Wedding photography

January 4th, 2010 | frbiz68

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Technology
Here, a wedding photographer rehearses taking a wedding photo using her assistant as a model. The veil was deliberately placed in position by the photographer.
During the film era, photographers favored color negative film and medium-format cameras, especially by Hasselblad. Today, many more weddings are photographed with digital SLR cameras as the digital convenience provides quick detection of lighting mistakes and allows creative approaches to be reviewed immediately.
In spite of diminishing film use, some photographers continue to shoot with film as they prefer the film aesthetic, and others are of the opinion that negative film captures more information than digital technology, and has less margin for exposure error. Certainly true in some cases, it should be noted that exposure latitude inherent in a camera’s native RAW image format (which allows for more under- and over- exposure than JPEG) varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. All forms of RAW have a degree of exposure latitude which exceeds slide film – to which digital capture is commonly compared.[citation needed]
Currently, it is fair to say that many professional labs have a greater capacity to provide services in post-production for film compared with digital[citation needed], such as quickly generating adequate prints in the event of some over- or under- exposure. This should change over time, with manufacturers like Kodak announcing a commitment to further develop streamlined services in the area of professional digital lab output , children’s formal wear .
Technology has evolved with the use of remote triggers and flashes. Wedding photographers are now able to take advantage of traveling light and having the ability to use creative lighting , cashmere polo sweater .
Approaches
Bride & groom in a park, posing in photojournalistic style.
A photojournalistic wedding image capturing the drama of the moment.
There are two primary approaches to wedding photography that are recognized today: Traditional and Photojournalistic. Traditional wedding photography provides for more classically posed images and a great deal of photographer control and interaction on the day of the wedding. Photojournalistic wedding photography takes its cue from editorial reporting styles and focuses more on candid and unposed images with little photographer interaction. These are two extremes and many of today’s photographers will fall somewhere in the middle of these two styles.
A third style that is becoming more popular is a fashion-based approach. In contemporary/fashion-based wedding photography, photojournalistic images of the events of the day are combined with posed images that are inspired by editorial fashion photography as would be found in magazines like Vogue or Vanity Fair.
A fourth style that is popular in Asian countries, especially in China, is wedding studio photography(Chinese: ; pinyin: hn sh sh yng). Typically, couples will select a studio in a similar manner as western couples select a wedding photographer. They will then make an appointment with the studio for either in-studio or location shoot, which is becoming popular in recent years, to do “glamour wedding shots”. In attendance will be a hair stylist and make-up artist in addition to the photographer and the couple. The couple will go through many changes of clothing and backgrounds in a similar manner to the fashion based approach.
A bride arriving at the venue, with her father also in the car. The black and white texture, together with her expression, and the composition of the photograph make for a picture that evokes some of the emotion from the day.
The term contemporary wedding photography is used to describe wedding photography that is not of a traditional nature. The emphasis in contemporary photography is to capture the story and atmosphere from the day, so the viewer has an appreciation of what the wedding was like, rather than a series of pre-determined poses. This term can be mistaken for meaning any photograph that is not posed or formal. The advent and advancement of digital cameras (and increased use of the internet) means that many people can offer their services as a wedding photographer, but contemporary wedding photography is more than taking informal photographs and involves the use of composition, lighting, and timing to capture photographs that have a strong visual appeal.
There is some uncertainty over what constitutes contemporary and how this differs from other forms of wedding photography. The PSA Journal, March 1994, records a debate on this subject.. This highlights the difficulty with the word contemporary when defining photographic expression, as some feel this term is not sufficiently defined. For example, is photojournalism contemporary or is it different? Photojournalism is easier to define, as the term infers the photography is by its nature similar to journalism, where the emphasis is upon reporting and recording events in a newsworthy manner, whereas contemporary may include an element of photojournalism but is not exclusively that style of photography.
However, the landscape of Wedding Photography has constantly evolved, it is a creative discipline and those proponents at the leading edge of the industry are constantly feeding new ideas into the photographic community. As a result trends will develop, mostly based around the core elements discussed. Some will be transitory while others will remain a traditional part.
Albums, prints, and other products
A contemporary wedding photographer will usually provide some or all of the following:
Indoor photography at a church, temple, or other private venue during the ceremony and reception.
Outdoor photography (often at a park, beach, or scenic location on the day of the wedding and/or for engagement photos).
Both posed and candid (photojournalistic) shots of the wedding couple and their guests at the religious or civil ceremony, and the reception that follows.
Formal portraiture in the studio (for either the wedding and/or the engagement photos).
Digital services, such as digital prints or slides shows.
Albums (either traditional or the more contemporary flush mount type of album).
A sample two-page spread from a contemporary flush mount wedding album.
The range of deliverables that a wedding photographer presents is varied. There is no standard as to what is included in a wedding coverage or package, so products vary regionally and from across photographers, as do the number of images provided.
Most photographers provide a set of proofs (usually unretouched, edited images) for the clients to view. Photographers may provide hard copy proofs in the form of 4×5 or 4×6 prints, a “magazine” of images with thumbnail sized pictures on multiple pages, an online proof gallery, images on CD or DVD in the form of a gallery or a slideshow, or a combination of the above. Some photographers provide these proofs for the client to keep, and some photographers require the client to make final print choices from the proofs and then return them or purchase them at an additional cost.
There are a wide variety of albums and manufacturers available, and photographers may provide traditional matted albums, digitally designed “coffee table” albums, contemporary flush mount albums, hardbound books, scrapbook style albums, or a combination of any of the above. Albums may be included as part of a pre-purchased package, or they may be added as an after-wedding purchase. Not all photographers provide albums; some may prefer to provide prints and/or files and let clients make their own albums.
Most photographers allow clients to purchase additional prints for themselves or their families. Many photographers now provide online sales either through galleries located on their own websites or through partnerships with other vendors. Those vendors typically host the images and provide the back end sales mechanism for the photographer; the photographer sets his or her own prices and the vendor takes a commission or charges a flat fee.
Some photographers are also including high resolution files in their packages. These photographers allow their clients limited rights to reproduce the images for their personal use, while retaining the copyright. Not all photographers release files and those who do will most likely charge a premium for them, since releasing files means giving up any after wedding print or album sales for the most part.
Photographers who do not retain copyright of the images often charge more for their services. In these cases the photographer provides the client with the digital images as part of the wedding package. The client then has unrestricted use of the images and can print any that they may desire.
Profession
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (November 2007)
A bride and groom are posed for this location shot using available lighting during the pre-twilight moments of the day due to the desirable soft lighting effects.
The wedding photography industry is home to some of the most respected names within the photography industry, some of whom were listed in PopPhoto’s Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World. These figures represent the historical rise of wedding photojournalism, fashion, couture-style portraits, and all digital work-flow.
As a wedding is a one-time event, the photographer must be prepared for the unexpected. Shooting a wedding is both exhausting and invigorating as the photographer is constantly looking for good angles and opportunities for candid…

Commodore 1581

January 4th, 2010 | frbiz68

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The Commodore 1581 is a 3 inch double sided double density floppy disk drive made by Commodore Business Machines (CBM) primarily for its C64 and C128 home/personal computers. The drive stores 800 kilobytes using an MFM format different from both MS-DOS (720 KB), and the Amiga (880 KB) formats. It was released in the summer of 1987 and quickly became popular with bulletin board system (BBS) operators and other users.
Like the 1541 and 1571, the 1581 has an on board MOS Technology 6502 CPU with its own ROM and RAM, and uses a serial version of the IEEE-488 interface. Inexplicably, the drive’s ROM contains commands for parallel use, although no parallel interface was available. Like the 1571, it can read various other disk formats using special software. This capability was most frequently used to read MS-DOS disks. However, unlike the 1571, which is nearly 100% backward-compatible with the 1541, the 1581 has limited compatibility with Commodore’s earlier drives. Although it responds to the same DOS commands, most disk utilities written prior to 1987, most notably fast loaders, are so 1541-specific that they do not work with the 1581.
The version of Commodore DOS built into the 1581 added support for partitions, which could also function as fixed-allocation subdirectories. PC style subdirectories were rejected as being too difficult to work with in terms of Block Allocation Maps, then still much in vogue, and which for some time had been the traditional way of inquiring into block availability. When used together with the C128, it implements faster burst mode access than the Commodore 1571 5″ drive. When using the 1581 together with the older C64, however, it is almost as slow as the older 1541 drive, due to limitations of the C64′s ROM code. The 1581 provides a total of 3160 blocks free when formatted (a block being equal to 256 bytes). The number of permitted directory entries was also increased, to 288 entries. With a storage capacity of 800 KB, the 1581 was the highest capacity serial bus drive ever made by Commodore (the 1 MB SFD-1001 used the parallel IEEE-488), and the only 3″ one. However, starting in 1991, Creative Micro Designs (CMD) made the FD-2000 high density (1.6 MB) and FD-4000 extended density (3.2 MB) 3″ drives, both of which offered not only a 1581 emulation mode but also 1541 and 1571 compatibility modes.
Unlike the case of the 1541 and 1571, the low-level disk format used by the 1581 is similar enough to the MS-DOS format as the 1581 is built around a WD1770 FM/MFM floppy controller chip. PC Floppy controllers (ISA or onboard, but not USB floppy drives) are able to deal with the 1581 format without need for any special tricks. Thus, utilities to format, read, and write 1581-format disks in standard PC floppy drives under Linux or Microsoft Windows exist. This controller chip, however, was the seat of some early problems with 1581 drives when the first production runs were recalled due to a high failure rate; the problem was quickly corrected. Later versions of the 1581 drive had a smaller, more streamlined looking external power supply provided with them.
Specifications
Onboard CPU: MOS Technology 6502 @ 2 MHz
RAM: 8 KB
ROM: 32 K , pc web camera .
Transfer protocols: standard and fast serial; burst mode; and commands for parallel interface (the latter not used , 19 inches lcd .
Disk type: 3 inch
Storage format: MFM, double density, double-sided
Interface: CBM’s proprietary ‘serial IEEE-488′
v d e
Floppy disk drives for Commodore 8-bit systems
IEEE
8″ | 5″
8060 8061 8062 8280 | 2031 2040 3040 4031 4040 8050 8250 SFD-1001
Serial
5″ | 3″
1540 1541 1551 1570 1571 1572 MSD SD | 1581 CMD FD
Categories: CBM floppy disk drives | 1987 introductions | Commodore 64Hidden categories: Wikipedia articles incorporating text from FOLDOC

Commodore 1541

January 4th, 2010 | frbiz68

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Disk capacity
Each side of 170 KBs was split into 683 sectors on 35 tracks, each of the sectors holding 256 bytes; the file system made each sector its own cluster.
However, since one track had to be used by the drive itself for directory and file allocation information (so-called BAM, Block Allocation Map) and two bytes of each physical sector were used as a “block” pointer to the next physical track and sector (as to implement interleave for faster access), a logical block would hold 254 out of 256 bytes.
If the disk was not otherwise prepared with a custom format, (e.g. for data disks), 664 blocks would be free after formatting, giving 168,656 bytes (or almost 165 KB) for user data.
By using custom formatting and load/save routines (sometimes included in third-party DOSes, see below), all of the mechanically possible 40 tracks could be used. The reason why Commodore decided not to use the upper five tracks by default (or at least more than 35) was the bad quality of some of the drive mechanisms which did not always work reliably at the highest tracks. So by reducing the number of tracks used and thus capacity, it was possible to further reduce cost – in contrast to Double Density drives used e.g. in IBM PC computers of the day which saved 180 KB on one side (by using a 40 tracks format).
Use of “flippy disks”, which were double-sided disks converted by cutting/punching a notch on the left-hand side, would give access to the reverse side of the disks and effectively double the storage capacity. The notch could be made with a knife, single hole paper punch, or “disk notcher” tool that was specifically designed for this task.
For compatibility and ease of implementation, the 1571′s Double Sided format of one logical disk side with 70 tracks later was created by putting together the 35 physical tracks on each of the physical sides rather than using two times 40 (or e.g. 38) tracks, even though there were no more quality problems with the mechanisms of those drives. The 1571 CP/M format, however, uses the full 360 KB available on that two R/W head drive.
Introduction and early problems
Priced at under US$400 at its introduction, the 1541 became widely popular. Although expensive by today’s standards, a C64 plus a 1541 cost about $900, while an Apple II with no disk drive cost $1395. The demand caught Commodore by surprise, and they struggled to produce the drive in adequate quantities.
Failure rates on the 1541 initially were very high, and the drives were virtually impossible to find. The lead editorial in the December 1983 issue of Compute!’s Gazette lamented that four of the seven drives the magazine had in its editorial offices had failed. Eventually the problems subsided and the drive became nearly as widely available as the C64 itself.
The 1541 did not have dip switches to change the drive number. If a user added more than one drive to a system the user had to open the case and cut a trace in the circuit board to permanently change the drive’s number, or hand-wire an external switch to allow it to be changed externally. It was also possible to change the number temporarily from the operating system.
The 1541 also had an internal power source, which generated some heat. Due to this it was in many places often known as “toaster”. The heat generation was a frequent source of humour. For example, series of humorous tips in MikroBitti 5/1989 said “When programming late, coffee and kebab keep nicely warm on top of 1541.” MikroBitti review of 1541-II said that its external power source “should end the jokes about toasters”.
Versions and third-party clones
1541C, the first upgrade version
There were two versions of the 1541 mechanics. Early models used a drive mechanism made by Alps Electric, distinguishable by its push-down drive door. Later models utilized a drive mechanism manufactured by Newtronics (Mitsumi), which used a lever release. All but the very earliest 1541s can use either the Alps or Newtronics mechanism. Visually, the first models, of the VIC-1541 denomination, had an off-white color like the VIC-20 and VIC-1540. Then, to match the look of the C64, CBM changed the drive’s color to brown-beige and the name to Commodore 1541.
Commodore 1541-II, the second of two upgraded versions of the CBM 1541. The 1541-II has the more modern ‘radial handle’ locking mechanism.
The 1541′s numerous shortcomings opened a market for a number of third-party clones of the disk drive, a situation that continued for the lifetime of the C64. Well-known clones were the Oceanic OC-118 aka Excelerator+, MSD ‘s single and dual drives, the Enhancer 2000, the Indus GT, and CMD ‘s FD-2000 and FD-4000. Nevertheless, the 1541 became the first disk drive to see widespread use in the home and Commodore sold millions of the units , dongles usb .
In 1986, Commodore released the 1541C, a revised version that offered quieter and slightly more reliable operation and a light beige case matching the color scheme of the Commodore 64C. It was replaced in 1988 by the 1541-II, which used an external power supply to provide cooler operation and allow the drive to have a smaller desktop footprint (the power supply “brick” being placed elsewhere, typically on the floor) , mp3 fm transmitter usb .
The serial computer interface
The 1541 used a bit-serial version of the IEEE-488 interface, the speedier parallel version of which was used on Commodore’s earlier drives for the PET/CBM range of personal/business computers. To ensure a ready supply of inexpensive cabling for its home computer peripherals, Commodore chose standard DIN connectors for the serial interface. Disk drives and other peripherals such as printers were connected to the computer via a daisy chain scheme, necessitating only a single connector on the computer itself.
Initially, Commodore intended to use a hardware shift register (the 6522 VIA) to maintain relatively brisk drive speeds with the new serial interface. However, a hardware bug with this chip prevented the initial design from working as anticipated, and the ROM code was hastily rewritten to handle the entire operation in software. According to Jim Butterfield, this caused a speed reduction by a factor of five.
As implemented on the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, CBM DOS could transfer only about 300 bytes per second, which translated to about 20 minutes to copy one disk10 minutes of reading time, and 10 minutes of writing time. However, since both the computer and the drive could easily be reprogrammed, third parties quickly wrote more efficient firmware that would speed up drive operations drastically. Without hardware modifications, some “fast loader” utilities managed to achieve speeds of up to 4 kB/s. The most common of these products were the Epyx FastLoad, the Final Cartridge, and the Action Replay plug-in cartridges, which all had machine code monitor and disk editor software on board as well. The popular Commodore computer magazines of the era also entered the arena with type-in fast-load utilities, with Compute!’s Gazette publishing TurboDisk in 1985 and RUN (magazine) publishing Sizzle in 1987.
Even though each 1541 had its own on board disk controller and disk operating system, it was not possible for a user to command two 1541 drives to copy a disk (one drive reading and the other writing) as with older dual drives like the 4040 and 8050 that were often found with the PET computer, and which the 1541 was backward compatible to (it could read 4040 disks but not write to them since its internal Operating System was essentially the same). Unfortunately, however, the routines in the 1541 disk operating system to enable disk copy were removed as it was intended to be a stand-alone unit. To copy from drive to drive, software running on the C64 was needed and it would first read from one drive into memory, then write out to the other. Only later when first Fast Hack’em then other disk backup programs were released was true drive to drive copying possible. One could then unplug the C64 itself from the drives (i.e. from the first drive in the daisy chain) and do something else with the computer as the drives proceeded to copy the entire disk.
Copy protection by read error
Early copy protection schemes deliberately introduced read errors on the disk, the software refusing to load unless the correct error message was returned. The general idea was that the inbuilt disk copy command was incapable of copying the errors. When one of these errors was encountered, the disk drive (as do all disk drives) would attempt one or more re-read attempts after first resetting the head to track zero. Few of these schemes had much deterrent effect, as various software companies soon released ‘nibbler’ utilities that enabled protected disks to be copied.
The drive head misalignment issue
The drive-head mechanism was notoriously easy to misalign, and had a tendency to make a ‘machine-gun’ rattle when out of alignment or when formatting a new disk. Some people even wrote code to vibrate the head at different frequencies to play simple tunes such as Daisy Bell, Amazing Grace, and, perhaps most appropriately, When I’m Sixty-Four. The most common cause of the 1541′s drive head knocking and subsequent misalignment, however, was copy protection schemes on commercial software.
The main cause of the problem was that the disk drive itself did not feature any means of detecting when the read/write head had reached track zero. Accordingly, when a disk was formatted or a disk error occurred, the unit would physically drive the head 40 tracks to track zero (although the 1541 DOS only used 35 tracks, the drive itself was a 40 track unit). Once track zero was reached, the head…

Magic ring

January 4th, 2010 | frbiz68

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Arm rings and finger rings
Generally, only two types of magical rings are known from mythology and fiction: arm rings and finger rings.
Different magic rings can do different magical things: depending on the purposes of the storyteller a magical ring can either have a limited or general function.
Magical rings can be magical for a variety of reasons, or the storyteller can give no reason at all. Some rings are explained as ordinary rings that have become magical because they have been enchanted by a magician or touched by a god. Other rings are magical because of the material they are made of; often a ring is a mere carrier for a special jewel, which itself is the source of the magic. Other rings are magical because they are inhabited by a spirit.
Figures of Celtic gods have been found wearing a torc or a neck ring, and torcs are on rare occasion mentioned as decoration in early Irish and Welsh literature, but none are described as magical , necklace amber .
Similarly, ancient drawings of Mesopotamian gods sometimes include one or several rings attached to staffs or poles, but no reference has been found in writings recovered from that time to show whether they were magical or merely decorative. It should be noted, however, that this may just be a result of the fact that so much of Mesopotamian literature still remains unstudied. It is hard to imagine that in societies where magic and amulets were so ubiquitous, the idea of a magic ring was unknown , round glass beads .
Magic rings are certainly known in Jewish lore. They are mentioned in the Talmud and Midrash. For instance, a story about King Solomon and a ring can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 68a. But their use is more fully discussed in Jewish mystical literature. For their use in halakhic literature see Mark Verman’s “The Books of Contemplation” chapter two, note 200. There, the power of the rings is in the divine names with which they are inscribed, and they are used to invoke and command various guardians of heavenly palaces and to gain entrance to those heavens. For an example of magic rings in the Zohar, where God is thought to own and use a signet ring, or, at least, a signet – see Zohar 1:29a, though this is certainly metaphorical.
Function in the story
Like other magical objects in stories, magic rings act as a plot device. They may give magical abilities to a person lacking in them, or enhance the power of a wizard. For instance, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the magical ring allows Bilbo Baggins to be instrumental in the quest, matching the abilities of the dwarves.
Other magical rings function as nothing more than MacGuffins; the characters’ desire for the ring rather than its innate powers moves the story. For example, in the Volsunga Saga, the magic ring that eventually rests on Sigurd’s arm is not actually used to do anything, and its possible use is never explained. The ring’s function in the plot is only to the focus of desire for most of story’s main characters; it is their greed for the ring that moves the plot along.
Magic rings in mythology and folklore
“Brynhild, Sigurd and the Rings” Faroe stamp depicting magical rings from Norse mythology
The earliest known magical ring in European fiction or myth is very likely the arm ring named Draupnir. It belonged to the Norse god Odin. Because its only reported function is to create more gold arm bands every few days, Draupnir seems to have been a religious symbol which represented increasing wealth.
A similar arm ring, which also comes from Norse mythology, was called Andvarinaut. Andvarinaut is the famous Ring of the Niebelungens from The Volsunga Saga and The Nibelungenlied, which eventually becomes the property of the hero Siegfried or Sigurd. Although how it comes to be cursed is explained in detail, Andvarinaut’s use is never specifically given in the story. Other than its curse being the source of disaster for every owner, Andvarinaut’s only plot function is that nearly every character wants to get it, except Sigurd, who has got it, but doesn’t know what it is.
A small number of Viking Age finger rings bearing runic inscriptions of apparently magical significance are known, among them the Kingmoor Ring and the Bramham Moor Ring.
Medieval storytellers report that the wizard Merlin was the victim of a magical finger ring given to him by the young enchantress named Nimue. The magic in the ring caused him to fall in love with her. Merlin then allowed Nimue to imprison him either in the trunk of a tree or in a stone coffin, hence his demise.
As mentioned above, Solomon’s magical ring had many properties in legend: making him all-knowing, conferring ability to speak with animals, and bearing the sigil that sealed genies into bottles. This ring appeared in modern fantasy in Charles Williams’s Many Dimensions.and , also, in the stories with the comic book character Seraph (comics) published by DC Comics
Plato, however, tells a story about the Ring of Gyges, which conferred invisibility on its wearer. The shepherd Gyges, who found it in a cave, used its power to seduce the Queen, kill the King and take his place. Earlier accounts of Gyges – a historical King of Lydia, give different acounts of how he came to seize the throne, which make no mention of a magic ring; the story was evidently used by Plato as a parable for the abuse of power. No do other stories in the earlier sources of Greek mythology mention magic rings, though many other magical objects are listed, particularly in the [[Perseus#Adventures with the Gorgons|Perseus myth.
Child ballad 18, Hind Horn, and Child ballad 92, Bonny Bee Hom, both include a magic ring that turns pale when the person who received it has lost the person who gave it.
Magic rings in fairytales and modern fantasy books
The following is a partial list of modern fairytales and fantasy novels in which a magic ring is a central or essential plot element. (Note that magic rings occur in a myriad of fantasy stories as incidental objects or background items; those are not listed here.)
The oldest “modern” fairy tale to use a magic ring is the story of Aladdin: not only is there a djinn summoned by the magic lamp, there is also a less powerful djinn summoned from a finger ring.
The composer Richard Wagner wrote a series of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen which present his version of the story in The Nibelungenlied and The Volsunga Saga. The operas are more often called The Wagner Ring Cycle in English.
In William Makepeace Thackeray’s The Rose and the Ring, the title ring (like the title rose) has the power to make whoever owns it beautiful, and its passing from hand to hand does much to move the plot.
In E. Nesbit’s The Enchanted Castle, a magic ring has whatever magical powers its owner says that it has.
Throughout J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy story The Lord of the Rings twenty magical finger rings are mentioned, although most do not appear in the story. The most powerful of these rings was simply referred to as “the One Ring.”
In C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew, two magic rings, which shift people to the Wood between the Worlds, a linking room between parallel universes and back, are central plot elements.
Author Andre Norton wrote several fantasy novels in which magic, and occasionally magic rings, play a part. In her novel The Zero Stone the title comes from a ring that is the central artifact in the plot.
Author H. Warner Munn wrote an award winning fantasy novel titled Merlin’s Ring.
Author Stephen R. Donaldson wrote a long series of fantasy novels about a magic ring of white gold owned by a fictional Thomas Covenant.
Author Poul Anderson, in A Midsummer Tempest, has Oberon and Titania give two characters magical rings that will aid them as long as they are true to each other; these rings act on their behalf on several occasions in the book.
Author Piers Anthony wrote Castle Roogna and included as an important part of the plot a ring that claimed to be able to grant wishes. Every wish made on this ring did come true eventually, and apparently unaided by the efforts of the characters.
In Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, whenever the magic ring gets tapped, it casts a magical spell. Because the ring is sized for human fingers, Jerry the mouse wears it on his head somewhat like a tiara.
In the Harry Potter series a magic ring bearing a coat of arms linked to the Peverell brothers, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort’s ancestors, becomes one of the most important objects in the series because it contains a fragment of Voldemort’s soul and it is one of the three Deathly Hallows.
In the Tanya Grotter book series, a Russian parody of Harry Potter, the heroine uses a magic ring that bears the voice of her great-grandfather in order to perform spells. Additionally, the other magicians in the series also use rings to do magic.
In the DC Universe, the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott fashioned a power ring from an ancient lamp that was derived from a mass of matter, later revealed to be the Starheart.
Magic rings in video and role-playing games
Magic rings with a wide variety of effects became a common part of the “treasure” found in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and thus part of many other fantasy role-playing games and video games that followed it.
In the MMORPG RuneScape, magic rings have many uses from teleportation to helping attack.
In the video game Eternal Ring, several magic rings can be made by placing a “dead” ring on a pedestal. The game’s storyline revolves around finding the titular Eternal Ring, that may be used to overthrow a tyrant.
In Final Fantasy VI, there…

EPICS

December 29th, 2009 | frbiz68

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Look and feel
EPICS interfaces to the real world with IOCs (Input Output Controllers) . These are either stock-standard PCs or VME standard embedded system processors that manage a variety of “plug and play” modules (GPIB, RS-232, IP Carrier etc.) which interface to control system instruments (oscilloscopes, network analyzers) and devices (motors, thermocouples, switches, etc.). The IOC holds and runs a database of ‘records’ which represent either devices or aspects of the devices to be controlled. IOC software used for hard-real-time normally use RTEMS or VxWorks, though work has been ongoing in porting to other systems. Soft real-time IOC software sometimes runs on Linux or MS-Windows based machines.
Other computers on the network can interact with the IOC via the concept of channels. Take, for example a particle accelerator with shutters between sectors. There would typically be several channels corresponding to a shutter: an output channel to activate shutter motion, an input channel to see the status of the shutter (e.g. shut, open, moving, etc.), and probably some additional analog input channels representing temperatures and pressures on each side of the shutter. Channel names are typically in the form EQUIPMENT:SIGNALNAME (e.g. ACCELERATOR_RING:TEMP_PROBE_4, although they can be much less verbose to save time).
Most operations are driven directly from a standalone GUI package such as EDM (editor/display manager) or MEDM (Motif/EDM). These allow creation of GUI screens with dials, gauges, text boxes, simple animations, etc.
However it is not just GUI software which can interact with EPICS: any software which can speak the CA protocol can get and put values of records. For example on the EPICS website there are several extension packages which allow CA support in things like MATLAB, LabVIEW, Perl, Python, Tcl, ActiveX, etc. Hence it is easy to do things like make scripts which can activate EPICS controlled equipment , .
Record types
There are different types of records available in EPICS. Here are some common types. Note that in addition to the other records not mentioned here, it is possible to create your own record type to interact with a device.
Each record has various fields in it, which are used for various tasks. AI and AO Analog Input and Output records can obviously store an analog value, and are typically used for things like set-points, temperatures, pressure, flow rates, etc. A limited amount of conversion to and from raw device data is available natively in the record (typically scaling and offsetting, but not advanced conversion like two’s complement or logarithmic). BI and BO Binary Input and Output records are generally used for commands and statuses to and from equipment. Calc and Calcout These two records can access other records and perform a calculation based on their values. (E.g. calculate the efficiency of a motor by a function of the current and voltage input and output, and converting to a percentage for the operator to read). Stepper Motor Control of a stepper motor. Allows settings of things like accelerations and velocities, as well as position.
Record processing
Records in EPICS must have a designated scan time, otherwise they are automatically set as passive. A passive record will never process (unless its PROC field is written to). Mostly records are set to process on a periodic scan (such every 0.1 second).
Alternately records may be set to process only on events.
Facilities using EPICS
Partial list…
Australia
Australian Synchrotron
Asia
KSTAR – Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (Republic of Korea)
J-PARC – Joint Facility for High Intensity Proton Accelerators (Japan)
BSRF – Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (China)
Europe
Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) (Germany)
Diamond Light Source – Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (England)
Swiss Light Source – Paul Scherrer Institut (Switzerland)
North America
Advanced Light Source – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (United States)
Advanced Photon Source – Argonne National Laboratory (United States)
Canadian Light Source Synchrotron – University of Saskatchewan (Canada)
FNAL – Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (United States)
LIGO
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center – Los Alamos National Laboratory (United States)
National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory – Michigan State University (United States)
National Synchrotron Light Source – Brookhaven National Laboratory (United States)
Spallation Neutron Source – Oak Ridge National Laboratory (United States)
Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory – Stanford University (United States)
TJNAF – Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (United States)
TRIUMF – University of British Columbia (Canada)
External links
General sites
EPICS website
EPICS website Canada
Asian users
KEKB Japan
European users
Berlin Electron Synchrotron (BESSY II)
Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY)
Swiss Light Source
North American users
Canadian Light Source (CLS)
Jefferson Labs
KECK Observatory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE)
The National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL)
Spallation Neutron Source (SNS)
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC)
TRIUMF
Categories: Science software | Physics software | Experimental particle physics | Industrial computing

Four Treasures of the Study

December 29th, 2009 | frbiz68

Ionic Pet Cleaning Brush
The Four Treasures
Chinese culture is very fond of four word couplets, and the Four Treasures are another example: “: ,” (Pinyin: wn fng s bo: b, m, zh, yn) “The four jewels of the study: Brush, Ink, Paper, Inkstone.” In the couplet mentioned each of the Treasures is referred to by a single epithet; however, each of these are usually known by a compound name (i.e. The Brush: , literally “hand brush/pen”). The individual treasures have a “treasured” form, each being produced in certain areas of China as a speciality for those scholars who would use them.
The Brush
Main article: Ink brush
A highly decorative Badgher hair brush dating back to the Ming Dynasty.
The brush (Chinese: traditional , simplified ; Pinyin: mo b) is the most ancient of the Four Treasures, with archaeological evidence dating back to the Zhou dynasty (1045 BC256 BC) illustrating its use on ancient bones. The oldest brush found so far dates back to the Han dynasty (202 BC220 AD). The brush is generally made from animal hair, although in certain situations writing brushes were made of the first hair taken from a baby’s head. This hair was said to bring good luck in the Chinese Public Examinations. The handles of the brushes are commonly made of bamboo although special brushes might have handles made of sandalwood, jade, carved bone/ivory, or other precious materials.
Modern brushes are made primarily from white goat hair (), black rabbit hair (), yellow weasel hair (), or a combination of these. Ancient brushes, and some of the more valuable ones available on the market may be made with the hair of any number of different types of animals. Each type of hair has a different ink capacity, which in turn results in a different appearance of the brush’s stroke. These differing brushes are used for different styles of calligraphy and writing.
Brushes are classed as either soft (), mixed () or hard (). Their production is quite a laborious process which involves hair-sorting on the basis of softness, hardness, thickness, length, and then making appropriate bundles of correct composition for certain purposes. The most famous and highly prized brushes are a mix of yellow weasel, goat and rabbit hair, and are known as Hb (). They have been prized highly since the Ming dynasty (late 14th century) and are currently made in Shanlian (), a town in the Wuxing District () of Zhejiang province ().
The Ink
Main article: Inkstic , cosmetics brush .
An inkstick made in the form of lotus leaves and flowers , acid resistant .
The Inkstick (Chinese: pinyin: m) is a form of artificial ink which was developed during the Han dynasty. The first inks used for writing were based on naturally occurring minerals like graphite and vermillion. Early inks were probably in liquid form, and therefore did not get preserved. The inksticks of today are generally made using soots from one of three different sources. These include lacquer soot, pine soot, and oil soot. These soots are collected, and then mixed with glue. Higher quality inksticks are also mixed with powdered spices and herbs, which both add to the aroma of the ink and providing some protection to the ink itself. The glue, soot, and spice mixture is then pressed into a shape and allowed to dry. This process may take upwards of 6 weeks depending on the dimensions of the inkstick.
The best ink sticks are fine grained and have a light, slightly ringing sound when tapped. They are often decorated with poems, calligraphy, or bas relief, and painted. These particular articles are highly collectable, and were often collected in much the same way as stamps are. The inksticks which are held in highest regard, are known as Hum () are known to contain musk, borneol and other precious aromatics normally used in Chinese medicine. They are still produced today in Shexian () in Anhui province (),
The Paper
Main article: Xuan Paper
A detail from The Treatise on Calligraphy by Sun Guoting (646-691). Ink on Paper.
Paper (Chinese: traditional , simplified ; Pinyin: zh) was first developed in China in the first decade of 100AD. Previous to its invention, bamboo slips and silks were used for writing material. Several methods of paper production developed over the centuries in China. However, the paper which was considered of highest value was that of the Jingxian () in Anhui province.
This particular form of paper, known as Xunzh (), is soft, fine-textured, moth resistant, has a high tensile strength, and remarkable longevity for such a product – so much so that it has a reputation for lasting “1,000 years.” The quality of the paper depends on the processing methods used to produce it. Paper may be unprocessed, half processed or processed. The processing determines how well ink or paint is absorbed into the fibre of the paper, as well as the stiffness of the paper itself. Unprocessed papers are very absorbent and quite malleable, whereas processed papers are far more resistant to absorption and are stiffer.
The Inkstone
Main article: Chinese Inkstone
A Duan Inkstone in the shape of a pond.
The inkstone (Chinese: traditional or ; simplified or ; Pinyin: yn or yn ti) is used to grind the ink stick into powder. This powder is then mixed with water in a well in the inkstone in order to produce useable ink for calligraphy. The most ideal water for use in ink is slightly salty. Ink was first prepared using a mortar and pestle, but with the advent of inksticks this method slowly vanished. The stone used is generally of a relatively fine whetstone type.
The earliest known inkstones date back to the Han dynasty. The production of inkstones reached its zenith in the Tang and Song dynasties with inkstones becoming extremely intricate works of art. The most highly sought-after inkstones originated in four different locations in China. Duanshi () stones from Duanxi in Guangdong, She () stones from Shexian in Anhui, Taohe stones () from the Tao River in South Gansu and Chengni ceramic stones () which are manufactured by a process which is said to have been developed in Luoyang in Henan.
The Tools of the Scholar
Classical scholars had more than just the Four treasures in their studies. The other “Treasures” include the brush-holder (), brush-hanger (), paperweights (), the brush-rinsing pot (), and the seal () and seal-ink ().
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Categories: Calligraphy | Art materials | Chinese culture | East Asian calligraphy | Writing instruments | Numeric epithets | Writing system stubs | China stubs | Japanese art stubs

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

December 29th, 2009 | frbiz68

Oxygen Absorber/ Oxygen Scavenger (10CC-1000CC)
Discovery
The Patch is created in the gyre of the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone
The existence of the Eastern Garbage Patch was predicted in a 1988 paper published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States. The prediction was based on results obtained by several Alaska-based researchers between 1985 and 1988 that measured neustonic plastic in the North Pacific Ocean. This research found high concentrations of marine debris accumulating in regions governed by particular patterns of ocean currents. Extrapolating from findings in the Sea of Japan, the researchers postulated that similar conditions would occur in other parts of the Pacific Ocean where prevailing currents were favourable to the creation of relatively stable bodies of water. They specifically indicated the North Pacific Gyre.
The existence of the garbage patch received wider public and scientific attention after it was documented in several articles written by Charles Moore, a California-based sea captain and ocean researcher. Moore, returning home through the North Pacific Gyre after competing in the Transpac sailing race, came upon an enormous stretch of floating debris.
Moore alerted the oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer to the existence of the phenomenon, who subsequently dubbed the region the “Eastern Garbage Patch” (EGP). The area is frequently featured in media reports as an exceptional example of marine pollution , tankers for sale .
Formatio , polo wholesale .
Like other areas of concentrated marine debris in the world’s oceans, the Eastern Garbage Patch has formed gradually over time as a result of marine pollution gathered by the action of oceanic currents.
The garbage patch occupies a large and relatively stationary region of the North Pacific Ocean bound by the North Pacific Gyre (a remote area commonly referred to as the horse latitudes). The rotational pattern created by the North Pacific Gyre draws in waste material from across the North Pacific Ocean, including the coastal waters off North America and Japan. As material is captured in the currents, wind-driven surface currents gradually move floating debris toward the center, trapping it in the region.
The size of the affected region is unknown, as large items readily visible from the deck of a boat are few and far between. Most of the debris consists of small plastic particles suspended at or just below the water surface, making it impossible to detect by aircraft or satellite images. Estimates on size range from 700,000 km to more than 15 million km, (0.41% to 8.1% of the size of the Pacific Ocean). The area may contain over 100 million tons of debris. It has also been suggested that the patch may represent two areas of debris that are linked.
Sources of pollutants
It has been estimated that 80% of the garbage comes from land-based sources, and 20% from ships at sea. Currents carry debris from the west coast of North America to the gyre in about five years, and debris from the east coast of Asia in a year or less. An international project led by Dr. Hideshige Takada of Tokyo University studying plastic pellets from beaches around the world may provide further clues about the origins of pelagic plastic, including that of the Pacific garbage patch.
Plastic photodegradation in the ocean
Main article: Photodegradation
The Eastern Garbage Patch has one of the highest levels of plastic particulate suspended in the upper water column. As a result, it is one of several oceanic regions where researchers have studied the effects and impact of plastic photodegradation in the neustonic layer of water. Unlike debris which biodegrades, the photodegraded plastic disintegrates into ever smaller pieces while remaining a polymer. This process continues down to the molecular level.
As the plastic flotsam photodegrades into smaller and smaller pieces, it concentrates in the upper water column. As it disintegrates, the plastic ultimately becomes small enough to be ingested by aquatic organisms which reside near the ocean’s surface. Plastic waste thus enters the food chain through its intense concentration in the neuston.
Density of neustonic plastics
Despite Charles Moore’s description, the eastern garbage patch cannot be characterised as a continuous visible field of densely floating marine debris. The process of disintegration means that the plastic particulate in much of the affected region may be too small to be seen. Researchers must estimate the overall extent and density of plastic pollution in the EGP by taking samples. In a 2001 study, researchers (including Moore) found that in certain areas of the patch, concentrations of plastic reached one million particles per square mile. The study found concentrations of plastics at 3.34 pieces with a mean mass of 5.1 milligrams per square meter. In many areas of the affected region, the overall concentration of plastics was greater than the concentration of zooplankton by a factor of seven. Samples collected at deeper points in the water column found much lower levels of plastic debris (primarily monofilament fishing line), confirming earlier observations that most plastic waste concentrates in the upper parts of the water column.
Impact on wildlife
The remnants of a Laysan Albatross chick which was fed plastic by its parents resulting in death
The floating plastic particles resemble zooplankton, which can be inadvertently consumed by jellyfish. Many of these long-lasting plastics end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals, including sea turtles, and the Black-footed Albatross. Besides the particles’ danger to wildlife, the floating debris can absorb organic pollutants from seawater, including PCBs, DDT, and PAHs. Aside from toxic effects, when ingested, some of these are mistaken by the endocrine system as estradiol, causing hormone disruption in the affected animal.
Cleanup
In 2008, Richard Owen, a building contractor and scuba dive instructor, formed the Environmental Cleanup Coalition to address the issue of the pollution of the North Pacific. The ECC plan calls for modifying a fleet of ships to clear the area of debris and form a restoration and recycling laboratory called Gyre Island.
Project Kaisei is a project to study and cleanup the garbage patch launched in March 2009. In August 2009 two vessels from the project, the New Horizon and the Kaisei, embarked on a voyage to research the patch and determine the feasibility of a commercial scale collection and recycling operation.
References
^ a b Bradshaw, Kate (January 29, 2009), “The Great Garbage Swirl”, Mautime Weekly (Maui), http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-i-2009-01-29-68584.113117_The_great_garbage_swirl.html, retrieved on 2009-04-26
^ Day, Robert H.; Shaw, David G.; Ignell, Steven E. (4) (PDF), Quantitative distribution and characteristics of neustonic plastic in the North Pacific Ocean. Final Report to US Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Auke Bay Laboratory. Auke Bay, AK (published 1988), pp. 247266, http://swfsc.noaa.gov/publications/TM/SWFSC/NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-154_P247.PDF
^ “After entering the ocean, however, neuston plastic is redistributed by currents and winds. For example, plastic entering the ocean in Japan is moved eastward by the Subarctic Current (in Subarctic Water) and the Kuroshio (in Transitional Water, Kawai 1972; Favorite et al. 1976; Nagata et al. 1986). In this way, the plastic is transported from high-density areas to low-density areas. In addition to this eastward movement, Ekman stress from winds tends to move surface waters from the subarctic and the subtropics toward the Transitional Water mass as a whole (see Roden 1970: fig. 5). Because of the convergent nature of this Ekman flow, densities tend to be high in Transitional Water. In addition, the generally convergent nature of water in the North Pacific Central Gyre (Masuzawa 1972) should result in high densities there also.” Day, etc… 1988, p. 261 (Emphasis added)
^ Berton, Justin (October 19 2007), “Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean”, San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco: Hearst): W8, Friday, October 19, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/19/SS6JS8RH0.DTL, retrieved on 2007-10-22
^ http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN03543992
^ http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html
^ La Canna, Xavier (February 4, 2008), “Floating rubbish dump ‘bigger than US’”, News.com.au (Australia: news.com.au), Friday, February 4, http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23156399-2,00.html, retrieved on 2008-02-26
^ Faris, J. and Hart, K. (1994), Seas of Debris: A Summary of the Third International Conference on Marine Debris, N.C. Sea Grant College Program and NOAA
^ Garbage Mass Is Growing in the Pacific, National Public Radio, 2008-03-28, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89099470
^ “International Pellet Watch”. Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Dr. Hideshige Takada. http://www.tuat.ac.jp/~gaia/ipw/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-27.
^ Thompson, Richard C. (7 May 2004), “Lost at Sea: Where Is All the Plastic?,”, Science 304 (5672): 843, doi:10.1126/science.1094559, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/304/5672/838/DC1, retrieved on 2008-07-19
^ Moore, Charles; Moore, S. L.; Leecaster, M. K.; Weisberg, S. B. (4), “A Comparison of Plastic and Plankton in the North Pacific Central Gyre” (PDF), Marine Pollution Bulletin 42 (12): 12971300, 2001-12-01, doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(01)00114-X,…

Korean flower arrangement

December 29th, 2009 | frbiz68

Security Waste Incinerator
History
In ancient times, Kamilo Beach was a location where Native Hawaiians would go to find large evergreen logs, drifted ashore from the Pacific Northwest, for building dugout canoes. It was also a location where those who were lost at sea might eventually wash ashore.
Around 1960, Kamilo Beach was still free of man-made debris, with the exception of a few tires. It was then a place where driftwood was gathered by local artists for use in sculptures.
Description
Location of Kamilo Beach on the island of Hawaii
Kamilo Beach is approximately 1,500 feet (460 m) long, and is located on the southeast coast of the Kau District on the island of Hawaii.
Kamilo Beach is one of many beaches in the Hawaiian Islands that receives large amounts of debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The crescent-shaped beach is an accumulation zone for plastic trash. The debris is forced onto the beach by constant trade winds and converging ocean currents.
Debris
The accumulated garbage that covers Kamilo Beach and an adjacent 2.8 miles (4.5 km) of shoreline consists of 90% plastic. Although some of the items comprising the trash are household products, the vast majority are fishing related such as nets, rope, cones used to trap hagfish, spacers used in oyster farming, buoys, crates, and baskets.
Part of the debris is made from plastic pellets, either pre-production nurdles or pellets created from larger plastic items breaking down into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces are referred to as “plastic sand”, and now exceed the volume of the beach’s natural sand.
Environmental impact
A young bird that was fed plastic by its parents and was unable to eject it, resulting in its death by either starvation or choking
Wildlife in the area has suffered significant damage due to the on- and off-shore garbage. Fishing debris, such as discarded fishing nets and lines, drowns, strangles, and traps birds and marine mammals. Birds die from ingesting large pieces of plastic, especially young birds fed by their parents. Sea turtles may mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and choke , tyre recycling .
Some types of plastic and their constituents, such as bisphenol A, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, and polystyrene, leach carcinogenic or poisonous chemicals when they break down. Others absorb toxins such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls from their surroundings. These toxins are absorbed by animals when consumed , oil recycle .
Cleanup efforts
At least three major cleanup efforts have taken place on Kamilo Beach in recent years. Prior to the efforts, the debris was 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m) high in some places. Efforts to clean up marine debris from Kamilo Beach have included those by the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii. In February 2006, the Hawaii Wildlife Fund organized 120 volunteers and removed 400 garbage bags of debris and up to 10 tons (9 tonnes) of fishing nets from the beach.
In November 2007, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii volunteers removed more than 4 million pieces of plastic from Kamilo Beach.
See also
List of beaches in Hawaii (island)
References
^ Sarhangi, Sheila (July 2008). “Getting Trashed”. Honolulu Magazine. http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/July-2008/Getting-Trashed/. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
^ a b Dashefsky, Howard (9 November 2007). “Big Island Beach Attracts Plastic Trash”. KHNL NBC 8 Honolulu Hawaii (KHNL). http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=7334574. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
^ a b c Weiss, Kenneth R. (9 November 2007). “Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas”. Part 4: Altered Oceans (Los Angeles Times). http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean2aug02,0,71579,full.story. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
^ Natural World, “Message in the Waves – Hawai’i”. BBC Two.
^ Rooney, Brian (2008-03-26). “Landfill in the Sea”. Technology & Science (ABC News). http://a.abcnews.com/Technology/Story?id=4528488&page=1. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
^ McNarie, Alan D. (5 December 2007). “Sea of plastic”. Honolulu Weekly. http://honoluluweekly.com/diary/2007/12/sea-of-plastic/. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
^ Lawrence, Charles (2006). “Hawaii Wildlife Fund – South Point Beach Cleanup 2/06″. Photo gallery. PBase.com. http://www.pbase.com/charleswilliam3/beach_cleanup. Retrieved on 2008-12-06. See also: Smith, Dave (2006-02-24). “Try running your toes through this”. Hawaii Tribune-Herald. http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2006/02/24/local_news/local01.txt.
Further reading
Clark, John R. K. (1985). Beaches of The Big Island. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-0976-9.
Handy, Edward Smith Craighill; Elizabeth Green Handy, Mary Kawena Pukui (1972). Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press; Revised edition (1991). ISBN 0-910240-11-6.
External links
Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i
Algalita research organization – Marine pollutant research documents
Environmental research study on marine plastic debris
University of Hawai’i Environmental Center
Great Garbage Patch site
Kahea Hawaiian Environmental Alliance
Categories: Beaches of Hawaii (island) | Ocean pollution | Pollution in the United States

Ricky Nelson

December 22nd, 2009 | frbiz68

, www.rickynelson.com/
Eric Hilliard “Ricky” Nelson, later known as Rick Nelson (May 8, 1940 December 31, 1985), was an American singer, musician and actor. He placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973, including 19 top-ten hits. Nelson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Contents
1 Early years
2 Career
3 Marriage, family, and trouble , coil heaters .
4 Deat , home gas heater .
5 Tributes
6 Albums
7 Singles discography
8 Literature
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
//
Early years
Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, he was the youngest son of Ozzie Nelson, the leader of a big band, and Harriet Hilliard Nelson, the band’s singer. Along with brother David Nelson, the family starred in the long-running radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1944 to 1954 on the radio, and 1952 to 1966 on television. However, David and Ricky Nelson did not join the cast until 1949; for the first five years of the radio show, the sons were played by professional actors.
Career
Nelson, who was the first teen idol to utilize television to promote hit records, began a rock and roll music career in 1957. He recorded his debut single, the Fats Domino song “I’m Walking”, seeking to impress a date who was an Elvis Presley fan. After he performed it on TV, it was a hit, reaching #4 on the charts while the flip-side, “A Teenager’s Romance,” went to #2. Soon, each episode of the Ozzie & Harriet television show ended with a musical performance by “Ricky”. During the sitcom’s run Ozzie Nelson, either to keep his son’s fans tuned in or as an affirmation of his reputed behind-the-scenes persona as a controlling personality, kept Ricky from appearing on other TV shows that could have enhanced his public profile, American Bandstand and The Ed Sullivan Show in particular.[citation needed] Nelson finally did appear on the Sullivan show in 1967, but his career by that time was in limbo. He also appeared on other TV shows (usually in acting roles). In 1973, he had an acting role in an episode of The Streets of San Francisco, where he played the part of a hippy flute-playing leader of a harem of young prostitutes. In 1979, he guest-hosted on Saturday Night Live, where he proved to be a good sport in spoofing his TV sitcom image by appearing in a Twilight Zone send-up, where, always trying to go “home”, he finds himself among the characters from other 1950s/early ’60s-era sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Make Room for Daddy, and I Love Lucy.
Nelson knew and loved music, and was a skilled performer even before he became a teen idol, largely due to his parents’ musical background. In addition to guitar, he played drums and the clarinet. (He showcased his drum skills in the same episode where he made his singing debut.) Nelson worked with many musicians of repute, including James Burton, Joe Osborn, and Allen “Puddler” Harris, all natives of Louisiana, and Joe Maphis, The Jordanaires, Scotty Moore and Johnny and Dorsey Burnette. While Elvis may have served as the catalyst for Rick’s musical career, his real inspiration was Carl Perkins.
From 1957 to 1962, Nelson had thirty Top-40 hits, more than any other artist at the time except Presley (who had 53) and Pat Boone (38). Many of Nelson’s early records were double hits with both the A and B sides hitting the Billboard charts. When Billboard introduced the Hot 100 chart on August 4, 1958, Nelson’s single “Poor Little Fool” became the first song ever in the #1 position on that chart.
While Nelson preferred rockabilly and uptempo rock songs like “Believe What You Say” (Hot 100 #4), “I Got A Feeling” (Hot 100 #10), “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” (Hot 100 #12), “Hello Mary Lou” (Hot 100 #9), “It’s Late” (Hot 100 #9), “Stood Up” (Hot 100 #2), “Waitin’ In School” (Hot 100 #18), “Be-Bop Baby” (Hot 100 #3), and “Just A Little Too Much” (Hot 100 #9), his smooth, calm voice made him a natural to sing ballads. He had major success with “Travelin’ Man” (Hot 100 #1), “A Teenage Romance” (Hot 100 #2), “Poor Little Fool” (Hot 100 #1), “Young World” (Hot 100 #5), “Lonesome Town” (Hot 100 #7), “Never Be Anyone Else But You” (Hot 100 #6), “Sweeter Than You” (Hot 100 #9), “It’s Up To You” (Hot 100 #6), and “Teenage Idol” (Hot 100 #5), which clearly could have been about Nelson himself.
In addition to his recording career, Nelson appeared in movies, including the Howard Hawks western classic Rio Bravo with John Wayne and Dean Martin (1959), plus The Wackiest Ship In the Army (1960) and Love and Kisses (1965).
On May 8, 1961 (his 21st birthday), the singer officially changed his recording name from “Ricky Nelson” to “Rick Nelson”. However, not too long before his untimely death, Nelson realized a dream of his. He met his idol, Carl Perkins, who, while musing that they were the last of the “rockabilly breed”, addressed Nelson as “Ricky”.
In 1963, Nelson signed a 20-year contract with Decca Records. After some early successes with the label, most notably 1964′s “For You”, a #9 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, Nelson’s chart career came to a dramatic halt in the wake of The British Invasion.
In the mid-1960s, Nelson began to move towards country music, becoming a pioneer in the country-rock genre. He was one of the early influences of the so-called “California Sound” (which would include singers like Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt and bands like The Eagles). Yet Nelson himself did not reach the Top 40 again until 1970, when he recorded Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me” with the Stone Canyon Band.
In 1972, Nelson reached the Top 40 one last time with “Garden Party”, a song he wrote in disgust after a Madison Square Garden audience booed him when he tried playing new songs instead of just his old hits. However, it has often been stated that the audience was in fact booing the police who were arresting unruly members of the audience while Nelson was performing. Since Nelson did not see the commotion in the audience, he incorrectly concluded that the booing was directed toward him. “Garden Party” reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and was certified as a gold single. (Coincidentally, “Garden Party” was a hit at the same time Elvis Presley was having his last Top-10 single, “Burning Love”, as was Chuck Berry with “My Ding-a-Ling”. Berry is among the musicians alluded to in the lyrics of “Garden Party”.)
Nelson studied Karate earning a brown belt, before going on to learn Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto. Inosanto described Nelson as a “good martial artist for those times”.
Marriage, family, and troubles
Nelson married Kristin Harmon in April 1963, in what Life magazine referred to as “The Wedding of the Year”. Harmon is the daughter of Football All-American University of Michigan football legend and Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox, and is the older sister of movie and television star Mark Harmon, perhaps known best for the hit series NCIS.
The couple had one daughter, Tracy (born October 25, 1963), twin sons Gunnar and Matthew (born September 20, 1967), and a fourth child, Sam (born August 29, 1974). His daughter, Tracy, is an actress and a cancer survivor. She may be best known for her role in the television series Father Dowling Mysteries. Nelson’s twin sons, Gunnar and Matthew, also became teen idols, performing as the band Nelson and charting several hits in the 1990s. Sam Nelson founded and performed with the group H Is Orange in the early 2000′s .
After “Garden Party”, Rick Nelson never regained his career’s momentum. By the late 1970s, his life was in shambles and he was heavily in debt. After a highly tumultuous marriage (the antithesis of what the public had seen on Ozzie and Harriet and in Love and Kisses), Kristin filed for divorce and took their four children. He still recorded periodically, but commercial success eluded him. Rick’s primary source of income was non-stop touring, ranging from intimate clubs and bars to the county and state fairs where he attracted large crowds that remembered him from his days as a teen idol.
Death
In 1985, Nelson joined a nostalgia rock tour of England. It was a major success, and it revived some interest in his work. He tried to duplicate that effect in the United States, and he began a tour of the South. Nelson and his band boarded a plane after a show at a small club in Guntersville, Alabama headed to the KLUV-FM New Year’s Eve Sock-Hop concert in Dallas, Texas. The plane crashed northeast of Dallas in De Kalb, Texas killing Nelson and six others. Nelson was buried in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
The NTSB investigation stated that the crash was probably due to mechanical problems. The pilots attempted to land in a field after smoke filled the cabin. An examination indicated that a fire originated in the right hand side of the aft cabin area at or near the floor line. The passengers were killed when the aircraft struck obstacles during the forced landing; the pilots were able to escape through the cockpit windows and survived. The ignition and fuel sources of the fire could not be determined, although many believe that the most likely cause was a defective cabin heater. The pilot indicated that the crew tried to turn on the gasoline cabin heater repeatedly shortly before the fire occurred, but that it failed to respond. After the fire, the access panel to the heater compartment was found unlatched. The theory is supported by records that showed that DC-3s in general, and this aircraft in particular, had a previous history of problems with the cabin heaters.
Despite these…

Mars Exploration Rover

December 22nd, 2009 | frbiz68

,
Objectives
The scientific objectives of the Mars Exploration Rover mission are to:
Search for and characterize a variety of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity. In particular, samples sought will include those that have minerals deposited by water-related processes such as precipitation, evaporation, sedimentary cementation or hydrothermal activity.
Determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks, and soils surrounding the landing sites.
Determine what geologic processes have shaped the local terrain and influenced the chemistry. Such processes could include water or wind erosion, sedimentation, hydrothermal mechanisms, volcanism, and cratering , electric bathroom wall heaters .
Perform calibration and validation of surface observations made by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter instruments. This will help determine the accuracy and effectiveness of various instruments that survey Martian geology from orbit , football warmer .
Search for iron-containing minerals, identify and quantify relative amounts of specific mineral types that contain water or were formed in water, such as iron-bearing carbonates.
Characterize the mineralogy and textures of rocks and soils and determine the processes that created them.
Search for geological clues to the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was present.
Assess whether those environments were conducive to life.
During the next two decades, NASA will conduct several missions to address whether life ever arose on Mars. The search begins with determining whether the Martian environment was ever suitable for life. Life, as we understand it, requires water, so the history of water on Mars is critical to finding out if the martian environment was ever conducive to life. Although the Mars Exploration Rovers do not have the ability to detect life directly, they are offering very important information on the habitability of the environment in the planet’s history.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit casts a shadow over the trench that the rover is examining with tools on its robotic arm. Spirit took this image with its front hazard-avoidance camera on February 21, 2004, during the rover’s 48th martian day, or sol 48.
Opportunity’s discarded heat shield.
History
This section may contain an inappropriate mixture of prose and timeline. Please help convert this timeline into prose or, if necessary, a list.
On January 21, 2004, the Deep Space Network lost contact with Spirit, for reasons originally thought to be related to a thunderstorm over Australia. The rover transmitted a message with no data, but later that day missed another communications session with the Mars Global Surveyor. The next day, JPL managed to receive a beep from the rover, indicating that it was in fault mode. On the 23rd, the flight team succeeded in making the rover send. The fault was believed to have been caused by an error in the rover’s Flash memory subsystem. The rover did not perform any scientific activities for 10 days, while engineers updated its software and ran tests. The problem was corrected by reformatting Spirit’s flash memory and upgrading the software with a patch to avoid memory overload; Opportunity was also upgraded with the patch as a precaution. Spirit returned to full scientific operations by 5 February. This has to date been the most serious anomaly in the mission.
On March 23, 2004, a news conference was held announcing “major discoveries” of evidence of past liquid water on the Martian surface. A delegation of scientists showed pictures and data revealing a stratified pattern and cross bedding in the rocks of the outcrop inside a crater in Meridiani Planum, landing site of MER-B, Opportunity, suggesting that water once flowed in the region. The irregular distribution of chlorine and bromine also suggests that the place was once the shoreline of a salty sea, now evaporated.
On April 8, 2004, NASA announced that it was extending the mission life of the rovers from 3 to 8 months. It immediately provided additional funding of US $15 million through September, and $2.8 million per month for continuing operations.
On April 30, 2004, Opportunity arrived at Endurance crater, taking about 5 days to drive the 200 meters.
On September 22, 2004, NASA announced that it was extending the mission life of the rovers for another 6 months. Opportunity was to leave Endurance crater, visit its discarded heat shield, and proceed to Victoria crater. Spirit was to attempt to climb to the top of the Columbia Hills.
On April 6, 2005, with the two rovers still functioning well, NASA announced another 18 month extension of the mission to September 2006. Opportunity was to visit the “Etched Terrain” and Spirit was to climb a rocky slope toward the top of Husband Hill.
Spirit’s “postcard” view from the summit of Husband Hill: a windswept plateau strewn with rocks, small exposures of outcrop, and sand dunes. The view is to the north, looking down upon the “Tennessee Valley”. This approximate true-color composite spans about 90 degrees and consists of 18 frames captured by the rover’s panoramic camera.
On August 21, 2005, Spirit reached the summit of Husband Hill after 581 sols and a journey of 4.81 kilometers (2.99 mi).
Spirit celebrated its one Martian year anniversary (669 sols or 687 Earth days) on November 20, 2005. Opportunity celebrated its anniversary on December 12, 2005. At the beginning of the mission, it was expected that the rovers would not survive much longer than 90 Martian days. The Columbia Hills were “just a dream” according to rover driver Chris Leger.
On February 7, 2006, Spirit reached the semicircular rock formation known as Home Plate. It is a layered rock outcrop that puzzles and excites scientists. It is thought that its rocks are explosive volcanic deposits, though other possibilities exist, including impact deposits or wind/water borne sediment.
On March 13, 2006, Spirit’s front right wheel ceased working while the rover was moving itself to McCool Hill. Her drivers attempted to drag the dead wheel behind Spirit, but this only worked until reaching an impassable sandy area on the lower slopes. Drivers directed Spirit to a smaller sloped feature, dubbed “Low Ridge Haven”, where she spent the long Martian winter, waiting for spring and increased solar power levels suitable for driving.
On September 26, 2006, Spaceflight Now reported that NASA has extended mission for the two rovers through September 2007. On September 27, 2006, Opportunity reached the rim of Victoria crater.
Spirit had lasted over 1,000 Martian days exploring Gusev Crater as of October 25, 2006. Opportunity had lasted over 1,000 Martian days exploring Meridiani Planum as of November 16, 2006. As of January 24, 2007, the rovers had lasted on Mars more than three years. (Although Opportunity landed on January 25, the year 2004 was a leap year.)
On February 6, 2007, Opportunity became the first spacecraft to traverse 10,000 meters – 10 kilometers – on the surface of Mars.
On June 28, 2007, Opportunity was poised to enter Victoria Crater from its perch on the rim of Duck Bay., but due to extensive dust storms, it was indefinitely delayed until the dust had cleared and power returned to safe levels.
On August 28, 2007, Spirit and Opportunity resumed driving after hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power to a level that nearly caused the permanent failure of both rovers.
On October 1, 2007, both Spirit and Opportunity entered their fifth mission extension that could possibly extend operations into 2009, allowing the rovers to have spent five years exploring the Martian surface, pending their continued survival.
On January 3, 2008, Spirit entered its fourth year of exploration of Gusev crater.
On January 25, 2008, Opportunity entered its fourth year of exploration of Meridiani Planum.
On August 26, 2008, Opportunity began to climb out of Victoria crater amidst concerns that power spikes, similar to those seen on Spirit before the failure of its right-front wheel, might prevent Opportunity from ever being able to leave the crater in the event of the failure of one of its wheels. Project scientist Bruce Banerdt has also said, “We’ve done everything we entered Victoria Crater to do and more.” Opportunity will return to the plains in order to characterize Meridiani Planum’s vast diversity of rocksome of which may have been blasted out of craters such as Victoria. The rover had been exploring Victoria Crater since September 11, 2007.
On August 29, 2008, Opportunity succeeded in climbing out of Victoria crater, using the same route it took on the way in.
On January 3, 2009, Spirit marked 5 years on Mars. Since landing on Mars the two rovers had collectively sent back 250,000 images and traveled over 21 kilometers (13 miles).
On January 24, 2009, Opportunity marked 5 years on Mars.
On March 7, 2009 Opportunity first saw the rim of Endeavour crater after driving about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) since it left Victoria crater in August 2008.
On May 26, 2009 Opportunity passed the 10 mile mark (more than 16 kilometers) on sol 1897 while on its way to Endeavour crater. Meanwhile, at Gusev crater, Spirit was dug in deep into the Martian sand much as Opportunity was at Purgatory Dune in 2005.
Spacecraft design
Delta II Heavy lifting off with MER-A on June 10 2003
Delta II Heavy (7925H-9.5) lifting off from pad 17-B carrying MER-B
MER cruise stage diagram (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech).
Cruise stage of Opportunity rover.
Overview of the Mars Exploration Rover aeroshell.
MER…