Posts Tagged ‘Blogging’

Little Christmas | christmas party favors

Friday, August 8th, 2008

Little Christmas, or Nollaig Bheag in the Irish language, is one of the traditional names in Ireland for January 6, more commonly known in the rest of the world as the Epiphany. It is so called because it was, until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the day on which Christmas Day was celebrated. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and the last day of the Christmas holidays for both Primary and Secondary schools.

The name Little Christmas is also found in Slovenian (mali božič).

It is also known as Nollaig na mBan (Women’s Christmas), so called because of the tradition (still very strong in Cork, though only just surviving in the rest of the country) of Irish men taking on all the household duties on that day and giving their spouses a day off. Most women will either hold parties or go out to celebrate the day with their friends, sisters, mothers, aunts etc. Bars and restaurants have a near 100% female clientele on this night. Children often buy presents for their mothers and grandmothers and it closely resembles Mother’s Day in this respect.

Joe Christmas | christmas party favors

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Joe Christmas is a fictional character, one of the central characters in the 1932 novel Light in August by William Faulkner.

Raised in an orphanage, Joe Christmas knows little about his own identity. While he is presumably both black and white, Joe Christmas appears to be mostly white; in fact, there is no certainty that he is black at all, though he identifies himself as such.
His search for racial identity is central to the work.

His initials allude to Jesus Christ.

One critic described him as the loneliest character in American literature.

Christmas Wrapping | christmas party favors

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

“Christmas Wrapping” (sometimes misspelled as “Christmas Wrappings”) is a Christmas song performed in 1981 by The Waitresses and later covered by the Spice Girls. Save Ferris also recorded a version with different lyrics.

The song is narrated from the point of view of a busy single woman who is adamant that she will try to sit-out the exhausting Christmas period, not participating in the traditional Christmas activities (except for making dinner, see below).

She reveals that, during the course of the year, she has attempted to meet up with a man she encountered in a ski shop the previous year. Despite the couple’s attempts to meet, a succession of mishaps conspires to keep them apart.

Finally on Christmas Eve, while the protagonist (after stating that A&P provided her with “the world’s smallest turkey”) is doing last-minute shopping for cranberries at a local convenience store, ends up running into the man after discovering that he, too, forgot to buy cranberries.

This coincidence seems to hint that the narrator, and therefore the listener, shouldn’t completely abandon their faith in the magic of Christmas.


External links

  • How an obscure 80s punk band created a Christmas classic

Gambia at the 1996 Summer Olympics | the 1996

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

The Gambia competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States.


Results by event


Athletics

Men’s 4×400m Relay

  • Dawda Jallow, Momodou Drammeh, Lamin Drammeh, and Assan John
  • Heat — did not finish (→ did not advance)

Men’s Long Jump

  • Ousman Sallah
  • Qualification — NM (→ did not advance)


Reference

  • Official Olympic Reports

Cruzential | released as a stand-alone

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Cruzential is the second album from the Danish band Kashmir. The producer and engineer Ron Saint Germain used the two words ‘crucial’ and ‘essential’ constantly, and the title of the album is a contraction of the two words.

The album is released in two versions: the first version, released in 1996, and the second version released in 1997, with two added tracks: “Stand” and “Gloom”. The two versions featured different covers.

The original tracks were recorded and mixed at Track House and Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark from January to March, 1996, whereas the two added tracks where recorded in January 1997.


Track listing

  1. “Vote 4 Dick Taid” – 4:24
  2. “Stand” – 4:07
  3. “Prawn’s Blues” – 4:10
  4. “Bring Back Superman” – 3:59
  5. “Travelogue” – 3:44
  6. “Could We Kill Fred?” – 4:22
  7. “Dring” – 4:59
  8. “Star in My Movie” – 3:36
  9. “Gloom” – 4:03
  10. “Beamed” – 4:15
  11. “Lollypork Stomp” – 1:47
  12. “Victoria” – 3:40
  13. “Bag of Flash & Thyme” – 5:02

Quadratic irrational | Be Continued

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

In mathematics, a quadratic irrational, also known as a quadratic surd or quadratic irrationality, is an irrational number that is the solution to some quadratic equation with rational coefficients. Since fractions can be cleared from a quadratic equation by multiplying both sides by their common denominator, this is the same as saying it is a root of a quadratic equation whose coefficients are integers. Quadratic irrationals therefore have the form

<math>{a+\sqrt{b} \over c}</math>

for integers a, b, c. This implies that the quadratic irrationals have the same cardinality as ordered triples of integers, and are therefore countable.

The quadratic rationals with a given b form a field, called a quadratic field.

Quadratic irrationals are special numbers, especially in relation to continued fractions, where we have the result that all quadratic irrationals, and only quadratic irrationals, have periodic continued fraction forms. For example

<math>\sqrt{3}=1.732\ldots=[1;1,2,1,2,1,2,\ldots]</math>

A special case includes Pell’s equation.


See also

  • Algebraic number field
  • Periodic continued fraction
  • Restricted partial quotients


External links

  • Mathworld article
  • Continued fraction calculator for quadratic irrationals
  • Proof that e is not a quadratic irrational

Quorum call | Present on

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

A quorum call or call to quorum is a parliamentary procedure used to summon absent members of a deliberative body if a quorum is not present. Since attendance at debates is not mandatory in most legislatures, it is often the case that a quorum of members is not present while debate is ongoing. In many bodies, motions such as amendments, tabling, and recommitment may be approved in the absence of a quorum, provided no member then present objects. A member wishing to delay proceedings (for example, to allow other members time to get to the chamber in order to join debate) may request that the presiding officer determine whether a quorum is present. If a quorum does not appear to be present, debate is suspended, as the only business allowed without a quorum is to adjourn, recess, summon absent members, or compel their attendance if the body has the power to do so.

What happens after debate stops depends on the legislature in question. In the United States Congress, bells are rung in the various congressional office buildings to indicate to members that their presence is required in their respective chambers. Members of the House use the same electronic system as is used for voting to register their presence; in the Senate, one of the clerks will read out a roll call of senators, who indicate their presence when called. Because of differences in procedure between the two bodies, quorum calls in the House are fairly rare, but they are quite common in the Senate. In both houses, while quorum calls officially last fifteen minutes, the actual amount of time given is at the discretion of the presiding officer. A motion to adjourn for lack of a quorum may be raised after the quorum call if an insufficient number of members present themselves. However, if the business is especially important, the members present may instead move a call of the house which will force all members to attend.

In the Parliament of Australia, the quorum call is requested by a member or senator “drawing the Speaker to the state of the House” (or, in the Senate, “drawing the President to the state of the Senate”). Quorum calls last for the same length as a call for a division, four minutes. The presence of a quorum is judged by the presiding officer. Members of Parliament however are not obliged to be seated and can stand in the chamber (but not at the seats, as this may be mistaken for the member seeking the call).

Links

Dorcas Society | Thanksgiving

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

A Dorcas Society is a local group of people, usually based in a church, with a mission of providing clothing to the poor.

The original society was founded in Douglas, Isle of Man on December 1, 1834, as part of the community’s thanksgiving for being spared from an outbreak of cholera. The poorer families in town had their clothes and bedding destroyed as part of the effort to prevent the disease. Today there are other Dorcas societies around the world, providing clothing and other physical needs.

The society is named after a character (Tabitha, also called Dorcas) described in the Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 9, v. 36).


References

  • Isle of Man Dorcas Society

Links

Julemanden | Christmas it

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

Julemanden can be directly translated to “Christmas Man”. In modern Danish culture Julemanden is the equivalent of the English Santa Claus although the roots of the character reaches into Danish folklore and mythology wherein julemanden is a mythical character who is said to bring Christmas presents to children in Denmark on Christmas eve, celebrated December 24th.

The main differences to the English Santa Claus is that Julemanden lives in Greenland, loves Rice pudding and are assisted by nisser.

Links

Some Postman | released as a

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

Some

Postman is a song by the band The Presidents of the United States of America, from their fourth album Love Everybody, which was released in 2004. A single version of the song was also released through Apple’s online iTunes Store. The music video, released in 2005, was shot entirely on cell phones.

Links

Ronnie Aird | Continued and

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

Ronald Aird, MC (4 May 1902 - 16 August 1986) was an English cricketer and administrator.

Ronnie Aird was born in Paddington, London and he played 136 first-class matches as a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium bowler for the Cambridge University and Hampshire between 1920 and 1938. He was a good cricketer, but he will be remembered for his work at Lord’s for sixty years. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1926, following the promotion of W. Findlay to Secretary. He continued to serve under Colonel Rait Kerr, until his eventual appointment as Secretary in 1952. He retired in 1962 and continued to serve the club as President (1968-1969), Trustee (1971-1983) and as a Life Vice-President (1983-1986).

He died at his home in Yapton, Sussex following a long illness aged 84.

Links

Mind Reflections | albums

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Mind Reflections is the fifth release from Dutch death metal band Pestilence. Mind Reflections is a best-of compilation with both studio and live songs.


Track listing

  1. “Out of the Body” – 4:40
  2. “Twisted Truth” – 4:04
  3. “The Process of Suffocation” – 2:41
  4. “Parricide” – 3:49
  5. “Mind Reflections” – 3:22
  6. “Dehydrated” – 3:09
  7. “Land of Tears” – 4:48
  8. “Hatred Within” – 6:47
  9. “The Secrecies of Horror” – 4:56
  10. “Subordinate to the Domination” – 4:18
  11. “Dehydrated” (live) – 3:31
  12. “Chemotherapy” (live) – 4:27
  13. “Presence of the Dead” (live) – 5:54
  14. “Testimony” (live) – 4:30
  15. “Chronic Infection” (live) – 3:58
  16. “Out of the Body” (live) – 5:09

Links

A Christmas Tree and a Wedding | Wedding

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

A Christmas Tree and a Wedding (Russian: Елка и свадьба) is a short story written by Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1848. The piece is narrated by an awkward outcast attending a Christmas party. The man, although invited, knows only the host and talks to no one. He observes the party’s guest of honour and takes special interest in one of the children.


Plot summary

The narrator begins by mentioning to the reader that he had just been to a wedding, but then he recalls a Christmas party that he had found more interesting.

The party was given with the pretext of being a children’s party, but its real puropse was for the wealthy host’s family to talk business with rich members of the community. The wealthiest guest was Julian Mastakovich, a rotund landowner.

Without anyone to talk to, the narrator fell to simply observing the guests. The narrator takes particular interest in the children. They were given gifts in accordance with their social standing. The eleven year old daughter of the hosts received an expensive doll, while the poorest child - the son of the family governess - received only a small picture book.

After being bullied by the other richer boys, the poor boy retreats to another room where he and the rich daughter play happily with the doll. Julian Matsakovich also retreats from the rest of the crowd to observe the rich daughter, who already had a dowry set aside of 300,000 roubles. As Mastakovich observes the girl, he calculates what her dowry (wih interest) would be at age sixteen, and he comes up with the astounding sum of 500,000 roubles. Perhaps preoccupied with the sum, Mastakovich approaches the girl and kisses her on the head. The girl recoils from his gesture, and she looks to her playmate for protection. Mastakovich tries to scare the poor boy away while trying to get a promise of love from the young girl, and eventually he causes a scene where he chases the poor boy around the party, whipping at him with his handkerchief.

After Mastakovich composes himself, the narrator cannot help but try to point out his dishonorable motives to the host family, but to no avail.

The wedding that the narrator came across five years later was indeed the wedding between Julian Mastakovich and the rich girl, now sixteen. The narrator leaves the wedding in disgust.


References

  • Magarshack, David, The Best Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky, (New York: The Modern Library, 2005), xi-xxvi.

Links

Greatest Hits (Better Than Ezra album) | it was originally released

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Greatest Hits is a 2005 greatest-hits album by Better Than Ezra, released by Rhino Records.


Track listing

  1. “King of New Orleans” (originally from Friction, Baby)
  2. “Good” (originally from Deluxe)
  3. “At the Stars” (originally from How Does Your Garden Grow?)
  4. “In the Blood” (Single Remix) (originally from Deluxe)
  5. “Live Again” (originally from How Does Your Garden Grow?)
  6. “Extra Ordinary” (originally from Closer)
  7. “Rosealia” (Single Remix) (originally from Deluxe)
  8. “Desperately Wanting” (originally from Friction, Baby)
  9. “Misunderstood” (originally from Closer)
  10. “This Time of Year (French Radio Version)” (originally from Deluxe)
  11. “Under You” (originally from How Does Your Garden Grow?)
  12. “Tremble” (originally from artifakt)
  13. “One More Murder” (originally from How Does Your Garden Grow?)
  14. “Porcelain” (VooDoo Mix) (originally from Deluxe)
  15. “Laid” (James cover) (not previously released)
  16. “Wallflower” (originally from artifakt)

Links

Lee Street | street

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Lee Street School - Australia

Lee Street Inn - Pennsylvania

Lee Street Photos - Kansas City, KS

Links

Rest step | External links Step

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

In mountaineering and hiking, the rest step is a human walking gait used in ascending steep slopes. Its essential characteristic is a pause of motion with the rear leg vertical and fully extended, while the front leg is relaxed except as needed to adjust the balancing of the climber’s body and burden on the rear leg.

The goal includes “locking” the knee, in order to rest the weight on the skeleton (and relieve the leg muscles of exertion as much as possible).

Climbers may often execute the rest step spontaneously, if waiting either for the next step of a climber who is a step or two ahead, or for the energy to continue. Nevertheless, conscious practice at delaying the next step (requiring inhibition of a walking reflex) is widely deemed worthwhile. That skill enables ascent at the maximum steady pace, on slopes where the rate of consumption of either energy or oxygen is the factor limiting the rate of advance, whether some climbers or all in the party are operating at that limit.

The rest step is especially emphasized in steep ascents on firm snow, often including the additional feature of keeping the moving foot close to the snow surface and scraping it against the snow as it comes to rest, especially to preserve and reinforce the improved footing available in the footprint left by the immediately previous climber.

Links

Rhythm Shower | in 1973.

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Rhythm Shower is an album by The Upsetters, released in 1973.


Track listing


Side one

  1. “Tighten Up” – Dillinger
  2. “Django Shoots First” – Sir Lord Comic
  3. “Uncle Charley”
  4. “Sokup”
  5. “Double Power”
  6. “Lover Version”


Side two

  1. “Rumpelsteelkin”
  2. “Skanking” – Dillinger
  3. “Kuchy Skank”
  4. “Connection” – Dillinger
  5. “Operation”

Links

Jacob Palis | Twas’

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Jacob Palis, Jr. (b. 15 March 1940 in Uberaba, Brazil) is a Brazilian mathematician of international recognition. Since 1973 he has held a permanent position as professor at Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was director of the same institute from 1993 until 2003. He was Secretary-General of the Third World Academy of Sciences from 2004 to 2006, and elected its President in 2006 [1].

He studied under Stephen Smale at University of California, Berkeley, and his 1968 thesis was entitled On Morse-Smale Diffeomorphisms. Palis himself has advised more than forty Ph.D. students so far from more than ten countries.

Palis has received numerous medals and decoration.
He is a foreign member of several academies of sciences, including the United States National Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences.
In 2005 Palis was selected a member of the Legion of Honor.

Contents


Research interests

Mainly dynamical systems and differential equations. Some themes are: Global stability and hyperbolicity, bifurcations, attractors and chaotic systems.


Selected publications

  1. On Morse-Smale Dynamical Systems, Topology 19, 1969 (385-405).
  2. Structural Stability Theorems, with S. Smale, Proceedings of the Institute on Global Analysis, American Math. Society, Vol. XIV, 1970 (223-232).
  3. Cycles and Bifurcations Theory, with S. Newhouse, Asterisque 31, Societe Mathematique de France, 1976 (44-140).
  4. The Topology of Holomorphic Flows near a Singularity, with C. Camacho and N. Kuiper, Publications Math.Institut Hautes Etudes Scientifiques 48, 1978 (5-38).
  5. Moduli of Stability and Bifurcation Theory, Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, Helsinki, 1978 (835-839).
  6. Stability of Parameterized Families of Gradient Vector Fields, with F. Takens, Annals of Mathematics 118, 1983 (383-421).
  7. Cycles and Measure of Bifurcation Sets for Two-Dimensional Diffeomorphisms, with F. Takens, Inventiones Mathematicae 82, 1985 (397-422).
  8. Homoclinic Orbits, Hyperbolic Dynamic and Fractional Dimensions of Cantor Sets (Lefschetz Centennial Conference) Contemporary Mathematics - American Mathematical Society, 58, 1987 (203-216).
  9. Hyperbolicity and Creation of Homoclinic Orbits, with F.Takens, Annals of Mathematics 125, 1987 (337-374).
  10. On the C1 Omega-Stability Conjecture, Publications Math. Institut Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, 66, 1988 (210-215).
  11. Bifurcations and Global Stability of Two-Parameter Families of Gradient Vector Fields with M. J. Carneiro, Publications Math. Institut Hautes Etudes Scientifiques 70, 1990 (103-168).
  12. Homoclinic Tangencies for Hyperbolic Sets of Large Hausdorff Dimension, with J.C. Yoccoz, Acta Mathematica 172, 1994 (91-136).
  13. High Dimension Diffeomorphisms Displaying Infinitely Many Sinks, with M. Viana, Annals of Mathematics 140, 1994 (207 - 250).
  14. A Global View of Dynamics and a Conjecture on the Denseness of Finitude of Attractors. Astérisque. França: , v.261, p.339 - 351, 2000.
  15. Homoclinic tangencies and fractal invariants in arbitrary dimension, with C. Moreira and M. Viana, C R Ac Sc Paris., 2001.
  16. Nonuniformily hyperbolic horseshoes unleashed by homoclinic bifurcations and zero density of attractors, with J.-C. Yoccoz, C R Ac Sc Paris., 2001.


Books published

  1. Geometric Theory of Dynamical Systems, with W. de Melo. Springer-Verlag, 1982; also published in Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.
  2. Hyperbolicity and Sensitive-Chaotic Dynamics at Homoclinic Bifurcations, Fractal Dimensions and Infinitely Many Attractors, with F. Takens. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993; Second Edition, 1994.


External links

  • Jacob Palis’ homepage

Links

Bandola | versions It

Friday, February 8th, 2008

The Bandola is a small pear-shape chordophone found in Venezuela and Colombia. It is related to the Bandurria.

There are 3 main types of Bandolas:

  • Bandola Llanera - These have 7 Frets and 4 strings and are said to be the oldest. Special ones have also been made with 10 frets used by Prof. Saúl Vera and a 14 fret version used by Prof. Moisés Torrealba.
  • Bandola Andina Colombiana - This one has 6 courses. They are made in four different styles: 12 string versions where each course is doubled. 14 string versions where the first two courses are tripled and the rest are doubled. 16 string versions where the first four courses are tripled and the last two are doubled. Finally, there is an 18 string version with 6 triple courses.
  • Bandola Oriental - This one is like the Bandola Lianera but with a deeper body and 4 double courses with 8 strings in all.


See also

  • Venezuela
  • Venezuelan music

Links

Light show | Christmas is

Friday, February 8th, 2008
  • Christmas lights
  • Wizards in Winter (song) Christmas light show
  • Laser lighting display Laser show

Links