Sunday, December 30, 2012

frustum


In geometry, a frustum (plural: frusta or frustums) is the portion of a solid (normally a cone or pyramid) that lies between two parallel planes cutting it.

The term is commonly used in computer graphics to describe the three-dimensional region which is visible on the screen, the 'viewing frustum', which is formed by a clipped pyramid; in particular, frustum culling is a method of hidden surface determination.

In the aerospace industry, frustum is the common term for the fairing between two stages of a multistage rocket (such as the Saturn V), which is shaped like a truncated cone.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Big Science

Big Science is a term used by scientists and historians of science to describe a series of changes in science which occurred in industrial nations during and after World War II, as scientific progress increasingly came to rely on large-scale projects usually funded by national governments or groups of governments. Individual or small group efforts, or Small Science, is still relevant today as theoretical results by individual authors may have a significant impact, but very often the empirical verification requires experiments using constructions, such as the Large Hadron Collider costing between $5 and $10 billion.

Friday, December 28, 2012

inculcate


inculcate (third-person singular simple present inculcates, present participle inculcating, simple past and past participle inculcated)

  1. (transitive) To teach by repeated instruction.
  2. (transitive) To induce understanding or a particular sentiment in a person or persons.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Steganography

Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one, apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message, a form of security through obscurity. The word steganography is of Greek origin and means "concealed writing" from the Greek words steganos (στεγανός) meaning "covered or protected", and graphei (γράφη) meaning "writing". The first recorded use of the term was in 1499 by Johannes Trithemius in his Steganographia, a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on magic. Generally, messages will appear to be something else: images, articles, shopping lists, or some other covertext and, classically, the hidden message may be in invisible ink between the visible lines of a private letter.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

darknet

A darknet refers to any closed, private group of people communicating; however, since 2002, the term has evolved to more specifically refer to file sharing networks in general, whether that network is private or readily accessible to the public. The phrase "the darknet" is used to refer collectively to all covert communication networks.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Ason

Ason is a prestigious title (under the eight kabane system), initially conferred in the Nara period of the history of Japan, on princes who had been reduced to the commonalty.

Monday, December 24, 2012

auto-antonym

An auto-antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), or contranym (originally spelled contronym), is a word with a homograph (a word of the same spelling) that is also an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning). Variant names include antagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god), enantiodrome, and self-antonym. It is a word with multiple meanings, one of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other meanings.

For example, the word "fast" can mean "moving quickly" as in "running fast," or it can mean "not moving" as in "stuck fast." To buckle can mean "to fasten" when used transitively or "to bend then break" intransitively. "To weather" can mean "to endure" (intransitive) or "to erode" (transitive). However such terms are just how one relates to the meaning of an object enduring or having endured weather, whether it is standing up against said weather unchanged, or being influenced negative by said weather, it is still either way being weathered and the additional valuation of its resultant meaning makes it an auto-anyonym only subjectively; when in actuality the word means simply how an object relates to the influence of weather for better or worse. That is an example of our perception adding meaning to the word where it may not initially imply such a meaning generally that would make it an auto-antonym. "Weedy" can mean "overgrown" ("The garden is weedy") or stunted ("The boy looks weedy"). "To overlook" can mean "to inspect" or "to fail to notice". "Strike", in baseball terms, can mean "to hit the ball" or "to miss the ball". This phenomenon is also called "enantionymy" or "antilogy."

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Benedictine


Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict around 529.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Gerrymandering


In the process of setting electoral districts, Gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process.

Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular group of constituents, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Scabies


Scabies, known colloquially as the seven-year itch, is a contagious skin infection that occurs among humans and other animals. It is caused by a tiny and usually not directly visible parasite, the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, which burrows under the host's skin, causing intense allergic itching. The infection in animals (caused by different but related mite species) is called sarcoptic mange.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Mutatis mutandis


Mutatis mutandis is a Latin phrase meaning "by changing those things which need to be changed" or more simply "the necessary changes having been made".

The phrase carries the connotation that the reader should pay attention to the corresponding differences between the current statement and a previous one, although they are analogous. This term is used frequently in economics, philosophy and in law, to parameterize a statement with a new term, or note the application of an implied, mutually understood set of changes. The phrase is also used in the study of counter-factuals, wherein the requisite change in the factual basis of the past is made and the resulting causalities are followed.

Monday, December 17, 2012

regicide

The broad definition of regicide (Latin regis "king" + cida "killer" or cidium "killing") is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Lunokhod


Lunokhod was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. The 1969 Lunokhod 1A was destroyed during launch, the 1970 Lunokhod 1 and the 1973 Lunokhod 2 landed on the moon and the 1977 Lunokhod was never launched. The successful missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet manned moon missions and to be used as automatic remote-controlled robots to explore the surface and return pictures. The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton rockets. The moon lander part of the Luna spacecraft for Lunokhods were similar to the ones for sample return missions. The Lunokhods were designed by Alexander Kemurdjian at NPO Lavochkin. Not until the 1997 Mars Pathfinder was another remote-controlled vehicle put on an extraterrestrial body. In 2010, nearly forty years after the 1971 loss of signal from Lunokhod 1, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed its tracks and final location, and researchers, using a telescopic pulsed-laser rangefinder, detected the robot's retroreflector.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

cislunar

cislunar (not comparable)

  1. situated between the Earth and the Moon
  2. situated below the orbit of the Moon, or equivalent distance from the Earth

Friday, December 14, 2012

Chorizo


Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausage originating from the Iberian Peninsula.

Chorizo can be a fresh sausage, in which case it must be cooked before eating. In Europe it is more frequently a fermented cured smoked sausage, in which case it is usually sliced and eaten without cooking.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Saucier


A Saucier is a position in the classical brigade style kitchen, which is still used in large commercial kitchens such as some restaurants. It can be translated into English as sauce cook. This position prepares sauces, stews and hot hors d'œuvres and sautés food to order. Although it is the highest position of the station cooks, the saucier is still considered subordinate to the chef and the sous-chef.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Frenemy


"Frenemy" (alternately spelled "frienemy") is a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy" that can refer to either an enemy disguised as a friend or to a partner who is simultaneously a competitor and rival. The term is used to describe personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions. The word has appeared in print as early as 1953.

Monday, December 10, 2012

deckle

In manual papermaking, a deckle is a removable wooden frame or "fence" placed into a mould to keep the paper slurry within bounds and to control the size of the sheet produced. After the mold is dipped into a vat of paper slurry, excess water is drained off and the deckle is removed and the mold shaken or "couched" to set the fibers of the paper. Some of the paper slurry passes under the deckle and forms an irregular, thin edge. Paper with a feathered or soft edge is described as having a "deckled" edge, in contrast with a cut edge.

Machine-made paper may artificially have its edges produced to resemble a deckle edge. This is most commonly used for private presses or fancy stationery.

In film processing, deckles are die inserts that set the coating width of a slot die coater or the extrusion width of an extrusion die. They work by constraining the flow as the material exits the die. Since some materials have a tendency to neck in or spread out after leaving the die, deckle position may need to be compensated to achieve the target width.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Font hinting


Font hinting (also known as instructing) is the use of mathematical instructions to adjust the display of an outline font so that it lines up with a rasterized grid. At low screen resolutions, hinting is critical for producing a clear, legible text. It can be accompanied by antialiasing and (on liquid crystal displays) subpixel rendering for further clarity.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Figging


Figging is the practice of inserting a piece of ginger root into the anus, vagina or male urethra. Originally applied to horses as a form of deception as to the horse's condition, it now most commonly refers to a practice in BDSM.

Historically, this practice, also known as feaguing, or gingering was used to ginger up older horses in order to deceive the purchaser as to the age and condition of the horse, by having the animal hold its tail and head high and moving around nervously, characteristic of a younger horse.

The ginger, skinned and often carved into the shape of a butt plug, causes an intense burning sensation and discomfort to the subject. If the submissive tightens the muscles of the anus, the sensation becomes more intense. For this reason it is rumored to have been done to recalcitrant wives in the Victorian age to prevent them from clenching during a spanking.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Granuloma

Granuloma is a medical term for a roughly spherical mass of immune cells that forms when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate. Such substances include infectious organisms such as bacteria and fungi as well as other materials such as keratin and suture fragments. A granuloma is therefore a special type of inflammation that can occur in a wide variety of diseases. The adjective granulomatous means characterized by granulomas.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Sannyasa

Sannyasa is the order of life of the renouncer within the Hindu scheme of āśramas, or life stages. It is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women at or beyond the age of fifty years old or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly and materialistic pursuits and instead dedicate their entire life towards spiritual pursuits. In this phase of life, the person develops vairāgya, or a state of dispassion and detachment from material life. He renounces all worldly thoughts and desires, and spends the rest of his life in spiritual contemplation. One within the sannyasa order is known as a sannyasin (male) or sannyasini (female).

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

mudrā


A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. A mudrā is a spiritual gesture and an energetic seal of authenticity employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions and traditions of Dharma and Taoism.

One hundred and eight mudras are used in regular Tantric rituals.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

ondes Martenot


The ondes Martenot, also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin. The sonic capabilities of the instrument were later expanded by the addition of timbral controls and switchable loudspeakers.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event patterns in a society. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for disease and determining optimal treatment approaches to clinical practice and for preventive medicine. In the study of communicable and non-communicable diseases, epidemiologists are involved in outbreak investigation to study design, data collection, statistical analysis, documentation of results and submission for publication. Epidemiologists rely on a number of other scientific disciplines such as biology (to better understand disease processes), biostatistics (the current raw information available) and social science disciplines (to better understand proximate and distal risk factors).

Friday, November 30, 2012

gradient


In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change.

A generalization of the gradient for functions on a Euclidean space that have values in another Euclidean space is the Jacobian. A further generalization for a function from one Banach space to another is the Fréchet derivative.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Dord

Dord is a notable error in lexicography, an accidental creation, or ghost word, of the G. and C. Merriam Company's staff included in the second (1934) edition of its New International Dictionary, in which the term is defined as "density".

Philip Babcock Gove, an editor at Merriam-Webster who became editor-in-chief of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, wrote a letter to the journal American Speech, fifteen years after the error was caught, in which he explained why "dord" was included in that dictionary.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

cot death

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. It is still sometimes referred to by the former terms cot death (in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand) or crib death (in North America).

Monday, November 26, 2012

Gaffer tape


Gaffer tape, gaffer's tape, gaff tape or gaffa tape is a strong, tough, cotton cloth pressure sensitive tape with strong adhesive properties. It is used in theater, film and television productions as well as during live performances and any other kind of stage work. While related to duct tape, it differs in that it can be removed cleanly because it uses a synthetic rubber adhesive rather than a natural rubber adhesive. The tape is often referred to as a production expendable because it is discarded after the production process is complete.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Gruit


Gruit (sometimes grut) is an old-fashioned herb mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. Gruit or grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit.

Gruit was a combination of herbs, some of the most common being mildly to moderately narcotic: sweet gale (Myrica gale), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), horehound (Marrubium vulgare), and heather (Calluna vulgaris). Gruit varied somewhat, each gruit producer including different herbs to produce unique flavors and effects. Other adjunct herbs included black henbane, juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, aniseed, nutmeg, cinnamon, and even hops in variable proportions. Some gruit ingredients are now known to have preservative qualities.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Cistercians


The Order of Cistercians (O.Cist. Latin: Ordo Cisterciensis or, alternatively, O.C.S.O. for the Trappists (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance) is a Catholic religious order of enclosed monks and nuns. They are sometimes also called the Bernardines or the White Monks, in reference to the colour of the habit, over which a black scapular is worn. The emphasis of Cistercian life is on manual labour and self-sufficiency, and many abbeys have traditionally supported themselves through activities such as agriculture and brewing ales.

Friday, November 23, 2012

twinstick


A twinstick, in Canadian broadcasting, is a term for two television stations, broadcasting in the same market, which are owned by the same company. The term derives from the use of "stick", in broadcasting industry jargon, as a term for a broadcast transmitter tower.

In the United States, a broadcast operation of this type is more commonly known as a duopoly.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

valance


A window valance is a form of window treatment that covers the uppermost part of the window and can be hung alone or paired with window blinds, or curtains. Valances are a popular decorative choice in concealing drapery hardware. Window valances were popular in Victorian interior design. In draping or bunting form they are commonly referred to as swag.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

cattery


There are two types of cattery, boarding cattery and breeding cattery.

A boarding cattery is where cats are housed temporarily when they can't stay at their owners' home. Boarding catteries, cat boarding kennels, are mostly used by owners who are away on holiday although they may also be used during house moves, building work or when their owners are incapacitated, for example if they have to go into hospital.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

code-switching


In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals - people who speak more than one language - sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other. Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the syntax and phonology of each variety.

Monday, November 19, 2012

kremlin


A kremlin is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there. Outside Russia, the name Kremlin is sometimes mistakenly thought of as being Saint Basil's Cathedral because of its distinctive environment, although this is not a part of the Moscow Kremlin.

The name Kremlin (or Kreml) has been allocated to various Soviet Navy vessels during construction. In each case, the name was changed prior to commissioning. Vessels which have briefly carried this name included Admiral Kuznetsov and Ulyanovsk.

Russia's presidential administration is located in the Moscow Kremlin. During the Soviet era, the government of the USSR was located in that kremlin, but now the Russian government occupies a building outside it.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Westminster" is used as a metonym (an instance of metonymy) for the Parliament of the United Kingdom, because it is located there.

The words "metonymy" and "metonym" come from the Greek: μετωνυμία, metōnymía, "a change of name", from μετά, metá, "after, beyond" and -ωνυμία, -ōnymía, a suffix used to name figures of speech, from ὄνῠμα, ónyma or ὄνομα, ónoma, "name." Metonymy may also be instructively contrasted with metaphor. Both figures involve the substitution of one term for another. In metaphor, this substitution is based on some specific similarity, whereas, in metonymy, the substitution is based on some understood association (contiguity).

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Splenda


Splenda is the commercial name and registered trade mark of a sucralose-based artificial sweetener derived from sugar, owned by the British company Tate & Lyle. Sucralose was discovered by Tate & Lyle and researchers at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, in 1976. Tate & Lyle subsequently developed sucralose-based Splenda products in partnership with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Nutritionals LLC.

Friday, November 16, 2012

bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk

bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk

A sound which represents the symbolic thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve. A coinage from Finnegans Wake author James Joyce said to represent the thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve. The word is a hybrid of words in many languages that relate to thunder.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

rolleron


A rolleron is a type of aileron used for rockets, placed at the trailing end of each fin, and used for passive stabilization against rotation. Inherent to the rolleron is a metal wheel with notches along the circumference. On one side, the notches protrude into the airflow. During flight, this will spin the wheels up to a substantial speed. The wheels then act as gyroscopes. Any tendency of the rocket to rotate along its major axis will be counteracted by the rollerons, deflecting in the opposite direction of the rotation.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Apotemnophilia

Apotemnophilia is a neurological disorder in which otherwise sane and rational individuals express a strong and specific desire for the amputation of a healthy limb or limbs. It is due to hypothesized damage to the right parietal lobe, as the disorder has features in common with somatoparaphrenia. When experienced very strongly, some people with apotemnophilia come to feel discontented with their bodies and want to actually remove an otherwise healthy limb, a condition called body integrity identity disorder. Some apotemnophiles seek surgeons to perform an amputation or purposefully injure a limb in order to force emergency medical amputation. A separate, though occasionally comorbid, definition of Apotemnophilia is erotic interest in being or looking like an amputee. This separate definition should not be confused with acrotomophilia, which is the erotic interest in people who are amputees.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Atelier


Atelier is the French word for "workshop", and in English is used principally for the workshop of an artist in the fine or decorative arts, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students and apprentices worked together producing pieces that went out in the master's name. This was the standard way of working for European artists from the Middle Ages to the 18th or 19th century, and common elsewhere in the world. In medieval Europe such a way of working was often enforced by local guild regulations, of the painters' Guild of Saint Luke if there was one, and those of other guilds for other crafts. Apprentices usually began young, at perhaps the age of twelve, working on simple tasks, and after some years became journeymen, before perhaps finally becoming a master themselves. The system was gradually replaced as the guilds declined, and the academy became considered a superior method of training, although many artists continued in fact to use students and assistants, some paid by the artist, some paying fees to learn.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Skookum

Skookum is a Chinook jargon word that has come into general use in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.

The word skookum has three meanings:

  1. a word in regional English that has a variety of positive connotations;
  2. a monster; similar to the sasquatch.
  3. a souvenir doll once common in the United States in tourist areas.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

deke


deke
  1. (ice hockey) A feint, fake, or other move made by the player with the puck to deceive a goaltender or other defender.

Friday, November 9, 2012

parterre


A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all. French parterres originated in 15th-century Gardens of the French Renaissance, such as the Chateau of Versailles, and were elaborated out of 16th-century Baroque Garden à la française knot gardens, and reached a climax at the and its many European imitators, such as Kensington Palace (illustration, right).

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Cloudscape


Cloudscape photography is photography of clouds or sky.

An early cloudscape photographer, Belgian photographer Léonard Misonne (1870–1943), was noted for his black and white photographs of heavy skies and dark clouds.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

draisine


A draisine primarily refers to a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure.

The eponymous term is derived from German Baron Karl Christian Ludwig Drais von Sauerbronn, who invented his Laufmaschine (German for "running machine") in 1817, that was called Draisine (German) or Draisienne (French) by the press. It is the first reliable claim for a practically used bicycle, basically the first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine commonly called a velocipede, nicknamed hobby-horse or dandy horse.

Later, the name draisine came to be applied only to versions used on rails and was extended to similar vehicles, even when not human-powered. Because of their low weight and small size, they can be put on and taken off the rails at any place, allowing trains to pass.

In the United States, motor-powered draisines are known as speeders while human-powered ones are referred as handcars.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

détournement

A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Situationist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was reprised by the punk movement in the late 1970s and inspired the culture jamming movement in the late 1980s.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Pieing

Pieing is the act of throwing a pie at a person. The pie thrown is usually just a pie crust/bottom filled with whipped cream. This can be a political action when the target is an authority figure, politician, or celebrity and can be used as a means of protesting against the target's political beliefs, or against a perceived flaw—e.g. arrogance or hubris—in the target's character. Perpetrators generally regard the act as a form of ridicule to embarrass and humiliate the victim. In some U.S. states pieing may conform to definitions of battery, but not assault. Pieing and pie fights is a staple of slapstick comedy, and pie "tosses" are also common charity fundraising events, especially in schools.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Shoeing

Shoeing, throwing shoes, showing the sole of one's shoe or using shoes to insult are forms of protest in many parts of the world.

Incidents where shoes were thrown at political figures have taken place in Australia, India, Ireland, Israel, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and most notably, the Arab world.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Planking

Planking is the action of lying face down with arms to the sides, in unusual public spaces and photographing it.

Planking began as the lying down game in Europe and Japan in the late 2000s. The term "planking" was coined in Australia and became an internet meme in 2011.

Friday, November 2, 2012

confluence


In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream. It can be where a tributary joins a larger river, called the main stem, or where two streams meet to become the source of a river of a new name, such as the confluence of Bell Creek and Arroyo Calabasas, forming the Los Angeles River. In a broader sense, the merging of any two streams is a confluence.

The term is also used to describe the meeting of tidal or other non-riverine bodies of water, such as two canals or a canal and a lake. A one-mile (1.6 km) portion of the Industrial Canal in New Orleans accommodates the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal; therefore those three waterways are confluent there.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Legitimists


Legitimists are Royalists in France who believe that the King of France and Navarre must be chosen according to the simple application of the Salic Law. Called "Ultra-royalists" under the Bourbon Restoration, they are adherents of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. Distinguished historian René Rémond analyses the legitimists as one of the three main right-wing factions in France, which was principally characterized by their counterrevolutionary opinions (they rejected the 1789 French Revolution, the Republic and everything that went with it; thus, they progressively became a far-right movement, close to traditionalist Catholics). The other two right-wing factions are, according to Rémond, the Orleanists and the Bonapartists.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

yoke


A yoke is a wooden beam which is used between a pair of oxen to allow them to pull a load (oxen almost always work in pairs). It can be used to help plow fields. There are several types, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen. A pair of oxen is also called a yoke of oxen, and yoke is also used as a verb: "to yoke a pair of oxen".

Monday, October 29, 2012

Candiru


Candiru (English and Portuguese) or candirú (Spanish), also known as cañero or toothpick fish, are a number of genera of parasitic freshwater catfish in the family Trichomycteridae; all are native to the Amazon River. Although some candiru species have been known to grow to a size of 16 inches (~41 cm) in length, others are considerably smaller. These smaller species are known for an alleged tendency to invade and parasitize the human urethra; however, despite ethnological reports dating back to the late 19th century, the first documented case of a candiru parasitizing a human did not occur until 1997.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Viscachas

File:Vizcacha in the Atacama.jpg
Viscachas or vizcachas are rodents of two genera (Lagidium and Lagostomus) in the family Chinchillidae. They are closely related to chinchillas, and look similar to rabbits. There are five extant species of viscacha.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Manumission

Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Phrygian cap


The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus, the manumitted slave's felt cap of ancient Rome. Accordingly, the Phrygian cap is sometimes called a liberty cap; in artistic representations it signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

gerotor

A gerotor is a positive displacement pumping unit. The name gerotor is derived from "Generated Rotor". A gerotor unit consists of an inner and outer rotor. The inner rotor has N teeth, and the outer rotor has N+1 teeth. The inner rotor is located off-center and both rotors rotate. The geometry of the two rotors partitions the volume between them into N different dynamically-changing volumes. During the assembly's rotation cycle, each of these volumes changes continuously, so any given volume first increases, and then decreases. An increase creates a vacuum. This vacuum creates suction, and hence, this part of the cycle is where the intake is located. As a volume decreases compression occurs. During this compression period, fluids can be pumped, or compressed (if they are gaseous fluids).

Gerotor pumps are generally designed using a trochoidal inner rotor and an outer rotor formed by a circle with intersecting circular arcs.

A gerotor can also function as a pistonless rotary engine. High pressure gas enters the intake area and pushes against the inner and outer rotors, causing both to rotate as the area between the inner and outer rotor increases. During the compression period, the exhaust is pumped out.

lordosis

  Lordosis is historically defined as an abnormal inward curvature of the lumbar spine.