For twenty years now, ever since his debut feature She's Gotta Have It in 1986, Spike Lee (b. 1957) has been one of the most innovative and provocative directors of his time. As expressed numerous times throughout his many films, Lee's highest goal is to "wake up" and uplift all oppressed and deluded people, but he has an understandably primary concern for his own people, the African-Americans who have been abused and misrepresented in the United States ever since before it was even called the United States.
Many critics have accused Lee of the same bigotry his films abhor, citing in particular three of his best films – Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and Bamboozled – as being counterproductive and causing, rather than alleviating, the tensions between various races, but particularly between blacks and whites. Yet all one has to do is view these films to see Lee's love of all humanity; each one of these films is an eloquent cry of pain at the inhumanity bred by racism in anyone, of any race.
Do The Right Thing (1989) is an often funny and always heartfelt look at bigotry and racial tension. After a red-gelled, highly stylized opening sequence to set the tone of the film, which, according to Lee in his book on the making of the film, is designed to have "people in the theaters sweating as they watch," the first image is a close-up of Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) saying, "Wake up!" This phrase is common throughout Lee's films and clearly has a deeper meaning than the literal one attached to Love Daddy's dialogue.
The character of Mookie (Lee) is, in part, a symbol of one of the primary ways to uplift the Black race; as Mookie says, "I got to get paid!" This is his driving motivation, an idea explored over ten years later in Bamboozled (2000), which examines what a person (of any race) should or should not be willing to do in order to get paid. In Mookie's case, he is willing to put up with the racism of Pino (John Turturro) in order to stay gainfully employed. Even Sal (Danny Aiello) is, in effect, the benevolent plantation owner: he is kind to Mookie, Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) and his black customers but, like many slave-time plantation owners, lusts after Jade (Joie Lee) and, ultimately, is not above using racial epithets and even equating the life of a black man (Radio Raheem, played by Bill Nunn) with a piece of property (his business, Sal's Famous Pizzeria).
On the more revolutionary side of uplifting the race is the gradually developed trinity of protest: Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), Radio Raheem and Smiley (Roger Guenveur-Smith). Buggin' Out is seen as something of a joke in the neighborhood, as evidenced by his rather pointless and ineffectual confrontation with the white yuppie Clifton (John Savage), who scuffs his Air Jordans, as well as by the reactions of various neighborhood people to Buggin's suggestion of boycotting Sal's.
Radio Raheem is the one who actually commands respect in the neighborhood; this is shown particularly in two scenes: the boom box battle between Raheem and the Puerto Ricans, and the Night of the Hunter(1955) homage in which Raheem tells Mookie the story of Love and Hate. Ultimately, it is Raheem that actually incites the conflict, as Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" blares from his boom box, driving Sal into a fit of racist madness. The classic "Vertigo shot" (zooming in while simultaneously dollying out) is used in conjunction with extreme low and oblique angle photography to enhance the discord of the scene.
When the fire department comes, they train their hoses on the rioting people first, showing how little has really changed since the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s. When the crowd turns on the owners of the Korean market, they escape destruction by saying, "Me no white. Me black." This is based on a real life incident recounted in The Autobiography of Malcolm X: during the "long, hot summer of 1964, Korean shop owners escaped the destruction of their business by posting a sign in the window saying, ‘We colored, too.'" As Sweet Dick Willie (Robin Harris) says to Coconut Sid (Frankie Faison), "Your ass got off the boat, too."
The influence of fellow New York filmmaker Martin Scorsese is evident in Lee's work, particularly in these three films; all three build tensions which eventually erupt in violence, just as in early Scorsese films likeMean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976). Like Taxi Driver, Do The Right Thing has a coda showing the aftermath of the violence; this represents the circle of life. When Da Mayor says, "We're still standing," he speaks for oppressed people all over the world, and particularly for African-Americans. This is followed by a pan over to Mookie as he prepares to stand tall before Sal. The two are shot from an extreme low angle, making them pillars of their respective races and viewpoints, not unlike Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten inCitizen Kane (1941). Under the surface, tacitly, Mookie apologizes and Sal forgives him and, in a way, vice versa, a conclusion that was more blatant in the original shooting script, in which Sal reiterates Da Mayor's advice of "always try to do the right thing." This deceptively simple bit of dialogue is the heart of the film's conflict: who is to say what "the right thing" is?
Lee underscores this conflict with the film's closing quotes, showing Malcolm and Martin's differing viewpoints on the use of violence in the struggle for respect and human rights. However, the final image in the film is that of the two great leaders smiling and shaking hands, showing that these two viewpoints are not entirely irreconcilable; each individual has a choice of with which they agree. As Lee says in the aforementioned book on Do The Right Thing, co-authored with Lisa Jones, "Yep, we have a choice, Malcolm or King. I know who I'm down with."
Indeed, Malcolm X (1992) may be the film Lee was born to make. Ever since he read The Autobiography of Malcolm X for the first time, he had a vision for the film. He says in his book By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X, co-authored with Ralph Wiley, "it was because of Do The Right Thing that a man named Marvin Worth – who had the rights to the material on Malcolm's life – sent … a letter saying he wanted me to direct the film." At that time, the project was being developed by Norman Jewison, a white filmmaker. According to Lee's book, after some debate, Jewison told Lee, "I don't know how to do this film, I can't lick it," and wished him luck.
The results are incredible, a 70 millimeter epic shot in New York, L.A., Africa and the Middle East with an excellent cast and a great script based on an earlier version by no less a writer than James Baldwin. Though its scope is much larger, Lee retained the integrity and strength of Do The Right Thing by employing much of the same crew, including cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, costume designer Ruth Carter and production designer Wynn Thomas. In this way, he brings an epic story of great magnitude down to a human level.
The title footage of Rodney King, intercut with the American flag, has the same effect as the fire hoses in Do The Right Thing: it makes the viewer ponder just how far we've really come since the days when leaders like Malcolm had to fight for the human rights of their people. The opening tracking shot of Shorty (Lee) walking down the street in Boston is also reminiscent of Mookie's walk down Stuyvesant street; since both characters are played by Lee, the implication is of the filmmaker personally taking you on a journey through his film.
Lee's treatment of interracial relationships is important in all three films. In Do The Right Thing, both Mookie and Pino hate the fact that Sal is attracted to Jade. In Bamboozled, Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport) thinks he has "a right" to use the word "nigger" because he has a black wife. In Malcolm X, we see Malcolm's (Denzel Washington) deep-down hatred of his white girlfriend Sophia (Kate Vernon) in the scene in which she feeds him eggs. Malcolm resents the fact that she is with him because he is black; this treatment is similar to his status as a novelty, or mascot, in school, where he "was unique … like a pink poodle," as quoted from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley (1965).
Later, when Malcolm is doing cocaine with Sophia and West Indian Archie (Delroy Lindo), he plays around with a gun, unknowingly pointing it at himself. This action symbolizes his self-destructive behavior at this point in his life. Archie's finger-"gun" retort foreshadows the conflict between them, as well as the tragedy and violence that ultimately overtake Malcolm's life.
Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett) is one of Lee's strongest female characters. Though it is a relatively small role, she is an important and prescient force in Malcolm's life, seeing the Nation of Islam's betrayal even before Malcolm, who correctly predicted his own death. When Malcolm does realize his own betrayal, the scene is extremely evocative, with its crucifix-like composition of the window frame behind Malcolm as he prays; the backlighting shows Malcolm as a prophetic figure. When Malcolm visits Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman, Jr.) after his infamous remarks on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, we see for the first time signs of Muhammad's bronchial asthmatic condition; it is as if Malcolm's remarks caused this condition, an implication that shows the mutual disappointment between the two men.
Throughout the film, Lee intercuts black & white footage of Washington as Malcolm, as well as actual historical footage, to lend the film a sense of authenticity. Nowhere is this technique better used than in the Mecca sequence, some of which was shot in 16 millimeter, perfectly emulating footage of the real Malcolm X in Egypt, which we see at the end of the film. Lee had to fight tooth and nail with the Completion Bond Company to actually shoot overseas. As he says in By Any Means Necessary, "How can you have 160 minutes of Malcolm saying white people are blue-eyed devils and then not go spend the time and money to shoot the pivotal moments that caused him to turn around on that thinking?" Lee's vision persevered, and the film is decidedly better for it.
At the Audubon Ballroom, the applause at the beginning of the scene is cross-faded, making it sound vaguely like a siren. This indicates the impending violence of Malcolm's assassination, which is rendered with just the right amount of intensity: shocking but tasteful. Bassett's portrayal of Betty's grief is absolutely heartbreaking, as is Ossie Davis's subsequent reading of his eulogy for Malcolm; cut together with footage of the real Malcolm X, this is one of the most moving scenes in film history. One of two quotes that end the film is Malcolm saying, "You haven't done the right thing!" in a small self-referential moment that ties the film to Lee's earlier masterpiece. The other is the final image in the film; after Nelson Mandela and a group of South African schoolchildren illustrate the significance of Malcolm's life and teachings to today's world, Lee cuts to actual footage of Malcolm delivering the final words, "by any means necessary," a credo by which Lee makes his films at 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.
Bamboozled, the 15th Spike Lee joint, is his first film even cut on video (Lee prefers the 35 or 16 mm Steenbeck flatbeds), let alone mostly shot on it. Cinematographer Ellen Kuras used consumer mini-DV cameras to achieve a television-like feel for most of the film. The TV show itself, Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show, was shot on 16 mm to give it a higher production value than "real life," while the bulk of the film was shot on multiple low-end digital video cameras, in part for budgetary reasons. One advantage of shooting with multiple cameras – sometimes as many as fifteen at once – is that every scene can then be shot in one or two takes without destroying spontaneity or hindering the actors' ability to improvise. As Rapaport says on the DVD, "It's almost like shooting a play."
Bamboozled opens with the sounds of ships creaking on ocean waves, together with Stevie Wonder's song, "Misrepresented People," which creates a sense of history that is very important in a film about a modern-day revival of an old racist tradition: the minstrel show. The first spoken words we hear are a dictionary definition of satire, read by Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans). We later find out that his exaggeratedly precise diction and, in fact, even his name, are fake. He, like other major characters in the film, are satirical caricatures, or stereotypes: he and Sloan (Jada Pinkett-Smith) represent the so-called "Uncle Toms" in the white corporate power structure; Dunwitty represents the white media's appropriation of black culture (as Lee says on the DVD commentary track, "Yep, Dunwitty is definitely a ‘wigger'" – a slang term for a white person who emulates stereotypical black behavior to the point of unconscious mockery); Big Blak Afrika (Mos Def) and the Mau-Maus represent the uninformed pseudo-revolutionaries of the rap world; Manray (Savion Glover) and Womack (Tommy Davidson) are probably the most realistic characters in the film, though, as Lee says of Dunwitty, "I've met people like this." When Manray and Womack become Mantan and Sleep n' Eat, their personalities are abusively exaggerated until they too are caricatures of their former selves.
Lee and editor Sam Pollard delicately use television techniques such as the "MTV" editing style of the inspiration scene, in which we see Dela and Sloan simultaneously thinking of Manray, to evoke the oversaturated, hyperkinetic feel of modern-day media. The over-the-top performances also contribute to this satirical edge, particularly in the pitch scene, in which Dela says, "I've never really dug deep into my pain as a Negro," and Dunwitty characterizes Keenan and Kel as "the stupidest shit on TV, yo!"
This is undoubtedly Lee's most self-referential film: Dela's original aim is to destroy old-fashioned racist stereotypes by satirically exploiting them, just as Lee is doing with the film itself. Much of this self-reference comes in the form of ad-libs, as when Dunwitty says, "I don't care what that prick Spike Lee says, Tarantino was right: ‘nigger' is just a word," or when Dela describes a minstrel show as "singing, dancing, telling jokes, doing skits … like In Living Color," a TV show on which both Wayans and Davidson got their start. These and many more self-referential ad-libs might have been lost if the film had been shot more conventionally.
The scene in which Manray auditions for Dunwitty is extremely dehumanizing for all the African-Americans involved, as was the application of black-face for the real-life actors, even for this excellent, socially conscious film (the tears on Davidson's face in the "Showtime" scene are real). Manray, now officially dubbed "Mantan," is asked to dance on the boss's desk, and Dela eagerly gets up, saying, "Here, take my chair," in a subtle throwback to times gone by, when blacks had to give up their seats for whites. Glover's tap-dancing is incredible, and the fact that he can do this for a living is good enough for his character, while the more intelligent Womack is skeptical from the start, but also seduced by the money.
Lee's influences (including Mel Brooks's 1968 classic The Producers and Billy Wilder's great 1950 film Sunset Blvd) are apparent to anyone familiar with them, especially the riff on Sidney Lumet's Network(1976) in which Mantan screams, "I'm sick and tired of niggers, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" Later, Manray amends this to "I'm sick and tired of being a nigger," a slap in the painted face of the audience, who represent all of America, especially the media: we symbolically put on black-face, as the audience does literally, by pigeonholing black people into stereotypical roles as performers and entertainers. As critic Stanley Crouch says, historically, "the grand irony … is that it's as though [black minstrel performers] came and reinforced the bars of the cage they were in, because of their talent." Kuras used blue gels when lighting the minstrel performers in order to suggest the bars of this mental prison.
Though Lee characterizes the Mau-Maus as "idiots [who] think they're uplifting the race by taking a life," he uses Big Blak's dialogue to express his feeling that "gangsta rap is a 21st century version of a minstrel show" (this is, of course, less articulate in the mouth of Big Blak). Lee also uses Sloan's dialogue to explain why he himself, like her character, collects old racist memorabilia, "to remind me of a time when we were considered inferior." Lee kept one of the film's most important props, the "jolly nigger bank," on his desk while writing Bamboozled, and Dela's office likewise becomes gradually more cluttered with these artifacts until, as if by osmosis, these images overtake his mind and he finally "grows" black-face. At this point, reality has merged with television, and the scene in which Sloan shoots Dela has a strong soap opera feel to it.
Bamboozled ends effectively as Malcolm X does, with a montage of real historical footage; but, while the shots of Malcolm are inspiring and uplifting, Bamboozled‘s footage from old racist films and TV shows is extremely disturbing, showing that perhaps "nigger" is not "just a word," and that these supposedly ancient stereotypes are still being followed in insidiously subtle ways. Dela's father, Junebug (the great comedy writer and performer Paul Mooney) sums up the basic question of all three films with his elegant cry of pain: "Why do they treat us like that?"
About the Author
Ezra Stead is the Head Editor for www.moviesididntget.com. Ezra is also a screenwriter, actor, filmmaker, rapper and poet who has been previously published in print and online, as well as writing, directing and acting in numerous short films and two features. A Minneapolis native, Ezra currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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If red roses speak of love, what do yellow roses indicate?
Yellow roses indicate friendship as the bright, sunny colour of yellow roses evokes a feeling of warmth and happiness. The warm feelings associated with the yellow rose are often akin to those shared with a true friend.
What is pop art?
The term pop art is short for popular art. It emerged from the pen of English critic Lawrence Alloway in the late 1950s to describe what he viewed as a contemporary attitudinal shift in subject matter and techniques of art. Beginning in England in the mid-1950s and America in early '60s, pop art focussed on everyday objects rendered through an adoption of commercial art techniques. In doing so, artists availed themselves of images and ideas culled from popular culture, including movies, comic books, advertising, and especially, television — faithfully reproduced in all their mass-produced glory. Thus, by making use of what had been dismissed as kitsch by the art establishment, pop artists whose works were displayed in museums effectively thumbed their collective noses at the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow art.
What's the doomsday vault?
The doomsday vault is a Noah's Ark of sorts which would store samples of the world's most important seeds. It was inaugurated at Longyearbyen, Norway on Tuesday The vault is trident-shaped tunnel bored into the permafrost of the Arctic mountain range. It comprises three cold chambers and can hold 4.5 billion batches of seeds from the world's main crops. This is to ensure that species of plants obliterated by any manmade or natural disaster can be regrown.
What is the time preference theory of interest?
The Time Preference Theory of Interest is also known as The Agio Theory of Interest. It was presented by Bohm Bawerk, who said that interest is an agio (reward) or (premium) for time preference. People prefer present income, present consumption and present satisfaction of wants, which means that people are impatient to spend. To induce them to postpone their consumption, they are to be compensated by paying interest. People prefer present to the future because future is uncertain and wants of today cannot be satisfied tomorrow. Irving Fisher improved upon this, stating, "The rate of time preference measures the rate of interest." The higher the time preference, the higher the impatience to spend, and hence, the higher the rate of interest; the lower the time preference, the lower the rate of interest. According to Fisher, people with low level of income, uncertain about their future and are spendthrifts will demand high rate of interest whereas their opposites will demand low amount of interest.
How was the term pink slip coined?
In America, there was an old practice where the personnel department would put a discharge notice printed on pink paper in the pay envelope to notify the employee of his or her termination of employment or lay-off. The term pink slip also refers to a car race in which the winner receives the loser's car where the vehicle title would be printed on pink paper. The term dates back to 1915. However, originally, the colour of the paper had no particular significance.
Who is adolf loos?
Adolf Loos was an Austrian architect and theoretician, one of the most important representatives of modern architecture. In his theoretical and practical works, he developed a concept of functionalist architecture, free of decoration, which he regarded as superficial and subjective (in his essay Ornament and Crime). Among Loos' most significant works were the Steiner House and the Goldman & Salatsch department store in Vienna. The Miller Villa in Prague is among his climactic house buildings, described as "a single large, airy space" (the so-called 'Raumplan'). Loos also designed a number of coffee houses and luxury shops (particularly in Vienna) as well as apartments.
What is ‘a very silent night'?
It's music to a dog's ears, literally A Very Silent Night' is a CD recorded at a frequency only dogs can hear. It was recently launched in New Zealand. It's not to be confused with the Christmas hymn Silent Night, Holy Night.
What is international white cane day?
James Biggs of Bristol claimed to have invented the white cane in 1921. After he lost his vision in an accident, the artist felt threatened by increased motor vehicle traffic around his home and decided to paint his walking stick white to make himself more visible to motorists. It was not, however, until 10 years later the white cane became established. With the realisation that the black cane was barely visible to motorists, the Lion's Club decided to paint the cane white to increase its visibility and then began a national programme promoting the use of white canes for visually impaired persons. During the early 1960s, several state organisations and rehabilitation agencies serving visually impaired citizens of the United States urged Congress to proclaim October 15 the White Cane Safety Day A joint resolution of Congress was signed authorising the US president to proclaim October 15 as White Cane Safety Day
What are gigantes?
In Greek mythology, the gigantes were a race of giants, children oil Gaia or Gaea (Earth Mother) who was fertilized by the blood of Uranus when Cronus castrated him. The primordial Gigantes rose up in arms against the Olympians in an attempt to end the reign of the Olympian gods but were defeated by them and buried beneath the Earth, where their writhing is supposed to cause volcanic activity and earthquakes.
Which desert is also known as shamo? Why?
The Gobi desert, the extensive area of southern Mongolia and northern China and the largest desert in Asia, is also known as Shamo. It's the Chinese word for 'sand desert'. The Gobi, which extends 1,600 km from East to West and about 1,000 km from North to South, has an area of about 1,300,000 sq km. It is bounded by the Da Hinggan Ling (Greater Khingan Range) on the East, the Alton Shan and Nan Shan mountains on the South, the Tian i Shan mountains on the West, and the Altay and Hangayn Nuruu (Khangai) mountains and Yablonovyy Range on the North.
What is an adobe?
In Peru, where I come from, an adobe is a brick made of mud mixed with other material such as cane, straw and stone to give consistency It is dried in the sun. The adobe also provides a cool atmosphere to buildings made of it and is therefore used in much different kind of constructions. In Peru, there are many archaeological places that used this material, like the Huaca del Sol (450 CE), a great pre-Columbian construction in Trujillo, Peru which used around 100 million adobe bricks. Chan Chan, Huaca Pucllana, and many other complexes of our rich culture were also made with adobe. The great colonial buildings were also made with adobe, a very good material in dry weather prevalent on the coast of Peru where it rarely rains. Even today, adobe is still used for home constructions.
What does thor refer to?
It's widely known that Thor is the Norse God of Thunder. But now, Thor is also the first ship made of ice-cream sticks that will sail to the UK from the Netherlands. This new-age Viking ship is built with 15 Million recycled ice-cream sticks which are glued together. It was created by stuntman Robert McDonald along with his son and over 5,000 children.
What are fizeau's fringes?
Fizeau's fringes occur in interferometry. One of the most common methods used to test the flatness of a polished surface is by analyzing the interference patterns formed when the surface is placed against another polished flat transparent surface. When two surfaces are fully in contact, a pattern of concentric dark and light cycles is seen and these patterns (or fringes) are called Newton's rings. However, when the surfaces are separated by a very thin wedge-shaped layer of air, straight, parallel, dark and light patterns are produced and these are called Fizeau's fringes. These fringes are named in honour of French physicist Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau (1819-1896), who used the interference of light to measure the dilation of crystals.
What is the origin of the term 'the whole nine yards'?
This phrase's origins have several interpretations. Some popular ones are as follows: nine yards probably refers to the amount of cloth/ material needed to make a wedding dress or bridal train, a man's three-piece suit or a burial shroud. Also, the term, perhaps, comes from World War II pilots who wanted to be sure that they were fully loaded with ammunition before take-off. The ammunition belts were normally 27 ft or 9 yards. Alternatively, the term comes from the capacity of ready-mix concrete trucks which were normally 9 cubic yards — the whole nine yards referred to a fully loaded concrete truck.
What is back-door financing?
Back-door financing, an American concept, is the practice of governmental borrowing from the US treasury over and above legislature-approved budgeted expenses. The government resorts to this form of financing to meet unforeseen expenses arising out of events such as natural calamities.
Why is quartz used in watches?
Quartz is used in watches as it acts as a piezoelectric oscillator. As a potential difference is applied across quartz, stress is generated across the perpendicular faces of the quartz crystal. It is known as reverse piezoelectric effect. The word piezo in Greek means pressure and, therefore, piezoelectricity means pressure electricity It fakes place in some crystals like quartz which lack certain symmetrical properties. A mechanical stress produces an electric polarization and, reciprocally, an applied field produces a mechanical strain. So, this oscillator keeps watches ticking.
What is the geographical indications (gi) registry?
In December 1999; the Parliament passed the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. It seeks to provide registration and better protection of geographical indications relating to goods produced and manufactured in India. The Act is administered by the Controller General of Patents, Design and Trade Marks who is the Registrar of Geographical Indications. The Geographical Indications Registry is located in Chenhai.
What is the subprime effect?
Subprime lending, also called 'B-Paper', 'near-prime' or 'second chance' lending, refers to they practice of giving loans to borrowers at interest rates above the prevailing market rates because of their low credit status and increased risk due to either a limited credit history, or histories of payment delinquencies, charge-offs or bankruptcies. Subprime lending includes mortgages, credit cards and car loans. It is risky for both the lender and the borrower. It helps those consumers who otherwise Would not have access to credit market. But on the flip side the borrowers do not have the resources to meet the long-term loan obligations. But the crisis began in 2006, when in the US, thousands of borrowers defaulted in payments; as a result many lenders had to file for bankruptcy leading to a direct impact on the US housing market and economy as a whole.
What is dumdum bullet?
In the 1890s, the British military developed a bullet to be used at Dum Dum arsenal in India.'s North-West frontier and was named 'dumdum' bullet. It comprised a jacketed .303 bullet in which the jacket nose opened to expose its lead core to improve the effectiveness of the bullet by increasing its expansion upon impact. Afterwards, the term dumdum was taken to include any softnosed or hallow-pointed bullet. In 1899, the use of dumdum bullet was outlawed following the Hague Convention. But during First World War, the Germans accused the Belgian government of having used a dumdum bullet which the Belgians strongl denied.
What is a fish-eye lens?
It is a type of wide-angle lens used in photography to capture extremely wide and hemispherical images. Its focus length varies between 8-10 mm for circular lenses and 15-16 mm for full frame lens. Originally developed for use in meteorology and astronomy, it is used in planetariums and IMAX dome theatres to show pictures on a broad canvas.
What is the flynn effect?
The Flynn Effect is the rise of average intelligence quotient test scores seen over a period of time; say a decade or a century, in a country due to better schooling, improved nutrition or TV or even greater familiarity with multiple choice questions. The effect was named after New Zealand philosopher James R Flynn.
What is grimm's law?
Grimm's Law shows the systematic relationship between consonants in Germanic languages and consonants in other Indo-European languages, stating what phonetic changes took place. It is a phonetic principle formulated by German philologist Jacob Grimm in 1822. It describes the pattern of two stages of sound changes, known as the German consonant shift and the High German consonant shift. Grimm's Law is important because it demonstrates the development, from the Old Germanic languages, of more recent languages such as English, Dutch, and Low German. It also shows that changes in a language and in groups of languages come about gradually and not as a result of random' word changes.
What's unique about gothenburg?
Located on the west coast of Sweden, Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city Known primarily as a university city housing two famous universities —University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology — Gothenburg is also an important trade centre, having one of the largest ports in the Scandinavian countries. Further, the city happens to be an important cultural and sports centre among Scandinavian countries, possessing many theatres, museums, parks, and sports clubs. The annual Gothenburg Film Festival is the biggest in Scandinavia. Despite its relatively small size, Gothenburg organizes many largescale international sports championships. During March 18-23, 2008, World Figure Skating championships were held there at the Scandinavian Arena, the second largest indoor stadium of Sweden.
What is the ole robotic beetle?
These are robots that look like Volkswagen Beetle cars, only they have legs instead of wheels. They can scuttle across spaces and have the potential to help put out forest fires. They can be used in areas which can be quite dangerous for humans. These robotic Beetles were developed by the University of Magdeburg-Stendal in Germany.
Which is the longest building in the world?
Kansai International Airport in Japan which is 1700 metres long is the longest building in the world. In the '60s, when the Kansai region was rapidly losing trade to Tokyo, planners proposed a new airport near Kobe and Osaka. Osaka International Airport, located in the densely-populated suburbs of Itami and Toyonaka, was surrounded by buildings; it could not be expanded, and many of its neighbours had filed complaints because of noise pollution.
What is the bathtub theorem?
The British economist Kenneth Boulding used to explain many economic phenomena as similar to the accumulation or depletion of water in a bathtub due to a difference in the rate of inflow (injections) and outflow (leakages) of water. Such an explanation of an economic phenomenon popularly came to be termed by economists as the application of the Bathtub Theorem. This approach was supposed to have been used for the first time by Boulding in the 1940s in his book 'The Economics of peace', in which he compared the change in national income tothe change of water level in a bathtub; the production rate and consumption rate were similar to the injections and leakages respectively. Accordingly, when production exceeds consumption the national income rises and vice versa. Changes in national income can be explained similarly as arising out of differences in other injections and leakages, for example exports and imports.
What is the blue gene project?
Blue Gene is an ambitious project to expand the horizons of supercomputing, with the ultimate goal of creating a system that can perform 1 quadrillion calculations per second, or 1 petaflop. IBM expects a machine it calls Blue Gene/P to be the first to achieve this computational milestone. Today's fastest machine, NEC's Earth Simulator is comparatively slow - about one-thirteenth of 1 petaflop.
What's the origin of the word 'karaoke'?
The word karaoke is derived from two Japanese words — 'kara' comes from the word 'karappo' meaning empty or void and 'oke' comes from the word 'okesutura' or orchestra. Karaoke songs are typically music reproductions without the voice of the singer. It is said to have originated at a snack bar in Japan where a scheduled person was unable to perform. The bar owner played recorded music and invited customers to sing along. Some say that it started in the 1970s with a Japanese singer called Daisuke Inoue, who recorded songs and sold it to people to sing along too.
What's a sevillana dress?
The sevillana dress is worn by artistes who perform sevillana, a colourful and exciting style of song and dance that originated in Castile, Spain. It is a variation of a style of dance known as the seguidilla. It is performed to a strict 3/4 rhythm by pairs or groups of people. This style of dance is performed at fiestas of all kinds throughout Spain, especially during the feria, when women wear the colourful sevillana polka-dotted dresses (traje gitanas), that gives the dance a swirling quality and grace.
What does nordic refer to?
Nerdic is the language used by technology geeks and is also referred to as 'geek speak'. The language has words as bizarre as dongle and mashup. It's considered the fastest growing language in Europe because a 100 words were added to it in the last 12 months. Some of its words are borrowed from English but don't have the same meaning. For instance, a cobweb is a website that hasn't been updated in a long time and bandwidth refers to a person's ability to cope with several tasks. Since nerdic is said to have the three essential elements of a new language — words, phrases and pronunciation —some Europeans have applied to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to recognise it as an official language.
Which word has the most number of synonyms?
Synonyms are words with similar meanings. However, it's difficult to say which word has most number of synonyms because the synonyms of a particular word tend to be subjective and their meanings tend to vary from the original word.
What is jipijapa hat?
Jipijapa Hat (named after a town in Ecuador, once a centre for hat trade) or a Panama hat or just Panama is a traditional brimmed hat of Ecuadorian origin that is made from the plaited leaves of the toquilla straw plant. Straw hats woven in Ecuador, like many other 19 and early 20th century South American goods, wereshipped first to the Isthmus of Panama before sailing to their destinations in Asia, the rest of the Americas, and Europe. For some products, the name of their point of international sale rather than their place of origin stuck, hence Panama hats.
What is the sortino ratio?
Frank Sortino, now the director of a pension research institute in San Francisco, developed the Sortino Ratio. Many global Mutual Fund rating agencies prefer this risk-adjusted return measure over the Sharpe Ratio, because it is simple and easy. The Sortino Ratio is similar to the Sharpe Ratio, except that instead of using standard deviation as the denominator, it uses downside deviation. The Sortino Ratio was developed to differentiate between good and bad volatility in the Sharpe Ratio. If a fund is volatile to the upside (which is generally a good thing) its Sharpe ratio would still be low. To quote the Sortino website: "The denominator for the Sharpe Ratio is the standard deviation, and for the Sortino Ratio, the downside deviation."
What is the great rift valley?
The Great Rift Valley is the vast geographic depression that runs from the Jordan River Valley in Syria, South-western Asia to Mozambique in eastern Africa. The valley is approximately 6000 km in length, and its width varies from a few miles to more than one hundred miles. Its elevation varies from 1300 feet below sea level to 6000 feet above sea level. It is supposed to have formed because of the rifting of Earth's crust along a fault zone, believed to be millions of years old. The valley is of great interest to scientists because the bones of several human ancestors have been found there. The above name was given to the valley in late 19th century by the Scottish explorer John Walter Gregory.
What is the kimberley process?
Conflict diamonds came to the attention of the world media during the extremely brutal conflict in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. The UN, governments, the diamond industry and non-governmental organizations (such as Amnesty International), recognised the need for a global system to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond supply chain, which helped fund conflict. The Kimberley Process (the first meeting was held at Kimberley, South Africa in July 2000, hence the name) is a negotiating process to establish minimum acceptable international standards in the trade of diamonds from rebel-held conflict areas. Kimberly Process includes organized import and export, careful administration, combating corruption in the customs service, written invoices for diamond transactions, the presence of modern measuring and weighing instruments, and numbered and difficult-to-forge certificates. The advantages of the Kimberly system are: 1) Stemming the flow of money to rebel movements. 2) Increasing governments' transparency 3) Getting governments to keep tabs on how many diamonds they import and export and how much they are worth. 4) Facilitating a system whereby governments can be held accountable for the relationship between income and public spending.
Whatis a cyrus cylinder?
The Cyrus Cylinder is a clay cylinder on which a declaration issued by the emperor Cyrus II of Persia is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform. It has been described as the world's first charter of human rights, predating the Magna Carta by more than one millennium. This has been interpreted as expressing Cyrus' respect for humanity
Which is the most pointless gadget?
In a recent survey, an electric nail file, which gives a smooth finish to nails, all for a whopping £250, was voted the most pointless gadget of all times. While laser-guided scissors which helps cut a perfectly straight line came in second, electric candles were third.
Why is the taj trapezium zone and why is it called so?
Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) is a defined area of 10,400 sq km around the Taj Mahal to protect the monument from pollution. The Supreme Court of India delivered a ruling on December 30,1996 regarding industries covered under the TTZ, in response to a PIL seeking to protect the Taj Mahal from environmental pollution. The SC banned the use of coal/ coke in industries located in the TTZ with a mandate for switching over from coal/ coke to natural gas, and relocating them outside the TTZ or shutting down. The TTZ comprises over 40 protected monuments including three World Heritage Sites - the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. TTZ is so named since it is located around the Taj Mahal and is shaped like a trapezoid.
What are galactic superclusters?
Each galaxy has billions of stars. Such galaxies are not uniformly spaced in the universe but exist in groups and clusters; a group containing up to 40-50 galaxies and clusters containing about thousands of galaxies. These groups and clusters along with isolated galaxies may form larger clusters known as galactic superclusters. These are the largest structures of matter found in the universe. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a member of a local group of galaxies, which is in turn a part of the Virgo supercluster.
What is the age of antonines?
The Age of Antonines is often referred to two successive ages of Roman emperors —Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius —who ruled between 138 AD and 180 AD and were famous for their skilled leadership. The age is also known as the transitional phase of the Roman empire, hi 138 AD, after a long reign dedicated to the cultural unification and consolidation of the empire, emperor Hadrian named his son as heir, under the condition that he adopt both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Hadrian died the same year, and Antoninus began a peaceful, benevolent reign, in contrast to Hadrian's wars of unification and his immediate predecessors' expansionist wars. He adhered strictly to Roman traditions and institutions and willingly shared his power with the Roman senate. Marcus Aurelius succeeded Pius after his death in 161 AD and continued his legacy as an unpretentious and gifted administrator and leader. Marcus Aurelius died in 180 AD and was followed by his son Commodus who single-handedly ended this golden age of Roman empire.
What is the golden rule?
An almost universal principle of ethics, the Golden Rule, is summarised by the phrase 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. Variations in this theme recur across most religions and ethical philosophies, including Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, in the Mahabharata, the Book of Leviticus, in the philosophies of Kant, Mills and Rawl's Theory of Justice. Deep Ecology also recognises the Golden Rule with relation to species and ecosystems on Earth.
Where did surfing originate?
The sport of riding on the crest or along the tunnel of a wave, especially while standing or lying on a surfboard is called surfboarding. Originally developed by Hawaiian islanders before the 15th century, 'he'e nalu' spread in the early 20th century to mainland USA and Australia, where heavy timber plank boards were ridden directly towards beaches. The sport exploded in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, when cheaper, more manoeuvrable, and lighter boards made of fiber glass and foam became available and teenaged baby boomers headed to the beaches in droves to enjoy the manoeuvrability and stunts made possible by the new boards.
Who are hippy-crites?
Hypocritical celebrities or those who espouse a cause but don't live by the principles they preach. The word hippy-crite particularly refers to those celebrities guilty of environmental hypocrisy For instance, those who complain about pollution but nonetheless use products that pollute. Hippy-crites also refer to wannabe hippies —those who claim they are hippies but don't exactly lead such a lifestyle.
What is urban mining?
Urban mining is the European fancy name for the process of making money out of garbage using sophisticated machinery Urban mining is the process of reclaiming precious and minor metals from old electronic equipment. With the soaring price of metals, such recycling of previously mined metals is lucrative — 1 tonne of ore from a gold mine produces just 5 gms of gold on an average, whereas 1 tonne of discarded mobile phones can yield 150 gms or more, according to a study by Yokohama Metal Co Ltd, a recycling firm. The same volume of discarded mobile phones also contains around 100 kg of copper and 3 kg of silver, among other metals.
What is the backwash effect?
Gunnar Myrdal in 1956 said that regional differences are the natural outcome of economic development and the inevitable result of market forces. No one region can prosper, he said, without adversely affecting the prosperity of another. Economic growth takes place initially where there are such natural advantages as a source of fuel or a supply of raw materials. Once in existence, this region of economic development sets in motion the process of cumulative causation. Myrdal called the movement of wealth from poorer regions to the central rich region the backwash effect. It takes place because of better facilities and opportunities offered by the growing region. To enhance this difference further, a rich area may flood the markets of poorer areas with cheap products. The result is an industrially expanding region on the one hand and stagnating, or even declining, region on the other. :
What is grounded theory?
Grounded Theory is described as a research method in which the theory is developed from the data, rather than the other way around. That makes it an inductive approach, meaning it moves from the specific to the general. The Grounded Theory was developed by two sociologists, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. Their collaboration in research on dying hospital patients led them to write the book Awareness of Dying.
How are corrective lenses made?
The lab technician selects a lensblank that has the correct segment (called an add) and a base curve close to the prescribed power. Then to make the power match the prescription exactly, another curve is ground on the back of the lens blank. In most labs, the equipment is designed to grind minus curves, so a strong, plus lens blank is usually selected. If the base curve is too strong, then a minus curve is ground in the back of the lens which reduces the total power of the lens. Corrective lenses can be made with glass or plastic. Advances in automation are rapidly changing how lenses are made. For example, the vast majority of labs now use computers to determine curve parameters and lens choice, and equipment is available that will combine several steps or even do the entire operation automatically
Can cosmic rays generate electricity?
The jury is still out on whether we can generate electricity from cosmic rays but while many feel that in theory it may be possible, in practice it could be in very small amounts, hi any case, tapping cosmic rays is a very complex engineering problem and the cost of doing so could be prohibitively high.
How do sunglasses filter ultraviolet rays?
A special clear coating is applied to the lenses, either on the front or back of the lens, or sometimes both sides. It's a transparent coating and can be applied to any colour of lens including clear. The UV-filtering effect, however, is more complex. UV-filtering lenses are coated with special chemicals that allow light to pass through them, but reflect away UV, UV rays are basically high-frequency light waves which means that the chemical structure has to be built to deflect higher frequency light while allowing through lower frequency; light. The most complicated sun-glasses are prescription sunglasses. These are sunglasses that not only protect from light and UV but also work like normal glasses to correct the eyesight. For this to work, it requires that normal vision-correction glasses are taken, tinted and coated with UV-reflecting chemicals.
Why is the spring festival celebrated?
The ancient town of Hama in Syria is well known for its Spring Festival celebrated every year for, two weeks in April. This festival had its origins in the 2nd millennium BC when it would be celebrated to offer prayers and sacriflees to Adonis, the god of fertility However, the tradition disappeared gradually over the centuries and reappeared briefly in the 1930s, with the organization of carnivals and games during April. During World War n, the festival suffered a setback, and was revived in 1998 and been celebrated annually without a break. In the local language, it's called the Muhrajan-al-Rabi and the objective is to display local customs and traditions and help preserve the heritage of Hama. The, festival is characterised by many cultural and sports activities, and bazaars selling native food, handicrafts, and textiles.
What is the supermemo?
It's software that facilitates speed learning, particularly of languages. It's based on an algorithm which calculates the precise moment when a person is likely to forget something she has learnt. The program would then remind her about going over that information once again, during those times. It was invented by Piotr Wozniak.
What is a memristor?
Memristor is claimed to be the fourth basic element to electrical circuit theory along with the capacitor, resistor and inductor. It was recently discovered in HP Labs. It's most interesting characteristic is that it remembers the amount of charge that flows through it. So, it is named as memory resistor or memristor. Researchers believe the discovery will pave the way for instantly booting PCs, more energy-efficient computers, and new analog computers that can process and associate information in a manner similar to the human brain. Also, memristors can be used as either digital switches or to build a new breed of analog devices.
What is a ghost word?
A ghost word is one that has entered the language through the perpetuation of an error. It is a term invented by lexicographer W W Skeat in 1886 to denote words that are not real words. In Transactions of the Philological Society' (1886) Skeat says, "We should jealously guard against all chances of giving any undeserved record of words which had never any real existence, being mere coinages due to the blunders of printers or scribes, or to the perfervid imaginations of ignorant or blundering editors." Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable revised by Adrian Room describes ghost words as "spurious terms, the result of errors made by authors, typists, editors, and printers, and they hardly ever become part of the language. An example of a lasting ghost word is 'dord' (meaning density) which can be found in the 1934 Merriam-Webster Dictionary second edition. 'Dord' began life as an error made in transcribing a card that read: 'D or d, meaning a capital D or small d — for density Eliminated from future Merriam-Webster editions, this ghost word lives on in the 1934 edition."
What is the prague spring?
Prague Spring refers to the period of liberalisation in Czechoslovakia from January 5,1968 to August 21,1968 under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek who controlled the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In April 1968, agricultural and industrial reforms were instituted, a new constitution with a guarantee of civil rights and greater freedom of press was introduced with the announcement of federalization of Czechoslovakia into two nations with autonomy for Slovakia and initiation of reforms in the Communist Party and the government. However, this led to the public demanding greater reforms towards democracy The then Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries felt threatened by the likely emergence of a socialist-democratic Czechoslovakia since they felt it would weaken the Communist Bloc. On the night of August 20-August 21, 1968 armies from Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria invaded Czechoslovakia. They removed Alexander Dubcek from power and installed in his place anti-reform communists to run Czechoslovakia.
What is pixie dust?
Pixie dust is a fictional substance that is pictorially represented as a trail of a sparkling substance that follows mythical creatures such as pixies and fairies. It's also called fairy dust.
Why are planets generally spherical?
The gravitational pull of each planet basically tries to pull everything within its field toward the planet's centre, including the planet's own mass. As all areas of a planet are being pulled equally toward the centre, the planet takes a spherical shape, with all points on the surface being more or less equally distant from the centre. The smaller the planet, the weaker the gravitational pull; which is why asteroids, along with many of the smaller moons of the solar system, are not necessarily spherical in shape. Delmos, a moon of Mars, is a good example of this.
What is direct market access?
Direct Market Access (DMA) is a facility which allows brokers to offer clients direct access to the exchange trading system through the brokers' infrastructure without manual intervention by the broker. Some of the advantages offered by DMA are direct control of clients over orders, faster execution of client orders, reduced risk of errors associated with manual order entry, greater transparency, increased liquidity, lower impact costs for large orders, better audit trails and better use of hedging and arbitrage opportunities through the use of decision support tools/ algorithms for trading.
Where did the practice of sun-bathing originate?
Sunbathing has its origins in ancient civilizations. Greeks, Romans, and Sumerians considered Sun as a God, because Sun was the most powerful natural source of heat and light; as a part of Sunworship, they used to expose their bodies to sunlight. Another reason was ancient man's liking for bronzed skin, which could be easily acquired by sunbathing. In mediaeval times, however, dark skin lost its appeal because it began to be associated with the working classes, and people craved for make-up and other treatments that would make the skin look pale and white. In the beginning of the 20th century, there was a renewal of attraction for golden brown skin, especially in France. Coco Chanel, a fashion designer, and Josephine Baker, a singer, were considered responsible for triggering the resurgence of sunbathing, because their fans took a great fascination for the light brown skin they acquired by sunbathing.
Which is the earliest reality show?
The world's first reality show is Alien Funt's Candid Camera, which debuted in American television in 1948. It's considered a reality show for it involved unscripted situations involving unsuspecting people responding to pranks, which are caught on camera. It was based on a 1947-radio show called Candid Microphone.
What is a micelle?
A micelle is the cluster or aggregated particles formed by associated colloids (substances which, at high concentration, behave as colloidal solutions due to formation of micelles) in solution. Micelle formation takes place above a certain concentration called Critical Micellization Concentration (CMC) and above a particular temperature called Kraft Temperature. Every micelle system has a particular value of CMC. Micelles are primarily responsible for the cleansing action of soaps. A micelle consists of a hydrophobic hydrocarbon-like central core. The cleansing action of soap is due to the fact that soap molecules form micelle around the oil droplet in such a way that hydrophobic part of the stearate ions (from the soap solution of sodium stearate) is in the oil droplet and hydrophilic part projects out of the grease droplet like the bristles. This oil droplet surrounded by stearate ions is now pulled in water and removed from the dirty surface.
What is a shibboleth?
A shibboleth is a practice of identifying the members of a community or a clan and their social and regional origin. The term originated from the Hebrew language which literally means 'the part of the plant's. In modern usage, it is used to solve numerous conflicts between groups speaking different languages of dialects, and is also used to discover hidden members of the opposing group. Today, in English, a shibboleth has a wider meaning, referring to any 'in crowd' word or phrase that can be used to distinguish members of a group from outsiders, even when not used for a hostile purpose.
What are mocap suits?
Motion capture, or mocap, is a technique for digitally recording movement. Originally used as an analysis tool for biomechanics, mocap is now successfully employed in a wide variety of sectors including games development, advertising, events and education. Movement is captured through the placement of sensors (or markers) on or near each joint of the body As each joint moves, the positions or angles between the markers are recorded. Software records the angles, velocities, accelerations and impulses, providing an accurate digital representation of the movement. In entertainment, mocap is best known as an animation tool for films, TV and games. Not only does it save time and money but it also creates more lifelike movement than manual animation. Examples of applications include Gollum in Lord of the Rings, Polar Express and Happy Feet.
Who was called the iron chancellor?
A hundred years ago, Germany was divided into many small states, or countries. In one of these states Prussia, the chancellor, or chief minister to the king, was Otto von Bismarck. A strong and ruthless man, Bismarck made Prussia the strongest of all German states and its army feared throughout Europe. When the states were gathered into one empire in 1871, Bismarck, now a prince, and his king, now an emperor, were at its helm. Prince Bismarck continued to make the new empire stronger until he was dismissed by a new emperor in 1890. He got his nickname. 'The Iron Chancellor', when he said that Germany could only become a great power through blood andiron.
What is the e layer?
The E layer is a region of the ionosphere, extending from about 90-150 kilometres above the Earth, which influences long-distance communications by strongly reflecting radio waves in the 1-3 megahertz. It is also called E region. Heaviside layer or Kennelly. Heayiside layer. This region reflects radio waves of medium wavelength and allows their reception around the surface of the Earth. The layer approaches the Earth by day and recedes from it at night. In medical terms, it is a cylinder of relativistic electrons gyrating in the magnetic field, which produces a self field strong enough to dominate the externally applied field and produces half reversal in the system. Since the mid '20s, another connection regarding the ionosphere has been hypothesized that lightning can interact with the lower ionosphere. According to this theory thunderstorms could modulate the transient, localized patches of relatively high-electron density in the mid-ionosphere E layer, which significantly affects radio-wave propogation.
Why is the turtle island called so?
The Turtle Island, located about 10 kms off the coast of Toucheng in Yilan County (Taiwan), has a volcanic terrain that, from certain angles, looks like a turtle floating in the sea. Hence, it is known as Turtle Island. Among the features of the island are high cliffs, steaming fumaroles (an opening in a volcano), welling underwater hot springs, mountain peaks, sea-eroded caves, a lake and unique cliff ' vegetation as well as rich marine ecological resources.
Which is the world's longest mobile phone?
The longest mobile is NEED, a concept phone created by designer Tamer Koseli, which is about 14 cm long and is narrow in width. Koseli bucked the current trend in mobile phones which come with features like a camera and MP3 players. He wanted to create a phone pared of these so-called superfluous features. NEED has an OLED display which shows basic information, and also sports a touch screen.
What does freefonix refer to?
Freefonix is a 40-episode, 3D animated music project created by Magnus Fiennes, Alex Tate and Simeon Warburton and produced by an Indian company and BBC. It is targeted at children and uses music and animation to tell an adventure story of three teenagers who accidentally discover the existence of The Thirteenth Note which brings them power and insight.
What is a moot court?
In constitutional law, a moot court is an important part of the curriculum undertaken twice in a semester, during the class time, and students serve as both presenter and judges. A moot court is a competition, conducted at both undergraduate level and in law school, in which teams of students prepare and argue legal cases. Such cases may be real or hypothetical, and the students are given a set period to prepare. Judges are selected for the cases and the general rules are framed, some of which are: 1. Petitioners, the side bringing the case, go first; 2. Presenters have a set time period for their argument. 3. Judges may ask questions at any time. They may ask anything about the case, and are not restricted to the point or argument the presenter is making at the time. 4. After the petitioners, respondents have the same time period to present their argument. 5. At the close of the arguments, the judges meet to deliberate and they make three decisions: a. Judgment of the case on merits. b. Best overall team and c. Best individual presenter.
What is the stroboscopic effect?
The stroboscopic effect is a phenomenon due to interrupted illumination of a moving object. When an oscillating body is seen in periodically interrupted light (a series of light flashes occurring at a definite rate) it appears different. If the periodicity of the vibrating body is same as that of the flashing light, the body appears to be stationary. In movies, when a wagon with spiked wheels comes to a stop, the wheels often appear to stand still, then turn backward, stop, turn forward, and then stop again. This is due to the stroboscopic effect. A stroboscope is a light source emitting light with different but definite interruption rates. It is used to determine the frequency of a vibrating body or revolutions per minute of a rotating body Car engines are tuned with the help of stroboscopic lights.
Which country has the largest reserves of petroleum?
Saudi Arabia has the largest petroleum reserves in the world. It comprises almost l/4th (24 %) of the world's proven total petroleum reserves. Saudi Arabia's economy is petroleum-based; roughly 75% of budget revenues and 90% of export earnings come from the oil industry. Officially, it has about 260 billion barrels (41,000,000,000 cubic metres) of oil reserves. It has become one of the rapidly growing countries in terms of the average per-eapita income.
What is a sovereign wealth fund?
A Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is an investment fund owned by a government. The funds invested through such funds are usually the proceeds of non-renewable natural resources or a higher return alternative to holding foreign currency. An SWF differs from government funds that invest in their own country as these are usually driven by the desire to direct the economy in some way, for example, by investing in industries whose growth will have some benefit for the broader economy. The primary aim of an SWF is generating high returns.
What's unique about the rio grande river?
Rio Grande in Spanish means big river. Two different rivers bear the above name: the first is the river flowing through the eastern part of Jamaica, and the second, the river originating in the US and flowing through the southern United States and Mexico. Rio Grande of Jamaica is the largest source of fresh water in Jamaica and provides water to Jamaica's capital Kingston. It's popular among tourists for rafting, which originally was used in the river for transporting bananas from several inland transplantations to Port Antonio harbour. Rio Grande of the US is its third longest river (1885 miles) and serves as the natural boundary between Texas and Mexico. In spite of being a long river, the river, today, suffers from a low rate of flow and hardly empties into the sea. Because of drought and overuse, the river faces a serious threat of extinction.
What is llanfair pg?
Llanfair PG or Llanfairpwil is the short form and commonly used name of a village located on the island of Anglesey in Wales. The long form of the village's name is Llan fairpwilg wyngyllgogery chwyrndrobwilllanty siliogogogoch, which is Welsh for 'St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave'. This is the longest officially recognized place name in the United Kingdom and one of the longest worldwide with 58 letters. The long name was given in 1860s to the village to develop it as a commercial and tourist centre. The village was connected with London in 1850 by the railway and this artificially contrived name gave the village's railway station the honour of having the longest name in the UK.
Who has written the maximum number of books?
Phillip M Parker, an American, has written 200,000 books. He has devised computer algorithms which write text, search and do many more defined operations which have helped him write these books. Among his publications include The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Acne Rosacea (168 pages), Stickler Syndrome: A Bibliography and Dictionary for Physicians, Patients and Genome Researchers (126 pages), The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs, Bathmats and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in India (144 pages). ii) The Guinness Book of World Records ranks Mary Faulkner (1903-1973) as the most prolific novelist, having written 904 books. Mary wrote under six pen names, which include Kathleen Lindsay, Margaret Cameron, Mary Richmond, Molly Waring and Hugh Desmond. Some of her books are There is No Yesterday and Wind of Desire, and Harvest of Deceit.
What is a banana bond?
A chemical bond is the phenomenon of chemical species like atoms held together by electrostatic or electronic forces. Of the several types of chemical bonds, a special type exists in the molecule of boron hydride BH3 which exists as a dimer B2H6 molecule. It contains two types of hydrogen atoms. Four hydrogen atoms are of one type, which are used in making four normal covalent bonds with two boron atoms (two with each of the boron atoms). The remaining two H atoms form bridges between the two boron atoms through threecentre electron-pair bonds. This type of bond involves three atoms but only two electrons. Since the shape of the electron cloud of the three-centre electron pair bond resembles the shape of a banana, it is called a banana bond.
What is a solid state drive?
Solid State Drives, or SSDs as they are popularly called, are new age storage drives and are slowly but gradually replacing traditional hard drives. A hard disk has heads, magnetic surfaces and many other complex moving parts, which enable it to function properly but they also make the hard disks fallible. The moving parts also make hard disks slower in reading and writing data. Whereas the SSD has no moving parts, no heads, and works on a principle similar to a RAM. Solid State Drives used either SDRAM or NAND Flash. Solid State Drives will replace the traditional hard disks due to their inherent advantages - they operate at higher speeds, data can be fetched almost immediately and there is no time lag between the data request sent and transfer of data.
How is inflation calculated?
Each country has its own method to calculate inflation. However, it reflects how the market prices affect a person's purchasing capacity. In India, it is based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) where the price level of the data of 435 commodities is tracked through WPI. It is an indicator of movement of prices of commodities in all trade and transactions. In India, it is done on a weekly basis.
What is the russian avantegarde movement?
The term avante garde refers generally to art for the sake of social progress. But sometimes, the term is also used to refer to experimental and innovative art without any specific social purpose. The term is used with the former meaning in Russia, which experienced a great art reform in the period 1917-1932 in the wake of the Russian revolution. The Russian avantegarde movement is attributed to a group of about twenty artists, whose works had a great influence on the abstract art of the country of that period. The members of the movement were mostly located in St Petersberg and Moscow. Although their work had a great imi pact, these artists lacked unity, and had bitter quarrels among them| selves, each individual and sub group considering others as insignificant and wrong.
What are the webby awards?
The Webby Awards honour websites on the internet. The awards were first given away in 1996 by the now defunct magazine 'The Web'. Private investors now own the award. A Webby tradition is that the acceptance speech of the winner shouldn't exceed five words.
What is a telectroscope?
A telectroscope has several meanings. It is the first prototype of a television system. Imaginary systems of distant seeing were also referred to as telectroscope in the 19th century. In recent times, a installation art by Paul St John with a visual high-speed broadband link between London and New York City has also been called a telectroscope.
What is a 120-cell?
A 120-cell is a finite regular four-dimensional polytope with the schlafli symbol 5,3,3 (a notation to define polytopes and tessalations). It is also known as hyperdodecahedron or hecatonicosachorn and is composed of 120 docahedra, hence it is known as 120-cell. The 120-cell has 600 vertices, 720 pentagons and 11,200 edges. It is one of the six regular polychora.
What is proton therapy?
All matter consists of atoms and all atoms have protons along with other subatomic particles. When an accelerated beam of proton, (with a particle accelerator) is incident on the target tissue like a tumour, due to their relatively enormous size, protons scatter less easily in the tissue and there is very little lateral dispersion. Therefore, the beam stays focused on the tumour shape without much lateral damage to surrounding tissue. The use of protons for radiotherapy is called proton radiotherapy and like other forms of radiotherapy it involves the energized, accelerated, and ionizing protons on the target tumour.
What is the white cloud formed when a plane breaks through the sound barrier?
The sound barrier, a sharp rise in aerodynamic drag, occurs when a plane reaches the speed of sound. For an aircraft flying at subsonic speed, the pressure .waves generated by it extend in all directions, and, outspeeding the craft, transmit the disturbance uniformly. However, for supersonic speeds, the pressure field is confined to an area extending in a Mach cone from the rear of the craft. The waves are unable to get out of the way of the aircraft, and strong local shockwaves act on the wing and body of the plane. These shockwaves squeeze moisture in the air to give rise to a cloud-like effect.
When was kindergarten started?
The first kindergarten was started by German educator Friedrich Froebel in 1837 in Blankenburg, Prussia (now part of Germany). Kindergarten literally means children's garden. Froebel chose the German term kindergarten because he intended children in his school to grow as freely as flowers in a garden. Froebel based his educational philosophy on a belief in the innate creativity of children. His kindergarten stressed that children should spend part of each day engaged in play to naturally develop their creative and intellectual potential. At the time, almost no child under the age of seven attended school, but Froebel designed his kindergarten for children between three and seven. The kindergarten became widely admired for its Innovative teaching strategies and Froebel's followers soon established other kindergartens based on his philosophy.
What is the significance of jerusalem day?
Jerusalem Day, called Yom Yerushalayim by the Jews, is the festival celebrated by Israel every year on the 28th day of the lyar month of the Jewish calendar. It commemorates the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem by Israel during a six-day war in 1967. Many sites, including Temple Mount, considered holy by the Jews, are located in the Old City of Jerusalem, and JewslfaVe been denied access to the Old City for hundreds of years. Even after the formation of Israel in 1948, Jews had control over only western Jerusalem and not the eastern part which contained the Old City Thus, liberation of Jerusalem in 1967 marked an important milestone in Jewish history, because with the liberation of the Old City, centuries of waiting and struggle by the Jews ended, and Jerusalem was subsequently united.
What are cladograms?
Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of species based on evolutionary ancestry. It's distinct from other taxonomic classification systems because it focuses on evolution rather than similarities between species. This is because it places heavy emphasis on objective and quantitative analysis. Cladistics generates diagrams called cladograms that represtait the evolutionary tree of life. The starting point of cladistic analysis is a group of species and molecular, morphological, or other data characterising those species. The end result is a treelike relationship diagram which is the cladogram. It graphically represents a hypothetical evolutionary process.
What is the large hadron collider project?
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), currently being built at CERN near Geneva, is the largest scientific instrument on the planet. When it begins operations later this year, it will produce roughly 15 petabytes (15 million gigabytes) of data annually, which scientists worldwide will access and analyse. The mission of the LHC Computing Project (LCG) is to build and maintain a data storage and analysis infrastructure.
What is the anti-greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect occurs when the atmosphere lets sunlight in and blocks in radiation from escaping. IfTtigTrot so, then the temperature on Earth which is 15 degrees Celsius would be -15 degrees Celsius. Imagine a layer that stops light from getting in and lets infrared out. An anti-greenhouse effect does the same thing to heat it lets heat out but doesn't let it in. The conventional greenhouse effect occurs because the atmosphere is largely transparent to solar radiation, but largely opaque to infrared. In an anti-greenhouse effect, this situation is reversed and this will cause cooling. This effect is only known to occur on Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
Which mutual fund scheme is the oldest in world?
Sherman Adams was a daring Boston broker who in 1924 introduced the world's first mutual fund, the MIT Fund, or Massachusetts Investors Trust Fund. By investing in the MIT Fund, customers could buy or sell their shares whenever they wanted, rather than tie their money up for a set number of years. After the MIT Fund survived the stock market crash of 1929, more mutual funds cropped up, leading to a massive mutual fund industry. Now, the MIT Fund is managed by MFS Investment Management.
What is continuous partial attention?
A state in which most of one's attention is on a primary task, but where one is also monitoring several background tasks. CPA is that state most of us enter when we're in front of a computer screen, or trying to check out at the grocery store with a cellphone pressed to one ear or blogging the proceedings of a conference while it's under way. We're aware of several things at once, shifting our attention to whatever is more urgent.
What's the royal ascot parade?
Ascot is a town in southern England where horse races are held and Royal Ascot is the most famous and popular race meeting. The Queen and the royal family normally attend every day The royal procession in a horse-drawn carriage, scheduled before racing on each day is the Royal Ascot parade. It was started in 1711 by Queen Anne. The Royal Enclosure has a strict dress code. Male attendees must wear full morning dress, including a top hat, while ladies must not show bare midriffs or shoulders, and must wear hats. There are 16 group races on offer, with at least one group one event on each of the five days.
Why is it cooler at higher altitudes?
As we go up, the air becomes thinner. Air molecules absorb heat from sunlight and ollide with each other. As they collide, the heat is dissipated into the atmosphere. So, where the concentration of air is high, like in the plains, the atmosphere becomes hot. At higher altitudes, because of presence of lesser number of air molecules, the number of collision nd resultant heat dissipation become less. This is why it's cooler at higher altitudes.
Why is it cooler at higher altitudes?
High altitudes normally begin at 1500 metres above sea level. At such altitudes, the atmospheric pressure is considerably lower than at sea level. To give some examples: the pressure at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch and it decreases through 4.3 psi at 30,000 ft to 1.6 psi at 50,000 ft. Because of this, the ayexpands as it rises and this causes it to cool. That is why it is cooler on top of mountains.
Why is it cooler at higher altitudes?
Air in the atmosphere is not heated directly by the sun. It's the surface of the Earth that's heated by the sun and the layer of air in immediate contact with the Earth's surface gets heated due to conduction. As you go away from the surface of the Earth, the heating by conduction keeps decreasing and, therefore, it is cooler at higher altitudes. That is the basic explanation. There are other factors like rising of the air in immediate contact with the surface of the Earth due to heating and, thereby, distributing heaf to the upper layers.
What's the origin of 'touch wood'?
There are several theories. According to one, it originates from the pagan belief that good spirits reside in trees such as oak, and hence, touching wood or knocking on wood would help ward off evil spirits. According to an ancient Celtic belief, trees can conduct evil spirits, much like a conductor absorbing heat. Some would knock'on wood to thank mythical creatures named leprechauns for bestowing good luck. Also, since Jesus Christ was crucified on a wooden cross, touching a wooden crucifix was, therefore, a form of praying for good luck.
How does a cryogenic engine work?
The cryogenic engine gets its name from the extremely cold temperature at which liquid nitrogen is stored. Air moving around the vehicle is used to heat liquid nitrogen to a boil. Once it boils, it turns to gas in the same way that heated water forms steam in a steam engine. A rocket like the Ariane 5 uses oxygen and hydrogen, both stored as a cryogenic liquid, to produce its power. The liquid nitrogen, stored at -320 degrees Fahrenheit, is vaporized by the heat exchanger. Nitrogen gas formed in the heat exchanger expands to about 700 times the volume of its liquid form. This highly pressurised gas is then fed to the expander, where the force of the nitrogen gas is converted into mechanical power.
What is the freedom of the seas?
Freedom of the Seas is the doctrine that ships of any nation may travel through international waters unhampered. It is the right of neutral shipping in wartime to trade at will except where blockades are established.
About the Author
Dr. Ashok Kumar Sharma, Taxidermist; M.A.(History); Certificate in Taxidermy(Madras); Certifate in Library Science (TOPPER-ML Sukhadia Uni. Udaipur,(Rajasthan) INDIA. Hobby: Cricket; Postal Stamp Collection and Collection of Quotations since 1981.
Visual Dictionary - North pine / Peter (Pepi) Chukanov
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