certify that the institution and the university will work cooperatively on the design projects.

* The PI provides an annual report that includes a description of the successfully completed design projects during the previous academic year. Each PI is expected to implement a high percentage of projects each year. It is also expected that the projects will contain appropriate levels of quantitative engineering analysis.

The Glory Mission

2009-07-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

The Glory Mission Will Increase Our Understanding of the Earth's Energy Balance
Twenty years ago, Brent Holben was part of a NASA team studying vegetation from space. In an unlikely career twist, his research morphed into the study of a critical, if overlooked, subplot in the story of climate change.

From his office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Holben helps manage the world’s largest network of ground-based sensors for aerosols -- tiny specks of solids and liquids that waft about in the atmosphere. These particles come from both human and natural sources and can be observed everywhere in the world.

Scientists know that some of them play an outsized role in Earth’s climate. And much of that knowledge has come from the Aerosol Robotic Network, or AERONET, the collaborative, international sensor network which Holben leads.

"Aerosols play a key role in climate, and pretty much everybody who studies aerosols uses data from AERONET," said William Lau, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Division at Goddard. "Without AERONET, our understanding of the climate system simply wouldn’t be where it is today."

Underwater Submersibles

2009-07-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

Over the last few decades, engineers have urbanized submersible technologies capable of meeting the several challenges that the deep sea imposes ahead explorers. Using advanced submersible technologies, amazing new deep-water ecosystems have been discovered. Many of these communities were supposed not to exist in harsh environments devoid of light and under severe pressure. One such community was found in an area surrounding a hydrothermal vent, where water temperatures reach hundreds of degrees Centigrade and the water is covered in caustic sulfur. After preliminary studies, which discovered many new species and raised even more questions about these organisms, researchers declared these communities to be as complex as many found on land.

As much as we may learn about our planet's underwater habitats through the use of satellites, shipboard sensors and divers, these technologies scratch only the surface of the oceans. Submersibles alone allow us to explore the abyssal depths. This section of the Ocean Explorer Web site highlights more than a few of the major advancements in submersible equipment. These submersibles allow us to travel deeper and with a greater degree of freedom than ever before, so that we can observe, describe and ultimately explain the phenomena of life in the deep ocean kingdom.

The oldest mummies

2009-06-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

Archaeologist’s digging out a 5 000-year-old burial site exterior Cairo has opened a tomb containing the little of the earliest evidence of mummification. They say hat this is the oldest mummies ever found.

Archaeologists opened a number of unbroken wooden coffins found in a previously ignored committal shaft in the Sakkara area, about 25km south of Cairo. One of the skeletons, lying in the fetal position and facing east, had linen wrapped around parts of the body.

Burial place opened in past backed up that dating. It enclosed with the body of 35-year-old women with proof of blood around her. X-rays exposed that she had a broken skull, and sign that she might have been assassinated for a sacrifice.

The partially mummified skeleton will be X-rayed and studied to resolve its sexual characteristics and age at death. Each and every one wooden coffer would also be inspected closely and treated with natural substances to help protect its condition.
As the area is only partly cleared, it is not well-known yet how large it is or how many tombs it contains.

IT sector sees hope in BJP's vision

2009-03-19T02:03:00.000-07:00

Most IT firms opine that the IT Vision of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a good omen for the domestic IT industry which is buckling under the pressure of the global meltdown for the last couple of quarters. The BJP created a flutter in the industry circle when its announced a 30-page IT vision document which includes creation of 12 million IT-enabled jobs for rural India; providing of laptops to 10 million students at Rs 10,000 per piece; immediate implementation of VoIP; protection of domestic hardware manufacturers against imports and promotion in the usage of open source software. The party reportedly consulted the heads of at least 10 top IT companies before finalising the document.

Vinnie Meheta, executive director of MAIT, the body that represents the hardware industry in India, said: “We are glad that somebody has defined their IT agenda very clearly. It’s more gladdening to see that they have touched the hardware sector which has untapped potential to create lot more job opportunities. The announcement is very timely and pertinent as the IT industry needs some succour due to the current economic situation.” “I think the BJP has really done well by including IT in their vision document. Many people feel that the government is facing a huge loss of tax by promoting the IT sector. However, many IT-rich southern states including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have experienced tax growth of over 40 per cent during the last four years, mainly because of IT. The IT vision of BJP will really come handy for creation of new job opportunities in the IT and ITeS sector in India where we still have a large percentage of unemployed graduates struggling to provide their services for the growth of the country,” said Vivek Kulkarni, the former IT secretary of Karnataka who is now the chairman and CEO of BrickWork India.

Industry body Nasscom also is quite enthusiastic about the inclusion of IT in the manifesto of political parties. “The potential of IT in the creation of job opportunities in India is still enormous and I am delighted that the BJP has come out with a strong vision statement for the IT industry. I won’t be able to comment how it will help them in capturing votes,” Ganesh Natarajan, chairman of Nasscom said. The idustry feels the IT vision document by BJP is ‘very practical’ and can be implemented. “The proposals laid down by BJP in their vision document are very practical, and I see no reason why these can’t be implemented,” says Natarajan who is also the chairman of Pune-based Zensar Technologies. “A great degree of this is achievable provided they implement this in the first year of the new government, if come to power,” says T V Mohandas Pai, Head of Administration and HR, Infosys Technolgies.

Analysts also feel that political parties in India are slowly realising the importance of IT not only for the economy, but also for their poll campaigns. The Congress party which is now heading the UPA government at the Centre had been an active supporter of the IT industry in the past.

Industry body Nasscom has found very good supporters within the Congress party from leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Kamalnath and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The fact that every year millions of youths are coming upto the voting age is driving political parties to show a tech-savvy face to such electorate base. Besides, political parties are also realising that technology will play a vital role in delivering good governance to common people and reaching out to the electorate.

Despite the growth in the IT sector, however, political parties in India lag their counterparts in Americas and Europe in the use of IT in election management.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/it-sector-sees-hope-in-bjp%5Cs-vision/352081/

Mobile Number Portability in August

2009-02-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

Come August and mobile phone subscribers will not have to go through the troublesome routine of informing everyone about a number change in case they decide to switch to another service provider.

Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plans to introduce Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in major cities, followed by other cities by the end of this year. He made the announcement at the launch of BSNL's 3G services in Chennai.

The MNP system will allow subscribers to retain their number when they shift their telecom service provider.

The DoT had approved MNP in November 2008, saying the system would initially be introduced in the metros.

source:http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Mobile_Number_Portability_in_August/551-99277-613.html

Killzone 2, Afro Samurai

2009-02-17T21:55:00.000-08:00

When Sony showed off the capabilities of its newest system -- the PlayStation 3 -- at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2005, one game had nearly everyone talking.

The short video, presented without explanation, was an amazing futuristic war game with visuals that exceeded anything that could be done at the time. Quite simply, we couldn't believe our eyes; there was no way a game could look that good. Surely the footage had to be some kind of pre-rendered clip, not actual in-game footage.

When it is finally released on Feb. 27, will Killzone 2 be that great, once-in-a-lifetime game everyone is expecting it to be?

Sadly, the answer is no.

Don't get us wrong. K2 is still an amazing war game that belongs alongside the other big boys in the future war category, such as the Resistance and Gears of War franchises. It is technologically flawless and a sight to behold.

Unfortunately, it's really not much different from the rest of the aforementioned titles that came out last holiday season, save for the frustratingly different default control setup (which can be changed to a more standard setup without much trouble). Fight the bad guys, drive 'em back, blah, blah, blah. We've played this a thousand times before.

Though Killzone 2 does look better than most, it ultimately fails to live up to the insanely high expectations that had been created for it -- and that's a shame.

Grade: A (The same high level as its predecessors, but little else)

Details: PlayStation 3 platform; $59.99; rated Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, strong language)

Wasting such great potential

All the elements are there to make Afro Samurai one of the best games ever: a fresh, comic-inspired visual style; funky, original characters; good controls; a great soundtrack supervised by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan; even the voice of Samuel L. Jackson in all his uncensored glory.

As if to prove that even the best ingredients still require a great chef, Samurai is so horribly assembled it quickly becomes apparent that the game is flawed to the core (and not just because you can slice people in half in a big, bloody mess).

Besides the atrociously confusing level design that seems as if it was created to force you to walk in circles, and the miserable sound mixing that sets some of the characters' voices at full scream while others are at whisper levels, when we tested it out, Samurai suffered from a giant glitch near the conclusion of the first battle that ended the fight abruptly and caused the game to inexplicably skip ahead.

All the money spent on those billions and billions of billboards advertising the game and the animated film on DVD would have been better spent on some quality control.

Grade: A (for visuals and story), D-minus (for level design and sound mixing)

Details: Xbox 360 and Play- Station 3 platforms; $59.99; rated Mature (blood and gore, drug reference, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language)

Killing zombies and looking good

Another recently released gory samurai game is the Japanese import Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad.

Here's the setup: Two shapely sisters have to fight off wave after wave of angry zombies, determined to eat brains or whatever it is zombies do. By swinging their mighty samurai swords, the sisters can slice the zombies in two. And, as in most cheesy horror films, even that won't stop the zombies; their legs and waists attack on their own.

Oh, and did we mention that the older sister wears a skimpy bathing suit that would fit right in with the ones in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and that the younger sister is dressed in full Japanese schoolgirl attire, pleated skirt and all?

source:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-gameday18-2009feb18,0,556642.story

Trend Micro offers parental control s/w

2009-02-05T23:05:00.000-08:00

BANGALORE, INDIA: Is your computer safe from viruses? How many spam mails do you delete daily? Is your child aware of the viruses that disguise as credible sites? These common questions apply not only to professionals and computer users in office, but also a PC user at home.

If you thought only computers at work place are prone to virus attacks, then your are wrong. A single PC at home, with an Internet connection, is made use of adults as well as the modern day 'tech-savvy' children for homework, to play games, chat with friends and watch animations. Youngsters are seldom aware of the potential threats when they are using the Internet. Predators in the world wide web appear in various forms, and employ various methods by asking you questions and gathering your personal information to engage in all sorts of illegal activities. Now, you can easily fight such threats and control your child's activities with the 'Advanced Parental Control Software' embedded in the Trend Micro Internet Security 2009.

The Parental Control solution comes along with the Trend Micro Internet Security package 'TM Internet Security'. Today, Trend Micro enjoys the credit of being the only company which offers this Internet Security Software that provides end-to-end, detailed and intuitive advanced parental control.

Giving more details about Trend Micro Internet Security 2009 package, Amith Nath, country head, Trend Micro says: " With Trend Micro Internet Security 2009 (TIS), we enter the commercial vertical in the country. TIS has been built around Smart Protection network which means the user is protected from malicious web, email and document attacks. TIS is a robust security suite which also has goods like mobile security, PC optimization and advanced parental control embedded in one software package. "

"The software also prevents accidental leakage of private information, which means, it prevents children from revealing personal information via the web, inter messaging tool and the email. The child may enter the phone number or address or credit card number which in turn would be all garbled and not understood by the receiver," he explains.

The parental control feature allows -

Limited Internet access by time of day and day of week, that would show a reminding pop up five minutes before the Internet access time is up. This way, the parents can control the timing when the child sits before the PC
Blocks the sites parents do not want the child to access. Further, this can be done by age level of the child. TIS software solution comes with four pre-set categories - Child, Teenager, Adult, and None. Parents can choose from these categories or customize it to their desire which could mean blocking gaming, gambling, social networking or any sites they would want to
Prevents accidental leakage of private information by the child using the PC

The software is available in both single and three license packages which are valid for a year. TIS can be bought online as well from Trend Micro authorized distributors/sub distributors. From January end it will also be available in retail stores.

sources:http://www.ciol.com/SMB/SMB-Featured-Articles/Feature/Trend-Micro-Internet-Security-2009-offers-parental-control-s/w/4209115545/0/

Even I’d use Windows 7 if it was free!

2009-01-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

Fellow ZDNet blogger, Andrew Nusca, asked a great question today: “Should Microsoft give Windows 7 away for free?” He answers his own question, with a pretty big yes (at least under certain conditions), but I think his question is even more relevant here in the land of Ed Tech than it might be for businesses or consumers.

In the educational field, there are a few very important considerations that make a free Windows 7 far more appealing than yet another upgrade to yet another Microsoft product. The first is the bottom line. While businesses obviously need to focus on costs, educational technology usually makes its way into the first round of budget cuts, along with art and music programs. When it comes down to it, as Linux distributions become easier to administer, free software starts looking mighty attractive.

As Andrew points out, an upgrade to a new Microsoft OS will be a hard sell for those of us still running XP. Anyone who has migrated to Vista, whether as part of a planned rollout or through new hardware acquisitions will also have a tough time justifying the cost of an upgrade any time soon, even if Windows 7 is chock full of fixes.

In K-12 education, our job is, obviously, to teach. In most cases, there is little difference between the ways we can support learning and student achievement on Windows, Mac, or Linux computers. While plenty of proprietary applications exist, if it comes time to shave costs from a budget and we can still achieve our mission using free software, the choice should be pretty easy.

Even at the college level, students are curious, motivated, and community-minded. Have a question about that new Ubuntu netbook you just snagged? Chances are your roommate (or your neighbor or your RA) has been tinkering with Linux since she was 12. When you were in college, what would you have chosen? A $60 upgrade from Vista to 7 (assuming academic standard pricing and the existence of Vista when you were a college student) or a week’s worth of pizza?

I’m not even suggesting that every college kid or school should choose Linux over moving to Windows 7. I’m saying that there is no incentive in tight financial times and institutions accustomed to exploring a variety of solutions for moving to Windows 7.

Unless, of course, it’s free. Then, given that Windows 7 actually seems to be a pretty solid OS, even in beta, with the wide variety of compatible software, 7 starts looking pretty attractive. As I noted in my title, I’d certainly consider it if it was free. Charge me for it, though, and chances are, I’ll find a way to satisfy computing requirements some other way, whether that means FOSS, XP, or even Vista.

sources:http://education.zdnet.com/?p=2102

The Threat of Climate Change

2009-01-24T01:53:00.000-08:00

By: Former Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett

For a long time, the world has seen climate change as an environmental problem: a 'green' issue. That is understandable: the potential effects on our biodiversity from climate change range, under differing scenarios, from serious to catastrophic.

But the, perhaps rather sad, truth is that the international community will not move with the necessary urgency or ambition if climate change is seen as primarily something that effects insects, animals and plants: although they may in turn hold the key to our own survival. We have to show that this is a problem for humans too; that it will affect our basic security.That is precisely what the science is telling us. The recent report of the Second Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change paints a stark picture. It predicts, for example, that by 2020 crop yields in some African countries, could have halved. A separate study the UK did with the Chinese government estimated that climate change could reduce China’s grain production by 30 to 40 per cent.

Physical impacts of this scale and severity in some cases can give us very specific reason to be worried. Countries throughout Asia (not least here in Burma/Cambodia), and indeed globally, should be concerned at the possibility of rising food prices and growing instability in China. Rising sea-levels could displace millions in Bangladesh alone and add a dangerous new dynamic to an already tense region. The Middle East – where five per cent of the world's population share one per cent of the world's water – will have even less of that water to go round.

Worrying though any of the scenarios would be, they are only a glimpse of a much wider picture. The implications of climate change for our security are more fundamental and comprehensive than any single conflict.

For a start, there is that potential devastating effect on the global economy. If there is one resounding thing we have learnt in the past 150 years it is that there is a deadly and complex link between the global economy, economic nationalism and increased global tensions.
The former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Nick Stern, estimated that the dangers of unabated climate change – based on the science available in 2001 and on a narrow range of effects – would be at least five per cent of global GDP. Taking on board more recent scientific evidence and the economic effects on human life and the environment, he estimates that the global economy could take a hit equivalent to 20 per cent of GDP or more.

The implications of that for developed and developing countries alike are, of course, huge. And that same report shows that the costs of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change can be limited to around one per cent of GDP each year. In other words, it won't cost the earth to tackle climate change, but it will – literally and figuratively – if we do not.

Add to that mixture the sense in certain parts of the world that climate change is a developed world problem for which the developing world will pay the price and you can see how easily it could serve to exacerbate an existing sense of grievance. President Museveni of Uganda was the first African leader to describe climate change as an act of aggression by the rich against the poor: he won’t be the last.

But there's more to it even than that. There are some fairly basic needs that underpin our collective security – as much within communities and societies as between states. Take them away, fail to prepare adequately and you raise the chances of conflict and instability. If people don't have enough food to eat it can lead to instability. If – perhaps even more so – they can't get the water they need for themselves and their families: again, the risk of heightened tension. Make it more difficult for them to secure the energy they need to power their homes and their businesses – in any or all of these instances they might decide to go out and take what they need for themselves.

And here's the problem. All of those pressures are already evident, and evidently growing. Rapid population growth means we are living on a planet bursting at the seams. We use double the amount of water we did in 1960. The International Energy Agency predicts a rise of more than 50 per cent in primary energy demand over the next 25 years. There are millions of people going hungry; millions are moving off agricultural land into overcrowded cities.

Everything in the history and pre-history of the human race demonstrates how physical change drives change in societies and communities. The abandoned cities
and even civilisations which litter our planet are evidence of that. Think of the world today then, as a dangerously simmering pot. An unstable climate risks that pot boiling over. And we ignore that risk – literally – at our peril.

That is the reason why last Tuesday the UK tabled a debate on climate change at the UN Security Council. The debate marked the recognition by the vast majority of the international community of climate change as a core security issue: and one that we must do much more, together, to address. If we succeed in that shared endeavour, we will all enjoy a better prospect of security. Climate change is a threat that can bring us together if we are wise enough to stop it from driving us apart.

Motorola Shears 4,000 More Jobs as Recession Withers Demand

2009-01-15T00:33:00.000-08:00

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc., the second-biggest U.S. seller of mobile phones, cut an additional 4,000 jobs as consumer demand languishes under the strain of the recession.

The mobile devices unit will account for about 3,000 of the job losses, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said yesterday in a statement. The reductions, which begin immediately, follow 3,000 cuts disclosed in October as the faltering phone business eroded the company’s profitability.

Since 2007, Motorola has reduced its workforce by about 16,000, joining AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. in slashing jobs. Motorola shipped half as many phones in the fourth quarter as a year earlier. The company expects to save about $1.5 billion this year from yesterday’s cuts and those announced last quarter.

“It’s tough to turn something around in a good environment, it’s a lot tougher in a tough environment,” said Mark McKechnie, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech Inc. in San Francisco, who has a “neutral” rating on the shares. “The turnaround can hopefully start after this round of layoffs.”

Motorola was unchanged in late trading yesterday after dropping 21 cents to $4.11 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares slid 72 percent last year.

AT&T said last month it would cut 12,000 jobs, or 4 percent of the workforce, as the economy falters. A few days later, Sprint said it would cut jobs throughout its units to bolster profit margins. Verizon is nearing the end of a three-year plan to eliminate 7,000 jobs from its business division.

The slumping economy led analysts at Citigroup Inc. to predict last month that global mobile-phone sales will fall 13 percent this year, the first drop since 2001.

Pension Freeze

Co-Chief Executive Officers Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha have frozen U.S. pension plans and cut executive pay to lower costs. Jha has said he’ll use Google Inc.’s Android software to create more advanced devices to challenge Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., which took the market lead in the third quarter.

Revenue in the fourth period fell to between $7 billion and $7.2 billion, Motorola said in yesterday’s statement. That missed the average $7.47 billion estimate of 22 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales of $7 billion would represent a 27 percent drop from a year earlier.

The company had a net loss of 7 cents to 8 cents, excluding some items. Analysts had estimated a loss of 1 cent. Full results will be reported on Feb. 3, Motorola said.

Motorola shipped about 19 million handsets in the fourth quarter, less than half the amount of the year-earlier period.

Holiday 2009 Release

The company introduced its first touch-screen device, the Krave, in October to compete with Apple’s iPhone. Later that month, Jha said the company had been too focused on “bright, shiny objects.” Motorola would trim the number of operating systems to three and release an Android-based phone in time for the 2009 holidays, he said.

“If the environment’s still weak in the second half of ‘09, then this could be a ‘10 story,” Broadpoint’s McKechnie said.

Motorola lost its top ranking in the U.S. mobile-phone market in the third quarter as the company’s share of sales slid to 21.1 percent from 32.7 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Strategy Analytics in Newton, Massachusetts. Sales at Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, rose to 22.4 percent of the market from 17.9 percent.

sources:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aHT.M.kxzbvo&refer=us

TAKE A LOOK-Russia, Ukraine sign deal on gas flows

2009-01-13T00:42:00.000-08:00

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered the
resumption of gas supplies via Ukraine to Europe on Tuesday, six
days after a Russian- Ukrainian price row cut deliveries in
freezing temperatures.

Following are key stories about the dispute. Double click on
the square brackets below:
TOP STORIES
> Russia says starts gas flows via Ukraine [nLD708539]
> All parties sign Russia-Ukraine gas deal--source [nLC376325]
> Bulgaria seeks EU aid to ease Russia gas dependence[nLC229577]
> Yushchenko aide: low Russian gas stocks delay deal [nLC254302]
> No reason for Russia not to resume gas - EU [nBRU007160]
OTHER STORIES
> TIMELINE-Gas crises between Russia and Ukraine [nLC323043]
> Ukraine president calls for gas talks with Russia [nLC336966]
> Slovakia awaits gas talks outcome before nuke resta[nLC332967]
> EU to hear Slovakia on nuclear plant restart [nBRU007164]
> Hungary says has gas for own needs [nLC163177]
> Ukraine faces gas price battle despite EU deal [nLB19916]
> Energy ministers to meet amid Europe's gas crisis [nLB727930]
> Naftogaz financial future in doubt - auditors [nLB33061]
> Ukrainian despair at politicians in gas row [ID:nLA196509]
REACTION
> Russian gas to Balkans will take 3-7 days-Greece[ID:nLB702970]
> Hungary to continue gas supply to Balkans [ID:nLB665632]
> Croatia secures gas imports from Germany [ID:nLA252667]
ANALYSIS/INTERVIEWS
> European fuel oil market unmoved by Russian gas cut [LC69626]
> Gas crisis, a PR coup for French nuclear industry [nL8349259]
> Russia, Ukraine need oil-linked gas deal [nLC418993]
> Q+A-What next in Russia-Ukraine gas dispute? [nLB67371]
> COLUMN-Ukraine gas crisis spurs EU energy policy [nLA494113]
> Gas row exposes east Europe's Achilles heel [ID:nL8408013]
> Gas row risks long damage to Russia's reputation[ID:nL9192050]
> Russia-Ukraine middleman may hold key [ID:nL8351791]
> Gazprom chief does business in Kremlin shadow [ID:nLA180771]
> EU needs to invest in Nabucco, act jointly [ID:nL9376154]
FACTBOXES
> Q&A: What next in Russia-Ukraine gas dispute? [ID:nLB67371]
> FACTBOX-Russia rejects Kiev additions to deal ID:nLB90948]
> FACTBOX-Impact in Ukraine of gas cut [ID:nL9320185]
> FACTBOX-Europe gas stocks and how long they last[ID:nL0596237]
> FACTBOX-Major disputes between Russia, Ukraine [ID:nL3514397]
> FACTBOX-Top Russian gas customers in Europe [ID:nLV90716]
> TIMELINE of Russian energy disputes [ID:nLV194881]

sources:http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKLV63476520090113

Disgraced pastor Haggard says his faith now stronger

2009-01-09T23:06:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ted Haggard, the powerful U.S. evangelist who fell from grace in 2006 amid a gay sex scandal, returned to the spotlight Friday saying his faith was stronger but he wished people had been more forgiving.

Haggard, 52, was exiled from the New Life mega-church he founded and told by church elders to leave Colorado after admitting "sexual immorality" and buying methamphetamines from a male prostitute.

It was a stunning admission for the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a formidable force among U.S. conservative Christians and a group that had the ear of the White House.

An HBO documentary about Haggard's year in exile, his struggle with his sexuality in the face of his past condemnation of gays, and his attempts to make a living outside the church, will air on the cable TV network on January 29.

Haggard, his wife Gayle and two of his five children appeared on a panel for U.S. television critics Friday to promote the documentary, "The Trials of Ted Haggard." He had previously been barred by evangelical leaders from speaking to the media.

"I don't think it is a flattering piece. I think it is even-handed," Haggard told Reuters in an interview. "It is embarrassing for me for people to see it, but it does answer their questions."

Haggard refers to himself in the documentary as a sinner who deserved the punishment meted out to him. He says he came close to suicide.

for more information:http://uk.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUKTRE5090EG20090110

The amazing vanishing Mac desktop machine

2009-01-07T03:17:00.000-08:00

A couple years back, after the introduction of the iPhone at the January 2007 Macworld Expo, I penned a little reaction peace entitled iDisappointed, expressing my dismay at the lack of Mac hardware updates—it is, in fact, called Macworld Expo. (I should also point out that I was also amazingly prescient with that piece, when I wrote “My gut reaction is that Apple has hit a huge home run with the iPhone.” I love it when I luck into being right!)
I learned my lesson that year—don’t expect anything from the keynote, and you won’t be disappointed by whatever you hear. The following year, my newly-lowered expectations meshed well with the message that was delivered, leading me to discuss the overall cohesiveness of the products covered in the keynote speech.

Fast-forward to 2009, and the Phil Schiller-delivered keynote address. In the lead-up to the Expo, I’d read the various new product rumors, discounting most of them in line with my ‘low expectations’ approach. I entered the keynote in good spirits, not expecting much at all in the way of new stuff.

Then, in the course of one slide and a couple of sentences, I allowed myself to be sucked into the reality distortion field once again—even when Steve Jobs isn’t present, it seems that some of the distortion field remains in Moscone West. The slide that hooked me was the simplest of slides—it said only “Mac.”

The words were equally simple, with Schiller saying “what I’m going to talk to you about is all about the Mac. I think that’s appropriate at Macworld that we talk about the Mac.” When I heard “the Mac,” the “cool new hardware” synapses in my brain

took over all normal, rational thought, and my low expectations went right out the window. “All about the Mac?”—wow, maybe all the rumors were correct. New Mac mini; new Mac Pros, perhaps; new iMacs; and a new 17-inch MacBook Pro! Excellent!

You see, when you get right down to it, I’m a hardware junkie. Sure, I love the Mac’s software (both Apple and third-party created), but what really piques my interest is a new machine from Apple, pusing the limits of design and technology. So while Schiller was providing more details on the Mac stuff he was going to talk about, my mind was already wandering off, thinking about all the cool new hardware that was soon to be announced.

Then, just about the time my imagination was ramping up to full speed (perhaps even a Mac NetBook or Mac Tablet!?), reality came crashing back into the picture when Schiller said he was going to talk about three things, and that the first of those things was the new iLife ’09. OK, I thought, well, that still leaves two pieces of new hardware, that’s not bad.

But as time marched on and we were still watching slides and demonstrations of the new iPhoto and iMovie, it seemed that perhaps even two new pieces of hardware was optimistic. Indeed, item two on Phil’s list was iWork ’09, also not a new piece of hardware. OK, down to one piece of new hardware…but which ultra-cool machine would it be? Maybe the Netbook, perhaps, saving the best for last? But no, as you all know by now, the third thing was the new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro with its eight-hour battery-for-life.

A fine machine, to be sure, but beyond the tech in the battery, there’s nothing really new to see here—the 17-inch MacBook Pro is a larger version of its 15-inch counterparts, which have been dissected in great detail over the initial months of their existence. So yes, it was interesting, but not all that exciting.

Now, don’t get me wrong—today’s keynote didn’t even hit the bottom of my “iDisappointed” scale—I’m more disappointed at myself for allowing the “new hardware!” thoughts to creep into my brain. The stuff we were shown was generally impressive, save the clearly nowhere-near-done iWork.com iWork-web integration. The new facial recognition and geotagging features in iPhoto look simply amazing, the features added back to iMovie ’08 may very well be enough to get me to try it again (though I’m not a fan of “scrub to select”), and iWork appears to have received a solid update with some compelling new features. I thought Schiller did an admirable job of stepping into a really large pair of shoes, and his delivery was as good as I’ve ever seen.

But when I look at the keynote in total, it was sort of a “yawn” event, and the lack of new Mac hardware—desktops, specifically—is disconcerting. It’s now been about 17 months since the Mac mini was updated; a full year since the last Mac Pro update; and more than eight months since the iMac was updated (which is lengthy, given its historical update rate).

In the fast-paced world of computing, these are long periods of time for a model to go unchanged, and it’s obvious that updates must be coming soon…just not quite yet.

Source:http://www.macworld.com/article/137985/nohwexpo.html

Easter

2008-12-21T22:58:00.000-08:00

Easter is the oldest Christian festival, as old as Christianity itself. The Central tenet of Christianity is not the birth of Jesus, but his resurrection. Easter derived from this paschal mystery and from the events of Good Friday.

The content of Easter was gradually analysed into historical events and each began to be celebrated on a different day. As a result, Easter grew into a Holy Week and came to have a preparatory season to precede and a festive season to follow. Thus we have four distinct periods in connection with the observance of Easter - 1. Lent, the forty preparatory penitential days. 2. Holy Week including the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 3. the Octave of Easter (classical time for Baptism) and 4. the paschal season or Easter time extending over forty more days. On Holy Thursday the Lord's supper is held in the evening. The washing of feet is a remarkable trait, emphasising the love for one another. At home there will be the rite of the pashcal bread. After supper, the 'cross cake' is brought out and cut into pieces. A piece is broken, dipped into sauce and handed over to each member of the family in due order. Good Friday is a day of grief when churches are empty and dark. Services are held in the afternoon. In most churches one finds a bitter drink prepared from leaves, vinegar, etc for everyone to taste after the service. Holy Saturday is a day of mourning and wailing. A total silence reigns the church from morning to dusk. But by ten at night the church is full to observe the Easter Vigil. In the gloom which envelops the church, new fire is struck from flint and blessed. A big candle is then consecrated and from it is lighted many candled indicating the resurrection. Bells peal, music fills the air and light floods the hall. Hallelujah is the joyous word of Easter wish.Easter Sunday is a quiet day and the celebrations rather spiritual and inward rather than social and showy. There will be grand dinner at homes and visit of relatives.

Pure protection insurance

2008-12-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Pure protection insurance includes:

term assurance (life insurance);
critical illness insurance;
income protection insurance; and
payment protection insurance – includes elements of pure protection and general insurance.

Mandir Shri Dad Devi Mata Ji

2008-12-08T02:54:00.000-08:00

Cause of Establishment: The Tanwar Rajputs hold Mother Goddess Shri Dadh Devi as their clan goddess. It is they who built this temple. In due course of time, the Maharaja of Kota Shri Ummed Shinghji Hada built one more temple near the principal temple and he wanted the idol to be shifted to this new temple, but despite all his efforts, the idol could not be moved and the idol did not buzz. The Hada kings perform their Navratras of Ashwin at this temple and on the fifth Navratra, a big fair is also held.

Brief of the Diety: The Goddess is seated on a lion. She is ten armed and each arm holds a weapon. This idol is in stone.In her ten arms who holds reymitar,discus, mace,lance,arrow,and bow Bludgeon, bhushundi,skull and conch. The three-eyed goddess, well-clad does glow with splenderous tinge of sapphire glean .Ten headed , ten froted mahakali, I venerate To kill madhu and Kaitabha when Hari was asleep whom lotus born Brahma too did propitiate.

Important Architectural Characteristics:
The temple is built in the Nagar style of architecture. The temple has been built on a square platform and its roof is supported by 12 pillars which give the temple a square shape. Infront of the temple is a holy water kund which is filled with water coming from under the inner temple. The sanctum sanctorum is also square. The dome of the temple is round shaped and on the top is built a lotus flower.

Aquamarine

2008-12-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

Aquamarine is one variety of the mineral beryl. It is found ranging in color from light blue to dark blue and also blue-green. It is most commonly known as the birthstone for March. The word aquamarine is Latin for sea water. Aquamarine has a hexagonal crystal system and is usually transparent, but can be opaque. It has a hardness of 7.5-8 and a refractive index of 1.564-1.596. It is a brittle stone and is sensitive to pressure. The most desired color is dark blue. However, lower quality gems can be heated to 725-800 degrees F to change them to the darker color. This change is permanent. Unfortunately, higher heat will cause discoloration in the stone. Inclusions are rarely found in aquamarine and usually cause the gem to be more fragile. Occasionally a gem cam be found with a cat's eye effect. It is often found in pegmatites and coarse-grained granite. Aquamarine is mined in many places including Brazil, Russia, Australia, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, and many other countries. The largest finding of gemstone quality was in Brazil in 1910. It was 18 inches long and 15 1/2 inches in diameter and weighed in at 243 pounds. It produced many stones with a total weight of more than 100,000 carats.

Agriculture

2008-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

Agriculture is the means of livelihood for around two thirds of the work force of India. This makes it one of the most important sectors of the economy. At the time of independence, the revenue from the agricultural sector was quite low compared to what it is today. The main reason for the increase in revenue is the increase in agricultural production that was brought about by the Green Revolution.

The Green Revolution of the 70's was responsible for bringing additional area under cultivation, extending irrigation facilities, providing better quality seeds, improving techniques of farming and plant protection.

Over the years, agriculture has emerged as one of the top priorities of the Central and State Governments. Keeping this in mind, various schemes have been launched to improve farm productivity and the standard of living of millions of farmers who work to feed the nation.

Dola Purnima (Holi)

2008-11-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

Dolapwnima or Holi is the most famous spring festival of India. Usually celebrated in March It has special properties in its celebration in Orissa where it is a five day affair, especially in the rural areas. The images of Krishna are worshipped form Dashami (10th day of the bright fortnight) to the full moon day. The images are taken in decorated vimans, small wooden temples, carried on the shoulders of bearers from house to house where offerings are made to them. After the tour of the village the vimanas from different villages are assembled in an open field and the time is spent in bhajana and kirtan. Jatras and palas are also held in the area. The day after the full moon day people throw coloured water on one another and smear each others faces with coloured powder (3bir). The festival is specially important for cattle owing to their association with the cowherd boy Krisllna. They are bathed, anointed with vermillion, garlanded and fed sumptuously. The festival is connected with the destruction of the demon Holikasura or the she-demon Holika by making a bonfire, for which the festival is called Holi.

Such Melanas or Fairs continue till the month of Chaitra in different places of the district of Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam.

Hill Palace Museum, Tripunithura

2008-11-10T02:16:00.000-08:00

Set on top of a hillock, this prestigious palace-turned-museum displays 13 categories of exhibits, including paintings, carvings and other royal antiquities donated by the Cochin and Travancore royal families and the Paliam Devaswom. The Heritage Museum, located on the rear side of the palace buildings familiarizes you with the traditional lifestyles of ancient Kerala. As part of the establishment of a mini zoo, a deer park with spotted deer, sambar and peacocks is run by the Society for the Preservation of Hill Palace Premises. The museum premises has also been converted into a botanical garden with exotic tropical trees from central America to Australia. Located 11 Kms east of Ernakulam, en route to Chottanikkara.

Dilwara Temples, Mount Abu

2008-11-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

Wondrously carved in marble, the Dilwara Jain temples in Mount Abu(Rajasthan) enshrine various Jain 'Tirthankaras'. Constructed out of white marble from Arasoori Hill, near Ambaji, 23 km from Abu Road, the temples are an outstanding example of Jain temple architecture.

Of the five shrines in this group, four are architecturally significant. They are built with white marble stones. Each has a walled courtyard. In the centre of the courtyard is the shrine with the image of the deity, Rishabhdev. Around the large courtyard, there are numerous small shrines, each housing a beautiful image of the tirthankaras with a series of elegantly carved pillars from the entrance to the courtyard. The ministers of the Solanki rulers of Gujarat had constructed all these temples during 11th and 13th centuries AD.

Vimal Vasahi is the oldest temple, which has been dedicated to Adinath, the first Jain tirthankara. Vimal Shah, minister of the then Solanki ruler of Gujarat, built it in the year 1031 A.D. The special feature of this temple is it’s ceiling which is circular in eleven richly carved concentric rings. The central ceiling of the temple is adorned with magnificent carving and it culminates into an ornamented central pendant. The pendant of the dome tapers down forming a drop or point, like a lotus flower. This is an astonishing piece of work. It symbolizes the divine grace coming down to fulfill human aspirations. Figures of 16 Vidya Devis (goddesses of knowledge) are carved on the ceiling.

The other Dilwara temples are the Luna Vasahi, Vastupala and Tejapala, named after the ministers of the then Vaghela ruler of Gujarat who built them in 1230 AD. Inspite of being plain and austere on the outside, the interiors of all these temples are covered with delicate carvings. Its most notable feature is that the brilliant intricacy and delicacy of the marble carving is so fine that in places the marble becomes almost transparent.

Dilwara temples are one of the best examples of craftsmanship, the genius of carving out so brilliant and intricate a shape out of a block of stone, such that it almost comes to life! The temple is a tourist’s paradise and a meditative sanctum for the devotees.

Shalwar

2008-10-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

The shalwar (salwar) is a pair of light loose fitting trousers with a tight fit around the ankles. This is usually worn by East Indian women with a kameez which is a long tunic extending to the hips or knees. A matching dupatta (an unstitched length of material draped over the upper body) is also part of this outfit.

Weight regulation in children

2008-10-20T02:49:00.001-07:00

Children need enough food for proper growth. To promote growth and development and prevent overweight, teach children to eat grain products; vegetables and fruits; lowfat milk products or other calcium-rich foods; beans, lean meat, poultry, fish or other protein-rich foods; and to participate in vigorous activity. Limiting television time and encouraging children to play actively in a safe environment are helpful steps. Although limiting fat intake may help to prevent excess weight gain in children, fat should not be restricted for children younger than 2 years of age. Helping overweight children to achieve a healthy weight along with normal growth requires more caution. Modest reductions in dietary fat, such as the use of lowfat milk rather than whole milk, are not hazardous. However, major efforts to change a child's diet should be accompanied by monitoring of growth by a health professional at regular intervals.

Non-Sticky Oils

2008-10-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

These oils have a waxy or oily feel. Oils are less toxic and adhere more firmly to surfaces than Class A oils, although they can be removed from surfaces by vigorous flushing. As temperatures rise, their tendency to penetrate porous substrates increases and they can be persistent. Evaporation of volatiles may lead to a Class C or D residue. Medium to heavy paraffin-based oils fall into this class.

The Colors of Health

2008-09-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Fruits and vegetables come in terrific colors and flavors, but their real beauty lies in what's inside. Fruits and vegetables are great sources of many vitamins, minerals and other natural substances that may help protect you from chronic diseases.

To get a healthy variety, think color. Eating fruits and vegetables of different colors gives your body a wide range of valuable nutrients, like fiber, folate, potassium, and vitamins A and C. Some examples include green spinach, orange sweet potatoes, black beans, yellow corn, purple plums, red watermelon, and white onions. For more variety, try new fruits and vegetables regularly.

Gold Fish - Lionhead (Oranda)

2008-09-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

The Oranda, or so-called Dutch Lionhea, is one of the largest forms of this variey. It reaches a length of 30 cm, with the length of the tail equalling that of the head and body combined. All the fins are long. The Dutch Lionhead was apparently brought from China to Japan (Nagasaki) by Dutch merchants in the 17th century and bred further in that country.

Papaya

2008-09-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

The papaya is sometimes called papaw or pawpaw, but in the United States these names are generally restricted to Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal (see "Papaw"). Papayas are grown to a limited extent in continental United States. They have been tried in Texas and in California, have never exceeded a few hundred acres even in Florida (Harkness 1967), but are more common in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The 1964 United States Census of Agriculture showed that 32 farms in Florida produced almost 1.5 million pounds of fruit, while 266 farms in Hawaii produced almost 22 million pounds.

Papayas grow from about 32 deg N. to 32 deg S. latitude, from sea level to 5,000 feet altitude. They are killed by frost but do well in full sun or under irrigation. They do not occur in the wild, probably originated in Mexico or Costa Rica, and now consist of many cultivars (Purseglove 1968*).

The ripe fresh fruit (90 percent water, 4 to 10 percent sugar) (Wolfe and Lynch 1940) is eaten throughout the tropics for breakfast, dessert, in salads, jams, ice creams, and soft drinks. The dried latex or "milk" of immature fruit yields papain, a proteolytic enzyme similar in action to pepsin, which is used as a meat tenderizer (Becker 1958). It also creates shrink-resistance in wool.

Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS)

2008-09-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

The mission of the Appalachian Fruit Research Station (AFRS) is to identify critical problems of temperate fruit production; develop the science, technology, and genetic base needed to maximize productivity and quality of fruit crops; and minimize the adverse effects of biotic and environmental factors on these crops. [Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agriculture Research Service (ARS)]

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

2008-09-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

A method of depositing thin semiconductor films used to make certain types of photovoltaic devices. With this method, a substrate is exposed to one or more vaporized compounds, one or more of which contain desirable constituents. A chemical reaction is initiated, at or near the substrate surface, to produce the desired material that will condense on the substrate.

Tourism

2008-08-25T00:13:00.001-07:00

The Jharkhand Government has accorded 'industry status' to the tourism sector and has initiated various steps to attract investment into it. For the purpose, it has been offering several incentives for the provision of certain tourist facilities by the private investors. This includes:- hotels & motels; yatrika & yatriniwas; tourist resorts; camps & facilities for adventure tourism; aerial ropeway; amusement parks; etc.

There are various places of tourist attraction in the State, which include:- Ichagarh Bird Sanctuary; Udhava Bird Sanctuary-Sahibganj (Pathara Lake); Chachro Crocodile Breeding Centre–Koderma (Tilaya Dam); Chandrapura Bird Sanctuary; Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Garden (Bokaro); Tenughat Bird Sanctuary; Dalma Wild Life Sanctuary (Jamshedpur); Tata Steel Zoological Park (Jamshedpur); Palkote Wild Life Sanctuary (Gumla); Bhagwan Birsa Zoological Gardens (Ranchi); Birsa Deer Sanctuary (Kalmati Ranchi); Betla National Park (Palamau); Ranchi Aquarium (Ranchi) and Hazaribagh National Park; Tatoloi hot water stream (Dumka) and Saranda Forest. Besides, there are some famous temples like Jharkhand Dham; Langta Baba Temple/Majar; Bindhvashini Temple; etc.

Education

2008-08-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

Education encompasses both the teaching and learning of knowledge, good conduct, and technical aptitude. It thus focuses on the cultivation of skills, profession, trades sessions, as well as moral, mental & aesthetic development.

Proper education consists of systematic training, instruction and training by professional teachers. This consists of the application of pedagogy and the growth of curricula. In a liberal education tradition, teachers draw on many different disciplines for their lessons, including psychology, philosophy, in sequence technology, biology, linguistics and sociology. Teachers in expert professions such as astrophysics, law, or zoology may teach only in a narrow area, frequently as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is much specialist instruction in fields of trade for those who want specific skills, such as required to be a pilot, for example. Finally, there is an array of educational opportunity in the informal sphere- for this reason; society subsidizes institutions such as museums and libraries. Informal education also includes knowledge and skills learned and refined during the course of life, including education that comes from experience in practicing a profession.

List of vineyard soil types

2008-08-11T22:09:00.001-07:00

The soil composition of vineyards is one of the significant viticultural considerations when planting grape vines. The soil supports the root structure of the vine and influences the drainage levels and amount of minerals and nutrients that the vine is uncovered to. The ideal circumstance for a vine is an area of thin topsoil and subsoil that adequately retain waters but also has good drainage so that the vine roots don't become overly soaked. The ability of the soil to retain heat and/or reproduce it back up to the vine is also a vital consideration that affects the ripening of the grape.

There are more than a few minerals that are very important to the health of vines that all good vineyard soils have. These include calcium which helps to counteract the Soil pH levels, iron which is necessary for photosynthesis, magnesium which is a significant component of chlorophyll, nitrogen which is assimilated in the form of nitrates, phosphates which encourage root development, and potassium which improve the vine metabolisms and increase it health for next year's crop.

FOB & CIF

2008-08-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

FOB is also known as Freight on Board OR Free On .Freight on board means that the exporter delivers the goods at the specified location. Example, FOB Kunming Airport the exporter delivers the goods at Kunming airport. This means exporter is bounce to deliver the goods at the Kunming Airport at his cost and expenses. In the case, the freight and other expenses for outbound traffic is bear by the importer.

CIF is also known as Cost, Insurance, and Freight.Insurance and Freight are all remunerated by the exporter to the particular location. Example, CIF Los Angeles (the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles including the insurance).

Virus classification

2008-07-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

It involves naming and placing viruses into a taxonomic system. Like the comparatively consistent classification systems seen for cellular organisms, virus classification is the subject of ongoing debate and proposal. This is mainly due to the pseudo-living nature of viruses, which are not yet definitively living or non-living. As such, they do not fit neatly into the recognized biological classification system in place for cellular organisms, such as plants and animals.

Virus classification is based chiefly on phenotypic characteristics, including morphology, nucleic acid type, and mode of replication, host organisms, and the kind of disease they cause. A mixture of two main schemes is currently in widespread use for the classification of viruses. David Baltimore, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist, devised the Baltimore classification system, which places viruses into one of seven groups. These groups are designated by Roman numerals and separate viruses based on their mode of replication, and genome type. Accompanying this broad method of classification are exact naming conventions and further classification strategy set out by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

Billboard

2008-07-21T23:06:00.001-07:00

A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), naturally found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers. Typically showing large, amusing slogans and distinctive visuals, billboards are extremely visible in the top selected market areas.

Bulletins are the largest, most impact standard-size billboards. Located primarily on major highways, expressways or principal arterials, they authority high-density consumer exposure (mostly to vehicular traffic). Bulletins afford greatest visibility due not only to their size, but because they allow imaginative "customizing" through extensions and embellishments.

Poster is the another type of advertising in the form of billboard advertising, located chiefly in marketable and industrial areas on primary and secondary major roads. Posters are a smaller format than bulletins and are viewed principally by residents and commuter traffic, with some walker exposure.

Billboard

2008-07-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

The Ancient Egypt Portal

2008-07-14T03:30:00.001-07:00

The culture of Ancient Egypt lived along the Nile River in Egypt from before the 5th millennium BC awaiting the 4th Century AD. Ancient Egyptian society was based on farming the lush Nile valley which flooded every year, inspiring the soil with nutrients. The government of ancient Egypt, headed by the Pharaoh, was in charge for organizing farming efforts and collecting taxes for the state, which protected the country's borders and built grand monuments to the gods. The ancient Egyptian civilization successfully ended after the Roman domination, but the pyramids and colossal statues they left behind stand as testimony to the power of the pharaohs.

Sumo

2008-07-07T04:01:00.000-07:00

Sumo is a spirited contact sport where two wrestlers (rikishi) attempt to force one another out of a circular ring (dohyo) or to stroke the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originates in Japan, the only country where it is experienced professionally. The Japanese consider sumo a gendai budō (a modern Japanese martial art), though the sport has a history with a leg on each side of many centuries.

The sumo tradition is very ancient and even today the sport include many ritual elements, such as the use of salt for sanitization, from the days sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi is extremely regimented, with rules laid down by the Sumo Association. Professional sumo wrestlers are necessary to live in communal "sumo training stables" known in Japanese as heya where all aspect of their daily lives - from meals to their way of dress - is dictating by strict tradition.

Records management

2008-07-01T03:58:00.001-07:00

Records management, or RM, is the practice of identifying, classifying, archiving, preserving, and destroying records. The ISO 15489: 2001 standard defines it as The field of management in charge for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and nature of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining proof of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records.

The ISO defines records as information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligation or in the transaction of business. The International Council on Archives (ICA) Committee on Electronic Records defines a record as, recorded information fashioned or received in the start, conduct or completion of an institutional or individual activity and that comprises content, context and structure enough to provide evidence of the activity. While the definition of a record is often recognized strongly with a document, a record can be either a tangible object or digital information which has value to an organization. For example, birth certificates, medical x-rays, office documents, databases, application data, and e-mail are all examples of records. Records are to be managed according to their value to the organization quite than their physical or logical characteristics.

The other crucial aspect of the above definitions is their reliable reference to records as evidence. Indeed, records management can be seen as being mainly concerned with the identification and management of the evidence of an organization's business activities.

Home/School Liaison

2008-06-19T05:29:00.001-07:00

The recommendations

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Pupils should be encouraged to share good practice between home and school.
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Schools should consider the benefits of sharing their policies and practice on Internet access and use with parents.
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The support of parents should be sought.
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The Click Thinking as a Family Resource can be photocopied and distributed for home use.
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Where School Boards are in place, these bodies may be instrumental in forging good Internet liaison between school, parents and the community. School Boards should consider including discussion of children's use of the Internet at open forums for parents such as their AGM.
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School handbooks should include information on Internet policies and practice, and also refer parents to the Local Authority, the school or the website for copies of the Click Thinking as a Family Resource.

Oil painting

2008-06-11T00:57:00.001-07:00

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil -particularly in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body and gloss. Other oils infrequently used include poppy seed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular feel depending on the medium.

Electric car

2008-06-02T22:34:00.001-07:00

An electric car is a vehicle that makes use of by chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, and electric motors and motor controllers instead of an internal combustion engine (ICE).

Vehicles using both electric motors and Ices (hybrid electric vehicles) are examples of hybrid vehicles, and are not deliberate pure electric vehicles (EVs) because they operate in a charge-sustaining mode. Hybrid vehicles with batteries that can be charged externally to displace some or all of their ICE power and gasoline fuel are called plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and are pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) during their charge-depleting mode. Electric vehicles include automobiles, light trucks, and neighborhood electric vehicles.

Electric cars were among the earliest automobiles. They produce no exhaust fumes, and minimal pollution if charged from most forms of renewable energy. Many are capable of stepping up exceeding that of conventional vehicles, are quiet, and do not produce noxious fumes. Electric cars reduce dependence on petroleum and decrease or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, depending on how their electricity is produced.

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

2008-05-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the classical Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was made by the well-known classical sculptor Phidias (5th century BC) circa 432 BC in Olympia, Greece.

The seated statue, some 12 metres (39 feet) tall, occupied the whole width of the aisle of the temple built to house it. "It seems that if Zeus were to stand up," the geographer Strabo noted early in the 1st century BC, "he would unroof the temple." Zeus was a chryselephantine sculpture, made of ivory and accent with gold plating. In the sculpture, he was seated on a magnificent throne of cedar wood, inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony, and precious stones. In Zeus' right hand there was a little statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, and in his left hand, a shining sceptre on which an eagle perched. Plutarch, in his Life of the Roman general Aemilius Paulus, records that the victor over Macedon "was moved to his soul, as if he had beheld the god in person," while the Greek orator Dio Chrysostom declared that a single glimpse of the sculpture would make a man forget his earthly troubles.

Perhaps the greatest discovery in terms of finding out about this wonder came in 1954-1958 with the dig of the workshop at Olympia where Phidias created the statue. Tools, terracotta molds and a cup inscribed "I belong to Pheidias" were found here, where the traveller Pausanius said the Zeus was construct. This has enabled archaeologists to re-create the techniques used to make the great work.

Natural Environment

2008-05-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

The natural environment commonly referred to only as the environment, is a word that comprise all part of living and non-living things that take place naturally on Earth. This term contains a little key component:

Complete scenery units that gathering as natural systems with no huge human participation, including all plants, animals, rocks, etc. and natural phenomena so as to take place within their borders.

The whole natural resources and the phenomena that need boundaries, like air, water and climate. Natural features which occur within areas a lot partial by man. The natural surroundings are contrasted with the built environment, which includes the areas and components that are directly influenced by man. A geographical area is regarded as a natural environment, if the human force on it is set aside under a definite limited level. This level depends on the demanding context, and changes in different places and contexts.

Economic order quantity

2008-05-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Economic order quantity is that stage of inventory that minimizes the total of inventory holding cost and ordering cost. The framework used to decide this order quantity is also known as Wilson EOQ Model. The model was developed by F. W. Harris in 1913. But still R. H. Wilson is given credit for his early in-depth study of the model.

Underlying assumptions

The ordering cost is constant.
The annual (or monthly or whatever periodicity you desire, here we will use annual) demand for the item is stable over time and it is known to the firm.
Quantity discounts doesn't exist.
The order is received immediately after placing the order.

Technical analysis

2008-05-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

Technical analysis is a financial markets technique that claims the ability to forecast the future direction of security prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. In its purest form, technical analysis considers only the actual price behavior of the market or instrument, on the assumption that price reflects all relevant factors before an investor becomes aware of them through other channels. Technical analysts may employ models and trading rules based, for example, on price transformations, such as the Relative Strength Index, moving averages, regressions, inter-market and intra-market price correlations, cycles or, classically, through recognition of chart patterns.

Technical analysis is widely used among traders and financial professionals, but is considered by many to be pseudoscience or "voodoo finance;" it receives little or no direct support from academic sources and is considered akin to "astrology." Academics such as Eugene Fama say the evidence for technical analysis is sparse and is inconsistent with the weak form of the generally-accepted efficient market hypothesis. Economist Burton Malkiel argues, "Technical analysis is an anathema to the academic world." He further argues that under the weak form of the efficient market hypothesis, "...you cannot predict future stock prices from past stock prices."

Health

2008-04-28T03:17:00.000-07:00

Health is the strength of functional and metabolic competence of an organism at equally the cellular and macro social level. In the medical field, health is normally defined as an organism's ability to capably answer to challenges and in fact restore and maintain a "state of balance," recognized as homeostasis.

A growing compute of the health of populations is height, which is strongly regulated by nutrition and health care, between other set of living and quality of life matters. The lessons of human growth, its regulators and its implications are recognized as axiology.

Wellness is a word now and then used to explain the psychological position of being healthy, but is most often used in the field of alternative medicine to describe one's state of human being.

Balance of payments

2008-04-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

In economics, the balance of payments, (or BOP) deals with the payments that flow between any individual country and all other countries. It is used to review all international economic transactions for that country during a specific time period, typically a year. The BOP is determined by the country's exports and imports of goods, services, and financial capital, as well as financial transfers. It reflects all payments and liabilities to foreigners (debits) and all payments and obligations received from foreigners (credits). Balance of payments is one of the major indicators of a country's status in international trade, with net capital outflow.

The balance, like other accounting statements, is prepared in a single currency, generally the domestic. Foreign assets and flows are treasured at the exchange rate of the time of transaction.

Tourism

2008-04-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

Tourism generally means traveling for the most part fun or vacation purposes. In accordance with the World Tourism association, tourists are public who "travel to and reside in places outside their common location for not more than one repeated year for vacation, business and additional purposes not associated to the use of an activity compensated from within the place visited".

Tourism has come about to a very popular, largely activity. In 2004, there were over 763 million international tourist arrivals. The Major physical elements contain transportation, lodging, and other components of a hospitality industry.
The Tourism is the very important leisure for many countries, because of the earnings generated by the spending of supplies and services by tourists, the assessment levied on businesses in the tourism industry, and the opportunity for service and financial development by working in the industry. For these causes, NGOs and government agencies may perhaps sometimes sponsor a specific area as a tourist intention, and support the development of a tourism business in that area.

Offset Printing

2008-03-31T21:24:00.000-07:00

Offset printing is one of the most common types of printing technique used by a number of industries. Although these printing machines, equipments are expensive with high set-up costs, the printing process expense is nominal. The technique is famous because of the higher printing quality and large volume printing.

Information processor

2008-03-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

An information processor or information processing system, as its name suggests, is a system (be it electrical, mechanical or biological) which takes information (a sequence of enumerated states) in one shape and processes (transforms) it into another shape, e.g. to statistics, by an algorithmic process.

An information processing system is made up of four basic parts, or sub-systems:

Input
Processor
Storage
Output

Embossing Printing

2008-03-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

Embossing or embossed printing is known as blind printing or relief printing. It technique allows to transfer the text or images as a relief into various substrates including paper, cardboard and metal foils. The front side of the print shows the image as a relief, whereas the real embossing is done on the back side.

The printing technique involves raise the area of the image or text on the paper, the image stands out giving a three dimensional effect. The technique enhances the emerge of the products and also increases the printing cost.

Ring

2008-03-10T23:01:00.001-07:00

A finger ring is a band worn as kind of ornamental jeweler around a finger; it is the most ordinary current meaning of the word ring. The metal bands worn as ornaments are also called rings, such as arm rings and neck rings.

Rings are worn by both men and women, and Rings can be made of metal, plastic, wood, bone, glass, gemstone and other equipment. They may be set with a "stone" of some sort, which is frequently a valuable or semi-precious gemstone such as ruby, sapphire or emerald, but can also be of almost any material.

There are a variety of methods for formative proper ring size. Quantities of the largest rings in the world are made for the charming team of the Super Bowl. The unofficial record for the largest championship ring ever available to a professional sports team belongs to the 2003 World Series champions Florida Marlins, with a weight of over 110 grams and with over 240 stones.

Rings can be worn on any finger, still on toe fingers. In Western society, the traditional "ring finger" for the wearing of an engagement or wedding ring is the fourth finger of the left hand with the thumb as well as finger number one. The signet ring, a ring designate nobility, is normally worn on the little (fifth) finger of the right or left hand, depending on nationality.

Cricket

2008-03-06T01:22:00.000-08:00

Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport competition by two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field, approximately oval in shape, in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a cricket pitch. A wicket, regularly made of wood, is placed at each end of the pitch.

The bowler, a player from the field team, bowls a hard, fist-sized cricket ball from the locality of one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before feat the batsman, a player from the conflicting team. In defence of the wicket, the batsman plays the ball with a made of wood cricket bat. Meanwhile, the other members of the bowler's team stand in a variety of positions around the field as fielders, players who retrieve the ball in an effort to stop the batsman scoring runs, and if possible to get him or her out. The batsman — if he or she does not get out — may run between the wickets, exchange ends with a second batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been waiting near the bowler's wicket. Each finished exchange of ends scores one run. Runs are also scored if the batsman hit the ball to the border line of the playing area. The match is won by the team that score more runs.

Solid Ink Printers

2008-02-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

Solid Ink printers, also known as phase-change printers, are a type of thermal move printer. They use hard sticks of CMYK colored ink (similar in consistency to candle wax), which are melted and fed into a piezo crystal operate print-head. The printhead sprays the ink on a turning, oil coated drum. The paper then passes over the print drum, at which time the picture is transferred, or transfixed, to the page.

Solid ink printers are most frequently used as color office printers, and are excellent at printing on transparencies and other non-porous media. Solid ink printers can produce excellent results. Purchase and working operating cost are identical to laser printers. Drawbacks of the technology contain high power utilization and long warm-up times from a cold state.

Sustainable Transportation

2008-01-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

Sustainable transportation concerns systems, policies, and technologies. It aims for the efficient transit of goods and serivces, and sustainable freight and delivery systems. The design of vehicle-free city planning, along with pedestrian and bicycle frendly design of neighbourhoods is a critical aspect for grassroots activities, as are telework and teleconferencing.

Ozone Layer

2007-12-19T03:34:00.000-08:00

"The ozone layer" refers to the ozone within stratosphere, where over 90% of the earth's ozone resides. Ozone is an irritating, corrosive, colorless gas with a smell something like burning electrical wiring. In fact, ozone is easily produced by any high-voltage electrical arc (spark plugs, Van de Graaff generators, Tesla coils, arc welders). Each molecule of ozone has three oxygen atoms and is produced when oxygen molecules (O2) are broken up by energetic electrons or high energy radiation.

Christmas Day

2007-12-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a enjoyable religious holiday when Christians rejoice the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas chronicle comes from the Bible. An angel appeared to shepherd and told them that a Savior had been born to Mary and Joseph in a stable in Bethlehem. Three Judicious Men from the East (the Magi) followed a amazing star which led them to the baby Jesus to whom they paid homage and presented gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
To people all over the earth, Christmas is a flavor of giving and receiving presents. In some European countries, priest Christmas, or Saint Nicholas, comes into houses in the night and leaves gifts for the children. Saint Nicholas is represented as a kindheartedly man with a red cloak and long white beard. Another nature, the Norse God Odin, ride on a mysterious flying horse across the sky in the winter to prize people with gifts. These different myths passed across the ages to make the present day Santa Claus.
On December 24, Christmas Eve, Santa hitches his eight reindeer to a toboggan and loads it with presents. The reindeer drag him and his sleigh through the sky to deliver presents to children all around the earth, that is, if they had been good all year. Several American towns maintain the strength of Santa Claus.
Santa Claus exists only in our imagination. But he, Saint Nicholas, and father Christmas are feelings of giving. Christmas has been associated with gift giving since the Wise Men brought gifts to welcome the newborn Jesus Christ.In eagerness of Santa's visit, American children pay attention to their parents read "The Night previous to Christmas" before they go to bed on Christmas Eve

Uses of Ginger

2007-12-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

There are array of uses suggested for ginger. A tea brewed from the is a folk medicine for colds. Ginger ale and ginger beer have been suggested as "stomach settlers" for generation in countries where the beverages are made and ginger water was commonly used to avoid heat cramps in the US. Ginger has also been historically used to take care of inflammation which some scientific studies support, though one arthritis trial showed ginger to be no better than a placebo or ibuprofen. Research on rats suggests that ginger may be valuable for treating diabetes.

Abraham Lincoln

2007-11-28T05:50:00.000-08:00

The brave man of the familiar People. It had been an extended time coming. Terribly separated by the issue of slavery, thirty-one million American citizens were in 1860
Called upon to vote for 16th President of the United States. The Democratic Party meets at its National Party Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, in order to choose their candidate in favor of the presidency. Split over slavery, each section, Northern Democrats on the one hand and Southern Democrats on the other, presented its own conflicting proposal for the party platform.
In February 1860, Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi claimed that neither the Congress of the United States nor the territorial parliaments had the control to handle slavery.

The Banyan Tree

2007-11-20T04:06:00.001-08:00

In India the Banyan Tree is consider as National tree. This huge tree overlooks over its neighbors and has the widest reaching roots of all known trees, easily covering several acres. It sends off new shoots from its roots, so that one tree is really a interweave of branches, roots, and trunks. The banyan tree restart and lives for an incredible length of time--thus it is thought of as the everlasting tree.

Its size and leafy shelter are valued in India as a place of relax and mirror image, not to mention defense from the hot sun! It is still the focus and gathering place for local councils and meetings. India has a long history of worship this tree; it figures importantly in many of the oldest stories of the nation.

Adam Sandler: the Funniest man Alive!

2007-11-13T07:10:00.001-08:00

With a hazardous brand of humor that has brought him legions of dedicated fans, Sandler's hit as an actor, stand-up comic, writer and producer is matched by his performance and songwriting skills. It is an shocking gift for lyric and melody that is front and center on Adam Sandler's very funny new Warner Bros. Records release What is Your surname featuring 14 new Sandler originals include such classics as The Goat Song, the Lonesome Kicker, Bad Boyfriend and Corduroy Blues.
What is Your Name continues the musical tradition Sandler began with at a standard Pace, Ode to My Carnd the extremely popular The Chanukah Song. With two platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated albums - They're All Gonna Laugh at you and What the Hell Happened to Me - Already to his credit, Sandler goes for a comedy-three peat with what’s Your Name. The move to an all-music format is a normal one, following his 21 city tour last summer, when he perform both creative material and his favorite childhood tunes, backed by a finest rock and roll band.

A Team Player

2007-10-24T08:08:00.001-07:00

The superiority of being a team player is one that everyone should enjoy. A team player is someone with good qualities who makes contributions and has the force to motivate each one around him or her. This individuality can be used in many areas such as games, family life, and in the company. You are more expected to be hired in the production if you have and demonstrate the qualities of a team player. As the business climate gets tougher before it gets improved, it is time to hike the talk if you want to develop.

Managers will require all the cooperation they can get. To land a high paying job with a major business you need to be a team player. Having good qualities is one of the most significant characters you can have. Being a team performer thinks of the team as a whole and is not selfish in their views and decisions.

A Snapshot of Macro-Economics

2007-10-16T03:52:00.000-07:00

Economics is the learning of making choices. High school and college students all over required to take economic courses in order to achieve a diploma. Why is economics so important because it provides a guide for students for real-world situations Economics is divided into two types microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of economics at a slim level. For example absorbed on how a detailed business functions is microeconomics.
Studying the world economy is classified as Macroeconomics; its center on a much broader level. All students must understand the concept of insufficiency. Scarcity is a condition that occurs because society has unlimited wants and needs however the amount of property is limited. Unlimited wants and needs are what encourage us to create goods and services. We are never satisfied therefore we always have a want or need. On the other hand our income is limited.

A simple Girl

2007-10-09T02:51:00.000-07:00

Around and around it soared in brutal circles, tearing from side to side her animated temples. At a standstill, they did not do anything. Still, they simply laid there with faces of chalk, invalid of all human emotions. She could not look at them in hopes of relieve, for long. The cherry rivers that flowed across her eyes, streamed down her steaming cheeks, made vision impossible.
Life was simply the stack of decayed flesh that enclosed her. From his immortal lips hung the bodies of all those who died struggle for him and all those who had tampered with self luxury. For that, she dammed him for all eternity; in every form he understood she dammed him. He had been her guiding angle and now it became evident to her. No prayer would pass her conditions lips, for this had been his movement she had fought and they had lost other than just a clash.

A Civil Role Model

2007-09-25T04:48:00.001-07:00

The word civil carries a lot of power. The usage needs to be carefully considered when it's entered into a sentence or an expression. Civil means a wide difference of things. It can be defined as a way to be attentive of the forms required for good reproduction. It can also be a means to the needs and affairs of the common public. However, the latter of the two definitions can also be extended to include a definition of the private rights and the remedy sought by action or costume. The point is that the word civil has a greater significance that has been embraced by our American legal traditions. It is the premise that law is there to provide the people and the lawyers are nothing more than mere guardians of law.
These are thoughts that were measured during the class viewing of A Civil Action. In the events of the case, there were many concerns that were brought up about our permissible culture.

A cold winter morning

2007-09-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

I am lying on a white, sandy beach with the glowing sun beating down directly on my tanned summer body. I notice the beautiful, Puerto Rican Cabana boy heading over to replenish my newly empty Margarita glass. I look around my private beach and at the crystal clear, sparkling ocean water tempting me warmly in to its open arms. I get up from my bed on the sand, walking gradually to the water. The sand is flaming my bare feet with such passion that I speed my walk up almost into a jog. As I reach the waterfront I stop, as a falling wave is heading toward my glazing body; I step closer to be in its direct path. I move smoothly in with such grace; I prepare myself for the cool, refreshing bath. I hear an alarm bell screaming, I look around in a panic as it is hurting my ears and giving me a powerful headache. My beach is wandering away, and then it is gone. The ‘warmness my body feels is gone.
I open my eyes; I am gloomy, lifeless room. My alarm clock is going off and the sound can only be compared with exhausted your fingernails across a chalkboard.

A Business Plan

2007-09-14T03:16:00.000-07:00

The following production plan has been formulated to obtain $200,000 in capital to launch a coffeehouse on the college grounds of Doane College named The Orange Cup. This arrangement will also serve as a formal sketch for the first five year's of operation. The financial forecasts show that this asset has significant pledge for the future.
The Orange Cup will provide for the Doane College Community a comfortable atmosphere while serve quality coffee at a reasonably priced with extraordinary service. An ample variety of coffee products including, gourmet coffees, latte, cappuccino, espresso, and iced coffee, will be offered at The Orange Cup. In addition, The Orange Cup will recommend juice, pop, and bottled water, hot cocoa, hot cider, and tea.

The marking plan for The Orange Cup is to attract students and staff to the coffeehouse to continue in a relaxed atmosphere, or for those customers with excited schedules, the expediency of our products.

Java

2007-08-21T02:52:00.001-07:00

Java (Javanese, Indonesian, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an land mass of Indonesia and the place of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of controlling Hindu kingdoms and the heart of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a governing role in the money-making and supporting life of Indonesia. With a population of 124 million, it is the most heavily populated island in the world; it is also one of the most thickly populated regions on Earth.
Java shaped mostly as the result of volcanic events, Java is the 13th leading island in the world and the fifth major island of Indonesia. A sequence of volcanic mountains forms an east-west spine along the island. It has three main languages, and most populace are bilingual, with Indonesian as their second language. While the popular of Javanese are Muslim (or at least supposedly Muslim), Java has a different mixture of religious beliefs and cultures.

Sport

2007-08-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

Sport is a movement that governs by a set of regulations or rules and frequently engaged in competition. Used by itself, sports usually refer to behavior where the physical capability of the participant are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include behavior such as brainpower sports and cruise sports where mental acuity or apparatus quality are major factors. Sports are used as amusement for the player and the viewer. It has also been established by experiments that daily exercise increases mental strength and power to study.

Keeping pace with the latest sports results is a usual appliance for Semotus wireless technology. As individual sports results come in, they are tailored and sent out to users wirelessly and in real-time. Semotus provides both the technology products and the information services to supply organizations to relay sporting and other information. InfoXtra2 delivers up to the minute content from a variety of leading information sources.

Metal

2007-08-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

In chemistry, a metal is a ingredient that readily loses electrons to form positive ions and has metallic bonds between metal atoms. Metals form ionic bonds with non-metals. They are sometimes described as a web of positive ions surrounded by a cloud of delocalized electrons. The metals are one of the three groups of elements as eminent by their ionization and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals. On the periodic table, a diagonal line drawn from boron separates the metals from the nonmetals. Most elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semi-metals; elements to the lower left are metals; elements to the upper right are nonmetals.

Nutrition

2007-07-31T07:44:00.000-07:00

Nutrition is a knowledge that examines the relationship between diet and strength. Dietitians are health professionals who specialize in this part of study, and are trained to provide safe, evidence-based nutritional advice and interventions.

Deficienciess, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, scurvy, fatness or osteoporosis, as well as mental and behavioral troubles. Moreover, unnecessary intake of elements that have no perceptible role in health, (e.g. lead, dioxins, mercury, PCBs), may incur toxic and potentially fatal effects, depending on the dosage.

Many familiar diseases and their symptom can often be prevented or alleviated with better nutrition. The science of nutrition attempts to be aware of how and why specific nutritional aspects influence health.

Java coffee

2007-07-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

Java coffee is a coffee bent on the island of Java. In the USA, the term "Java" independently is slang for coffee generally. The Indonesian phrase Kopi Jawa refers not only to the origin of the coffee, but is used to distinguish the black, very sweet coffee, strong with powdered grains in the drink, from other forms of the drink.The Dutch began farming of coffee trees on Java (part of the Dutch East Indies) in the 17th century and it has been export internationally since. The coffee farming systems found on Java have changed significantly over time.

A rust disease in the late 1880s killed off much of the plantation stocks in Sukabumi, before distribution to Central Java and parts of East Java. The Dutch respond by replacing the Arabica firstly with Liberica (a tough, but somewhat unpleasant coffee) and later with Robusta. Today Java's old royally era plantations provide just a portion of the coffee grown on the island. Logo of Java programming language is a coffee cup.

Different aspects of love

2007-07-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

The different aspects of love can be generally illustrated by comparing their corollaries and opposites. As a common look of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like), love is commonly contrasted with abhorrence (or neutral apathy); as a less sexual and more shared and "pure" form of romantic connection, love is generally contrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with idealistic overtones, love is normally contrasted with friendship, although other connotations of love may be applied to close friendships too.

The very continuation of love is sometimes matter to debate. Some unconditionally refuse the notion as false or meaningless. Others call it a recently-invented abstraction, sometimes dating the "invention" to courtly Europe for the period of or after the middle Ages. Others keep that love truly exists, and is not an abstraction, but is inexpressible, being effectively spiritual or metaphysical in nature. Few psychologists keep up that love is the action of lending one's "boundary" or "self-esteem" to another. Others try to define love by applying the meaning to daily life.

Extranet

2007-07-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

An extranet is a personal network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organization's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers or other businesses. An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's Intranet that is extended to users outside the company. It has also been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is professed as a way to do business with other companies as well as to sell products to customers.

Genetics

2007-07-03T22:49:00.000-07:00

Genetics is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms.Knowledge that desired characteristics were present at birth has been implicitly used since prehistoric times for improving crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the mechanisms of inheritance, only began with the work of Gregor Mendel in the mid-1800s.

Mendel observed that inheritance is basically a discrete process with specific traits that are inherited in an independant manner. These basic units of inheritance is now known as "genes". In the cells of organisms, genes exist actually in the structure of the molecule DNA and the information genes contain is used to create and control the components of cells. Although genetics plays a large role in determining the appearance and behavior of organisms, it is the interaction of genetics with the environment an organism experiences that determines the ultimate outcome. For example, while genes play a role in determining a person's height, the nutrition and health that person experiences in childhood also have a large effect.

History of Motorola

2007-06-30T00:02:00.001-07:00

Motorola started as Galvin developed Corporation in 1928. The name Motorola was adopted in 1947, but the word had been used as a trademark since the 1930s. Founders Paul Galvin and Joe Galvin came up with the name Motorola when his company started manufacturing car radios. A number of early companies making phonographs, radios, and other audio tackle in the early 20th century used the suffix "-ola," the most famous being Victrola; RCA made a "radiola"; there was also a company that made jukeboxes called Rock-Ola, and a film editing device called a Moviola. The Motorola prefix "motor-" was chosen because the company's first focus was in automotive electronics.

Most of Motorola's crop has been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for radios, through the first walkie-talkie in the world, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. The company was also strong in semiconductor technology, including integrated circuits used in computers. Motorola has been the key supplier for the microprocessors used in Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh and Power Macintosh personal computers. The chip used in the latter computers, the PowerPC family, was developed with IBM and in a partnership with Apple. Motorola also has a diverse line of communication products, including satellite systems, digital cable boxes and modems.

Coppicing

2007-06-26T02:15:00.001-07:00

Coppicing is a conventional method of woodland organization in which young tree stems are cut down to a low level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will come out and after a number of years the cycle begins again and the coppiced tree, or stool, is ready to be harvested again.
Typically a coppice woodland is harvested in sections, on a rotation. In this way each year a crop is available. This has the side-effect of as long as a rich variety of habitats, as the woodland always has a range of dissimilar aged stools growing in it. This is helpful for biodiversity. The cycle length depends upon the species cut, the local custom, and the use to which the product is put. Birch can be coppiced for faggots on a 3- or 4-year cycle, whereas oak can be coppiced over a 50-year cycle for poles or firewood.

Ice

2007-06-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

Ice is the name given to any one of the 14 known solid phases of water. Though in non-scientific contexts, it usually describes ice Ih, which is the most abundant of these phases. It is a crystalline solid, which can appear transparent or an opaque bluish-white color depending on the presence of impurities such as air. The addition of other materials such as soil may further alter appearance. The most common phase transition to ice Ih occurs when liquid water is cooled below 0 °C (273.15 K, 32 °F) at standard atmospheric pressure. However, it can also deposit from a vapor with no intervening liquid phase such as in the formation of frost. Ice appears in varied forms such as hail, ice cubes, and glaciers. It plays an important role with many meteorological phenomena. The ice caps of the polar regions are of significance for the global climate and particularly the water cycle.

Society

2007-06-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

A society is a grouping of individuals, which is characterized by common interests and may have distinctive culture and institutions. In a society, members can be from a different ethnic group. A "Society" may refer to a particular people, such as the Nuer, to a nation state, such as Switzerland, or to a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. Society can also refer to an organized group of people linked together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.

Whale

2007-06-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. The last definition is the one followed here. Whales are those cetaceans which are neither dolphins nor porpoises. This can lead to some confusion because Orcas ("Killer Whales") and Pilot whales have "whale" in their name, but they are dolphins for the purpose of classification.

Pruning

2007-06-10T22:03:00.001-07:00

Pruning in landscaping and farming is the practice of removing diseased, non-productive, or otherwise unwanted portions from a plant. The purpose of pruning is to shape the plant by controlling or directing plant growth, to maintain the health of the plant, or to increase the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. Proper pruning is as much a skill as it is an art, since badly pruned plants can become unhealthy or grow in undesirable ways.

Proponents of pruning, both gardeners and orchardists, often argue that it improves the health of the plant and makes sturdier structure, often referred to as the scaffold; opponents consider that pruning harms plants' "natural" forms.

Canonization

2007-06-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

Canonization is the act by which a Christian Church declares some deceased person to be a saint, inscribing that person in the canon, or list, of recognized saints.

In the Catholic Church, the act of canonization is now kept to the Holy See and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the person future for canonization lived, and died, in such a way that he or she is worthy to be recognized as a saint. at first, however, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process, as happened, for instance, in the case of Saint Peter and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Other Christian Churches still follow the older practice
Canonization, whether formal or informal, does not make someone a saint: it is only a declaration that the person is a saint and was a saint even before canonization. It is generally familiar that there are many more saints in heaven than have been canonized on earth.

People

2007-05-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

People are a group of humans, either with not mentioned traits, or specific characteristics (e.g. the people of Spain or the people of the Plains).
The term people is often used in English as the suppletive plural of person. However, the word persons is sometimes used in place of people, particularly when it would be ambiguous with its collective sense (e.g. missing persons instead of missing people). The term people can together refer to all humans or it can be used to identify the citizens of a nation, or members of a tribe, ethnic, or religious group. People of color is a phrase used to describe people with skin color darker than that of white people.

Veganism

2007-05-27T21:07:00.001-07:00

Veganism (also known as strict vegetarianism or pure vegetarianism), as defined by the Vegan Society, is "a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practical—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose." A vegan (one who practices veganism) does not consume or use animal products, notably meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products.People become vegans for a variety of reasons, including ethical concerns for animal rights or the environment, as well as supposed or real health benefits and spiritual or religious concerns.

Lighting rod

2007-05-21T22:27:00.000-07:00

A lightning rod is a metal narrow piece or rod, typically of copper or similar conductive material, used as part of lightning security to guard tall or isolated structures from lightning damage. Its formal name is lightning finial. Sometimes, the system is informally referred to as:

A lightning conductor,
A lightning arrester, or
A lightning discharger.
However, these terms really refer to lightning guard systems in general or specific mechanism within them.

Lightning rod dissipaters make a structure less nice-looking by which charges can flow to the air around it. This then reduces the voltage between the point and the storm cloud, making a strike less likely. The most common charge dissipaters appear as slightly-blunted metal spikes sticking out in all information from a metal ball. These are mounted on short metal arms at the very top of a radio antenna or tower, the area by far most likely to be struck. These devices diminish, but do not eradicate, the risk of lightning strikes.

History of Personal computer

2007-05-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

An near the beginning use of the term appeared in a November 3, 1962, New York Times
article exposure John W. Mauchly's vision of expectations computing spoken to a conference of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers that previous day. Mauchly told the gathering, "There is no reason to suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer."

The initial computers that can be called 'personal' were the first Non -main frame computers, the LINC and the PDP-8. By today's standards they were big, expensive, and had small magnetic core memories.

However, they were small and cheap for individual laboratories and research projects to use, freeing them from the consignment dispensation and establishment of the typical industrial or university computing center. In addition, they were reasonably interactive and soon had their own operating systems. Finally, this category became known as the mini-computer, usually with time-sharing and program development facilities. Ultimately, the mini-computer grew up to encompass the VAX and larger mini-computers from Data General, Prime, and others.
Deployment of mini-computer systems was a replica for how personal computers would be used, but few of the mini-computer makers managed to profit from it.

Cold River (Maine)

2007-05-13T21:20:00.001-07:00

The Cold River is a 16.4 mile long (26.5 km) river situated in western Maine in the United States. It very briefly enters New Hampshire as well. It is part of the Saco River drainage basin.
The Cold River begins at the height of land in Evans Notch, a pass through the eastern White Mountains. Maine Highway 113, a narrow two-lane road, passes through the notch, following the Cold River on the south side and Evans Brook, a tributary of the Androscoggin River, on the north. The Cold River, flowing south, picks up the Mad River, a short stream with waterfalls that flows off the southern faces of East Royce and West Royce mountains, then reaches the southern base of Evans Notch at the junction of Basin Brook, coming out of a large glacial cirque to the west, where the Cold River national forest campground is situated.
South of Basin Brook, the Cold River briefly enters New Hampshire near the village of North Chatham, then veers back into Maine, flowing south-southwest in the town of Stow through an ever-widening valley. The Little Cold River enters from the west near the village of Stow. The Cold River ends at Charles Pond in the northern corner of Fryeburg. Water flows from Charles Pond via the short Charles River, entering the Old Course of the Saco River and finally the Saco itself south of Kezar Pond.

Chocolate

2007-05-08T22:25:00.001-07:00

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that create from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. It is a common ingredient in many kinds of confections such as chocolate bars, candy, ice cream, cookies, cakes, pies, chocolate mousse, and other desserts. It is one of the most popular flavours in the world.
Chocolate was shaped by the Mesoamerican civilization, from cacao beans, and cultivated by pre-Columbian civilizations such as the Maya and Aztec, who used it as a basic part in a variety of sauces and beverages. The cocoa beans were ground and mixed with water to create a variety of beverages, both sweet and bitter, which were kept for only the highest noblemen and clerics of the Mesoamerican world. Chocolate is made from the fermented, roasted, and ground beans taken from the pod of the tropical cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, which was native to Central America and Mexico, but is now cultivated all through the tropics. The beans have an intensely flavoured bitter taste. The resultant products are known as "chocolate" or, in some parts of the world, cocoa.

Peafowl

2007-05-04T04:38:00.000-07:00

The peafowl are the three variety of bird in the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are most distinguished for the male's profligate tail, a result of sexual selection, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen. In common English custom, however, "peacock" is used to mean any peafowl.

Overview
The characteristic Asiatic peafowl belonging to the genus Pavo comprise the familiar Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus and the poorly known Dragon birds or Green Peafowl Pavo muticus. Some biologists believe that there are at least five characteristic and critically endangered species of Green Peafowl while others classify them into a single species with three species.

The Arakan Dragonbird Pavo spicifer was once inhabitant to Northern Western Myanmar, Southern Tibet and Assam. The Indo-Chinese or Siamese Dragon bird Pavo imperator was once native to South East Myanmar and Thailand. The Annametic Dragonbird Pavo annamensis occupied the broadleaf evergreen forests of Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Southern Yunnan China.
The Javanese Green Peafowl, Pavo javanensis is occupant only to the island of Java. The died out Malay or Pahang Peafowl Pavo muticus muticus was fantasy by early naturalists to least the Pliocene rules out an foreword by humans. Northern Yunnan is the home of one of the most fascinating forms of Green Peafowl. The Yunnan Dragonbird, Pavo yunnanensis is most characteristic.
When it is not in show, the long tail rests on the ground and hampers the actions of the peacock
The White Peacock is frequently incorrect for an albino, but is a color change

Door

2007-04-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

A door is a makeup in a wall that allows easy transformation between an opening and a closed wall. It is establish in many houses and other buildings: internal ones, doors giving access to the street/external world, and doors to private outdoor areas such as a garden or balcony. In an apartment building, an midway kind is the outer door of an apartment, inside the building.
History
The first records are those represented in the paintings of the Egyptian tombs, in which they are shown as single or double doors, each in a single piece of wood. In Egypt, where the climate is intensely dry, there would be no fear of their warping, but in other countries it would be necessary to frame them, which according to Vitruvius was done with stiles and rails: the spaces enclosed being filled with panels let into grooves made in the stiles and rails. The stiles were the vertical boards, one of which, tenoned or hinged, is known as the hanging stile, the other as the middle or meeting stile. The horizontal cross pieces are the top rail, bottom rail, and middle or intermediate rails. The most ancient doors were in timber, those made for King Solomon's temple being in olive wood, which were fixed and overlaid with gold. The doors dwelt upon in Homer would appear to have been cased in silver or brass. Besides Olive wood, elm, cedar, oak and cypress were used.

All ancient doors were hung by pivots at the top and bottom of the hanging stile which worked in sockets in the lintel and cill, the final being always in some hard stone such as basalt or granite. Those found at Nippur by Dr. Hilprecht, dating from 2000 B.C. were in dolorite. The tenons of the gates at Balawat were covered with bronze. These doors or gates were hung in two leaves, each about 8 ft.4 in. wide and 27 ft. high; they were enclosed with bronze bands or strips, 10 in. high, covered with repouss embellishment of figures, etc. The wood doors would seem to have been about 3 in. thick, but the hanging stile was over 14 inches diameter. Other sheathings of various sizes in bust have been found, which proves this to have been the universal method adopted to protect the wood pivots. In the Hauran in Syria, where timber is scarce the doors were made in stone, and one measuring 5 ft. 4 in. by 2 ft. 7 in. is in the British Museum; the band on the meeting stile shows that it was one of the leaves of a double door. At Kuffeir near Bostra in Syria, Burckhardt found stone doors, 9 to 10 ft. high, being the entrance doors of the town. In Etruria many stone doors are referred to by Dennis.

Northern Mockingbird

2007-04-24T22:18:00.001-07:00

The Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, is the mockingbird commonly originate in North America.Adults are grey on the head and upperparts with pale yellow eyes and a slim black bill with a slight downward curve; the underparts are light. They have a long dark tail by means of white edges and long dark legs. They have white wing bars and show white wing patches in flight.Their breeding habitat is areas with a mix of open areas and dense shrubs from southern Canada to Mexico, but is most common in the southern United States. They build a twig nest in a dense shrub or tree. This bird forcefully defends its nest against other birds and animals, including humans. When a predator is persistent mockingbirds from adjacent territories, summoned by a distinct call, may join the attack. Other birds may gather to watch as the mockingbirds harass the intruder.
They are usually permanent residents; northern birds may move south during harsh weather. However, this species has occurred in Europe as an extreme rarity.These birds forage on the ground or in vegetation; they also fly down from a perch to capture food. They mainly eat insects and berries. While foraging they will regularly spread their wings in a peculiar two-step motion to display the white patches underneath. The purpose of this behavior is disputed. Some ornithologists claim this is merely a territorial display, while others say that flashing the white patches startles hiding insects and forces them into the open. Both theories seem to have some merit.
This bird imitates the calls of other birds, animal sounds and yet machine noises. It is often found in urban areas. They often call through the night and may continue year-round apart from for the summer moulting season. Mockingbirds usually sing the loudest in the twilight of the early morning when the sun is on the horizon. While singing on a high perch they will often bolt more than a few feet into the air in a looping motion, with wings outstretched to display their white underside, then land back on the perch without breaking a note. That serves as a territorial display.Mockingbirds have a strong preference for certain trees, such as maple, sweet gum (green 5-pointed leaves and prickly porous balls), and sycamore. They normally avoid pine trees. In urban areas, mockingbirds rarely come down to the ground, unlike most birds. Also, they have a particular preference for high places, such as the topmost branches of trees and the tops of telephone poles.

Radio clock

2007-04-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

A radio clock is a clock that is synchronized by a time code bit stream transmitted by a radio transmitter associated to a time standard such as an atomic clock. The picture shows a type of radio controlled digital clock. With special mechanism, radio controlled analog clocks are also available.
A radio controlled clock consists of an antenna for intercepting the RF time code signal, a receiving circuit to exchange the time code RF signal into digital time code, and a controller circuit to decode the time code bit streams and to drive an output circuit which can be LCD in case of digital clocks or stepping motors in case of analog clocks.

Satellite phone

2007-04-10T21:49:00.001-07:00

A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a mobile phone that communicates directly with orbiting communications satellites. Depending on the architecture of a particular system, coverage may comprise the entire Earth, or only specific regions.
Satellite phone (Inmarsat)The mobile equipment, also known as a terminal or earth station, varies generally. A satellite phone handset has a size and weight comparable to that of a late 1980s or early 1990s cell phone, but with a large retractable antenna. These are popular on expeditions into remote areas where terrestrial cellular service is unavailable.
A fixed installation, such as used shipboard, may include large, rugged, rack-mounted electronics, and a steerable microwave antenna on the mast that mechanically tracks the overhead satellites.

Smartphone

2007-04-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

A smartphone is any electronic handheld device that integrates the functionality of a mobile phone, personal digital assistant or other information appliance. This is frequently achieved by adding telephone functions to an existing PDA or putting "smart" capabilities, such as PDA functions, into a mobile phone. A key characteristic of a smartphone is that additional applications can be installed on the device. The applications can be developed by the manufacturer of the handheld device, by the operator or by any other third-party software developer.
It is increasingly difficult to define exactly what qualifies as a smartphone. Almost all new mobile phones have some rudimentary PDA functionality such as phonebooks, calendars, and task lists. Furthermore, BREW and Java ME devices allow for the installation of additional applications but are still not considered smartphones. There are many BREW devices with PDA functionality, the ability to run third-party applications in native code and sporting displays as large as 240x320 pixels; yet they are not considered smartphones. The elusive definition seems loosely tied to the particular operating systems listed below.

Sun

2007-04-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

The Sun is the star at the centre of our Solar system. It is infrequently referred to as Sol to distinguish it from other "suns". Planet Earth orbits the Sun, as do many other bodies, with other planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and dust. Its heat and light support almost all life on Earth.
The Sun has a mass of about 2×1030kg, which is fairly higher than that of an average star. About 74% of its mass is hydrogen, with 25% helium and the rest made up of trace quantities of heavier elements. It is consideration that the Sun is about 5 billion years old, and is about half way through its main sequence evolution, throughout which nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium. In about 5 billion years time the Sun will become a planetary nebula.
Although it is the nearest star to Earth and has been intensively studied by scientists, many questions about the Sun remain unanswered, such as why its outer atmosphere has a temperature of over 106 K when its visible surface has a temperature of just 6,000 K.
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Lens

2007-03-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

A lens is a device for either concentrating or diverging light, normally formed from a piece of shaped glass. Analogous devices used with other types of electromagnetic radiation are also called lenses: for instance, a microwave lens can be made from paraffin wax.
The earliest records of lenses date to Ancient Greece, with Aristophanes' play The Clouds (424 BC) mentioning a burning-glass (a convex lens used to focus the sun's rays to produce fire). The writings of Pliny the Elder also show that burning-glasses were recognized to the Roman Empire, and mentions what is possibly the first use of a corrective lens: Nero was known to watch the gladiatorial games throughout a concave-shaped emerald (presumably to correct for myopia). Seneca the Younger (3 BC--65) described the magnifying effect of a glass globe filled with water.Widespread use of lenses did not happen until the invention of spectacles, probably in Italy in the 1280s.

Computer

2007-03-26T21:45:00.001-07:00

A computer is a device capable of processing data according to a program — a list of instructions. The data to be processed may represent many types of information including numbers, text, pictures, or sound.
Computers can be enormously versatile. In fact, they are universal information processing machines. According to the Church-Turing thesis, a computer with a certain minimum threshold capability is in principle capable of performing the tasks of any other computer, from those of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer. Therefore, the same computer designs have been adapted for tasks from processing company payrolls to controlling industrial robots. Modern electronic computers also have enormous speed and ability for information processing compared to earlier designs, and they have become exponentially more powerful over the years (a phenomenon known as Moore's Law).
Computers are available in many physical forms. The original computers were the size of a large room, and such enormous computing services still exist for specialized scientific computation - supercomputers - and for the transaction processing requirements of large companies, usually called mainframes. Smaller computers for individual use, called personal computers, and their portable equivalent, the notebook computer, are ubiquitous information-processing and communication tools and be perhaps what most non-experts think of as "a computer". However, the most common form of computer in use today is the embedded computer, small computers used to control another device. Embedded computers control machines from fighter planes to digital cameras.

Motorcycle

2007-03-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

A motorcycle (or motorbike) is a two-wheeled vehicle powered by an engine. The wheels are in-line, and at higher speed the motorcycle remains upright and stable by virtue of gyroscopic forces; at lower speeds repeated readjustment of the steering by the rider gives constancy. The rider sits astride the vehicle on a seat, with hands on a set of handlebars which are used to steer the motorcycle, in conjunction with the rider shifting his weight through his feet, which are supported on a set of "footpegs" or "pegs" which stick out from the frame