Saturday, June 25, 2011

Roman-fleuve

An extended sequence of novels that continually deals with a central character, community or a saga within a family:


Roman-fleuve

The roman-fleuve is a French term which literally means "river-novel".

In the term roman-fleuve (river-novel), the river metaphor implies a steady, broad dynamic lending itself to a perspective. Each volume makes up a complete novel by itself, but the entire cycle exhibits unifying characteristics (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novel_sequence#Roman-fleuve for more info).

The metaphor of the roman-fleuve was coined by Romain Rolland to describe his 10 volume cycle Jean-Christophe.

Note 1: Romain Rolland, a French novelist, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, has been considered as the top novelist of all time or one of the top novelists of all time by some individuals in main sources of unofficial rankings.

Note 2: When Romain Rolland is considered as the top novelist of all time or one of the top novelists of all time, it is mainly due to his two literary "must read" masterpieces: Jean-Christophe and L'Âme enchantée (The Enchanted Soul).


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Monday, June 20, 2011

Perversion

A concept describing those types of human behavior that are a serious deviation from what is considered to be orthodox or normal:


Perversion

Although perversion can refer to varying forms of deviation, it is most often used to describe sexual behaviors that are seen by an individual as abnormal, repulsive or obsessive. It should be noted that perversion differs from deviant behavior, since the latter refers to a recognized violation of social rules or norms.

Perversion

Perversion

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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Lava Cave

Any cave formed in volcanic rock:


Lava Cave

Lava Cave
Lava Cave

There are many types of lava caves, with these being the most notable:

1. Lava tubes are the most common and most extensive kind of lava cave. Lava tubes usually form in pahoehoe lava flows, though exceptions exist. As the lava is emitted from the vent area, it spreads in the path of least resistance. The outer layers of the lava harden, while the interior forms horizontal conduits that channel the advance of the flow. These conduits are the beginning stages of lava tubes that serve to insulate the heat from the lava which then provides a way for the lava flow to advance far and wide. Dependent upon the slope, terrain, and viscosity, different kinds of lava tubes can form. Multilateral tubes are those that form paralleling, often branching and anastomosing tubes. Multilevel tubes are those that sit directly on top or underneath another tube, sometimes above or below several tubes. Some lava flows hold a mixture of multilevel and multilateral tubes. One other form a lava tube is the tube-in-tube which can form inside lava tubes if the linings of the walls are weak enough to lean inward, forming a new floor above the old. Tube-in-Tubes are generally noted to form during the last lava draining through the main lava tube.


Note: Some lava tubes are referred to as ice caves on maps, not because they are made in ice, but because they harbor ice.

2. Surface tubes are small drained rivulets, or runners of the same highly fluid lava that flows in lava channels. They are formed on an existing hardened surface, and most are too small to enter. They are created by flowing lava that turns itself inside out. Sometimes referred to as "toes," they are thought to be instrumental in the growth (lengthwise) of lava tubes. They usually form when vents, channels, or reservoirs of lava overflow. They are very shallow and typically reside within the first few feet under the surface. Some surface tubes can connect to lava tubes deeper below the surface. Surface tubes typically have a uniform wall thickness and semi-circular cross section, flat side down against the surface on which they formed. Branching is common and broadly dendritic networks are not unusual. Widths range from a decimeter to several meters. Length depends primarily on an uninterrupted supply of lava and ranges widely. Surface tubes are far more numerous than is generally realized because most are subsequently buried.

3. Inflationary caves tend to be small chambers which form when lava under pressure pushes up surface rock from below and then drains back down. One surface expression of this is the pressure ridge, a fractured lobe of hardened lava which is uncommonly hollow. In some cases, volcanic gases may exert pressure on solid or semi-solid lava and form what is basically a bubble of thin rock called a blister. Rarely, the latter may be big enough to qualify as a cave. Inflated caves can be mistaken for lava tubes as well, for inside they can share a lot of the same characteristics.

Note: Liftup caves, a phrase coined by Lawrence Chitwood, a geologist of Bend, Oregon, are related to pressure ridges and the inflationary process. Liftup caves form on the edges of the pressure ridges or pressure plateaus. Specifically, when a concave edge of the ridge or plateau begins to inflate leaving a void underneath. They are shelters of no more than five to ten feet in length, though longer ones have been discovered up to thirty feet long.

4. Open vertical conduits or OVCs are vertical passages through which lava rose to the surface then receded. Their mouth is usually, though not necessarily, at the top of a vent structure like a spatter cone, spatter ridge, or hornito. Hornitos are OVC's that form atop lavatubes.

5. Pit craters form when magma that doesn’t quite reach the surface drains to form a void, and the ground above it slumps. These huge open-air pits with their sheer walls are analogous to some of the large shafts formed by solution, and typically require a roped descent for exploration. While most have no extension beyond the visible floor, others may have entrances into adjacent (now empty) magma chambers, such as was seen when the crater of Mauna Ulu in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park was explored by a team of Swiss cavers. In Na One, a pit crater on Hualālai Volcano in Hawaii, a narrow opening at the bottom of an 130m-deep pit crater leads into an open vertical volcanic conduit, with a total depth of 268 m.

6. Rift or fissure caves, which form along volcanic rift zones and eruptive fissures, or in fractures associated with volcanic activity. These are tectonic in formation, caused by “stress in lava during and after solidification.” They may also be the site of fissure eruptions, and the walls covered with spatter. Notable rift caves include Crystal Ice Cave, formed in Idaho’s Great Rift (and now part of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve). Caves in the Great Rift are known up to 800 feet deep.

7. Lava mold caves or sometimes erroneously called "lava casts", form when lava flows around trees or even large dead animals. The engulfed material eventually burns or decays away, but ends up leaving a hollow space with the original shape. Usually these are not very large but can get somewhat complex where groups of fallen logs were touching, and may then form caves that go in several directions where the resulting voids intersect. Such caves are known from Washington (USA), near Ape Cave, and most notably from Japan in the Yoshida-tanai area. Elephant mold caves are known from the Nyiragongo volcano in Africa, and one in the shape of a Tertiary-age Rhinoceros is known from Blue Lake, Washington (USA).

Source: Lava Cave, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_cave.


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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Sinister

The Latin word for left is:


Sinister

Primitive people tended to be highly superstitious. Anything out of the ordinary that happened was regarded with superstitious fear. Most people throughout history have been right-handed. For that reason, left-handedness was regarded as an evil omen. The Latin word for left is sinister. Since many people regarded left-handedness as bad, the word sinister entered the English language meaning “evil.”


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Encyclopedia of Comic Books and Graphic Novels [2 volumes]: [Two Volumes]

Books and Beyond [4 volumes]: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading

Sinister



Polymerization

The process of making plastics, which is a little over a hundred years old, is called:


Polymerization

Plastics are synthetic materials that are so common today that we barely notice them. The process of making plastics, called polymerization, is a little over a hundred years old. Vinyl chloride was polymerized in 1838, acrylics in 1843, and polyester in 1847. Oddly, those newly synthesized plastics languished in polymer laboratories for decades because no one had yet found a use for the new materials.


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Sugar

Nothing triggers a smile more universally than a taste of:


Sugar

It is said that a smile is universally understood. And nothing triggers a smile more universally than a taste of sugar. Nearly everyone loves sugar. Infant studies indicate that humans are born with an innate love of sweets. Based on statistics, a lot of people in Great Britain must be smiling, because on average, every man, woman and child in that country consumes 95 pounds of sugar each year.


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FOR 18+
Sugar

I fell out of bed laughing, so funny. LOL1 Feb 2011
This review is from: Jokes! (Kindle Edition)
I was in bed reading this book and rolled in to a laughing idiot. this book is for 18+ only. If you are fan of comedy or like to tell jokes to people, this book is for you. If you need cheering up this book will help. For more jokes like this, get a Jethro dvd.
The price is right for laughing!!!!!!! LOL Buy the book.

Adenosine Triphosphate

A multifunctional nucleotide used in cells as a coenzyme; it is often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer:


Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)

The ultimate source of energy for all plants and animals is sunlight. But the sun’s energy can be harnessed by plants, through photosynthesis, and stored in molecules of carbohydrates. When animals eat these nzymes, large amounts of energy become available. Animals immediately convert this energy into molecules of high-energy ATP (adenosine triphosphate) – the universal currency of energy in living things. Excluding only the very first stages in carbohydrate breakdown, which are called glycolysis, the entire complicated process of energy transfer to ATP takes place within the mitochondria.


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Harry Hopkins

On May 22, 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was inaugurated; its chief architect was:

Harry Hopkins

Harry Hopkins

Unemployment was the overriding fact of life when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President of the United States in 1933. An anomaly of the time was that the government did not systematically collect statistics of joblessness; actually it did not start doing so until 1940. The Bureau of Labor Statistics later estimated that 12,830,000 persons were out of work in 1933, about one-fourth of a civilian labor force of over 51,000,000.

Roosevelt signed the Federal Emergency Relief Act on May 12, 1933. The President selected Harry L. Hopkins, who headed the New York relief program, to run FERA. A gifted administrator, Hopkins quickly put the program into high gear. He gathered a small staff in Washington and brought the state relief organizations into the FERA system. While the agency tried to provide all the necessities, food came first. City dwellers usually got an allowance for fuel, and rent for one month was provided in case of eviction. FERA paid for medicine, some doctor bills, but no hospital costs, work-relief, sewing rooms, and renovated hand-me-down clothing.



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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Borax

An important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid which occurs naturally in evaporite deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes; it has a wide variety of uses such as a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes, a fire retardant, and an anti-fungal compound for fiberglass:


Borax (also known as Sodium Borate, Sodium Tetraborate, or Disodium Tetraborate)


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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Daniel Tammet

One of the most fascinating savants in the world who is a British writer whose bestselling 2006 memoir Born On A Blue Day, about his life with high-functioning autism and savant syndrome, was named a "Best Book for Young Adults" in 2008 by the American Library Association:


Daniel Tammet


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10. Daniel Tammet: Brainman
10 Most Fascinating Savants in the World
By Alex in Health, Neatorama Exclusives on Sep 5, 2008
[source: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/05/10-most-fascinating-savants-in-the-world/]

At first glance, you won't be able to tell that Daniel Tammet is anything but normal. Daniel, 29, is a highly functioning autistic savant with exceptional mathematical and language abilities.

Daniel first became famous when he recited from memory Pi to 22,514 decimal places (on 3/14, the International Pi Day, of course) to raise funds for the National Society for Epilepsy.

Numbers, according to Daniel, are special to him. He has a rare form of synesthesia and sees each integers up to 10,000 as having their own unique shapes, color, texture and feel. He can "see" the result of a math calculation, and he can "sense" whether a number is prime. Daniel has since drawn what pi looks like: a rolling landscape full of different shapes and colors.

Daniel speaks 11 languages, one of which is Icelandic. In 2007, Channel Five documentary challenged him to learn the language in a week. Seven days later, Daniel was successfully interviewed on Icelandic television (in Icelandic, of course!).

When he was four years old, Daniel had bouts of epilepsy that, along with his autism, seemed to have brought about his savant abilities. Though he appears normal, Daniel contends that he actually had to will himself to learn how to talk to and behave around people:

As he describes in his newly published memoir, “Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant” (Free Press), he has willed himself to learn what to do. Offer a visitor a drink; look her in the eye; don’t stand in someone else’s space. These are all conscious decisions.

Recently, some friends warned him that in his eagerness to make eye contact, he tended to stare too intently. “It’s like being on a tightrope,” he said. “If you try too hard, you’ll come off. But you have to try.”

There is a big difference between Daniel Tammet and all the other prodigious savants in the world: Daniel can tell you how he does it and that makes him invaluable to scientists trying to understand the savant syndrome:

Professor Allan Snyder, from the Centre for the Mind at the Australian National University in Canberra, explains why Tammet is of particular, and international, scientific interest. "Savants can't usually tell us how they do what they do," says Snyder. "It just comes to them. Daniel can. He describes what he sees in his head. That's why he's exciting. He could be the Rosetta Stone."

More info about Daniel Tammet:

Official website and blog

60 Minutes Interview

Born on a Blue Day, Daniel's autobiography (Daniel was born on a Wednesday, a day he perceived as blue).

Daniel Tammet - The Boy with the Incredible Brain (5 clips)

I'll be the first to admit that we have only scratched the surface of the fascinating topic of savant syndrome. If you are interested, here are some suggested websites by Darold A. Treffert, the world's foremost expert on savant syndrome, for further reading:

Savant Syndrome, Darold Treffert's website at the Wisconsin Medical Society

Islands of Genius [PDF], a Scientific American article by Darold Treffert and Gregory Wallace


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Savant Syndrome

A rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations:

Savant Syndrome (also referred to as Savantism)


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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

New England

A region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut and being bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada (the Canadian Maritimes and Quebec) and the State of New York:


New England

New England


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The Maritimes

A region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island:


The Maritimes (also called as the Maritime Provinces, or the Canadian Maritimes)



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Monday, June 6, 2011

Hispania

The Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula:


Hispania

Rem:
The peninsula located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day states Portugal, Spain, Andorra, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar and a very small area of France: Iberian Peninsula (or Iberia)


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Milk Punch

A milk based brandy or bourbon beverage which consists of milk, brandy (bourbon), sugar, and vanilla extract, it is served cold, and usually has nutmeg sprinkled on top:


Milk Punch

Milk Punch


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Ben Pridmore

The 2009 World Memory Champion (a title he also won in 2004 and 2008) holding the official world record for memorizing the order of a randomly shuffled 52-card deck:


Ben Pridmore

This product can be found on Amazon:
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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Golden Poison Frog

A poison dart frog endemic to the Pacific coast of Colombia with skin drenched in alkaloid poison:


Golden Poison Frog (or Golden Dart Frog)

Golden Poison Frog


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