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anthurium

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Anthurium
White Anthurium
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Monocots
Order:Alismatales
Family:Araceae
Tribe:Anthurieae
Genus:Anthurium
Schott
Species

See List of species

Anthurium (pron.: /æn??ju?ri?m/;[1] Schott, 1829), is a large genus of about 600–800 (possibly 1,000) species of flowering plants, belonging to the arum family (Araceae). Anthurium can also be called "flamingo flower" or "boy flower", both referring to the structure of the spathe and spadix.The Anthurium was discovered in 1876 in Colombia.[2]

TROPICOS lists 1901 types, although some of these are duplicates. It is one of the largest and probably the most complex genera of this family; certainly it is one of the most variable. Many species are undoubtedly not yet described and new ones are being found every year. The species has neotropical distribution; mostly in wet tropical mountain forest of Central and South America, but some in semi-arid environments. Most species occur in Panama, Colombia, Brazil, the Guiana Shield and Ecuador. According to the work of noted aroid botanist Dr. Tom Croat of the Missouri Botanical Garden, no members of this genus are indigenous to Asia.[3]Deliberately or accidentally, however, some species have been introduced into Asian rain forests, and have become established there as aliens.

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Growth habits [edit]

Anthurium grows in many forms, mostly evergreen, bushy or climbing epiphytes with roots that can hang from the canopy all the way to the floor of the rain forest. There are also many terrestrial forms which are found as understory plants, as well as hemiepiphyticforms. They occur also as lithophytes. Some are only found in association with arboreal ant colonies or growing on rocks in midstream (such as Anthurium amnicola).

The stems are short to elongate with a length between 15 and 30 cm. The simple leaves come in many shapes; most leaves are to be found at the end of the stems, although terrestrial plants show less of this pachycaul tendency. Leaves may be spatulate, rounded, or obtusege from leathery to fragile and papery. The leaves are petiolate at the apex. They may be borne erect or spreading in a rosette, with a length that may surpass 100 cm in some of the larger species (such as Anthurium angamarcanum). The upper surface of the leaf may be matte, semiglossy, or fully glossy, and the leaf texture may ran and possess a structure called the geniculum, which is unique to the genus Anthurium. The geniculum allows the plant to swivel its leaves towards the sun, much in the same manner as sunflowers. In drier environments, the leaves can form a bird's-nest shaped rosette that enables the plant to collect falling debris, and thus water and natural fertilizer. Terrestrial growers or epiphytes often have cordate leaves; others grow as vines with rosettes of lanceolate leaves, and still others have many-lobed leaves.

Flowering and fruiting [edit]

Anthurium flowers are small (about 3 mm) and develop crowded in a spike on a fleshy axis, called a spadix, a characteristic of the Araceae. The flowers on the spadix are often divided sexually with a sterile band separating male from female flowers. This spadix can take on many forms (club-shaped, tapered, spiraled, and globe-shaped) and colors (white, green, purple, red, pink, or a combination).

Anthurium inflorescence

The spadix is part of an inflorescence, the outer portion of which is known as the spathe. The spathe may be a single color (yellow, green, or white) or possibly multicolored including burgundy and red. That sometimes colorful, solitary spathe is a showy modifiedbract that can be somewhat leathery in texture. Anthurium grown for the florist trade generally have highly coloured spathes and spadices. There are no flowers on the spathe as is sometimes thought; flowers are found solely on the spadix. The spathe can vary in color from pale green to white, rose, orange or shiny red (such as A. andrenaum). The color changes between the bud stage and the anthesis, (the time the flower expands). Thus the color might change from pale green to reddish purple to reddish brown.

The flowers are hermaphrodite, containing male and female flowers. The fruits are usually berries with one to multiple seeds on an infructescence that may be pendant or erect depending on species. Anthurium berries may range in colour from bright red to black, and may also be bicoloured or shaded. The flowers of Anthurium give off a variety of fragrances, each attracting a variety of specific pollinators. All Anthurium flowers are poisonous if eaten.

Cultivation [edit]

Anthurium scherzerianum inflorescence

Like other Aroids, many species of Anthurium can be grown as houseplants, or outdoors in mild climates in shady spots. They include forms such as A. crystallinum f peltifolium with its large, velvety, dark green leaves and silvery white venation. Most hybridsare based on A. andreanum or A. scherzerianum because of their colorful spathes. They thrive in moist soils with high organic matter. In milder climates the plants can be grown in pots of soil. Indoors plants thrive at temperatures between 16°C-22°C (60°F-72°F) and at lower light than other house plants. Wiping the leaves off with water will remove any dust and insects. Plant in pots with good root systems will benefit from a weak fertilizer solution every other week. In the case of vining or climbing Anthuriums, the plants benefit from being provided with a totem to climb.

Anthurium andraeanum bicolor flowers above leaves

Propagation [edit]

As with most Aroids, new plants can be grown by taking stems cuttings with at least two joints. Cuttings can be then rooted in pots 

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jasmine


Jasmine
Jasminum sambac 'Grand Duke of Tuscany'
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Eudicots
(unranked):Asterids
Order:Lamiales
Family:Oleaceae
Tribe:Jasmineae
Genus:Jasminum
L.
Type species
Jasminum officinale
L.
Species

More than 200, see List of Jasminumspecies[1][2][3]

Synonyms[4]
  • Jacksonia hort. ex Schltdl
  • Jasminium Dumort.
  • Menodora Humb. & Bonpl.
  • Mogorium Juss.
  • Noldeanthus Knobl.

Jasmine (taxonomic name Jasminum (/?d?æzm?n?m/))[5] is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World. Jasmines are widely cultivated for the characteristic fragrance of their flowers.

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Description [edit]

See also: Glossary of botanical terms

Jasmines can be either deciduous (leaves falling in autumn) or evergreen (green all year round), and can be erect, spreading, or climbing shrubs and vines. Their leaves are borne opposite or alternate. They can be simple, trifoliate, or pinnate. The flowers are typically around 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter. They are white or yellow in color, although in rare instances they can be slightly reddish. The flowers are borne in cymose clusters with a minimum of three flowers, though they can also be solitary on the ends of branchlets. Each flower has about four to nine petals, two locules, and one to four ovules. They have two stamens with very short filaments. The bracts are linear or ovate. The calyx is bell-shaped. They are usually very fragrant. The fruits of jasmines are berriesthat turn black when ripe.[6][7]

The basic chromosome number of the genus is 13, and most species are diploid (2n=26). However, natural polyploidy exists, particularly in Jasminum sambac (2n=39), Jasminum flexile (2n=52), Jasminum primulinum (2n=39), and Jasminum angustifolium(2n=52).[6]

Distribution and habitat [edit]

Jasmines are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Australasia.[8] Of the 200 species, only one is native to Europe.[9] Their center of diversity is in South Asia and Southeast Asia.[7]

Although not native to Europe, a number of jasmine species have become naturalized in Mediterranean Europe. For example, the so-called Spanish jasmine or Catalonian jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum) was originally from Iran and western South Asia, and is now naturalized in the Iberian peninsula.[6]

Jasminum fluminense (which is sometimes known by the inaccurate name "Brazilian Jasmine") and Jasminum dichotomum (Gold Coast Jasmine) are invasive species in Hawaii and Florida.[10][11] Jasminum polyanthum, also known as White Jasmine, is an invasive weed in Australia.[12]

Taxonomy [edit]

Species belonging to genus Jasminum are classified under the tribe Jasmineae of the olive family (Oleaceae).[6] Jasminum is divided into five sections—Alternifolia, Jasminum,Primulina, Trifoliolata, and Unifoliolata.[4]

The genus name is derived from the Persian Yasameen ("gift from God") through Arabic and Latin.[13][14][15]

Species [edit]

Main article: List of Jasminum species
A double-flowered cultivar of Jasminum sambac in flower with an unopened bud. The flower smells 

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rose


Rose
Rosa rubiginosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Eudicots
(unranked):Rosids
Order:Rosales
Family:Rosaceae
Subfamily:Rosoideae
Genus:Rosa
L.
Species

See List of Rosa species

Synonyms
  • Hulthemia Dumort.
  • ×Hulthemosa Juz. (Hulthemia ×Rosa)

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing or trailing with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Species, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 7 meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has been used in the development of the wide range of garden roses.[1]

The name rose comes from French, itself from Latin rosa, which was perhaps borrowed from Oscan, from Greek ????? rhódon(Aeolic ?????? wródon), itself borrowed from Old Persian wrd- (wurdi), related to Avestan var??a, Sogdian ward, Parthian wâr.[2][3]

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Botany

Cross-section through a developing rose hip
Exterior view of rose buds
Rose leaflets

The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species they are 5 to 15 centimetres (2.0 to 5.9 in) long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small prickles on the underside of the stem. Most roses are deciduous but a few (particularly from South eastAsia) are evergreen or nearly so.

The hybrid garden rose "Amber Flush"

The flowers of most species have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea, which usually has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some Rosa sericea, four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into achenes.[4] Roses are insect-pollinated in nature.

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Many of the domestic cultivars do not produce hips, as the flowers are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa pimpinellifolia) have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 "seeds" (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa), are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularlyfinches, also eat the seeds.

Rose thorns are actually prickles - outgrowths of the epidermis.

While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called "thorns", they are technically prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). (True thorns, as produced by e.g. Citrus or Pyracantha, are modified stems, which always originate at a node and which have nodes and internodes along the length of the thorn itself.) Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa rugosa and Rosa pimpinellifolia have densely packed straight prickles, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots (both of these species grow naturally on coastal sand dunes). Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses have only vestigial prickles that have no points.

Species

Further information: List of Rosa species

The genus Rosa is subdivided into four subgenera:

  • Hulthemia (formerly Simplicifoliae, meaning "with single leaves") containing one or two species from southwest Asia, R. persicaand Rosa berberifolia which are the only roses without compound leaves or stipules.
  • Hesperrhodos (from the Greek for "western rose") contains Rosa minutifolia and Rosa stellata, from North America.
  • Platyrhodon (from the Greek for "flaky rose", referring to flaky bark) with one species from east Asia, Rosa roxburghii.
  • Rosa (the type subgenus) containing all the other roses. This subgenus is subdivided into 11 sections.
    • Banksianae - white and yellow flowered roses from China.
    • Bracteatae - three species, two from China and one from India.
    • Caninae - pink and white flowered species from Asia, Europe and North Africa.
    • Carolinae - white, pink, and bright pink flowered species all from North America.
    • Chinensis - white, pink, yellow, red and mixed-color roses from China and Burma.
    • Gallicanae - pink to crimson and striped flowered roses from western Asia and Europe.
    • Gymnocarpae - one species in western North America (Rosa gymnocarpa), others in east Asia.
    • Laevigatae - a single white flowered species from China
    • Pimpinellifoliae - white, pink, bright yellow, mauve and striped roses from Asia and Europe.
    • Rosa (syn. sect. Cinnamomeae) - white, pink, lilac, mulberry and red roses from everywhere but North Africa.
    • Synstylae - white, pink, and crimson flowered roses from all areas.
Rose-picking in the Rose Valley near the town of Kazanlak, 1870s, engraving by F. Kanitz

Uses

Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They have been also used for commercial perfumery and commercial cut flower crops. Some are used as landscape plants, for hedging and for other utilitarian purposes such as game cover and slope stabilization. They also have minor medicinal uses.

Ornamental plants

Main article: Garden roses

The majority of ornamental roses are hybrids that were bred for their flowers. A few, mostly species roses are grown for attractive or scented foliage (such as Rosa glauca and Rosa rubiginosa), ornamental thorns (such as Rosa sericea) or for their showy fruit (such asRosa moyesii).

Hybrid Tea cultivar 'Mrs. Herbert Stevens'

Ornamental roses have been cultivated for millennia, with the earliest known cultivation known to date from at least 500 BC in Mediterranean countries, Persia, and China.[5] Many thousands of rose hybrids and cultivars have been bred and selected for garden use as flowering plants. Most are double-flowered with many or all of the stamens having mutated into additional petals.

In the early 19th century the Empress Josephine of France patronized the development of rose breeding at her gardens at Malmaison. As long ago as 1840 a collection numbering over one thousand different cultivars, varieties and species was possible when a rosarium was planted byLoddiges nursery for Abney Park Cemetery, an early Victorian garden cemetery and arboretum in England.

A few species and hybrids are grown for non-floral ornamental use. Among these are those grown for prominent hips, such as the flagon shaped hips of Rosa moyesii. Sometimes even the thorns can be treated as an attraction or curiosity, such as with Rosa sericea.

Cut flowers

Bouquet of pink roses

Roses are a popular crop for both domestic and commercial cut flowers. Generally they are harvested and cut when in bud, and held in refrigerated conditions until ready for display at their point of sale.

In temperate climates, cut roses are often grown in glasshouses, and in warmer countries they may also be grown under cover in order to ensure that the flowers are not damaged by weather and that pests and disease control can be carried out effectively. Significant quantities are grown in some tropical countries, and these are shipped by air to markets across the world.[6]

Perfume

Main articles: Rose oil, Attar of roses, and Rose water

Rose perfumes are made from attar of roses or rose oil, which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. An associated product is rose water which is used for cooking, cosmetics, medicine and in religious practices. The production technique originated in Persia then spread through Arabia and India, and more recently into eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, Iran and Germany, damask roses (Rosa damascena 'Trigintipetala') are used. In other parts of the world Rosa centifolia is commonly used. The oil is transparent pale yellow or yellow-grey in colour. 'Rose Absolute' is solvent-extracted with hexane and produces a darker oil, dark yellow to orange in colour. The weight of oil extracted is about one three-thousandth to one six-thousandth of the weight of the flowers; for example, about two thousand flowers are required to produce one gram of oil.

Geraniol (C10H18O)

The main constituents of attar of roses are the fragrant alcohols geraniol and l-citronellol and rose camphor, an odorless solid composed of alkanes, which separates from rose oil.[7] ?-Damascenone is also a significant contributor to the scent.

Food and drink

Rose hips are occasionally made into jam, jelly, and marmalade, or are brewed for tea, primarily for their high vitamin C content. They are also pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup. Rose hips are also used to produce Rose hip seed oil, which is used in skin products and some makeup products.[citation needed]

Rosa canina hips

Rose petals or flower buds are sometimes used to flavour ordinary tea, or combined with other herbs to make tisanes.

In France there is much use of rose syrup, most commonly made from an extract of rose petals. In the United States, this French rose syrup is used to make rose scones and marshmallows.[citation needed]

Rose flowers are used as food, also usually as flavouring or to add their scent to food.[8] Other minor uses include candied rose petals.[9]

Rose creams (rose flavoured fondant covered in chocolate, often topped with a crystallised rose petal) are a traditional English confectionery widely available from numerous producers in the UK.[10][11]

Medicine

The rose hip, usually from R. canina is used as a minor source of Vitamin C. The fruits of many species have significant levels of vitamins and have been used as a food supplement. Many roses have been used in herbal and folk medicines. Rosa chinensis has long been used in Chinese traditional medicine. This and other species have been used for stomach problems, and are being investigated for controlling cancer growth.[12]

Culture

Art

Roses are a favored subject in art and appear in portraits, illustrations, on stamps, as ornaments or as architectural elements. The Luxembourg born Belgian artist and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté is known for his detailed watercolours of flowers, particularly roses.

Renoir's painting of cabbage roses, Roses in a vase

Henri Fantin-Latour was also a prolific painter of still life, particularly flowers including roses. The Rose 'Fantin-Latour' was named after the artist.

Other impressionists including Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir have paintings of roses among their works.

Symbolism

Further information: Rose (symbolism)

The long cultural history of the rose has led to it being used often as a symbol.

Pests and diseases

Main articles: Pests and diseases of roses and List of rose diseases

Wild roses are host plants for a number of pests and diseases. Many of these are also shared with other plants, including especially other genera of the Rosaceae.

Cultivated roses are often subject to severe damage from insect, arachnid and fungal pests and diseases. In many cases they cannot be usefully grown without regular treatment to control these problems.

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hibiscus


Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Brilliant'
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Eudicots
(unranked):Rosids
Order:Malvales
Family:Malvaceae
Genus:Hibiscus
Species:H. rosa-sinensis
Binomial name
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
L.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, known colloquially as rose mallow, Chinese hibiscus, China rose and shoe flower, is a species offlowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to East Asia.

Solid red flower
Pollen parent
Pink and white flower
Pod parent
Yellow and pink flower
One offspring
White flower
Another offspring
Example: two crosses of 'King Kalakua' and 'Mystic Pink'. The photographs demonstrate that the flowers of the offspring plants have virtually no color characteristics of the parent plants, and few of the physical characteristics.

Contents

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Description [edit]

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is a bushy, evergreen shrub or small tree growing 2.5–5 m (8–16 ft) tall and 1.5–3 m (5–10 ft) wide, with glossy leaves and solitary, brilliant red flowers in summer and autumn. The 5-petaled flowers are 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, with prominent orange-tipped red anthers.[1]

Cultivation [edit]

It is widely grown as an ornamental plant throughout the tropics and subtropics. As it does not tolerate temperatures below 10 °C(50 °F), in temperate regions it is best grown under glass. However, plants in containers may be placed outside during the summer months.[1]

Numerous varieties, cultivars, and hybrids are available, with flower colors ranging from white through yellow and orange to scarlet and shades of pink, with both single and double sets of petals. The cultivar 'Cooperi' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society'sAward of Garden Merit.[2]

Ecology [edit]

Despite its size and red hues, which are attractive to nectar-feeding birds[citation needed], it is not visited regularly by hummingbirdswhen grown in the Neotropics. Generalists, like the Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Amazilia lactea, or long-billed species, like theStripe-breasted Starthroat, Heliomaster squamosus, are occasionally seen to visit it, however.[3] In the subtropical and temperateAmericas, hummingbirds are regularly attracted to it.[why?]

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Snap of Stigma and Anthers)

Nomenclature [edit]

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis was named by Carolus Linnaeus. The Latin term rosa-sinensis literally means "rose of China", though it is not closely related to the true roses.[4] Is is usually known among the Chinese as zh? j?n ??, which literally means "vermilion hibiscus". It also has many other names in Chinese: fú s?ng ??, fó s?ng ??, chì j?n ??, s?ng j?n ??, rì jí ??, hu? shàng hu????, zhào diàn hóng ???, zhuàng yuán hóng ???, dà hóng hu? ???, and so on. It also has prominent presence in the various parts of the Indian subcontinent. It has several names in different languages: Jaswand in Marathi, Bengali: ??? (Jaba),Tamil: ??????????? (sembaruthi), Hindi: ??????, ??????, ??????, ???,[5] ??? ?????[6], Malayalam: ?????????? (cemparatti), Mondaroin Oriya, Wada Mal in Sinhala, Mamdaram in Telugu: ??????, Kembang Sepatu in Indonesia and Gumamela in Filipino.

National symbol [edit]

Taiwan area common Hibiscus flower.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is the national flower of Malaysia, called Bunga Raya in Malay. Introduced into the Malay Peninsula in the 12th century, it was nominated as the national flower in the year 1958 by the Ministry of Agriculture amongst a few other flowers, namely ylang ylang, jasmine, lotus, rose, magnolia, and medlar. On 28 July 1960, it was declared by the government of Malaysia that the hibiscus would be the national flower.

The word bunga in Malay means "flower", while raya in Malay means "big" or "grand". The hibiscus is literally known as the "big flower" in Malay. The red of the petals symbolizes the courage, life, and rapid growth of the Malaysian, and the five petals represent the five Rukun Negara of Malaysia. The flower can be found imprinted on the notes and coins of the Malaysian ringgit.

Uses [edit]

A white cultivator Hibiscus atVisakhapatnam, India

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rosa chinensis


Rosa chinensis
A double-flowered cultivar
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Eudicots
(unranked):Rosids
Order:Rosales
Family:Rosaceae
Genus:Rosa
Species:R. chinensis
Binomial name
Rosa chinensis
Jacq.

Rosa chinensis (Chinese name:??, pinyin: yueji), known commonly as the China Rose, is a member of the genus Rosa native toSouthwest China in Guizhou, Hubei, and Sichuan Provinces.

It is a shrub growing to 1–2 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, with 3-5 leaflets, each leaflet 2.5–6 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. In the wild species (sometimes listed as Rosa chinensis var. spontanea), the flowers have five pink to red petals. The fruit is a red hip 1–2 cm diameter.

Uses [edit]

The species is extensively cultivated in China as an ornamental plant; numerous cultivars have been selected, with varying flower colour and usually an increased number of petals (semi-double or double flowers). The species is also important in the breeding of many modern garden roses, including the Hybrid Tea roses.

The flowers and fruits are used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of irregular and/or painfulmenstruation,[citation needed] as well as swollen thyroid.[citation needed]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rosa chinensis

  • 18th century painting of two cultivars

    •  

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CELL

ell is a microprocessor architecture that combines a general-purpose Power Architecture core of modest performance with streamlined coprocessing elements[1] which greatly accelerate multimedia and vector processing applications, as well as many other forms of dedicated computation.[1]

It was developed by Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM, an alliance known as "STI". The architectural design and first implementation were carried out at the STI Design Center in Austin, Texas over a four-year period beginning March 2001 on a budget reported by Sony as approaching US$400 million.[2] Cell is shorthand for Cell Broadband Engine Architecture, commonly abbreviated CBEA in full or Cell BE in part.

The first major commercial application of Cell was in Sony's PlayStation 3 game console. Mercury Computer Systems has a dual Cell server, a dual Cell blade configuration, a rugged computer, and a PCI Express accelerator board available in different stages of production. Toshiba had announced plans to incorporate Cell in high definition television sets, but seems to have abandoned the idea. Exotic features such as the XDR memory subsystem and coherent Element Interconnect Bus (EIB) interconnect[3] appear to position Cell for future applications in the supercomputing space to exploit the Cell processor's prowess in floating point kernels.

The Cell architecture includes a memory coherence architecture that emphasizes efficiency/watt, prioritizes bandwidth over latency, and favors peak computational throughput over simplicity of program code. For these reasons, Cell is widely regarded as a challenging environment for software development.[4] IBM provides a comprehensive Linux-based Cell development platform to assist developers in confronting these challenges.[5] Software adoption remains a key issue in whether Cell ultimately delivers on its performance potential. Despite those challenges, research has indicated that Cell excels at several types of scientific computation.[6]

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ANGRY BIRDS

Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the first game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009.[2] Over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store,[3] which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, including the Android, Symbian and Windows Phone operating systems. It has since expanded to video game consoles and for PCs.

Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With a combined 1.7 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions,[4] the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now",[5] "one of the great runaway hits of 2010",[6] and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".[7]

Contents

Game series

Angry Birds app icon on iOS.

Angry Birds

Main article: Angry Birds (video game)

The initial version of the game was released on iOS in December 2009. In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playing field. As players advance through the game, new types of birds become available, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player. Rovio Mobile has supported Angry Birds with numerous free updates that add additional game content, and the company has also released stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game. There have been free upgrades released by Rovio:[8]

  • "Poached Eggs"
  • "Mighty Hoax"
  • "Danger Above"
  • "The Big Setup"
  • "Ham 'Em High"
  • "Mine and Dine"
  • "Birdday Party"
  • "Bad Piggies"
  • "Surf and Turf"
  • "Golden Eggs"

Special editions

Angry Birds Seasons

Main article: Angry Birds Seasons

This game contains several holiday-themed episodes:

  • "Trick or Treat": Halloween-themed levels
  • "Season's Greedings": Christmas-themed levels
  • "Hogs and Kisses": Valentine's Day-themed levels
  • "Go Green, Get Lucky": St. Patrick's Day-themed levels
  • "Easter Eggs": Easter-themed levels
  • "Summer Pignic": Summer-themed levels
  • "Mooncake Festival": Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival-themed levels
  • "Ham'o'ween": Halloween-themed levels
  • "Wreck the Halls": Christmas-themed levels
  • "Year of the Dragon": Chinese New Year-themed levels
  • "Cherry Blossom": Japanese-themed levels
  • "Piglantis": Summer-themed levels
  • "Back to School": School-themed levels
  • "Haunted Hogs": Halloween-themed levels
  • "Winter Wonderham": Christmas-themed levels

Angry Birds Rio

Main article: Angry Birds Rio

Angry Birds Rio was launched in March 2011.[9] The game is based on the 20th Century Fox animated film Rio.[9] There are several episodes included:

  • "Smuggler's Den"
  • "Jungle Escape"
  • "Beach Volley"
  • "Carnival Upheaval"
  • "Airfield Chase"
  • "Smuggler's Plane"
  • "Golden Beachball"
  • "Market Mayhem"
  • "Trophy Room"

Angry Birds Space

Main article: Angry Birds Space

A new game in the Angry Birds franchise called Angry Birds Space was launched on March 22, 2012,[10] The game features elements from the preceding Angry Birds games as well as new gameplay mechanics.[10] The stage is no longer flat, instead comprising several different planets, each of which has its own gravitational field that affects the trajectory of the birds after launch.[11] The episodes included are:

  • "Pig Bang"
  • "Cold Cuts"
  • "Fry Me to the Moon"
  • "Utopia"
  • "Red Planet"
  • "Pig Dipper"
  • "Eggsteroids"
  • "Danger Zone"

Angry Birds Star Wars

Main article: Angry Birds Star Wars

Angry Birds Star Wars was announced in October 8, 2012, and was released on November 8, 2012. Merchandise related to the game was released on October 17, and October 28. The game is a crossover with the Star Wars original trilogy, and casts the Angry Birds as the Rebels and the Bad Piggies as the Empire. The chapters included are:

  • "Tatooine"
  • "Death Star"
  • "Hoth"
  • "Cloud City"
  • "Boba Fett Missions"
  • "Path of the Jedi"
  • "Bonus"

Spin-Off

Main article: Bad Piggies

A spin-off to Angry Birds, called Bad Piggies, was released on September 27, 2012 on Mac, Android and iOS platforms. The game is from the Pig's point of view, and involves building vehicles in order to reach a goal point.

Other media

The Angry Birds characters have been referenced in television programs throughout the world. The Israeli comedy show Eretz Nehederet (in English: a Wonderful Country), one of the nation's most popular TV programs, satirized recent failed Israeli-Palestinian peace attempts by featuring the Angry Birds in peace negotiations with the pigs. Clips of the segment went viral, getting viewers from all around the world. The sketch received favorable coverage from a variety of independent blogs such as digitaltrends.com,[5] hotair.com[12] and intomobile.com,[13] as well as from online news media agencies such as Haaretz,[14] The Christian Science Monitor,[6] The Guardian,[15] and MSNBC.[16] American television hosts Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Daniel Tosh have referenced the game in comedy sketches on their respective series, Conan, The Daily Show, and Tosh.0.[17][18][19] In the 30 Rock episode "Plan B", guest star Aaron Sorkin laments to Liz Lemon, "Our craft is dying while people are playing Angry Birds and poking each other on Facebook". He then provides a tip for Liz to improve her score in the game. In February 2011, American journalist Jake Tapper mockingly introduced U.S. Senator Chris Coons as the "Angry Birds champion of the Senate" during the National Press Club's annual dinner.[20] Some of the game's more notable fans include Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom, who plays the iPad version of the game, and author Salman Rushdie, who claims he is "something of a master at Angry Birds".[21] Basketball star Kevin Durant is an avid fan of Angry Birds, and regularly plays other NBA stars in matches, although he is weary of cheating.[22] In August 2011, the Milwaukee Brewers played the Angry Birds theme song during the pre-game introductions of the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals players, in reference to former Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa's propensity to bean opposing players. Angry Birds also appears briefly, for comic relief, during a scene in the 2013 film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, in which the villain of the film plays the game while waiting for the world leaders' response to his threats of annihilation.

A screenshot from the T-Mobile advertisement. The advertisement was shown in Greece by Cosmote.

Angry Birds and its characters have been featured in advertisements for other products. In March 2011, the characters began appearing in a series of advertisements for Microsoft's Bing search engine.[23] At the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Nokia used scrims on a downtown building to project an advertisement for its new N8 handset that included the game's characters.[24] A June 2011 T-Mobile advertisement filmed in Barcelona, Spain included a real-life mock-up of the game in a city plaza,[25] while Nokia used the game in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people playing a single mobile game.[26] Finnair has also used Angry Birds in their advertising, including taping an Airbus A340 airliner with the Angry Birds figures and holding an Angry Birds tournament on board a flight to Singapore.[27] Rovio has also prepared a number of web-based promotional variants of Angry Birds themed around creations of other companies, such as Finnish snack company Fazer,[28] Spanish pizza delivery chain Telepizza,[29] and Japanese television network Fuji TV,[30] as well as promotions of American brands including Cheetos,[31] Wonderful Pistachios[32] and Coca-Cola.[33]

One of the 2012 New Models for Hot Wheels cars from Mattel is based on the Red Bird from Angry Birds. The package card bears both the Hot Wheels and Angry Birds logo.

The game's characters have been used, officially or otherwise, in amusement park attractions. In September 2011, the Window of the World theme park in Changsha, China opened an unlicensed Angry Birds attraction.[34] Visitors to the park use a large slingshot to launch stuffed versions of the bird characters at green balloons representing the pigs.[34] Upon learning of the attraction, Rovio Mobile was reported to be considering working with the theme park to officially license it.[35] In March 2012, Rovio announced plans for an official Angry Birds land (opened April 28, 2012) at the Särkänniemi adventure park in Finland.[36]

Also in March 2012, Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen unveiled an Angry Birds crash helmet that he will use in the 2012 season, following sponsorship from Rovio. Kimi Räikkönen has also a Angry Birds Space logo on his cap. Angry Birds has teamed up with the Lotus F1 Team for the upcoming 2012 Monaco Grand Prix, with its logo on the top of each Lotus Renault F1 car's nosecone,[37] as well as a promotional web-based version of Angry Birds in honor of Kovalainen.[38]

HockeyBird, an angry hockey playing bird, was the official mascot of the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships. It was designed by Toni Kysenius and Rovio Entertainment.[39]

Angry Birds Land in Särkänniemi, Finland.

The game's popularity has spawned knock-off and parody games that utilize the same basic mechanics as Angry Birds. For example, Angry Turds features monkeys hurling feces and other objects at hunters who have stolen their babies.[40] Another game, entitled Chicks'n'Vixens and released in beta form on Windows Phone devices, replaces the birds and pigs with chickens and foxes, respectively.[41] The developer of Chicks'n'Vixens intended the game as a challenge to Rovio Mobile, which stated at the time that a Windows Phone port of Angry Birds would not be ready until later in 2011.[41]

Angry Birds has inspired works of religious analogy. A five-part essay entitled "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" was written by Giridhari Dasa of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (i.e. Hare Krishna) of Brazil, utilizing the characters and gameplay mechanics to explain various concepts of yoga in Gaudiya Vaishnavism as understood and interpreted by the Hare Krishna.[42][43][44][45][46] The piece attracted much media attention, in Brazil and abroad, for its unique method of philosophico-religious presentation.[47][48][49][50] The piece was also recognized and appreciated by Rovio Mobile's Peter Vesterbacka, who was prompted to comment on Twitter, "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga becoming a worldwide craze;-)".[42]

Rovio is investigating ways to expand the Angry Birds brand, including merchandise, television shows and movies.[51] The game's official website offers plush versions of the birds and pigs for sale, along with T-shirts featuring the game's logo and characters.[52] In May 2011, Mattel released an Angry Birds board game, entitled "Angry Birds: Knock on Wood".[53] Over 10 million Angry Birds toys have been sold thus far.[54] Rovio opened the first official Angry Birds retail store in Helsinki on November 11, 2011 at 11:11am local time.[35] It expects to open its next retail store somewhere in China, considered the game's fastest-growing market.[35]

Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, has envisioned a feature film in the stop-motion animation style of Aardman Animation.[51] To that end, Rovio has purchased a Helsinki-based animation studio to prepare Angry Birds short cartoons on the Nicktoons station's Nickelodeon Extra,[54] the first of which was a Christmas special named "Wreck the Halls" that debuted in December 2011.[55] Rovio also hired David Maisel, former executive producer of Marvel Studios films such as Iron Man and Thor, to head up production of feature-length films.[54] Hed acknowledges that such a film would be years away, and that Rovio must keep the characters relevant until then, by producing sequels or new ports of the original game.[51] Rovio officials have hinted that one such "sequel" will be told from the pigs' point of view.[56]

On March 20, 2012, National Geographic published a paperback book titled Angry Birds Space: A Furious Flight Into The Final Frontier[57][58] shortly before the release of Angry Birds Space which became available on March 22, 2012.

At Spring 2012, Olvi started to manufacture Angry Birds softdrink, when It made a deal with Rovio for making of them.[59] First there came two different tastes, Tropic (tropical fruits).[59] and Paradise (pineapple-mandarin).[59] At September 2012 Olvi released two new tastes to the softdrink collection, they were Lagoon (pear-apple) and Space Comet (orange-cola).[60][61]

Angry Birds Toons, a TV series based on the game will make its debut on March 16, 2013. Initially it will consist of 52 episodes, with a duration between two and a half and three minutes each. Toons will be released through third-party video distribution platforms, including Comcast’s Xfinity On-Demand in the US, Samsung Smart TVs, and Roku set-top boxes. It will also be available in a number of countries on traditional television broadcasts. Rovio will also be bringing Angry Birds Toons on the mobile devices by adding an additional Toons channel on the Angry Birds apps homescreen.[62]

A 3D computer-animated film has been officially announced for release in 2016.[63]

See also

Portal icon Finland portal
Portal icon Video games portal
Portal icon Angry Birds portal

References

  1. ^ Promotional trailer
  2. ^ "Angry Birds Review". IGN.com. February 11, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  3. ^ "The Supremely Addicting Angry Birds Hits 42 Million Free and Paid Downloads". SymbianFreak.com. October 22, 2010. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
  4. ^ John Gaudiosi (March 11, 2012). "Rovio Execs Explain What Angry Birds Toons Channel Opens Up To Its 1.7 Billion Gamers". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Van Camp, Jeffrey (November 23, 2010). "Israeli Angry Birds satire goes viral". digitaltrends.com. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Shaer, Matthew (November 29, 2010). "Angry Birds bound for Xbox, PlayStation". Archived from the original on December 04 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  7. ^ "Angry Birds will be bigger than Mickey Mouse and Mario. Is there a success formula for apps?". MIT Entrepreneurship review. February 18, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  8. ^ "iOS Angry Birds Mighty Eagle On Its Way: Video". phonesreview.co.uk. November 25, 2010. Archived from the original on January 02 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  9. ^ a b Paul Suarez (January 29, 2011). "'Angry Birds Rio' Release Teams With Hollywood". PCWorld.com. Archived from the original on February 05 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  10. ^ a b Jeff Bertolucci (February 17, 2012). "Angry Birds in Space: The Final Merchandising Frontier?". PCWorld.com. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  11. ^ "First Angry Birds Space Gameplay Footage Debuts from Orbit". Kotaku. March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  12. ^ "Breakthrough: Peace talks begin to settle bitter longstanding conflict". hotair.com. November 25, 2010. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  13. ^ "The Angry Birds Peace Treaty didn’t turn out so well". intomobile.com. November 23, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  14. ^ "Israeli satire show goes viral with Angry Bird take on peace talks". Haaretz. November 22, 2010. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
  15. ^ Stewart, Keith (November 23, 2010). "Angry Birds Treaty brings casual gaming into the world of satire". The Guardian (UK). Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  16. ^ Popkin, Helen A.S. (November 22, 2010). "'Angry Birds' fail to negotiate peace treaty". MSNBC. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  17. ^ Conan O'Brien (host) (December 15, 2010) (in English). Conan's Message to Finland (Television production). TBS. Event occurs at 1:38. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  18. ^ Jon Stewart (host) (February 16, 2011). Intro – Watson Competes on Jeopardy (Television production).
  19. ^ Daniel Tosh (January 11, 2011). Tosh.0: Angry Birds (Television production).
  20. ^ Mirkinson, Jack (February 10, 2011). "Chris Coons Mocks Jake Tapper". Huffington Post (USA). Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  21. ^ Nick Wingfield (November 30, 2010). "Why We Can't Stop Playing". The Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones & Company, Inc.). Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  22. ^ Kevin Durant @KDThunderup. "Man they be cheatin terrible on angry birds...make me wanna throw my phone out the window.". celebritytweet.com. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  23. ^ Angry Birds Bing Video – Episode 1. Rovio Mobile. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  24. ^ Angry Birds On A 15 Storey Building At SXSW. March 12, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  25. ^ T-Mobile Angry Birds Live. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  26. ^ Lim Yung Hui (June 11, 2011). "Guinness World Record at Nokia World’s Biggest Angry Birds Playground in Kuala Lumpur". greyreview.com. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
  27. ^ Matt Molnar (September 21, 2011). "Angry Birds Take Over Finnair Flight to Singapore - NYCAviation". Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  28. ^ Angry Birds Volcano
  29. ^ Angry Birds ?elepizza
  30. ^ Angry Birds Fujitv
  31. ^ Angry Birds Cheetos
  32. ^ Angry Birds Pistachios
  33. ^ Angry Birds Coca-Cola
  34. ^ a b Charles Cooper (September 16, 2011). "China steals "Angry Birds" for theme park". CBS News. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  35. ^ a b c "Angry Birds Opens First Store". Yahoo.com. November 11, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
  36. ^ Updated 12:57 2 Mar 2012 by Andrew Wooden (2012-03-02). "Angry Birds Land to hit theme park in Finland". T3. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
  37. ^ Watch Out ! The Birds Have Landed ! 'Lotus F1 Team Angry Birds' Game Goes Live !. Lotus F1 Team (2012-05-23). Retrieved on 2012-09-05.
  38. ^ Angry Birds Heikki
  39. ^ "Born: Hockey Bird!". Iihf.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  40. ^ Marc Flores (January 31, 2011). "Bored with Angry Birds? Try Angry Turds". IntoMobile.com. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  41. ^ a b Chris Davies (February 2, 2011). "Chicks’n'Vixens brings Angry Birds clone to WP7 as Rovio protest". Slashgear.com. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  42. ^ a b "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part I". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  43. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part II". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  44. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part III". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  45. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Part IV". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  46. ^ "Angry Birds™ Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life, Final Part". Giridhari Dasa. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  47. ^ Kendall, Paul (February 7, 2011). "Angry Birds: the story behind iPhone's gaming phenomenon". London: telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  48. ^ Name (required) (2011-06-15). "Angry Birds Yoga Making a Splash in Brazil | Giridhari’s Blog". Pandavas.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  49. ^ "topics". Dzai.com.br. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  50. ^ Smullen, Madhava (June 25, 2011). "Is ISKCON Devotee's "Angry Birds Yoga" Set To Go Viral?". news.iskcon.com. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  51. ^ a b c Marc Graser (August 24, 2010). "Angry Birds flies with Hollywood". Variety. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  52. ^ "Angry Birds Shop". Rovio.com. Archived from the original on December 09 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  53. ^ Brian Stetler (January 7, 2011). "Angry Birds at C.E.S.". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  54. ^ a b c "Angry Birds Aim For World Domination". FoxNews.com. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  55. ^ Eric Goldman (December 16, 2011). "Angry Birds Short Film Airing on Nicktoons". IGN.com. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  56. ^ Bosker, Bianca (November 17, 2010). "Angry Birds sequel will reveal pigs' point of view". Huffington Post (USA). Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  57. ^ Nathan Brown (19). "National Geographic publishing Angry Birds book". Edge. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  58. ^ Victoria Jaggard (8). ""Angry Birds Space" Q&A: Your Guide to the Angry Universe". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  59. ^ a b c ""Olvi pistää Angry Birdsit tölkkiin" (Finnish)[[Category:Articles with Finnish language external links]]". 9. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  60. ^ ""Angry Birds Lagoon" (Finnish)[[Category:Articles with Finnish language external links]]". 9. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  61. ^ ""Angry Birds Space Comet" (Finnish)[[Category:Articles with Finnish language external links]]". 9. Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  62. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Forbes-1.7B (see the help page).
  63. ^ "John Cohen to Produce Angry Birds Movie for 2016". ComingSoon.net. December 11, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2012.

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TROUBLE GAS

  • lasma is any gas that has had some of its atom s or molecule s ... higher temperatures, to the point where other matter has trouble passing through. ...
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    The Troubles ... situated near Carrickfergus . Phoenix Natural Gas Ltd. has been granted the licence for the transportation of natural gas ...
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    school, and treat 400 high school-aged boys from troubled backgrounds. locomotive engines, carriages, gas engines, foundry products, and motor trucks. ...
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    2013, Gas Powered Games announced the Kickstarter project "Wildman ... com/5977246/were-hearing-about-layoffs-big-trouble-at-gas-powered-games- ...
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    The Russia–Ukraine gas dispute of 2009 was a pricing dispute between Russia and ... and said it was having trouble making payments on time ...
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    Corner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt . ... having been preceded by The Trouble with Tracy , Snow Job , Excuse My ...
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    Shah Deniz gas field is the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan . ... news | title More trouble for BP as gas scheme is halted | publisher ...
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    Gas Huffer was an American garage rock band from Washington state. ... At the conclusion of Girl Trouble's set, K.P. Kendall called Gas ...
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    A trouble light, also known as a rough service light or inspection lamp, is a ... prevent ignition of flammable gas around the lamp, such as ...
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MAIL

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.[1]

A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century national postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is often in the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk mailing.

Postal authorities often have functions other than transporting letters. In some countries, a Postal Telegraph and Telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system as well as having authority over telephone and telegraph systems. Some countries' postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications for passports.

Contents

Early postal systems

Many early post systems consisted of fixed courier routes. Here, a post house on a postal route in the 19th century Finland

The practice of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the diffusion of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the diffusion of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 BC).

Persia

The first credible claim for the development of a real postal system comes from Ancient Persia, but the point of invention remains in question. The best documented claim (Xenophon) attributes the invention to the Persian King Cyrus the Great (550 BC),[2] while other writers credit his successor Darius I of Persia (521 BC). Other sources claim much earlier dates for an Assyrian postal system, with credit given to Hammurabi (1700 BC) and Sargon II (722 BC). Mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service, however. The role of the system as an intelligence gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time came to indicate a tax system. The Old Testament (Esther, VIII) makes mention of this system: Ahasuerus, king of Medes, used couriers for communicating his decisions.

The Persian system worked on stations (called Chapar-Khaneh), where the message carrier (called Chapar) would ride to the next post, whereupon he would swap his horse with a fresh one, for maximum performance and delivery speed. Herodotus described the system in this way: "It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day's journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed".[3]

India

The use of the Scinde Dawk adhesive stamps to signify the prepayment of postage began on 1 July 1852 in the Scinde/Sindh district,[4] as part of a comprehensive reform of the district's postal system.

The economic growth and political stability under the Mauryan empire (322–185 BC) saw the development of impressive civil infrastructure in ancient India. The Mauryans developed early Indian mail service as well as public wells, rest houses, and other facilities for the common public.[5] Common chariots called Dagana were sometimes used as mail chariots in ancient India.[6]

In ancient times the kings, emperors, rulers, zamindars or the feudal lords protected their land through the intelligence services of specially trained police or military agencies and courier services to convey and obtain information through runners, messengers and even through pigeons. The chief of the secret service, known as the postmaster, maintained the lines of communication. . . . The people used to send letters to [their] distant relatives through their friends or neighbors.[7]

Early stamps of India were watermarked with an elephant's head.

In South India, the Wodeyar dynasty (1399—1947) of the Kingdom of Mysore used mail service for espionage purposes thereby acquiring knowledge related to matters that took place at great distances.[8]

By the end of the 18th century the postal system in India had reached impressive levels of efficiency. According to British national Thomas Broughton, the Maharaja of Jodhpur sent daily offerings of fresh flowers from his capital to Nathadvara (a distance of 320 km), and they arrived in time for the first religious Darshan at sunrise.[9] Later this system underwent complete modernization when the British Raj established its full control over India. The Post Office Act XVII of 1837 provided that the Governor-General of India in Council had the exclusive right of conveying letters by post for hire within the territories of the East India Company. The mails were available to certain officials without charge, which became

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NIMBUZZ

Skype (pron.: /?ska?p/) is a proprietary Voice over IP service and software application.

Skype was first released in 2003 written by Estonian developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, Danish Janus Friis, and Swedish Niklas Zennström, who had also originally developed Kazaa.[12] It developed into a platform with over 600 million users and was bought by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.[13]

The service allows users to communicate with peers by voice using a microphone, video by using a webcam, and instant messaging over the Internet. Phone calls may be placed to recipients on the traditional telephone networks. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free of charge, while calls to landline telephones and mobile phones are charged via a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features, including file transfer, and videoconferencing. Competitors include SIP and H.323-based services, such as Linphone[14] and Google Voice.

Skype has 663 million registered users as of the end of 2010.[15] The network is operated by Microsoft, which has its Skype division headquarters in Luxembourg. Most of the development team and 44% of the overall employees of the division are situated in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.[16][17]

Unlike most other VoIP services, Skype is a hybrid peer-to-peer and client–server system. It makes use of background processing on computers running Skype software. Skype's original proposed name (Sky Peer-to-Peer) reflects this fact.

Some network administrators have banned Skype on corporate, government, home, and education networks,[18] citing reasons such as inappropriate usage of resources, excessive bandwidth usage, and security concerns.[19]

On January 9, 2013, Microsoft revealed that it intends to retire Windows Live Messenger in favor of its Skype service, although Messenger will continue in mainland China.[20] Microsoft transitioned all users in April 2013.[21]

Contents

History

Main article: Skype Technologies#History

Skype was founded in 2003 by Janus Friis from Denmark and Niklas Zennström from Sweden.[22] The Skype software was developed by the Estonians Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, who together with Friis and Zennström were also behind the peer-to-peer file sharing software Kazaa.[23] In August 2003, the first public beta version was released.

eBay acquisition

On 12 September 2005, eBay Inc. agreed to acquire Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA for approximately US$2.5 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock, plus potential performance-based consideration.[24]

Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquisition

On 1 September 2009, it was announced that eBay was selling 65% of Skype for US$1.9 billion, valuing Skype at US$2.75 billion.

Microsoft acquisition

On 10 May 2011, Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Communications, S.à r.l for US$8.5 billion.[25] The company was incorporated as a division of Microsoft, and Microsoft acquired all of the company's technologies with the purchase. This was completed on 13 October 2011.[25][26]

Windows Live Messenger merger

Microsoft phased out its long-standing Windows Live Messenger instant messaging service in favour of Skype.[20] Microsoft began this transition in April 8, 2013, and completed the move by Ap

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MUSIC

Music (Carole King album), a 1972 album by Carole King Music (311 album), a 1993 album by 311 Music (Madonna album), a 2000 album by Madonna Music (Erick Sermon album), a 2001 album by Erick Sermon Music (Mika Nakashima album), a 2005 album by Mika Nakashima Music (Girugamesh album), a 2008 album Songs "Music", a Petula Clark song from the 1965 album Downtown "Music (John Miles song)", a 1976 single by John Miles from the album Rebel "Music" (Madonna song), a 2000 single from Madonna's album Music "Music" (Erick Sermon and Marvin Gaye song), a

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SCIENCE

S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is the second album by American rock band Incubus, released on September 9, 1997. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA. It has been mentioned[where?] by lead singer Brandon Boyd that the acronym S.C.I.E.N.C.E. stands for Sailing Catamarans Is Every Nautical Captain's Ecstasy.[citation needed]

Contents

Music

S.C.I.E.N.C.E. draws influence from diverse genres, including heavy metal,[1][2] electro,[3] funk,[1][2] jazz,[2][3] hip hop[1] and techno.[1] According to Rolling Stone writer Rob Kemp, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. "links funk metal to the rap metal".[4] "Magic Medicine" incorporates elements of trip hop, sampling a recorded reading of a children's book.[5] The song "Vitamin" appears in the film Final Destination 2. Also, the song "Segue 1" is an instrumental hidden track at the end of "Calgone".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars[6]
Drop-D Magazine (favorable)[5]
Martin Charles Strong 6/10 stars[7]

Critics praised the album's diversity of styles. Pitchfork Media wrote that Incubus "successfully combines all sorts of [music genres] without sounding like a mess".[3] Allmusic reviewer David Thomas wrote that "The numerous styles on the album don't always blend perfectly, but they create a solid sound that defines the band. Incubus also manages to make their songs upbeat and danceable as well as tunes to headbang to. An admirable feat in a genre that tends to reward decibel levels instead of quality."[6] Drop-D Magazine reviewer Darren Kerr praised the album for its originality.[5] In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Kemp gave the album two out of five stars.[4] In The Great Rock Discography, Martin Charles Strong gave the album six out of ten stars.[7]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Incubus. 

No. Title Length
1. "Redefine"   3:22
2. "Vitamin"   3:13
3. "New Skin"   3:51
4. "Idiot Box"   4:07
5. "Glass"   3:37
6. "Magic Medicine"   3:03
7. "A Certain Shade of Green"   3:11
8. "Favorite Things"   3:11
9. "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)"   4:26
10. "Nebula"   3:50
11. "Deep Inside"   3:55
12. "Calgone"   16:05
Total length:
 55:52

References

  1. ^ a b c d Friedlander, Paul (2006). "We Should Be Together". Rock & roll: A Social History. Basic Books. p. 305. ISBN 0-8133-4306-2.
  2. ^ a b c Sullivan, Kate (November 2001). "The Accidental Sex Symbol". Spin 17 (11): 78.
  3. ^ a b c Wisdom, James. "Incubus: S.C.I.E.N.C.E.: Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 5. Retrieved 20 November 2010. Text "February 2003" ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b Kemp, Rob (2004). "Incubus". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon and Schuste. p. 403. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  5. ^ a b c Kerr, Darren (April 11, 1998). "Review of S.C.I.E.N.C.E.". Drop-D Magazine.
  6. ^ a b Thomas, David. "Review of S.C.I.E.N.C.E.". Allmusic. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  7. ^ a b Strong, Martin Charles (2004). "Incubus". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate. p. 731. ISBN 1-84195-615-5.

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