Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Maldives

Atolls make up the Maldives

from wikipedia:

The Maldives (or Maldive Islands) (IPA: /ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives are located south of India's Lakshadweep islands, and about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka. The Maldives' twenty-six atolls encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, two hundred and fifty islands are inhabited.


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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Macuahuitl

Aztec warriors as shown in the 16th century Florentine Codex

from wikipedia:

The macuahuitl (a name derived from the Nahuatl language) is a weapon shaped like a wooden club. Its sides are embedded with prismatic blades made from obsidian, a volcanic glass stone frequently used for tool making by the Aztec and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.


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Priestly Blessing

from wikipedia:

The Priestly Blessing, (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים; translit. Birkat Kohanim), also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, (lit. Raising of the Hands), is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services. It is based on a scriptual verse: "They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them."

In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy, who was raised in a traditional Jewish home, used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan Hand Salute for his character, Mr. Spock, on Star Trek. He has explained that while attending Orthodox services as a child, he peeked from under his father's tallit and saw the gesture; many years later, when introducing the character of Mr. Spock, he and series creator Gene Roddenberry thought a physical component should accompany the verbal "Live long and prosper" greeting.


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Monday, April 21, 2008

Earth Day is April 22nd!

Blue Marble

from wikipedia:

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day, which was founded by John McConnell in 1969, each year on the March equinox, while a global observance originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, and since January 1970 also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22, including the U.S.


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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ollie Johnston passes away

Ollie Johnston

from wikipedia:

Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last living member. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

He was a directing animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1978. He contributed to many films including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi and Pinocchio. His last full work for Disney came with The Rescuers, in which he was caricatured as one of the film's characters, the cat Rufus.

Johnston co-authored, with Frank Thomas, the reference book The Illusion of Life. This book helped preserve the knowledge of the techniques that were developed at the studio. The partnership of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston is fondly presented in the documentary Frank and Ollie, produced by Thomas' son Theodore.

Ollie Johnston died of natural causes on Monday, April 14, 2008 at the age of 95


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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

House rabbit















A house rabbit is a domestic rabbit kept as a pet for companionship, who lives inside the home with his owners. He has an indoor pen and a rabbit-safe place to run and exercise, such as a living or family room. Rabbits are easily trained to use a litter box and can learn to come when called. Their diets typically consist of unlimited timothy hay, a small helping of pellets, and some fresh vegetables and fruits. House rabbits are very quiet pets. They are suitable for families without small children, due to the likelihood of frightening or harming these timid creatures by loud sounds or mishandling. (more...)

Monday, April 14, 2008

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

RNLI RIB

from wikipedia:
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity whose aim is to save lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as inshore. It was founded on 4 March 1824 as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, adopting the present name in 1854.

The RNLI operates over 230 lifeboat stations, strategically placed around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Since 1980, lifeboat rescues have doubled; the RNLI rescues an average of 22 people each day.


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Friday, April 11, 2008

Landing Craft Utility

LCU

from wikipedia:

The Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a small ship used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.


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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

car

from wikipedia:

Oldsmobile used the Custom Cruiser name on their large rear-wheel drive station wagons from 1971 to 1992. The Custom Cruiser wagon used the same B-body platform as the Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, and the full sized preformance sedan based of and in the same body shell as the Chevrolet Caprice, the 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala.


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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Sutro Baths

Sutro Baths

from wikipedia:

The Sutro Baths were a large privately owned swimming pool complex in San Francisco, California built in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and was abandoned. The ruins may still be visited.


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Rickroll












Rickrolling is a prank and Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". In a rickroll, a person provides a link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand which actually takes the user to the Astley video. It can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.[1] A person who falls for the prank is said to be "rickrolled". In some cases, this term is also used to describe a person who merely hears the song. (more...)

Facebook

from wikipedia:

Facebook is a social networking website that was launched on February 4, 2004. The website is owned and operated by Facebook, Inc., the parent company of the website and a privately held company. The free-access website allows users to join one or more networks, such as a school, place of employment, or geographic region to easily connect and interact with other people. Users can post messages for their friends to see, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves.


Link to Facebook...

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Monday, April 7, 2008

Peak Oil

from wikipedia:

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically.


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Sunday, April 6, 2008

Buck's Rock

The Gong

from wikipedia:

Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp is an educational summer camp located in New Milford, Connecticut. The camp was established in 1942 by Dr. Ernst Bulova and his wife Ilse, Austrian educators who had studied under Maria Montessori.


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Friday, April 4, 2008

National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day is celebrated on April 24!

food

from wikipedia:

In the United States, the term "pigs in a blanket" often refers to hot dogs, Vienna sausages, or breakfast/link sausages wrapped in biscuit dough, pancake, or crescent-roll dough, and baked. A common variation is to slit the hot dog or sausage and stuff it with cheese before wrapping in dough. The dough is sometimes homemade, but canned dough is most common.


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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Magnetic ink character recognition

from wikipedia:



Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, or MICr, a character recognition technology adopted mainly by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of Cheques. The process was demonstrated to the American Bankers Association in July 1956, and it was almost universally employed in the U.S. by 1963. MICR is standardized by ISO 1004.


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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

17th/21st Lancers

17th/21st Lancers. Digital ID: 461724. New York Public Library

from wikipedia:

The 17th/21st Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1922 to 1993.

It was formed in 1922 in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) and the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's). From 1930 to 1939 it was deployed overseas; first in Egypt for two years, and then in India for seven. In 1938 the regiment was mechanised.

In 1993, with the reductions in forces after the end of the Cold War, the regiment was amalgamated with the 16th/5th Lancers to form the Queen's Royal Lancers.


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Image Source: NYPL Digital Gallery