October 13, 2010
Big Wave Surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into or are towed onto waves which are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as ‘guns’ or ‘rhino chasers.’ Sizes of the board needed to successfully surf these waves vary by the size of the wave as well as the technique the surfer uses to reach the wave. A larger, longer board allows a rider to paddle fast enough to catch the wave and has the advantage of being more stable, but it also limits maneuverability and surfing speed.
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October 13, 2010
Controllerism is the art and practice of using musical software controllers (e.g. MIDI) to build upon, mix, scratch, remix, effect, modify, or otherwise create music, usually by a DJ or ‘Controllerist.’ Often on the side of Virtuoso performance art, Controllerism is also a nod to traditional musicianship and instrumental-ism paired with modern computer sequencing software such as Ableton Live and Native Instruments Traktor.
However a working knowledge of Scale and Chords is not necessarily required as the performers typically focus their efforts more on sequencing events, software effect and instrument manipulations using buttons, knobs, faders, keys, foot switches and pedals than on instrumental notes played in real time. The term was coined by musician Matt Moldover in 2007 and popularized by DJ Ean Golden to describe the process while paying homage to and giving respect to the art of turntablism.
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October 13, 2010
A minuet [min-yoo-et] is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, meaning small, pretty, delicate, a diminutive of menu, from the Latin minutus. At the period when it was most fashionable it was slow, soft, ceremonious, and graceful. The name is also given to a musical composition written in the same time and rhythm, but when not accompanying an actual dance the pace was quicker. As the other dances that made up a Baroque suite dropped out of use, the minuet retained its popularity.
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October 12, 2010
The Turk was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton. Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress the Empress Maria Theresa, the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent. The Turk was in fact a mechanical illusion that allowed a human chess master hiding inside to operate the machine.
With a skilled operator, the Turk won most of the games played during its demonstrations around Europe and the Americas for nearly 84 years, playing and defeating many challengers including statesmen such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. Although many had suspected the hidden human operator, the hoax was initially revealed only in the 1820s by the Londoner Robert Willis.
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October 12, 2010
The Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing Internet marketplace that enables computer programmers (known as Requesters) who are located in the United States to co-ordinate the use of human intelligence to perform tasks which computers are unable to do. The Requesters are able to pose tasks known as HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks), such as choosing the best among several photographs of a store-front, writing product descriptions, or identifying performers on music CDs. Workers (called Providers) can then browse among existing tasks and complete them for a monetary payment set by the Requester.
Requesters can ask that Workers fulfill Qualifications before engaging a task, and they can set up a test in order to verify the Qualification. They can also accept or reject the result sent by the Worker, which reflects on the Worker’s reputation. Currently, a Requester has to have a U.S. address, but Workers can be anywhere in the world. Requesters, which are typically corporations, pay at least 10 percent over the price of successfully completed HITs to Amazon.
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October 12, 2010
Choco Taco is a brand of dessert food resembling a taco, consisting of a taco shell-like waffle cone, reduced-fat vanilla ice cream, artificially flavored fudge, peanuts, and a milk chocolate coating. The product was invented in Philadelphia in the 1980s by the Jack and Jill Ice Cream Company, but was introduced nationwide by Good Humor-Breyers in 1996 as ‘America’s coolest taco,’ at the Supermarket Industry Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
The ‘Choco Taco’ is marketed under both the Good Humor and Klondike brands. Both brands are owned by the same ice cream conglomerate, Good Humor-Breyers, a unit of Unilever, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1998, Unilever introduced the Choco Taco to Italy with the name Taco Algida.
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October 11, 2010
On many computer operating systems, the superuser, or root, is a special user account used for system administration. Separation of administrative privileges from normal user privileges makes an operating system more resistant to viruses and other malware. Additionally, in organizations, administrative privileges are often reserved for authorized individuals in order to control abuse, misuse, or other undesired activities by end-users.
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October 11, 2010
Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to install homebrew applications on their devices by unlocking the operating system and allowing the user root access. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many extensions and themes previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia.
A jailbroken iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use the App Store and iTunes. Jailbreaking is different from SIM unlocking, which, once completed, means that the mobile phone will accept any SIM without restriction on, for example, the country or network operator of origin.
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October 11, 2010
Kush [koosh] refers to a subset of strains of indica cannabis. The origins of Kush cannabis are from landrace plants mainly in Afghanistan, but are also from Iran, Pakistan, and Northern India. The name derives from the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kush strains of cannabis were brought to the United States in the mid-to-late 1970s and continue to be available. Kush strains were among those cultivated by the British firm GW Pharmaceuticals for its legally licensed commercial trial of medicinal cannabis.
Congressman Mark Kirk, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Illinois, introduced legislation to increase the penalties for selling kush: The High-Potency Marijuana Sentencing Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2848). Kirk said that as kush may sell for up to $600 per ounce increases penalties are justified, saying that ‘if you can make as much money selling pot as cocaine, you should face the same penalties.’
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October 10, 2010
Ital or I-tal is the dietary system associated with the Rastafari movement. The word derives from the English word ‘vital,’ with the initial syllable replaced by i. This is done to many words in the Rastafari vocabulary to signify the unity of the speaker with all of nature. Rastafarians derive their beliefs and morality from intense personal meditations and prayer, and therefore there is no single dogma of Rastafarian belief. Due to this emphasis on individual personal meditation in Rastafari, the expression of Ital eating varies widely from Rasta to Rasta, and there are few universal ‘rules’ of Ital living.
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October 10, 2010
In economics and finance, arbitrage [ahr-bi-trahzh] is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets. For example if you can buy one euro for one dollar, you immediately profit if the current exchange rate values euros above dollars. An arbitrage in simple terms, is the possibility of a risk-free profit at zero cost.
In principle and in academic use, an arbitrage is risk-free; in practice, there are always risks in arbitrage, some minor (such as fluctuation of prices decreasing profit margins), some major (such as devaluation of a currency or derivative). People who engage in arbitrage are called arbitrageurs — such as a bank or brokerage firm. The term is mainly applied to trading in financial instruments, such as bonds, stocks, derivatives, commodities and currencies.
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October 10, 2010
Adinkra [oon-din-krah] are visual symbols, originally created by the Akan of Ghana and the Gyaman of Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa, that represent concepts or aphorisms.
Adinkra are used on fabric, walls, in pottery, woodcarvings and logos. Fabric adinkra are often made by woodcut sign writing as well as screen printing. They also can be used to communicate evocative messages that represent parts of their life or those around them.
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