WikiLeaks stays in the news and has for many years, but few of
my friends have actually visited the website, or even know it
exists. It is described as an international non-profit,
journalistic organization that publishes secret information,
news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. The
published editorial policy says it accepts only documents that
are "of political, diplomatic, historical, or ethical interest"
and excludes "material that is already publicly available." Its
website was initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organization
Sunshine Press. It no longer uses the 'wiki' method of user
input and also is not related to Wikipedia.
WikiLeaks relies on
volunteers and describes its founders as a mixture of Asian
dissidents, journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company
technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia,
and South Africa. As of June 2009, the website had more than
1,200 registered volunteers and listed an advisory board,
including Julian Assange and seven other people. It is entirely
run on donations. Lawyers around the world provide pro bono
assistance as needed.
Its leader, Julian
Assange described himself in a private conversation as "the
heart and soul of this organization, its founder, philosopher,
spokesperson, original coder, organizer, financier, and all the
rest." LINK
Aug 26, 2016
Charlie Chaplin Music
Have written about his many talents before, but
keep finding more interesting info about him. Charlie Chaplin
composed the music for almost all of his films. In fact, he was
the only person to write, produce, direct, compose, conduct, and
act in his movies. Charlie was never classically trained in
music, but played a number of instruments. He even sang LINK.
Customarily in scoring silent pictures the Wagnerian Leitmotiv system, a distinctive musical theme associated with a character and idea. He wrote the ninety five musical cues in "City Lights" and the passages where the music follows or mimics the action in what is generally known as “mickey-mousing” from its use in the scoring of animated cartoons.
Here are a few of his songs: "Smile", "Eternally", "Terry's Theme", "Limelight", "This is My Song", "Oh that Cello", "There’s Always Someone You Can’t Forget", "Sing a Song”, “With you, Dear, in Bombay”, "Falling Star", “A Paris Boulevard”, “Tango Bitterness”, and “Rumba”.
A few of his songs have become classics, top ten hits, and endure long after his death on Christmas Day, 1977 (He was born in 1899). Have included a few links below for a brief musical interlude.
"Smile" was made famous by Nat King Cole LINK and was also covered by Michael Jackson, Timi Yuro, and Tony Bennett.
"Eternally" was covered by many, including Placido Domingo, Englebert Humperdink, Jerry Vale, Vic Damone, and Sarah Vaughn LINK.
"This is My Song" covered, among others by Petula Clark LINK and Judith Durham LINK.
Customarily in scoring silent pictures the Wagnerian Leitmotiv system, a distinctive musical theme associated with a character and idea. He wrote the ninety five musical cues in "City Lights" and the passages where the music follows or mimics the action in what is generally known as “mickey-mousing” from its use in the scoring of animated cartoons.
Here are a few of his songs: "Smile", "Eternally", "Terry's Theme", "Limelight", "This is My Song", "Oh that Cello", "There’s Always Someone You Can’t Forget", "Sing a Song”, “With you, Dear, in Bombay”, "Falling Star", “A Paris Boulevard”, “Tango Bitterness”, and “Rumba”.
A few of his songs have become classics, top ten hits, and endure long after his death on Christmas Day, 1977 (He was born in 1899). Have included a few links below for a brief musical interlude.
"Smile" was made famous by Nat King Cole LINK and was also covered by Michael Jackson, Timi Yuro, and Tony Bennett.
"Eternally" was covered by many, including Placido Domingo, Englebert Humperdink, Jerry Vale, Vic Damone, and Sarah Vaughn LINK.
"This is My Song" covered, among others by Petula Clark LINK and Judith Durham LINK.
World Population Statistics
These numbers may provide some perspective on how popular we think we might be: 104 million people are born each year, 57 million people die each year, 108 billion are estimated to have ever lived on earth, and there are 7 billion people currently alive. Next time someone tells you how great they are, ask them what percent of the seven billion people they can call friends.
Aug 19, 2016
Happy National Aviation Day
During 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Presidential
Proclamation 2343, making August 19, Orville Wright’s
birthday, National Aviation Day.
Spumoni Day
August 21 is National Spumoni Day in the United
States. It is not as popular as it used to be when there
were many more Italian ice cream shops around. Spumone
(plural spumoni) is a molded Italian ice cream made with
layers of different colors and flavors, containing candied
fruits and nuts. It is usually three flavors, cherry,
pistachio, and either chocolate or vanilla and the fruit/nut
layer often contains cherry bits, causing the traditional
red/pink, green, and brown color combination. Dreyer's and
Edy's still make the delicious mix. My mouth is watering for
some with pistachio ice cream. Yum! Incidentally, November
13 is National Spumoni Day in Canada.
Another Use for Toothpaste
Take a damp, soft cloth and a small blob of toothpaste to easily erase minor scratches and scuff marks on your car. It works best if the scratches and/or scuff marks have not fully penetrated the clear coat of paint. Softly rub the toothpaste onto the scuff mark using small, circular motions to cover the blemished area.
Whitening toothpaste seems to work best as it has more abrasives than other types. Toothpaste works to sand down the uneven surface of the glossy sheen and fill in the gaps. Make sure the surface around the area is clean. If there is foreign paint on the outside, the toothpaste will also act as an abrasive to help remove it. Incidentally, it also works well to buff your smart phone screen scratches.
Whitening toothpaste seems to work best as it has more abrasives than other types. Toothpaste works to sand down the uneven surface of the glossy sheen and fill in the gaps. Make sure the surface around the area is clean. If there is foreign paint on the outside, the toothpaste will also act as an abrasive to help remove it. Incidentally, it also works well to buff your smart phone screen scratches.
Super Storage
Computers are getting smaller and so is storage, but not data. Businesses are being forced to store huge amounts of data. The latest product is the 60TerraByte SAS solid state device from Seagate, the world's largest capacity solid state drive and it fits into a standard 3.5 inch standard hard disk drive slot.
The drive is aimed at data centers. It has twice the density and four times the storage of its nearest competitor. The capacity shows room for 400 million photos or 12,000 DVDs.
"Given the demands on today's data centers, optimal technologies are those that can accommodate an immense amount of data as needed—and without taking up too much space. As such, we are constantly seeking new ways to provide the highest density possible in our all-flash data center configurations," says Mike Vildibill, vice president of Advanced Technologies and Big Data at HP Enterprise.
Seagate has not released pricing details on the 60TB SAS SSD, but it has said the drive will hit the market during 2017.
The drive is aimed at data centers. It has twice the density and four times the storage of its nearest competitor. The capacity shows room for 400 million photos or 12,000 DVDs.
"Given the demands on today's data centers, optimal technologies are those that can accommodate an immense amount of data as needed—and without taking up too much space. As such, we are constantly seeking new ways to provide the highest density possible in our all-flash data center configurations," says Mike Vildibill, vice president of Advanced Technologies and Big Data at HP Enterprise.
Seagate has not released pricing details on the 60TB SAS SSD, but it has said the drive will hit the market during 2017.
WWII is Not Over
There are a string of volcanic islands in the
Pacific, known as the Kurils. A dispute between Russia and
Japan, has prevented the two nations from signing a peace
treaty to formally end World War II.
The islands are equidistant between the two countries and are rich in natural resources, including potentially large oil and natural gas reserves. Known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the South Kurils, four of these islands are at the center of a dispute over ownership that continues. Many potential solutions to the conflict have been proposed, but talks between the countries have led to a stalemate and lack of war ending treaty.
The islands are equidistant between the two countries and are rich in natural resources, including potentially large oil and natural gas reserves. Known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the South Kurils, four of these islands are at the center of a dispute over ownership that continues. Many potential solutions to the conflict have been proposed, but talks between the countries have led to a stalemate and lack of war ending treaty.
Another Windows 10 Quick Tip
If you have many windows open and
want to focus on one in particular, while holding down the
left mouse key, grab the title bar with your mouse pointer,
then shake back and forth to minimize all other windows. If
you want to bring the other windows back, just shake the first
window again and all will be right back to normal. Using
the Alt and Tab keys together still works to switch windows.
Wordology, Part and Parcel
Although not used in everyday discussions as it was in the past, this idiom is still used in the legal system. In this reduplicative phrase, common since the 14th century, the nouns ‘part’ and ‘parcel’ are synonyms. It comes from the ancient legal practice of including words of closely similar meaning to make sure that the sense covers all eventualities. The expression part and parcel was originally used in a sense that was frequently preceded by every, to mean all parts of something, even the smallest.
A parcel is part of a larger whole, such as parcel of land, parcel of weather, parcel of equipment, etc. Part is a division or portion of something and has the same meaning.
Recently it has come to imply the sense of something being a necessary part of some larger containing thing and the implication that this particular part may not be desirable, but cannot be avoided if you want the thing it is part of. For instance, we understand that some inconveniences are still part and parcel of modern travel. Other similar words include: nooks and crannies, aid and abet, etc.
Incidentally, the Southern US variation, passel comes from the old pronunciation of parcel and is often preceded by whole, suggesting a large group of people or things, such as a passel of problems, or passel of experts.
A parcel is part of a larger whole, such as parcel of land, parcel of weather, parcel of equipment, etc. Part is a division or portion of something and has the same meaning.
Recently it has come to imply the sense of something being a necessary part of some larger containing thing and the implication that this particular part may not be desirable, but cannot be avoided if you want the thing it is part of. For instance, we understand that some inconveniences are still part and parcel of modern travel. Other similar words include: nooks and crannies, aid and abet, etc.
Incidentally, the Southern US variation, passel comes from the old pronunciation of parcel and is often preceded by whole, suggesting a large group of people or things, such as a passel of problems, or passel of experts.
What's in a Name, Wikipedia
Wikipedia is based on two words, the Hawaiian word Wiki, meaning quick and encyclopedia, with pedia being the Greek term for knowledge: “quick knowledge.”
Aug 12, 2016
Happy Friday
Joy is the wine that
fills the cup of happiness.
I fill my cup every time I enjoy a Happy Friday!
I fill my cup every time I enjoy a Happy Friday!
Wordology, Denote and Connote
The difference between denotation and connotation is easy to confuse, because they describe related concepts. Both denotation and connotation stem from the Latin word notāre, meaning 'to note'.
The denotation of a word or phrase is its explicit, direct meaning.
The connotation of a word or phrase is an associated, secondary meaning. It can be something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described.
For example, the words home and house have similar denotations or primary meanings: a home is “a shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household,” and a house is “a building in which people live.” However, both of these words carry different secondary meanings, or connotations. A home connotes a sense of belonging and comfort and house conveys little more than a structure.
One way to remember the difference between the terms is to take a hint from the prefix: 'con' comes from Latin and means 'together; with'. The connotation of a word works together with its denotation or explicit meaning.
The denotation of a word or phrase is its explicit, direct meaning.
The connotation of a word or phrase is an associated, secondary meaning. It can be something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described.
For example, the words home and house have similar denotations or primary meanings: a home is “a shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household,” and a house is “a building in which people live.” However, both of these words carry different secondary meanings, or connotations. A home connotes a sense of belonging and comfort and house conveys little more than a structure.
One way to remember the difference between the terms is to take a hint from the prefix: 'con' comes from Latin and means 'together; with'. The connotation of a word works together with its denotation or explicit meaning.
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