| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Early in 1982, during principal filming on George Lucas's 1983 film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, 75-year-old veteran English actor Alan Webb (best known for the 1965 films King Rat and Chimes at Midnight), chosen by Lucas to portray the villainous Emperor Palpatine, became seriously ill and had to leave the production (he died later that year). Lucas was forced to go with his second choice, 37-year-old Scottish stage actor Ian McDiarmid, who had auditioned for the part due to his close relationship with effects studio Industrial Light & Magic, which had done the effects for his most successful film to date, 1981's Dragonslayer.
McDiarmid reprised his role as Palpatine sixteen years after Return of the Jedi in George Lucas's Star Wars "prequel" trilogy: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). For the 2004 re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy, McDiarmid was retroactively added to a scene in 1980's Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, replacing a performance by actress Marjorie Eaton as Palpatine (voiced by actor Clive Revill).
|
OEDILF, The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form, is a web-based project to write an unabridged dictionary of the English language, in which all the definitions are in the form of limericks. The project currently has more than 2000 members worldwide, and contains more than 96,000 approved limericks. OEDILF is a crowdsourced project, always eager to welcome new members.
.
..
Sample limerick:
barding by AndrewB (Andrew Besso)
In battle, I'm riding my horse.
We're part of the cavalry force.
I wear armor all day
To keep arrows at bay,
And he has his barding, of course!
Barding is armor made for a horse. Barding was developed in the Middle Ages because as riders' armor improved, their horses became targets.
|
The title of director Nicholas Meyer's 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally supposed to be Star Trek II: The Vengeance of Khan. During production, Paramount Pictures was contacted by executives from Lucasfilm, and were forced to change the title so as not to sound similar to George Lucas's upcoming film Star Wars Episode VI: Revenge of the Jedi. However, when Lucas's film was released in 1983, the title of that film had been changed to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
I was named after my mother's favourite soap opera character -_-
|
Pigging in the context of pipelines refers to the practice of using devices known as "pigs" to perform various maintenance operations. This is done without stopping the flow of the product in the pipeline.
These operations include but are not limited to cleaning and inspecting the pipeline. This is accomplished by inserting the pig into a "pig launcher" (or "launching station") — an oversized section in the pipeline, reducing to the normal diameter. The launching station is then closed and the pressure-driven flow of the product in the pipeline is used to push the pig along down the pipe until it reaches the receiving trap — the "pig catcher" (or "receiving station").
|
|
Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers is a comprehensive handbook for the field of mechanical engineering. It was first published in 1916 by Lionel Simeon Marks. In 2006, it was in its 11th edition, and published by McGraw-Hill.
Lionel S. Marks was a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1900s.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was named after my mother's favourite soap opera character -_-The title of director Nicholas Meyer's 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally supposed to be Star Trek II: The Vengeance of Khan. During production, Paramount Pictures was contacted by executives from Lucasfilm, and were forced to change the title so as not to sound similar to George Lucas's upcoming film Star Wars Episode VI: Revenge of the Jedi. However, when Lucas's film was released in 1983, the title of that film had been changed to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
My other aunt had trouble deciding on her son's middle name, and when my cousin was finally born, she decided to give him the middle name "Harrison," because she'd just seen the movie The Fugitive in the theater, and had had a crush on Harrison Ford ever since she'd first seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The costumes used for the Federation "Roughneck" soldiers in director Paul Verhoeven's 1997 film Starship Troopers were later used on the 1999 television series Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, as well as 2002's Firefly. The Starship Troopers costumes have also made appearances on the series Crusade (1999) and the fourth season of Andromeda (2003-2004), as well as in Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Minority Report.
The top ten most liked videos on YouTube (by total likes) are:
10. "Sugar" by Maroon 5 (2015; 7.14 million likes; like percentage: 95.63%)
9. "Faded" by Alan Walker (2015; 7.67 million likes; like percentage: 97.53%)
8. "Lean On" by Major Lazer, featuring DJ Snake and MØ (2015; 7.85 million likes; like percentage: 95.38%)
7. "Sorry" by Justin Bieber (2015; 9.01 million likes; like percentage: 88.40%)
6. "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (2014; 9.04 million likes; like percentage: 94.26%)
5. "Shape Of You" by Ed Sheeran (2017; 10.76 million likes; like percentage: 95.26%)
4. "Hello" by Adele (2015; 12.06 million likes; like percentage: 94.86%)
3. "Gangnam Style" by Psy (2012; 13.1 million likes; like percentage: 87.57%)
2. "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth (2015; 16.13 million likes; like percentage: 96.84%)
1. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (2017; 16.68 million likes; like percentage: 91.83%)
The top ten most disliked videos on YouTube (by total dislikes) are:
10. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (2017; 1.5 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 8.17%)
9. "Sweatshirt" by Jacob Sartorius (2016; 1.8 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 73.27%)
8. "Gangnam Style" by Psy (2012; 1.9 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 12.42%)
7. "It's Everyday Bro" by Jake Paul and Team 10 (2017; 2 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 57.14%)
6. "Cortando o Botão do YouTube*" by Aruan Felix (2015; 2.4 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 76.03%)
5. "How It Is (Wap Bap …)" by Bibi H. (2017; 2.5 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 86.83%)
4. "Friday" by Rebecca Black (2011; 2.8 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 79.48%)
3. "Can this video get 1 million dislikes?*" by PewDiePie (2016; 3.1 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 93.77%)
2. "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Reveal Trailer*" by Activision (2016; 3.6 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 86.13%)
1. "Baby" by Justin Bieber (2010; 8 million dislikes; dislike percentage: 53.39%)
*not a music video
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In Leeds, England, in 1806, villagers believed doomsday had come when a hen began laying eggs with the phrase "Christ is coming" on each one, but it was later found to be a hoax by Mary Bateman, who had written on the eggs using acid and reinserted them into the hen's oviduct.
Poor old chicklen.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Staedtler Mars GmbH & Co. KG is a German fine writing instrument company and a manufacturer and supplier of writing, artist, and engineering drawing instruments. The firm was founded by J.S. Staedtler in 1835 and produces a large variety of writing instruments, including drafting pencils, propelling pencils, professional pens and standard wooden pencils. It also produces plastic erasers, rulers, compasses and other drawing/writing accessories. Staedtler claims to be the largest European manufacturer of wood-cased pencils, OHP pens, mechanical pencil leads, erasers, and modelling clays. Staedtler has over 20 global subsidiaries and seven manufacturing facilities. Over 85% of the production takes place in the headquarters in Nuremberg, though some of its products are made in Japan. Its "Noris" line of pencils are extremely common in British schools.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Brian May, from the rock band Queen, studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and ARCS in physics with Upper Second-Class Honours. From 1970 to 1974, he studied for a PhD degree at Imperial College, studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen started to have international success in 1974, he abandoned his doctoral studies, but co-authored two peer reviewed research papers, which were based on his observations at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife.
In October 2006, May re-registered for his PhD at Imperial College and submitted his thesis in August 2007 (one year earlier than he estimated it would take to complete). As well as writing up the previous work he had done, May had to review the work on zodiacal dust undertaken during the intervening 33 years, which included the discovery of the zodiacal dust bands by NASA's IRAS satellite. After a viva voce, the revised thesis (entitled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud) was approved in September 2007, some 37 years after it had been commenced. He was able to submit his thesis only because of the minimal amount of research on the topic during the intervening years and has described the subject as one that became "trendy" again in the 2000s. His PhD investigated radial velocity using absorption spectroscopy and doppler spectroscopy of zodiacal light using a Fabry–Pérot interferometer based at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring Ken Reay and in the latter stages by Michael Rowan-Robinson He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008.
In October 2007, May was appointed a Visiting Researcher in Imperial College and continues his interest in astronomy and involvement with the Imperial Astrophysics Group.
He is co-author, with Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, of Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe and The Cosmic Tourist.
Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named in his honour on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of Sir Patrick Moore (probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of 1998 BM30).
In 2014, May co-founded Asteroid Day with Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, B612 Foundation COO Danica Remy and German filmmaker Grigorij Richters. Asteroid Day is a global awareness campaign where people from around the world come together to learn about asteroids and what we can do to protect our planet.
May appeared on the 700th episode of The Sky at Night hosted by Sir Patrick Moore, along with Chris Lintott, Jon Culshaw, Prof. Brian Cox, and the Astronomer Royal Martin Rees who on departing the panel, told Brian May, who was joining it, "I don't know a scientist who looks as much like Isaac Newton as you do". May was also a guest on the first episode of the third series of the BBC's Stargazing Live, on 8 January 2013.
On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, and installed in 2008. He held the post until 2013.
During the New Horizons Pluto flyby NASA press conference held on 17 July 2015 at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Brian May was introduced as a science team collaborator. He told the panel "You have inspired the world."
|
|
Brian May, from the rock band Queen, studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and ARCS in physics with Upper Second-Class Honours. From 1970 to 1974, he studied for a PhD degree at Imperial College, studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen started to have international success in 1974, he abandoned his doctoral studies, but co-authored two peer reviewed research papers, which were based on his observations at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife.
In October 2006, May re-registered for his PhD at Imperial College and submitted his thesis in August 2007 (one year earlier than he estimated it would take to complete). As well as writing up the previous work he had done, May had to review the work on zodiacal dust undertaken during the intervening 33 years, which included the discovery of the zodiacal dust bands by NASA's IRAS satellite. After a viva voce, the revised thesis (entitled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud) was approved in September 2007, some 37 years after it had been commenced. He was able to submit his thesis only because of the minimal amount of research on the topic during the intervening years and has described the subject as one that became "trendy" again in the 2000s. His PhD investigated radial velocity using absorption spectroscopy and doppler spectroscopy of zodiacal light using a Fabry–Pérot interferometer based at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring Ken Reay and in the latter stages by Michael Rowan-Robinson He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008.
In October 2007, May was appointed a Visiting Researcher in Imperial College and continues his interest in astronomy and involvement with the Imperial Astrophysics Group.
He is co-author, with Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, of Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe...
It's good he has "rock star" to as a backup career in case the astrophysicist thing doesn't work out.
|
|
Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear controlled by Stanley Black & Decker. Previously, the brand was owned and promoted by Sears for many years.
Craftsman tools were first sold in 1927. They are not manufactured by Sears, but by various other companies under contract. The tools are sold in Sears, sister retailer Kmart, and several other retailers.
In March 2017, Stanley Black & Decker acquired the Craftsman brand from Sears Holdings. Sears maintains the right to manufacture and sell tools using existing supply channels under the Craftsman name for 15 years after the deal closed.
My dad used Craftsman tools almost exclusively. After he died 32 years ago my Neanderthal brother in law stole his tools before I could even get back to the farm to reclaim anything of my dad's and then lost them. How do you lose hundreds of tools? By pawning them for weed money, the sorry sack of sh*t.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Houston Museum of Natural Science (abbreviated as HMNS) is a science museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, United States. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston focusing on education and science. Museum attendance totals over two million visitors each year. The museum complex consists of a central facility with four floors of natural science halls and exhibits, the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre (formerly known as the Wortham IMAX Theatre). The museum is one of the most popular in the United States and ranks just below New York City's American Museum of Natural History and Metropolitan Museum of Art and the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco in most attendance amongst non-Smithsonian museums. Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
|
|
The chocolate chip cookie was invented by the American chef Ruth Graves Wakefield and chef Sue Brides in 1938. She invented the recipe during the period when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts. In this era, the Toll House Inn was a popular restaurant that featured home cooking. It is often incorrectly reported that she accidentally developed the cookie, and that she expected the chocolate chunks would melt, making chocolate cookies. In fact, she stated that she deliberately invented the cookie. She said, "We had been serving a thin butterscotch nut cookie with ice cream. Everybody seemed to love it, but I was trying to give them something different. So I came up with Toll House cookie."
Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.
I can attest to this -- I saw Lucy (Autralopithecus skeleton) and the Dead Sea Scrolls there.
|
|
Pumpernickel is a typically heavy, slightly sweet rye bread traditionally made with sourdough starter and coarsely ground rye. It is often made today with a combination of rye flour and whole rye berries.
At one time it was traditional peasant fare, but largely during the 20th century various forms became popular through delicatessens and supermarkets. Present-day European and North American pumpernickel differ in several characteristics, including the use of additional leaveners, and, in North America, coloring and flavoring agents, the addition of wheat flour, higher baking temperature, and a dramatically shortened baking time.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Much of the museum's popularity is attributed to its large number of special or guest exhibits.I can attest to this -- I saw Lucy (Autralopithecus skeleton) and the Dead Sea Scrolls there.
So jealous. But I did get to see the Sue the Tyrannosaurus exhibit in 2006. That was amazing.
Within the realm of Chinese to English machine translation, the Chinese characters pronounced GAN1 and GAN4, with such wildly differing meanings as "dry," "to do," "calendar sign," and others, all got condensed down into the Simplified Chinese character 干.
This has led to enormous confusion, especially when people who know next to no English rely on machine translation software to convert Chinese into English. The chaos caused by this combination of circumstances is vastly exacerbated by the fact that this symbol also has a vulgar meaning when pronounced in the fourth tone, GAN4, namely "f#&+," which is probably an extension of the regular sense of "do."
Because GAN4 ("do") and GAN1 ("dry") are now both written with that little, three-stroke character, the damage is compounded by the enormous range of intended senses of GAN1/4 ("dry," "do," "act," "work," "undertake," "shield," "have to do with; be concerned with," "edge of a body of water," "be rude, impolite, blunt," "embarrass or annoy," "give the cold-shoulder to," "empty, hollow," measure word for a group of people, "trunk, stem, main part," "cadre," "competent, capable, able, talented," "go bad," "be a disaster," etc.), all of which are capable of coming out of the translation software as "f%!!."
One particularly egregious example involves a 2003 academic paper published in the Economic Administrative Cadre Bulletin, titled 开拓进取，真抓实干，不断开创西部大开发的新局面 (Develop and Forge Ahead with True Understanding and Effort in order to Continuously Create New Situations to Open the Western Region), the title of which was translated into English as Expand Enterprising and Really Grasp Solid F!%% and Continuously Expand and Great the New Situation of Buildings of Western Region.
|
|
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a United States trade association, albeit with some international members, that creates and maintains private, copyrighted standards and codes for usage and adoption by local governments. The association was formed in 1896 by a group of insurance firms. Its purpose was to standardize the then-new fire sprinkler systems. It reports to have 65,000 members.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This has led to enormous confusion, especially when people who know next to no English rely on machine translation software to convert Chinese into English.
Some examples. There used to be an entire web site devoted to more examples, but I can't seem to find it now.
This has led to enormous confusion, especially when people who know next to no English rely on machine translation software to convert Chinese into English.Some examples. There used to be an entire web site devoted to more examples, but I can't seem to find it now.
And, of course, let us not forget George Lucas's epic space opera Star War The Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West
|
|
Class D fires involve combustible metals - especially alkali metals like lithium and potassium, alkaline earth metals such as magnesium, and group 4 elements such as titanium and zirconium.
Metal fires represent a unique hazard because people are often not aware of the characteristics of these fires and are not properly prepared to fight them. Therefore, even a small metal fire can spread and become a larger fire in the surrounding ordinary combustible materials. Certain metals burn in contact with air or water (for example, sodium), which exaggerate this risk. Generally speaking, masses of combustible metals do not represent great fire risks because heat is conducted away from hot spots so efficiently that the heat of combustion cannot be maintained. In consequence, significant heat energy is required to ignite a contiguous mass of combustible metal. Generally, metal fires are a hazard when the metal is in the form of sawdust, machine shavings or other metal "fines", which combust more rapidly than larger blocks. Metal fires can be ignited by the same ignition sources that would start other common fires.
Care must be taken when extinguishing metal fires. Water and other common firefighting agents can excite metal fires and make them worse. The National Fire Protection Association recommends that metal fires be fought with dry powder extinguishing agents that work by smothering and heat absorption. The most common agents are sodium chloride granules and graphite powder. In recent years, powdered copper has also come into use. These dry powder extinguishers should not be confused with those that contain dry chemical agents. The two are not the same, and only dry powder should be used to extinguish a metal fire. Using a dry chemical extinguisher in error, in place of dry powder, can be ineffective or actually increase the intensity of a metal fire.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
The now-extinct native Australian language Mbabaram is famous in linguistic circles for a striking coincidence in its vocabulary.
In the 1960s, when linguist R.M.W. Dixon finally managed to meet a native speaker of Mbabaram, a man named Albert Bennett, he began his study of the language by eliciting a few basic nouns; among the first of these was the word for "dog." Bennett supplied the Mbabaram translation, dog.
Dixon suspected that Bennett hadn't understood the question, or that Bennett's knowledge of Mbabaram had been tainted by decades of using English, but it turned out that the Mbabaram word for "dog" really is dog, pronounced almost identically to the English word.
The similarity is a complete coincidence; there is no discernible relationship between English and Mbabaram. This and other false cognates are often cited as a caution against deciding that languages are related based on a small number of comparisons.
|
|
Within the North Atlantic Ocean, tropical or subtropical cyclones are named by the National Hurricane Center (NHC/RSMC Miami) when they are judged to have intensified into a tropical storms with winds of at least 34 kn (39 mph; 63 km/h). There are six lists of names which rotate every six years and begin with the first letters A—W used, skipping Q and U, and alternating between male and female names. The names of significant tropical cyclones are retired from the lists, with a replacement name selected at the next World Meteorological Organization's Hurricane Committee meeting. If all of the names on a list are used, storms are named after the letters of the Greek alphabet.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
American alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket took its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch called "Rock Notes," in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report:
"Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad the Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. "Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely," quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney upon hearing of the accident. Plans are now afoot for a major tour of Iceland."
As their first gig approached, the band still had not chosen a name. The members facetiously adopted "Toad the Wet Sprocket" because they thought it would be funny. Vocalist Glen Phillips later called it "a joke that went on too long." The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s that had appeared on the 1980 Metal for Muthas compilation, although the earlier band had long since split up.
Eric Idle, the sketch's original performer, reflected on the band's name in a 1999 performance:
"I once wrote a sketch about rock musicians and I was trying to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it, or dream it could ever be used. So I wrote the words "Toad the Wet Sprocket." And a few years later, I was driving along the freeway in L.A., and a song came on the radio, and the DJ said, "that was by Toad the Wet Sprocket," and I nearly drove off the freeway."
American filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman (b. 1945) graduated from Yale University in 1968 with a degree in Chinese studies. Two of Kaufman's Yale classmates were fellow filmmaker Oliver Stone (who left Yale in 1967 in order to serve in the Vietnam War) and future U.S. president George W. Bush.
In order to finance his fledgling film studio, Troma Entertainment, Kaufman did freelance editing work for several major Hollywood pictures, including The Final Countdown (1980), Saturday Night Fever (1977), and Rocky (1976). Kaufman's portion of Rocky was edited on his own equipment at Troma Studios, and he also had a brief cameo in the movie itself, playing a drunk.
|
|
Cummins, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, United States, Cummins sells in approximately 190 countries and territories through a network of more than 600 company-owned and independent distributors and approximately 6,000 dealers. Cummins reported net income of $1.65 billion on sales of $19.2 billion in 2014.
The Cummins Engine Company was founded in Columbus, Indiana, in 1919 by Clessie Cummins, a local mechanic. It focused on developing the diesel engine invented 20 years earlier, but in spite of several well publicized endurance trials it was not until 1933 that their Model H, used in small railroad switchers, proved successful. In the post-World War II U.S. road building boom Cummins N Series engines became the industry leader, with more than half the heavy duty truck market from 1952 to 1959. In the 1960s the company opened an assembly plant in Shotts, Scotland. By 2013 they had operations in 197 countries and territories.
If the word "hippie" is typed into the Wikipedia search bar, the drop-down preview text reads "Hippie: human subculture."
I wonder what other species' subcultures are listed on the site. At least, this lends credence to my theory that Wikipedia was invented by alien lifeforms in order to gather the collected knowledge of the human race before the great culling.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Only three African-American musicians have appeared as members of the Grand Ole Opry since its foundation in 1925:
DeFord Bailey (1899-1982), a pioneering member of the Opry, appearing on the program from 1927 to 1941
Charley Pride (b. 1934), with appearances ranging from 1967 to 1974
Darius Rucker (b. 1966), making his debut in 2008, and formally invited to join in 2012
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was his 22nd book and 18th novel written under his own name. The story follows the experiences of seven children as they are terrorized by a being, which exploits the fears and phobias of its victims in order to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of a clown in order to attract its preferred prey of young children.
The novel is told through narratives alternating between two time periods, and is largely told in the third-person omniscient mode. It deals with themes that eventually became King staples: the power of memory, childhood trauma and its recurrent echoes in adulthood, the ugliness lurking behind a façade of small-town quaintness, and overcoming evil through mutual trust and sacrifice.
King has stated that he started writing the book in 1981 and that he got the idea to write it in 1978. He also stated that he originally wanted the title character to be a troll, like in the children's story Three Billy Goats Gruff, but who inhabited the local tunnels and sewer rather than just a bridge.
The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1987, and received nominations for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards that same year. Publishers Weekly listed It as the best-selling book in the United States in 1986.
|
|
Le Creuset is a premium French cookware manufacturer best known for its colorfully-enameled cast-iron cookware "French ovens", also known as "casseroles" or "Dutch ovens". The company also makes many other types of cookware, from sauce pans to tagines.
Le Creuset was founded in the French town of Fresnoy-le-Grand, Aisne, Picardy, a strategic location at the crossroads of transportation routes for iron, coke, and sand. Armand Desaegher (a Belgian casting specialist) and Octave Aubecq (a Belgian enameling specialist) opened their foundry in 1925. That same year, the first cocotte (or French oven) was produced, laying the foundation for what is now an extensive range of cookware and kitchen utensils.
The Le Creuset signature color, Flame (orange), was born in this first piece. With their new ability to pigment the enamel glaze, Desaegher and Aubecq modeled their first color after the intense orange hue of molten cast iron inside a cauldron ("creuset" in French).
During World War II, Le Creuset began to focus on continually improving their cast iron. In 1957, Le Creuset purchased a competitor, Les Hauts Fourneaux de Cousances, and began producing items such as a grill model and a fondue set.
In 1995, Le Creuset began exploring new product categories: stainless steel, stoneware, silicone, enamel on steel, textiles and forged hard-anodized aluminum.
The current Le Creuset logo was introduced in 1970 and was designed to be a symbolic representation of metal casting and molding. The company was purchased by current owner Paul Van Zuydam in 1987.
Le Creuset offers a variety of colors, from bright (e.g. cherry, a gradated red) to muted (e.g. dune, a gradated off-white). Its discontinued colors include cobalt (gradated blue-violet), black onyx (solid black), kiwi (gradated light green), as well as slate, granite, cactus, and citron.
To manufacture their cast-iron cookware, the Le Creuset foundry uses standard sand casting methods. After hand finishing, items are sprayed with at least two coats of enamel. The enamel becomes resistant to damage during normal use. Currently, all Le Creuset cast iron cookware is still manufactured in the company's foundry in Fresnoy-le-Grand, where workers employ a 12 step finishing process implemented by 15 different pairs of hands to ensure that there are no flaws or imperfections in the final product.
|
|
Scania AB, formerly AB Scania-Vabis, is a major Swedish automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles – specifically heavy trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for heavy vehicles as well as marine and general industrial applications.
Scania AB was formed in 1911 through the merger of Södertälje-based Vabis and Malmö-based Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania. The company's head office has been in Södertälje since 1912. Today, Scania has production facilities in Sweden, France, Netherlands, India, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, and Russia. In addition, there are assembly plants in ten countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Scania's sales and service organisation and finance companies are worldwide. In 2012, the company employed approximately 42,100 people around the world. Scania was listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm stock exchange from 1996 to 2014.
Scania's logo shows a Griffin, from the coat of arms of the province of Scania.
American musician Daryl Frank Dragon (b. 1942), better known as "Captain," of the musical duo Captain & Tennille, is the son of classical music conductor and composer Carmen Dragon (1914-1984). Daryl's brother Dennis was the frontman of the pioneering pop punk band Surf Punks, which formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1998.
Daryl Dragon's stage name and persona derive from his years as a keyboard player for the Beach Boys. While on tour, singer Mike Love began calling Dragon "Captain," and Dragon began wearing his trademark nautical hat to go with the name.
|
|
Mike the Tiger is the official mascot of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and serves as the graphic image of LSU sports. Mike is the name of both the live and costumed mascots.
By tradition the tiger is a live Bengal tiger, although the current mascot and his two immediate predecessors are mixed-breeds. Mike V was a Bengal-Indochinese mix, Mike VI was a Bengal-Siberian hybrid, and Mike VII is also a Bengal–Siberian mix.
In 2005, a new $3 million habitat was created for Mike by Torre Design Consortium, LTD. The habitat (situated between Tiger Stadium and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center) features state-of-the-art technologies and includes among its amenities lush plantings, a waterfall, a flowing stream that empties into a wading pond, and rocky plateaus. The habitat has, as a backdrop, an Italianate tower – a campanile – that creates a visual link to the Italianate architectural vernacular of LSU's campus. The new habitat ranks among the largest and finest tiger preserves in the United States and expanded Mike's home to 15,000 square feet. It also features research, conservation, and husbandry programs, as well as educational, interpretive, and recreational activities. Mike attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year to the habitat and can be viewed via the live Tigercam at MiketheTiger.com.
Despite his close association with the Texas music scene, particularly that of Luckenbach and Gruene, American country & western musician Jerry Jeff Walker (b. 1942) was born and raised in Oneonta, New York.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Mike the Tiger is the official mascot of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and serves as the graphic image of LSU sports. Mike is the name of both the live and costumed mascots.
By tradition the tiger is a live Bengal tiger, although the current mascot and his two immediate predecessors are mixed-breeds. Mike V was a Bengal-Indochinese mix, Mike VI was a Bengal-Siberian hybrid, and Mike VII is also a Bengal–Siberian mix.
In 2005, a new $3 million habitat was created for Mike by Torre Design Consortium, LTD. The habitat (situated between Tiger Stadium and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center) features state-of-the-art technologies and includes among its amenities lush plantings, a waterfall, a flowing stream that empties into a wading pond, and rocky plateaus. The habitat has, as a backdrop, an Italianate tower – a campanile – that creates a visual link to the Italianate architectural vernacular of LSU's campus. The new habitat ranks among the largest and finest tiger preserves in the United States and expanded Mike's home to 15,000 square feet. It also features research, conservation, and husbandry programs, as well as educational, interpretive, and recreational activities. Mike attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year to the habitat and can be viewed via the live Tigercam at MiketheTiger.com.
I distrust this tiger, as I do anyone named Mike.
|
|
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international standards so that American products can be used worldwide.
ANSI accredits standards that are developed by representatives of other standards organizations, government agencies, consumer groups, companies, and others. These standards ensure that the characteristics and performance of products are consistent, that people use the same definitions and terms, and that products are tested the same way. ANSI also accredits organizations that carry out product or personnel certification in accordance with requirements defined in international standards.
The organization's headquarters are in Washington, D.C. ANSI's operations office is located in New York City. The ANSI annual operating budget is funded by the sale of publications, membership dues and fees, accreditation services, fee-based programs, and international standards programs.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Oriental riff, also known as the Asian riff, is a musical riff or phrase that has often been used in Western culture as a trope or stereotype of Orientalism to represent the idea of the Orient, China, Japan or a generic East Asian theme. The riff is sometimes accompanied by the sound of a gong.
The riff itself is a Western invention, dating back to a number called the "Aladdin Quick Step," used in the stage show The Grand Chinese Spectacle of Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp, in 1847. The notes used in the riff are part of a pentatonic scale, which makes the riff sound like East Asian music to a typical Western listener.
The Oriental riff and interpolations of the Oriental riff have been included as part of numerous musical works in Western music. Examples of its use include "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas (1974), The Vapors' "Turning Japanese" (1980), and Rush's "A Passage to Bangkok" (1976).
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Jumanji is a 1981 fantasy children's picture book, written and illustrated by the American author Chris Van Allsburg. It was made into a 1995 film of the same name. Both the book and the film are about a magical board game that implements real animals and other jungle elements as the game is played; thus the dangers which the players have to overcome in the game also appear in real life. Jumanji star Robin Williams claimed "jumanji" is a Zulu word meaning "many effects," and Van Allsburg does as well.
Fritz, a bull terrier in all of Chris Van Allsburg's books, appears as a toy dog on wheels in the third illustration.
|
|
W. W. Grainger, Inc. is a Fortune 500 industrial supply company founded in 1927 in Chicago. Grainger serves more than 3 million customers worldwide with offerings such as motors, lighting, material handling, fasteners, plumbing, tools, and safety supplies, along with services like inventory management and technical support. Revenue is generally from business-to-business sales rather than retail sales. Grainger serves its over 3 million customers through a network of approximately 598 branches, online channels (such as Grainger.com, KeepStock and eProcurement), and its robust supply chain including 33 distribution centers.
The company was founded by William Wallace Grainger in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. He established the company to provide supplies for businesses. The business was incorporated as W. W. Grainger, Inc., in 1928. Sales in the early days were generated primarily through mail order via post cards and a catalog. The MotorBook, as the catalog was originally called, was the basis for today's Grainger catalog. Grainger headquarters are now located in Lake Forest, Illinois. By 1936 Grainger had established 15 branches to improve customer service.
In 1967, Grainger became a publicly traded company. Grainger is a profitable corporation and has increased dividends to its shareholders for forty five consecutive years. The company has grown consistently since becoming public and passed US$10 billion in annual sales in 2016.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank to a king, who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king, or a queen regent, who is the guardian of a child monarch reigning temporarily in their stead. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire.
Possessing and exercising sovereign powers, a queen consort shares her husband's rank and titles, but does not share the sovereignty of her husband. The husband of a queen regnant traditionally does not share his wife's rank, title or sovereignty.
As of 2017, there are only two queens regnant currently on the throne:
Elizabeth II (b. 1926), queen of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Barbados, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua & Barbuda, and St. Kitts & Nevis
Margrethe II (b. 1940), queen of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
American actress Daveigh Chase (b. 1990), known for her roles as the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Chihiro in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001), also portrayed the vengeful spirit of Samara Morgan in Gore Verbinski's 2002 film The Ring, a remake of the 1998 Japanese film Ringu.